Everglow: The Trials Of Agaron

19 - The First Steps

"Hey. . . Ko. . . you might want to see this. . ."

Ko whipped around and walked up next to Fischer who was standing by the window, pointing outside. Through the tinted glass, she spotted what he was looking at. A planet lay within their view. From where they were it appeared rather small. It was covered in what looked like a dense layer of red and orange clouds. The surface shared a similar sepia tone to it and the overall colour scheme gave the crew the indication that this place would likely be some sort of desert.

"Wow. I. . . just wow," Fischer sputtered. He watched on with a dumbfounded gaze as the planet loomed in the black abyss. 

"Yea. First time space flight will do that to ya. I still remember my first trip," Quin stated. She walked up and stood next to the two of them.

"You ready for this Ko?" She asked.

The zapher's lower jaw trembled slightly and she let a small gulp down her throat.

"Hey, deep breaths ok? We're gonna go down there, find whatever the hell it is we need to find, then get back to Xarder. Shouldn't take long," Fischer said in an attempt to comfort her. She looked over at him and replied with a more confident nod before going back to gazing at the planet. 

Quin let out a slight chuckle as she too stared out at the orange rock floating in space. 

"Heh, it had to be a desert planet didn't it?" She jested. 

"Kinda reminds me of Mars honestly," Fischer said.

Quin looked over at him with confusion. "What's Mars?" She asked.

"It's a planet in his solar system. A red one," Ko replied.

A smile spread across Fischer's face as she explained, "Hey, you remembered!" 

"Of course I did. I couldn't forget. You wouldn't stop talking about it whenever we would stargaze," she giggled. Her laughter was a nice break from the nervous tension in the air. 

"Hey, same," Fischer smiled.

A few more moments past before the crew decided to sit down again. 

"How long till we get there Kori?" Quin asked.

"Uh, hard to say. A few hours maybe? Still a couple thousand kilometres to go before we start re-entry. We got some time to kill," he replied.

After a swift nod Quin turned back to the others. An uncomfortable silence filled the air, a strong feeling of uneasiness flooded the Endeavour. 

Everyone knew what came next, yet no-one knew. They were about to enter completely foreign territory. None of them knew what to expect or what surprises this desolate planet might hold. They were walking in completely blinded.

That thought wasn't lost on Quin as she stared out at the planet. She felt a strong sense of danger start to creep over her skin and into her veins. When they first found out about all this, she was more than happy to go along with it, eager even. But as the hours passed and the clock hand grew closer and closer to twelve, she began to have doubts, to have second thoughts. This whole plan being a complete waste of time was starting to sound like a much more optimal outcome than some of the other ones she had been thinking of.

In fact, she was kind of hoping for it. 

--\/--

"Alright guys, thirty seconds!" Kori yelled from the cockpit as he fiddled with various different controls and buttons. The rest of the crew were fasten firmly in their seats. The roar of the engines grew more audible as the ship grew closer and closer to the ground.