Robert and Livy slowly made their way down the mountain their ship crashed on. Livy started to tear up. "What's wrong?" Robert asked in a worried tone.
"W- What if we're the only ones alive? What if we're stuck on this planet by ourselves forever?" She started to cry.
Robert walked to Livy and hugged her. "Livy, even if that turns out to be true, we're not truly alone. We have each other. Always. And I'm sure our training will help us survive." He explained.
"I hope you're right." Livy replied, sniffling. They continued to walk down the mountain. They looked around, noticing the vibrant, green foliage. The trees looked more like huge tentacles and the grass was a sharp green and black mixture that almost looked like the grass would like to eat you.
"Do you know anything about this planet, Livy?" Robert asked.
"The most I know about this planet is that we have yet to have one of our expedition teams come back from their explorations." She replied.
"Oh, that's just great." Robert said in a sarcastic tone. As they get closer to the smoke in the valley, it started to get darker and harder to see.
"Maybe we should rest here for the night?" Livy suggested. Robert agreed and they both laid down in a soft patch of grass and tried to sleep the best they can. Robert stayed up longer than Livy and looked at the stars before drifting off to asleep.
RUMBLE CRASH RUMBLE
Robert and Livy wake up suddenly in the middle of the night to a loud rumble sound coming from the sky. They both look up as they watch an oddly shaped ship fall from the sky way off in the distance with a fiery crash.
"Now that probably has no survivors." Robert said in a joking way to lighten the mood.
But as he said that, they both watched as a darker creature or human falls from the sky just after the ship crashed. "Oh my gosh! Look!! Something jumped out of the ship before it crashed? Do you think they survived?" Livy asked.
"I don't know, that was a big fall for any human." Robert replied as they looked at each other in awe. Shortly after, they fell back asleep.
In the morning, Livy woke up first. She looked over at Robert to wake him up, but she noticed he was all tangled in some sort of vines.
"ROBERT! WAKE UP!!" Livy screamed.
Robert woke up and instantly started screaming, "Get it off! Get it off!" The vines started to tighten around his neck and it became hard for him to breathe. "Cut th- v- vines." He rasped, trying to yell, but hardly getting the words out. Livy spun in circles, confused on what to do. She started pulling at the vines, but they just got tighter and tighter. Livy grabbed Robert's hand and yanked him really hard. She pulled and pulled and suddenly he's freed and the vines shrivel away and roll down the hill.
"That was a close one" Robert said, after catching his breath.
"It sure was. We need to be more careful. We don't know what could be lurking around on this planet." Livy replied. Robert agreed and they continued to follow the smoke.
When they reached the center of the circle of trees, they found a big black box about 3 feet tall emitting black smoke, but with no fire. Robert and Livy looked at each other confused and opened the black box. Inside was a series of recordings labeled: Final Message.
They pressed a button and the first recording began to play. "This is our final message to anyone listening. Our ship has been struck by an otherworldly force. We don't know if we'll make it out alive on this one." A robotic voice then said "End of recording one."
The second recording began instantly. A man panted really hard and out of breath started talking. "Listen to me. I am a part of Expedition Alpha 3 and I hope this message reaches the Captain. We need to stop sending expeditions and find a new planet. This planet is extremely high in extraterrestrial life, but not just any extraterrestrial life: evil and horrible, horrible life. The creatures on this planet all have the intent to kill and destroy, nothing more. I will be sanctioned in the caves to the east. If someone finds this, please, don't come to this planet." Then, "End of recording two."
"Oh my gosh, how long ago was that recorded?" Robert asked.
"It says three days before the crash." Livy replied. They both look around and then at each other.
"Do you think he's still alive?" Livy wondered out loud.
"There's only one way to find out." Robert replied
"Let's head to that cave" Livy agreed.
"Do you know which way is east?"
"Not a clue" Livy replied with a shrug.
They both looked around for a way to find out what way is east. Then Robert remembered that on Earth the sun rises from the east. Robert looked up to see the sun and which way it rose from and it led to a forest about a half mile away. "I think we've found our way. Let's go!!"
They both ran to the forest and were really excited to hopefully find other humans. They were both smiling and happy until they actually stood in front of the entrance to the forest. It was no normal forest. It had those creepy tentacle trees and it was dark and foggy. Robert and Livy both wondered what could be lurking in the forest.
"Do we really wanna go in there?" Livy asked apprehensively.
"We might have to if we want to find that guy." Robert replied. They both sighed and started walking into the forest. The dark black trees creaked and swayed in the wind around them. Livy jumped as a little creature with two legs hopped across their path.
"What was that!?" She squealed.
"I don't know." replied Robert.
"It looked like a two legged rat with long arms and no hair." Livy said, shivering.
"Yeah, it did... Let's keep moving. I don't want to have any other unnecessary encounters with the local wild life." The fog thickened and it grew darker. Robert climbed one of the trees to see how much longer they must walk. He looked out and saw miles of trees.
"Oh my gosh!" He yelled down to Livy.
"What is it?" Livy replied, concerned.
"This forest goes on for miles, Liv- Wait! Wait, LOOK! More smoke! Hurry! It looks like just a mile ahead."
Robert descended the tree and him and Livy started to run through the forest to reach the smoke.
YOU ARE READING
Stellar
Science FictionA young space cadet aboard a ship in orbit of a distant galaxy finds out a hidden truth about the planet they plan to research and set foot on that may cause some complications down the road join Robert on a daring space journey through the cosmos o...
