Ｐｒｏｊｅｃｔ Ｇｅｎｅｓｉｓ

Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ １

I couldn't be sure of exactly how much time had passed between passing out and then waking up. It could have been a few hours or a few days. If I was going by the dry scratchiness of my parched throat, I'd say it had been weeks.

My body felt like it had been in a fight with a kick boxer, well, more like it had lost a fight with a kick boxer. Looking around the cabin of the safety pod, there were no windows. No way to tell what awaited me outside my cocoon of relative safety. I pushed my body up, back against the convex walls.

Suddenly, the intense need to hurl beset me and I lurched forward, losing my lunch all over the floor. Only, upon closer inspection, it was actually the roof. I was sitting on the roof of the safety pod. Why was I sitting on the roof.

I tried to think back to the moments before I passed out. I had definitely been in my seat. There was no time to ponder the matter, I needed to take action. I was alive, that was what mattered.

The first thing on my agenda was to check for any injuries. Everything seemed fine except for my chest and shoulders, which were a little tender. Nothing serious came up.

I knew I couldn't sit around, wallowing in my own vomit for much longer. So, despite my daze, a possible sign of concussion, I crawled over to the door of the safety pod. Only, there was a slight problem. You see, the door wouldn't budge.

Frustrated, I kicked it, immediately regretting my decision as I hopped around on one foot muttering curses. "Blast you! Useless tin can." I was as good as a sitting duck. A prepackaged meal to whatever might inhabit this planet. No...I was getting too far ahead of myself. It was probably empty. No one had found any signs of life anywhere else, why would this be any different?

Spurred on by that knowledge, I located the emergency exit. The hatch was faced downwards but it wasn't quite touching the ground yet. I could probably crawl through it. Pulling the red lever, the cap made a popping sound before the door released its seal.

Pushing the hatch up, I clambered onto all fours and wiggled through the hole.

A similar blackness to that of outer space met my vision. For a second, I almost wondered if I was still floating out in space but the firmness of the ground underneath my palms squished that ridiculous thought. It actually resembled night time, like back on Earth.

In hindsight, it was probably quite foolish to disregard standard procedure upon exploration of a new planet. One of those protocols being to wear an oxymask at all times. However, as I crawled further out of the pod, I was breathing in the planet's air just fine. In fact, it felt great. Cleaner. Fresher than Earth's air.

I sniffed in a big hoard of air into my lungs, breathing it back out noisily.

After a few moments, the exhilaration of breathing in fresh air dissipated. The lonely darkness seemed to grow closer, more suffocating as I let it all sink in. I was completely, and utterly, alone.

There must of been some kind of day time, because we had noted a star in the solar system of this planet. When it happened though, I had absolutely no idea. Sun light might never reach this place.

With no light, I didn't want to stray from the safety of the pod. That being said, I wasn't just going to sit around and wait for King Kong to come and kidnap me. The pod had on emergency lighting, so that you could see where you were going when you landed. Crawling back inside the pod, I pulled open the survival compartment. It contained everything I might need.

The first thing I did was to grab the thermosuit. It was designed with a type of smart fabric that acted as a good insulator and also changed colour to camouflage the wearer. Stripping of my clothes, I hastily wriggled into the thermosuit. Pulling on my clothes over the top. The cold of the night was already creeping into the pod cabin. It was a biting cold.