Aim Shorts

Wonderland

Aim to Engage Prompt from @ScienceFiction, November 2022: "The planet you land on is covered by ice. But your sensor registers life beneath it."

Story word count = 497

**** Contest Winner ****

Ice. Others got to survey warm, interesting worlds. I got ice. Woo-hoo...

Activating the long-range com, I connected to the distant command ship. "This is Survey Ship Adiona, beginning descent."

My friend answered, "What does it look like down there?"

"Like Hell frozen over. What did I do to draw this world?"

"Really? Remember the incident with the Captain's daughter?"

"Oh, yeah..." But in my defense, it was consensual.

From orbit, Planet XK-42 looked like a giant snowball. I selected a landing site near a warm spot, where 'warm' was a relative term. The ship AI, which I named Bob, landed on three footpads with barely a bump.

The external sensors registered a breathable atmosphere, albeit thin. But because of the deadly cold, I wore an environmental suit. In drone form, Bob followed me outside like an oversized bumblebee.

The perpetual winter that stretched past horizons had a kind of stark beauty, though. The warm spot was actually a sub-terrain vent. It looked like a broad volcano cinder cone, but made of ice crystals that gleamed like countless diamonds in the sunlight. Tiny sparkles drifted down from the billowing steam cloud. Riding a hover-skid, I ascended to the top.

"What do you make of this, Bob?" I asked.

"Vent gas compositional analysis shows traces of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane  — biosignature compounds, sir."

I perked up. "Hmm, life? Maybe an abominable snowman?"

"Highly unlikely, sir. Such monsters--"

"It was a joke, Bob." I peered down into the deep blue depths. "Ready to go down the rabbit hole?"

"Rabbits are unlikely... Oh, I see, sir. An Alice in Wonderland reference? Shall I watch for the Red Queen?"

"Good one, Bob."

After descending through three kilometers of solid ice, we emerged into a massive cavern that extended beyond sight. The ice ceiling cast down diffuse bluish light from all directions, creating no shadows. Below, clear steams meandered within lush reddish-green forests. In carved out clearings, laminar smoke drifted up from rounded wooden huts.

A world within a world.

"Wonderland, indeed," I muttered.

Upon landing, a crowd of tall blue biped creatures with four arms gathered round, gawking with large black eyes. At the direction of one, they presented strange round fruits. Then, lowering to knees, they spoke in unison with squeaks and clicks.

"They seem to believe you are a deity, sir." Bob said.

After a long stroll through Wonderland, recording data along the way, we departed, leaving behind my worshipers. I could hardly contain my glee. This was the humanity's first contact with alien sentient life — perhaps the greatest discovery ever, and sure to bring me fame.

But as the Adiona lifted off, troubling thoughts crossed my mind.

"Bob, delete all data and reference to what we discovered below the ice."

"May I ask why, sir?"

"These beings are innocent. And in humanity's history, such contact with civilizations like theirs rarely ends well for them."

"A moral decision, sir?"

I sighed. "I know. Doesn't happen often."