Year 4039.
A journey to outer space had always been a distant dream to explorers like herself because of the dangers that accompanied it. Many had given up the hope to embark on such deadly exploration. She and her teammates however had an unquenchable taste for adventure and knowledge and this had driven them to examine the hard and wild vacuum called space. They invested time, energy, and money in their cause and worked their asses off to get to this point.
Captain Laura stared at her team's final handiwork with admiration, respect, and pride clouding her features. She couldn't believe how far they had come, and what they were about to accomplish. They were about to make history that would be remembered for centuries to come. In the past, journeying to outer space beyond the solar system had been only a dream filled with an inexhaustible amount of complexities coated in numerous hazards that sometimes fed off each other and deterred astronauts.
She and her crew had taken it upon themselves to break the routine. They used ground-based analogs, laboratories, and test beds to study the hazards that are deadly to the human body when exposed to it and were confident that they could survive a trip to outer space without getting gutted by the hostile environment. They were prepared for the risks of space radiation, isolation, gravitational force, and lack of. They were prepared for anything the enigmatic atmospheric space would throw at them, as long as they returned with priceless information about the enigmatic space.
She walked around their formidable spacecraft, built with the aid of the government and smiled with anticipation.
"Are we ready for the mission?"
"Yes," George, the technical scientist on their team responded. Their team was an oddball with various talents shaping it. She signaled for everyone to board up, and took her place in front of the spacecraft. She was the main navigator though she had trained backups when the need arose. With deft hands she had the spaceship shooting through the air into outer space. Earth their safe abode soon faded into the background opening new uncharted territories to their view and senses.
Her team and she were completely blown by the beautiful spread before them. They marveled at the physical features of space that were so rich in paradoxes. At first glance, space looked empty but contained valuable raw matter and energy and dangerous fluxes of radiation that looked deceptively attractive in the way they glow. They easily lure one into danger if care is not taken.
She sighed deeply thinking how to the naked eye, the outer space might look featureless but in truth has hills and valleys of gravitation. It might look lifeless but she was certain space offers some sort of life to other creatures unknown to them. And that was one of the reasons they were embarking on this perilous trip with traps in every valley and crevice. They were on a mission to discover anything profound that would add to life on earth or educate.
She has a technician (George), a nutritionist (Cynthia), a scientist in the field of chemistry and botany (Alan), and a lieutenant (Luke) on her team. She was an astronomer and the captain of the spaceship and it was her duty to keep everyone safe. With that mindset, she focused on getting them safely to their coordinated destination in one piece.
She was so focused on looking out for black holes caused by a dying star that she missed a sweep of space dust so strong it temporarily blinded their vision and she was forced to navigate through it and hope for the best. Her crew started to panic, but she refused to allow her fear to rule her. She was trained for this, her spaceship was built for this sort of hazard– so there's nothing to be scared of, or so she hoped until they were attacked by an asteroid belt that threw them off course. Her spacecraft 'the silver Bettle' had barely survived the hazardous dust and now this.
"Hang on tight!" she screamed at her crew as she tried to maneuver the spacecraft through the debris of rocky stones. Her efforts were only worth so much as the rocky monsters became determined to eradicate them from existence. She guided the spaceship with all her might through the hits and hard impacts that shook the interior and all within like a tornado hell-bent on destruction, but finally succumbed to defeat as she lost control of the manuals and was thrown into an abyss way beyond their comprehension. They lost consciousness when they landed roughly.
She had no idea how long they lost touch with reality, but when she came to, her vision took in her surroundings in shock. "Cynthia! George! Alan! Luke! Get up!" she called out urgently, falling out of her cockpit and then staggering to her feet. She approached her crews as fast as she could and shook them awake, and together they stared at the wonder cocooning them.
"Where are we?" Alan asked softly, as if scared to voice his curiosity.
"What's this place?" Cynthia prodded, and she could sense Cynthia was mesmerized. They seemed to have landed on a planet or something, she couldn't be sure. But she was certain of one thing, she had never seen such a spread before. Everything within their visual was silvery white; it felt as if they had landed on an expanse of crystals. There were sharp boulders of crystals shooting skyward and creating glistening walls that stretched far and wide, cocooning and giving them a sense of security. It seemed they had stumbled upon a lost civilization though she couldn't see any life yet. But everything within her sight was pointing to that fact.
"We need to traverse this planet and unravel its mysteries," Alan suggested grabbing some tiny pieces of equipment and shoving them into a portable backpack.
"Let's not forget this might be a hostile environment and caution must be taken while invading it," Luke advised from his position by the outlet. He had already suited up. Laura geared up and then told George, to fix any damage impacted on the spaceship during their trip and keep it running in case they needed a quick getaway. George nodded in response, understanding her decision though he was a bit disappointed to be left out. Cynthia also stayed behind in case he needed some help with anything. The rest of the team exited the spacecraft after the tight-lipped door opened with a whooshing sound. Their feet hit the ground and she noticed how strange it felt to be walking on ice.
It felt like ice though it didn't melt, and she could see their reflection staring back at them as they moved further across the wide expanse of what appeared to be a road. She had no idea how long they traveled on foot before the crystalized walls opened up to reveal a formidable gateway made of thick transparent glass. They all gasped in shock when they noticed two different sets of skeletons hanging from the gate in awkward positions. She could feel their pain at the root of her heart and it left a trail of foreboding down her back that had the fine hairs on her nape shooting up. Luke quickly drew out a refined space gun, one of George's finest creations, and pointed it around. His movements and look were guarded as he perused their surroundings for any threats. But he came up empty, not even a sound was heard. They were buried in a thick shroud of silence so thick her jagged sword wouldn't penetrate it.
"I don't like this place. There's a strange energy here. Look at those bodies, I recognized one to be that of a human but the other one–I don't know what kind of a creature that's. The bones are too big and elongated."
"It must be an inhabitant of this planet," she said stating the plausible scenario. That was the only explanation that made sense to her. "Let's keep moving."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Alan interjected smoothly averting his gaze to stare at the skeletal display. "Whatever did that to them might be lurking within these gates."
"We can't turn back now. We've risked and overcome a lot of hardships to get here. We need to complete this mission. Find out what lies beyond this wall, uncover its secrets, and take the facts and news home to Mother Earth. We simply can't throw everything away because of our fright. We might discover something ground-shaking that would change the way man views the universe. Who knew a place like this existed? There's no documentation of this planet in any of our files or data."
"Agreed," Luke butted in firmly. "This mission is bigger than us and worth risking everything for. We need to proceed as planned."
"Okay fine," Alan acquiesced begrudgingly and pushed a big button on the crystalized wall that had the gates folding open with a smooth purr that depicted how advanced this planet was. They took cautious steps into the sprawling fold and noticed how untouched it was by time. It was like everything was at a standstill. Even the chilled air seemed to be frozen in place. There's a sound of flowing water ahead which prompted them to move towards that direction. What they found would forever be ingrained in their memories for eternity to come.
This was the tallest waterfall she had ever seen, flowing from the mouth of two formidable beasts of unknown species. The view was spectacular. "Alan, fetch some of the water in the empty cans. Make sure not to come in direct contact with it. We do not know if it's dangerous to humans or not," she issued to her scientist and waited for him to comply. Luke was on alert sweeping the environs and keeping his weapons steady and ready for any threat.
She also looked around and caught a sharp glint like a star beyond the waterfall. "What's that? Come on, let's check it out." They moved towards the glint once Alan was done, each step governed by caution laced with curiousity, and they tried not to be discouraged and disheartened by the pile of bones in different shapes and sizes gracing the silvery glassy floor. Finally, they stood before a building covered in glittery gems that glinted almost to the point of creating partial visual impairment. They struggle to push through the door. She let out a sound of surprise at the sharp contrast of the interior to the outer environs. This place pulsed with color and glowed with golden lights, unlike the exterior which sparkled with icy crystals.
There was a warm feel to this place and she thought it to be a sanctuary of a sort. She walked further into the room flanked by her trusted crew mates and marvelled at the symbols on the walls. It was obvious to any curious mind the symbols were ancient and meaningful. She nodded at Alan to snap some pictures of it. She moved to the other side of the glowing room and perused the shelves of ancient scrolls in writings unknown to her. This was another testament to another species of life. It spoke of an ancient empire governed by a higher level of intellect. "Luke, please help Alan to gather more data here. We need to take more pictures of everything here and gather some scrolls to carry back with us. There might be some life-changing information in here." Her body was now pumping with excitement. She moved to the center of the room and noticed a lone golden statue erected with an outstretched arm that begged to be touched, which she did with gusto, throwing caution to the wind.
She gasped in shocked alarm and jumped backward when the statue's mouth opened wide to release a talking hologram of a young man. Alan and Luke were at her side in seconds looking at the wonder before them.
"Hi there! I'm Drucian, the brain, and database of this formidable empire 'Valencia'. I'm so excited to see you! Welcome, but you can't tarry here for long. It's not safe." That got them sputtering and looking around for threats.
"What do you mean?" she asked their new friend.
"It's a long story Miss?"
"Call me, Laura." She urged softly then added in an accommodating manner. "Drucian, please give us a short version of what you mean."
"I would do better and show you," Drucian said showing them another projection of flowing images. They were amazed to see how great Valencia used to be. "This was an empire ruled by a species called Valents. We are a small colony ruled by a king and queen. Our population was just a few hundred. We only populated once in every five years, which was fine by us because we were an advanced colony proud and content with what we had. We believed in peace and in seeking out knowledge to improve our lifestyles. Everything was running smoothly until our best scientist went out on a knowledge-seeking mission but was attacked by space pirates and lost his crew in the battle that ensued. Kodak barely escaped with his life intact and found himself lost on a foreign planet called Earth." That elicited a gasp of shock from them all. Questions like when had this taken place clouded their minds and rendered them speechless. "Everything was strange to Kodak on planet Earth, and he made that obvious in the coordinated message he sent back home. Kodak realizing the humans were backward in intelligence, technology, science, medicine decided to help which cost him dearly in the end. The humans became greedy and their government seized Kodak and broke into his spacecraft and found his home coordinates. They wanted to get their hands on the liquid of ice that cured ailments incurable by their medicine. They also wanted to get their hands on every advanced technology and scientific database, anything that would better their lives at any or all cost. So they followed Kodak back home with the full intent to steal what didn't belong to them. Valencia being a closely guarded colony refused to bow to their demands leading to a blood bath that had many falling on both ends. But that wasn't what fell this great empire–"
"What did?" she couldn't hold in her curiosity any longer.
"Unbeknownst to both nations was the bigger alien threat sneaking in on them. Both armies and every living thing on this planet were wiped out by some foreign monstrous beasts with claws and teeth sharper and stronger than the dinosaurs. And the worst part was they were indestructible, their skin impenetrable making them immune to all ammunitions thrown at them from both sides. Humans and Valents forgot their disputes and fought together for a chance at survival but failed miserably. It was gruesome, and I'm the only survivor because I'm not a living entity and hid within the statue. So you see, this place ain't safe. Those things are still out there, their location unknown. You have to warn your people of this threat and you need to bring me along for I hold a world of knowledge about my world and other neighboring worlds in these environs. You wouldn't need to carry any scrolls. I have everything in my database. However, you would have to take some of the liquid ice with you for its amazing healing abilities to analyze later. You don't have much time, they have landed."
"What!" she panicked glancing around. "How do we take you along?!"
"Put your hand in the statue's mouth and pull downwards. It would reveal the silver suitcase within that's my home. Hurry now!" Drucian screamed shutting down. And she bellowed to Alan and Luke to secure what they had amassed already while she fought to do Drucian biddings. Soon they were racing as fast as they could across the silvery expanse. She radioed George to start the spacecraft and be ready to fly out. They could feel some pounding behind them but were too scared to look over their shoulders. They ran like their life depended on it and threw themselves messily into the Spaceship and witnessed one of the monsters lunged for their spacecraft but fell short when their ship shot out of Valencia into space in a race back home.
"What the hell was that!" she gritted out in shock, shuddering from the close call as she stared into the red eyes of the monster whose gaze promised excruciating death.
"Damn! That was too close for comfort!" Alan yelled moving away from the entrance. He was trying to move as far as he could from the threat. They joined the rest of the crew at the cockpit having saved the priceless items acquired from their visits. She took her place and helped pilot the spaceship home.
They would reveal their findings. The world needed to know there's a bigger threat out there than what they knew. something much worse and deadly. They needed to know about 'Valencia' the fallen empire and the enemy they now have in common. They have a war to prepare for. Something told her those monstrous creatures would be headed their way soon. Earth would have to be prepared.
History would not repeat itself again. And Earth would not become extinct or a lost civilization like Valencia became. She would use the knowledge gained to protect her planet at all costs. This was a promise of a human.
Those monsters must go down!
Oluremi Zainab
