?? CHAPTER 2 ??
The morning didn't make things better. The morning revealed an even bigger problem than we’d anticipated the night before. Something that hadn’t even occurred to a single one of us.
We’re on the wrong planet.
We emerge from our tents one at a time. I appreciate the warmth of the sunlight on my still-damp skin. It will be nice to get this jumpsuit dried off. I stare up at the two suns rising - one far in the distance and dim, the other cresting the horizon, so similar to the sun of our old home.
Then, just off to my right, I notice the rings.
That can’t be right.
Planet Ontasun, the current location of our first wave of human settlers, has no rings. It has these two suns, yes. It’s supposed to have two moons. Three continents, two ice poles. And no rings.
But there they are, a glorious golden light reflecting off of them as they curve high and higher through the sky. I’m only assuming they surround the entire planet, but that’s how it looks from down here on the ground. They disappear so far into the distance. This must be Antasun - right galaxy, wrong planet. Close, but at the same time, so far off.
“No! What the fuck?!” Arjun’s voice cuts through our stunned silence. Our astronaut and pilot. He’ll surely know what to do?
But he isn’t cursing at the sky, he’s cursing at our crashed ship.
“I can’t fix this. We can’t fix this.” He tugs on his frazzled black hair.
Our poor vessel does look completely wrecked. The silver Sun Crane gleamed brand new when it blasted us away from earth; proud and powerful, it felt indestructible to us. Now it’s on its side, and it looks as if it was nearly torn in half. That explains how the rain was getting in.
“Breathe,” Faith says to him, taking his hand. She’s our captain, also an astronaut, and Arjun’s wife. “We’ll figure something out. We have the supplies-”
“The launch engine is gone,” he says, spinning on her. “It broke away and who-the-fuck knows where it is. It could be anywhere on this planet. Or it could be orbiting us right now! Fuck, it could be floating into one of the suns!”
“We’ll figure it out,” Faith says. But her brows crease as she looks up at our broken ship.
I turn, following the path of the rings. Could our engine be drifting up there amongst the rocks and the dust? I don’t want to think about that possibility. I push the thought away.
The rings extend over a forest and beyond. We’ve landed in some sort of clearing, but just beyond a long downward slope of bluish-green grass is a forest. So, that’s encouraging, I guess. I’m not a scientist, but green life means this place is livable, right? We’re breathing the air. For a crash landing on the wrong planet, we could be in a much worse situation.
However. We do have four dead. This is still a tragedy. Still a disaster.
The forest itself appears to be similar enough to an earth forest. Another sign that this planet could be habitable. The colors are a little wrong; they’re a little too close to teal to be totally earth-like. But the trees are leafy, and branch-y, and tall. Small animals chitter and fly in the air above. None close enough to see, but they appear pretty bird-like from a distance.
I’m the first to spot the smoke.
“Uh, guys? Faith?”
She takes a long moment to realize I’m calling to her. “What is it, Macie?” I know she doesn’t mean to snap, so I ignore it.
“Is it possible that the first wave group is here? Maybe the info was bad but the coordinates correct? Like... could they be here?”
She shakes her head. “I can’t imagine how.”
“‘Cause, uh, there’s smoke. Past the forest.” And if it isn’t them, it’s... someone else? Something else? Now that’s a panic-inducing thought.
Arjun perks up. “There is?” He jogs to where I’m standing and peers into the distance, where the thin trail of black smoke is rising beyond the trees. “Our engine would have come in hot. It could have set some trees on fire. That could be it!”
“Okay,” Faith says. “Team C will check it out. We’ve got too many injured and too much unknown for all of us to go.”
Getting lost was one scenario we planned for back on earth. Not upon an entirely different planet, but still. The plan stands. Those of us - yes, us, that includes me - on Team C get the fun task of arming ourselves and marching off into the unknown.
“Team Expendable” we nicknamed ourselves. It will be me, Skye the artist, Hope the third farmer, Quinn the chef, and one of the soldiers. Team C’s assigned soldier, Rick, is still unconscious in the tent.
“Judd will go with you,” Faith decides. “Let’s get the guns. There’s no time to waste.”