Avatar 3: From The Stars

Chapter 04: Pandora

 After that incident in the space shuttle, I was forced to keep the oxygen mask on.

Not that it would make a difference, everyone was forced to wear an oxygen mask, exopacks they call them, the second the doors of the space shuttle opened. The air was different here.

The atmosphere had nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, xenon, methane, and hydrogen sulfide. Human lungs in this kind of atmosphere could kill a man in four minutes. There's too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, making it unbreathable and poisonous for humans.

That weird dream I had during transmission still bothers me. It's more blurry now, harder to recall what happened. All I could remember was what I felt.

Sirens blared, lights flashed, a creaking rumbled, and the bridge to the outside opened. I walked out with the doctors, and a handful of soldiers were ready to escort us. All of them had masks on as well.

It felt rushed and we were practically pushed into a building. The people that we passed would give stares, some of curiosity while others were stern and cold.

Doors clicked and locked behind us. Masks were taken off, including mine. I was rushed into the medical section for a checkup.

It was tiring. I was tired. The dream kept probing through my brain and it was all I could think about. It was like a video that had gotten too interesting, leaving everything that was happening in real-time a blur.

It was a broken record overall. I recalled the nice parts of the dream and then the horrible spilled over, like an unwanted chant. That's the way it felt when days had passed, three days to be exact.

I hadn't really slept. I was scared too because it felt like the moment I would shut my eyes, dreams would flood in. Memories that weren't mine would be so vivid and clear, but the second I woke up, they would become foggy.

Instead of falling asleep, I spent the days and nights exploring every inch of the building I was placed in. I wasn't allowed to leave, yet.

They had a special room set for me, one I didn't really bother seeing often. My curiosity was too heightened just to be staying in one room.

There was a specific vent in the room that could lead me away from anyone and let me roam around to my heart's content.

It was placed just above my bed and wasn't that hard to take the panel off and on whenever I pleased.

I crawled through the vents, my eyes scanning ahead as my pupils adjusted to the darkness. I liked it here; it was cold, but it was quiet.

The lab was my destination. The doctors and scientists had settled in nicely there, considering all the equipment that had been left behind. I for one, was excited about seeing all the things they worked on. I had never in my life seen such beautiful things glow the way they did in that lab.

No one was there, which wasn't much of a surprise considering how late it was. Still, you could see the bioluminescent fauna in containers glow in the dark, lighting the place up. It made the dark look so much better than it would with my own eyes.

I quietly popped the vent out, slowly making my way out and into the lab. Carefully, I set it back into place and finally turned to witness everything in its glory. Test tubes, containers, and loads of equipment, all surround the area.

My eyes landed on something that was glowing. It was blue and I wasn't sure what it was. Could it be a plant? Maybe algae? Who knows. I hadn't had a chance to ask.

As I moved, my footsteps were quiet, inching closer and closer to the tube. I peered inside, taking a sniff out of pure curiosity. It didn't smell bad or weird; not sure what it smelled like.