Scarlet Sea (Collection Of Stories)

Back to Earth?

June 26,2095:-
"Dear Diary,
It has been so calm and quiet lately. The last incident truly made me realise how lonely and helpless we are in this vast universe. It has been a while since my last entry, so in case you don't remember me , I am Oscaar Isaac, a thirty five year old astronaut at NASA, who, since the past five years, has been in search of a new inhabitable planet with my crew. Yes, we do have a few colonies at Mars but its always best to have a backup considering the fact that we are dealing with humans, the deadliest species of all. And yes, I am writing this in my humble abode , my spacecraft , ASTER-12CX. First, let me introduce you all to my crew:-
1.Jason Kenneth :- Thirty three years old.
Currently Dead.
2.Prajakta Koshi:- Twenty nine years old.
Currently Dead.
3.Chris Watts :- Forty five years old.
Currently Dead.
4.Alejandro López:- Thirty two years old.
Currently Dead.
That's right, they're all dead.......
Thanks for reading. Stay safe"

June 29,2095:-
"Dear Diary,
It was March 18 this year, another routine checkup day for the shuttle. This day would always excite me as you could walk out of the shuttle(space walk), have a look at the eternal void around you and if you are lucky enough you might catch a glimpse of some stars, galaxies, nebulas and even planets. The day started normally. We were getting Jason into a space suit and all , buckling him up with harnesses and backup oxygen masks. Then he stepped out into the airlock and as he made his way towards the other side there was a huge crack followed by rapid reeling of something and the next thing we knew, the harness reeled out of the winch and gushed out of the shuttle along with Jason. What the heck! Is Jason floating in the vacuum with no attachment to the shuttle?.... We lost a life that day and his soul-less body is levitating somewhere in this vast universe still waiting for rescue. Space walking turned out to be a curse. I can't write anymore, I feel tired.
Thanks gor reading. Stay safe"

July 6,2095:-
"Dear Diary,
We had finally found one planet, around 5 million light years from Earth in the Andromeda Galaxy. The planet had a promising atmosphere and our radar caught traces of water. We soft landed and began to venture out the surroundings. We saw so many forms of organisms and species. A winged butterfly with legs, a creeping plant like creature with eyes and a lot more. We could now slowly see the silhouette of a mountain in front of us as we walked through the foggy weather. But as we steered closer we got an element of surprise. "It's a damn wave",
Prajakta shouted. And that was enough for us to turn a hundred and eighty degrees around and bolt back towards the shuttle. I have never run faster in my life. We barged inside and the wave hit the shuttle just moments after we closed the door. Long live the scientists who made the shuttle. We survived but one of us didn't. I couldn't find Prajakta anywhere inside the ship. Went outside to see her lying just a few metres ahead. She was gone. Her helmet had cracked and on top of that she got ambushed by the wave. If only I could bring her inside the ship in time. She was a really nice person and she definitely did not deserve to go like that.
Thanks for reading. Stay safe."

July 23, 2095:-
"Dear Diary,
Chris was probably the unluckiest of them all. He died like a chicken. Okay that's not funny. Guess humour always helps in serious situations. It was towards the end of May and we got a warning from the station that we were most likely to be hit by a phenomenon resembling a solar storm but as long we stayed inside the ship it would be fine, which we full heartedly followed. It was around ten minutes to the hit when this idiot (Chris) came up with the amazing idea of finding out who could stand the longest during the storm. Both me and Alejandro told him that it was foolish, but all he said was "live a little". The greatest hypocrite ever. He hit his head at the corner of the ship and knocked the living soul out of himself. Play stupid games and win stupid prizes. The saddest part is that his corpse is still in a cryogenic chamber on board for his family to meet him, if we return someday. This time I wasn't even surprised but the next event caught me off-guard. After the storm our shuttle lost communication with the ground so one of us had to spacewalk and fix the antenna outside. Alejandro took on the responsibility and I assured it myself that his harness and everything were properly anchored after what happened last time. He walked out and everything was fine until I realised he had been out there for too long. I peered outside only to see him attached to the body of the ship vibrating. He got electrocuted. I couldn't think of anyway to detach him and save him. God did that for me as I saw his lifeless body dangling around the ship. I couldn't bring him back inside so I had to detach his harness and let him float away. Wow I was truly all alone now.
Thanks for reading. Stay safe."

Closing the diary Oscaar took in the eternal void surrounding him. He had no idea exactly where in space he was as the strorm threw them somewhere beyond their knowledge. Although Alejandro was successful in establishing communication the ground crew had informed that it would take time to locate Oscaar. "Planet approaching " , the control monitor beeped taking Oscaar by surprise. He looked outside the window and relief flooded him as he found the ship mooring towards Earth. He was delighted and the thought of meeting real people aside from the Artificial Intelligence on board overwhelmed him. He sent a quick message to ground stating "I'm coming home guys". "Excuse me, what?" . "Yeah, I'm entering our atmosphere " . "No, you're not" . "Yes I AM!". Excitement clouded his logical thinking. Silence followed. Out of the blue Oscaar exclaimed, "I am in the atmosphere......but why is the ship not slowing down?" . "Firstly Oscaar you are nowhere near Earth, our satellites can't locate you and secondly your ship is facing deceleration problems". "I can literally see Australia and I ain't blind or stupid. Your system is what's stupid". Confusion arose among the ground crew. There is no way that their hundreds of satellites and radars and other stuff are malfunctioning. Oscaar sent another message, "I did not want it to end this way. The shuttle is not slowing down and at this pace it is going to directly hit the Bondi Beach, the most populated of them all. I have to put the ship to self-destruct mode. I have tried and tried but I cannot get it to stop or even slow down before it makes impact , I am sorry but at least my last breath will be on my home planet." "No, Oscaar, listen to me, you are no where near Earth rather you are not even in this damn solar system, try to turn the shuttle around and accelerate at its maximum and get out of there, you are not on Earth. Oscar are you there? Listen to m-" . "Status of ASTER -12CX self destruction successful."

Turns out Oscaar was not daydreaming and it took the scientists 5 years to finally figure out where Oscaar took his last breath .Technically he was right, it was Earth but not the Earth where he was born .About 12 million light years away there lies a planet that has the same atmosphere and the same ecosystem as that of our planet Earth and is supposedly inhabited by "humans".The scientists have named the planet "the Green Planet" after Earth (blue planet). Looks like Oscaar and team were successful in their voyage after all. They managed to fulfill their mission.
Thank You Oscar and his entire team, your sacrifice will always be remembered as one of the greatest sacrifices towards space exploration. To the five heroes, we hope to possibly meet you again some day, somewhere in the future. You have proved to us that faith, self belief, teamwork and trust on each other gets us through all highs and lows. As for Oscaar, he did not come back to our Earth but he did go to Earth.

++++++++++Thanks for reading++++++++++

Do leave your honest feedback. This is my first time publishing so I am kind of scared but hope this goes well. 🤞🤞

_____________________________________________