March 25th, 2675
The Halcyon
Unknown Moon Orbiting Unknown Gas Giant, Unknown SpaceDesree wondered why everything within her throbbed like she had fallen off of the rope wall. Her breath seemed to escape her much like the feeling when falling straight on her back. Why she was hurting so much? She didn't know. The last thing she remembered was taking Silas' shift and the glowing lights. The Phenomenon.
Desree jolted awake, her heartbeat rising as memories flooded back into her mind. She at least recognized her surroundings. She was on the Halcyon in her pilot's seat, sore and achy, but at least her dashboard looked okay.
Desree couldn't help but notice that none of her crew was with her and it was eerily quiet aboard the Halcyon. Desree blinked a few times to clear her vision, noting that mud covered the window, blocking the view of the world outside of the ship. Desree clicked a few controls, noting that nothing was responding. The moon. She had forgotten she had crash-landed on the moon.
"Gulf trash," Desree spat out, trying to get up, but pain seared across her shoulder. With a cry of pain, Desree lifted herself from the seat carefully. She must have sprained her shoulder. Desree hoped that the other members of the Halcyon were in better shape than she was in their detachable shuttle, the Haven.
Desree reached over with her non-injured arm, clicking on the intersystem communications channel. "Scavengers, do you copy?" All Desree got in return was a static buzz. "This is Desree Pepin of Scavenger VII, captain of the Halcyon. Does anybody copy?"
Letting out a huff, Desree looked towards the window as sunlight streaked through the mud and into the cabin. She needed to see outside but didn't want to step all over her beautiful console. She cleaned her regularly, making sure no one like Silas Burton touched her, but here Desree was about to step on top of her. With a brief apology to the Halcyon, Desree used the chair as a stepping stone onto the console so she could see through the less muddied places near the top of the window.
If Desree had no memory of what had happened before she crash-landed, she would have thought she was back on Earth. Maybe back in time, but Earth nonetheless. She felt like if she blinked, a dinosaur would appear and devour her ship whole. Large pine-like trees towered above the horizon, blocking the view and any possibility of seeing where her team had landed... if they had landed.
A large bird-like creature flew out of the tree line, flapping its four wings as it soared across the bluish-purple sky. Desree's eyes widened. What the heck was that? She hadn't even thought of alien life until now. Was this even real? Did I go back in time? That had to be a dinosaur.
Pain shot through Desree's shoulder as she jumped from the dashboard. "Yep, definitely real," she muttered through clenched teeth as she held her arm close to her body. She really needed to stop jumping around like a parkour master when she, in fact, was not one.
YOU ARE READING
Expedition Nu: The Wilds and Wastes | Book 1 of the Expedition Nu series
Science Fiction𝕊𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕠𝕟 𝕄𝕒𝕣𝕤 𝕨𝕒𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕟, 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕘𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕝𝕠𝕤𝕥 𝕚𝕟 𝕒𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕘𝕒𝕝𝕒𝕩𝕪 𝕨𝕒𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕠𝕦𝕥𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖. Captain Desree Pepin's one job was to get the crew of the Halcyon to Mars and settle down, but she...