Extraterrestrial Exploration

chapter 1

Violent shaking, the sound of alarms whaling in my ears, and the warning lights that flashed before my eyes.

All of it was like something out of a nightmare. the sense of doom and dread that coursed through me at that moment, the feeling of utter fear...

I knew right then and there that I had made a terrible mistake. I spent So many years working this job to build myself a better life... all those years, for what? To die like this? In the vast emptiness of space, alone and Afraid? There was so much i had yet to experience in life...so much to explore...

"Mayday, mayday this is science vessel B-A128, requesting immediate rescue upon our location!" my companion's voice was cut off as the entire ship rocked from an explosion. "We're going down! I repeat we are going down!!"

As the ship descended into the atmosphere of an unknown planet all i could do was close my eyes and brace myself. I covered my ears and tried to think happy thoughts, thinking about anything other than the violent tremors rattling the structure around me. But it was hard to ignore it with the sirens blaring out in alarm and my body being jerked around harshly.

Tears stung my eyes as an artificial voice rang out warning us of our proximity to the planet's surface. The last thing i remember was thinking to myself..

'This isn't how I want my life to end...'

—----

groaning, I slowly opened my eyes to find myself lying on the floor of the ship. My body felt battered and sore as I pushed myself up onto my hands and knees, before lifting my head to look around. The interior of our ship was in complete disarray with panels busted, wires hanging from the walls, and a clutter of paper and other random items strewn about.

Holding my head I winced as A throbbing headache racked through my brain and I felt a sting on the side of my face. Pulling my hand back, I did not like the sight of blood on my fingertips. I could only hope i didnt have a concussion.

Standing on my feet I stabilized myself against the wall and made my way to the back of the ship, to the best of my ability, considering Everything was tilted at an angle. We must've Crashed onto the planet we were surveying.

As I went I noticed two of my companions lying on the ground, both unconscious. I quickly checked their pulses and bodies for any major injuries. To my relief they were both still alive, just a bit scratched up. Sighing in relief i attempted to awaken them.

"Hey, wake up! Jake, Matthew!" I shook them both and they awoke, similar to how I had, groaning and Cursing.

"What the hell happened?"Jake asked.

"I'm not sure but we need to get up and assess the damage and our current situation," I stated.

I gave them a few moments to recover before the three of us got to our feet and attempted to get the ship's systems up and running for a diagnostics check. Fortunately for us, the ship's power was still up and running as well as life support but the comms seemed to be down and we could not get the blast shield to open or much else to work. Matt helped to patch up my head injury while i did a much more thorough check on us both for any hidden injuries. Jake continued to try and get the ship's systems up and ended up having to reboot everything.

"fuck me, OK Matt, Nala, suit up and go check on our situation outside I'm gonna try to get our systems up and running."

We both nodded and headed for the bay. Once inside we suited up and prepared ourselves for the worst as we hit the button to open the bay doors. As the ramp lowered itself down we were blinded by light and I had to shield my face with my arm to keep from hurting my eyes.

After a moment of adjusting, I walked down the ramp and found it hard to believe what I was seeing before me. My eyes widened at the sight of the lush beautiful alien forest, a whole ecosystem, unlike anything we had ever seen before, surrounding us.

I stared at the sight in awe, amazed by all the unique and colorful sights. Matt stood beside me just as baffled by the sight.

We were the first humans to have stepped foot on this uncharted alien world. There was no telling what kind of secrets a place like this might hold...

--5 days later–

"Piece of junk!" Jack raged from the cockpit.

I glanced Down the hall towards him with an arched brow as he kicked the computer console for the ship, clearly frustrated. We had been trying to regain contact with–well anyone, but the systems were practically fried during the crash, and the ship was in no shape to fly again so now we were stranded. We were lucky that the hull hadn't been breached and life-support was still giving us clean air but tensions were high and we were all struggling to keep our heads on straight. It was a miracle none of us had had a full-blow panic attack.... yet.

"Beating up and destroying the ship more isn't going to fix our situation-" I stated plainly from my spot in the hallway.

Jack glared back at me practically fuming. I could almost see smoke coming from his ears. "Oh sorry! At least I'm doing something! Unlike your lazy ass that just sits around drawing pictures of flowers all day! Maybe if you were actually useful we might've had a breakthrough already!"

I stood up feeling my own anger rising. "Excuse me!? I'm not just sitting around! I'm cataloging alien flora! I'm a biologist, not an engineer!"

"Well your biology ain't doing jack shit for us right now, now is it!?" Jack snapped.

"What is your problem!?" I snapped back. Now raising my voice to match his own.

"my problem? My problem is that we are completely stranded here with no way to call for help, with dead weight like you that's just going to sit around eating our rations and providing nothing for the team!" I nearly stepped back feeling like I had just been punched in the gut. I had been doing my best to help out any way I could but there was only so much I could do, I can't believe he is talking to me in such a way.

"guys!" Matt quickly jumped in separating the two of us. "Chill out! We aren't enemies! We are all in the same boat here okay? Tensions are high but we can't be fighting like this!"

Balling my fists I spitefully glared back at Jack before turning around and Making my way back to the ship. "Nala? Where are you going?!" Matt called after me.

Jake merely scoffed Crossing his arms. "Probably to go look at some more flowers."

"I'm going to go do something 'useful' like you want!" i snapped back.

"Nala wait! It's too dangerous to go out alone! You don't know what's out there!" Matt tried to reason.

"No, I do have an idea of What's out there because as a xeno-biologist it's my job to study wild animals and plant life on different planets. I'm the one person here who can tell if something is toxic or edible. The one person who can find a safe water source or even a reliable source of oxygen! So we'll see just how useless I am when our food and water rations run out and you two have to rely on me to feed us!"

With that last outburst, I suited up, put my helmet on, and made my way outside of The ship.

'If they wanted me to be useful then fine, I'll be useful! I'll be the one to keep us alive until a rescue team arrives.'