'Captain Marina, we need you on deck!' Her head shot up as her name echoed through the intercoms. She looked at the men and woman sitting in front of her.
'I apologize, ladies, gentlemen. We will continue this conversation on a later occasion.' They nodded, saluting their captain and she hurried out of the room. She pushed through the busy hallways, filled with workers heading to the cafeteria for lunch. She glanced down at her watch, wondering why they had interrupted her. Her calendar clearly stated she was going to be in a meeting with the people back home. She let out an irritated sigh, running a hand through her hair. When she reached the main gate leading to the deck, she pulled her blazer forward, straightening out the sleeves. She let it fall open over her cream-white blouse that was tucked in her black cotton pants. She scanned her hand on the keypad and the doors swung open. All attention was turned to her and everyone stood to salute her. She lifted up her hand, radiating calmness and power.
'Please, as we discussed, there is no need for you to great me every time I enter a room.' The crew nodded in unison as if they had one mind and returned to their stations. Her second in command walked up to her, an eager smile on his face.
'Xavier. You better have a damn good reason for calling me out of that meeting.' Xavier nodded enthusiastically.
'Of course, Megan...' He dropped quiet, rubbing his hands together eagerly.
'Come on, spit it out.' Xavier blinked, seeming confused what she was saying for a moment.
'Right. Of course... Come on, you need to see this.' He turned around, striding to the large window in the front of the ship. Megan followed him, gazing out the window. 'We're here... We found her. We found Earth.' Megan's lips parted slightly as she studied the blue, green and white sphere in front of them. A smile started forming on her lips, but as her eyes shot across the earth, studying it, a slight frown started forming on her face. Something was off.
'This isn't right...' She mumbled. She turned around, walking to one of the free computers. She pulled up the mission file, scrolling down. She shook her head. 'We need to turn around,' she breathed. She stood tall, clearing her throat. 'Listen up everyone. We're turning around. Now. We're going home.' The crew all wore matching frowns, not understanding why their captain was ordering them to turn around after they had just found what they had spent months searching for. The crew, however, didn't challenge her order but immediately got to work programming in the next destination.
'Megan? What are you doing?' Megan turned around, her eyes meeting Xavier's. 'Our mission was to find Earth. To land there and see if it was survivable.' Megan's eyes were hard as she shook her head.
'We land there, we die. Earth is the quarantine planet.'
---
500 words... Whoops :)
Song: Radioactive - Imagine Dragons
Hope you enjoyed reading that as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Lots of love,
Em,
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Aim to Engage Short Stories
Short StoryJust a bunch of short stories for the Aim to Engage contest. All of these are based on the prompts they've provided.
