We awoke to discover the brain on our ship compromised by a mysterious fungus caused by several fragment strikes. Over half of our crew evaporated due to loss of ship's water volume and pressure.
All scanning systems inoperative.
Surviving data indicates destination world ideal with over 70% water. The dominant lifeforms are reptilian, non-intelligent but environmentally stressed due to extreme volcanism.
Our abandoned ship will strike the planet.
Initiated mitotic protocols for lifeboat: we plan a manual landing on the single, large moon. Speculate moon should have similar waterscape as planet.
If so, we survive to swim. Water is hope!
* * *
This drabble appeared in the Micro-August Anthology, a collection of stories from August 2019 contests sponsored by MicroBytes and adultfiction.
I wrote this after thinking about the idea that the dinosaurs, already stressed by planetary volcanism and some other factors, were pushed over the edge to extinction by some sort of extraterrestrial strike. Instead of an asteroid, why not half a giant alien ship?
YOU ARE READING
Survive to Swim
Science FictionA new but growing collection of scifi micro-fiction and poetry. Remember, Water is Hope!
