Sci-fi Shorts

Lunar discovery

A Friday afternoon was as boring as it could get on the lunar research station.

"When does our shift end?" asked Zalus Comet, a researcher looking at the lunar surface outside.

"Only five more hours," replied Allan Perry, checking a datapad. "Then we'll go home."

"Only five? We're supposed to transfer to Earth after this! But noooo, we've got to be working. The Sea of Tranquility's the most boring spot there is here!" exclaimed Zalus.

"Zalus, show some respect. The Apollo 11 mission was in the Sea of Tranquility. You should be honored!" Owen Lancaster said.

"Honored? Yeah, I feel honored to be in this drab office. What's our paint job? Bleak gray, just like the moon. What's this place? A listening post. There's nothing to do! All there is the occasional meteor shower. It isn't the same back on Earth. AI does the job there. Us? A few measly robots that malfunction regularly. Why's there a listening post without anything to listen to?"

"All right people, I've got a mission," Rain Serkis said as she entered the room.

Everyone in the office got up and stood at attention.

"Sit down. We've got a matter on our hands," she ordered. "Now, there was a meteor shower last night. Everything seemed normal, until we picked up a strange frequency. We've never seen anything like it. I need you to scout the area. Here's the coordinates."

She tossed a microchip to Zalus.

"They were last recorded here, by the entrance to the Sea of Serenity. The rovers have been prepared."

An hour later, they were ready to go.

"I await the results here. Good luck!" Rain told them.

The rovers sped to the border of the seas of Tranquility and Serenity, unsure of what awaits them.

"What do you think we'll find?" asked Allan.

"With our luck, it'll just be a satellite that collided with another one, and was sent here from the rebound," grumbled Zalus.

The rovers pulled up to the area where the meteor shower was. Almost immediately, something was off.

"Hey guys, isn't that the recovery team's communication device?" asked Owen, panic creeping up in his voice.

Zalus walked over to the object, and picked it up.

"Yeah, must've been broken by something. Looks like it was destroyed, maybe smashed?"

"Let's not find out," Owen said quietly.

After a few minutes of searching the area, another anomaly was discovered .

"Guys, I've found something strange. I did a thermal scan, and I'm picking up a heat signature from over there," Allan said.

A heat signature?

"Blasters out everyone, this might get deadly," Zalus commanded.

They silently pulled out their guns and walked to the heat signature. When they got there, what they saw was not expected.

A tinny voice could be heard saying "Hello? Is this thing on? If you can hear me, we're trapped in a starship not far from you. Can you help us?"

Maybe staying a while longer on the moon might be worth it.