THEY KNOW WE EXIST.

Five..four…three..two..one…Lift off.

Those were the last words I heard on earth, as the new deep space craft lifted from ground and the rocket boosters engaged, we lifted off. First it was slow as we climbed and the G force hit us like a ton of bricks, the craft shaking violently as we struggled against the lift.

Soon the bright sky’s of earth turned into the black void of space and control let out a “Successful Entry into space” through the muffled speakers in our helmets. How I wish we just exploded into a fireball, the horrors I’ve witnessed in deep space, what’s going to come for you now we let them know we exist.

Challenger fifteen-. Nasa’s next generation of spacecraft, though you would have never heard of it, the mission we are on was top secret and this craft is one of nasa’s best kept secrets, the engineers that built it were sworn to secrecy…as were we. See this craft was reverse engineered from the wrecked parts of several alien UFOs that crash landed to earth ten years ago, yeah that’s how long it took for them to figure it out, but the last one to be gutted and fitted, it came with a map.. a map to a warp gate just out of view behind Saturn.

There were five of us sent on this mission, our captain “Captain Yuri Volkov” a stern but fair balding Russian man in his late forties, don’t let his demeanor fool you, or his judgemental gaze as he had led countless missions into space, though the furthest he had gone into the stars was Mars. So he was best suited to lead this team.

“Dr Vivian Sanders” a middle aged American woman, she was our medical officer. Her long flowing brown locks were the first thing I noticed about her as she smiled at me at the brief, her striking blue eyes stood as contrast to her hair. She was a leading practitioner in her field, award winning surgeon and lead writer for new methods on brain surgery.

“Mr Simon Fairfield” A cocky Englishman in his thirties, he was our lead engineer. Though he didn’t have Dr beside his name, that man could repair anything with wires or with mechanical means, though with his slick back hair and bright white smile he came off as more of a player flirting with every woman in sight. He was best suited for this mission because he was the one who built this craft, well the lead engineer on the team, he knows every inch of this experimental ship.

Next was Captain Yuri’s second in command, an Italian man “Lieutenant Peter Accetta” his olive skin complimented his dark black hair, pushing his mid-thirties, his job was not only second in command, he was in charge with flying the craft and navigation, with that he often butted heads with Simon. Together their skills were valuable, but their personalities clashed like oil and water, always arguing over the best settings for navigation and all that technical stuff.

The closest thing I had to a friend on this craft, well more than just “mission talk” was “Dr Samantha Litche”. A German woman nearly pushing thirty, ironically she had long blonde hair with blue eyes to fit the ascetic. Though she was young, myself and Sam were the researchers on this craft, she was supposed to take care of the geology side of where we were heading, to take samples and test every rock or mineral and see if it would be useful back on earth.

Then there was me “Dr Natasha Jones” I joined the team rather late on into the mission planning, I was brought in to be the lead researcher with my field of expertise being microbiology. I’m sure you can guess what role I had, find any signs of life on this planet, any microbe..Any bacteria, well just anything, though..We found something worse.

As we drifted further and further into space, the captain brought us all to the briefing room-. But really it was our kitchen/dining area, he went over the plan that we had all heard nearly ten times already.

“Once we pass the moon, we will begin our check for cryo-sleep.”

He sat with his arms folded, eyeing everyone as his stern voice bounced off the metallic walls.

“We will be sleeping for approximately Six weeks, before we reach our target, with this our systems will begin to wake us up, now I know most of you have never experienced this before, so you will be sick..Get it out of your systems and begin protocol for warp jump.”

Simon jumped in, cutting the Captain off, a cocky smile glued to his lips.

“So you mean we got to deal with a bad hangover without the drink?!”

Everyone stopped to stare at his horrible joke, Peter giving him a look that could kill as Simon held his hand up defensively.

“Alright..alright, I was just trying to lighten the mood.”

Yuri shook his head with a deep sigh as he continued on.

“This is no joking matter, comrades. We are going in blind here, we do not know what will be waiting for us on the other side of the gate. Once we trace the signal back to the home world, we will set up a camp. Researchers, you will act fast to get the samples we need and test air quality..engineering, you will give me a report on the ship’s condition and any problems that could occur.. Medical will be on standby for any injuries that could happen. Myself and Peter will remain on ship and direct the teams, while keeping an eye out for anything hostile..All understood?”

The room remained quiet for a moment as we all eyed each other nervously. Vivian was the first to speak up.

“What should we..do if we encounter anything hostile out there?”

She spoke, almost questioning herself, Yuri turning to look at her, his stern gaze never lifting as he answered.

“We are to disengage, drop everything and return to the ship for evacuation..Nasa has put too much money into this ship and mission alone to allow it to be lost to an alien planet, you all understood the risks when signing up to this mission.”

Yuri’s gaze jumped between all of us as Sam voiced her concerns.

“Ah, What if.. we are out collecting samples further away?”

The deep sigh coming from Yuri again as his gaze met Sams.

“We will give you a ten minute window to return to the ship, If you cannot get back..then we leave you, one or two lives are not worth a multimillion dollar mission, I am afraid Doctor.”

The words cut into the now panicked room, though we were briefed about the dangers and risks, most of us had pushed them to the back of our minds, no one really things about the danger when the thought of something groundbreaking lands before you, the allure of a new world and cutting edge research really does outweigh the risks to any scientist.

The room fell back to silence after Yuri’s words, though he was quick to speak again.

“Now, we don’t have much more time before cryo-sleep, any more questions?”

As he looked between us, the room remained silent.

“Good, for now you will report to your rooms and prepare. In three hours time, we will meet back here suited and ready for cryo-sleep. Dismissed.”

We all turned and made our way down the long hall towards the cabins, at the very least we all had our own rooms, a bit of personal space was more than welcomed, though I was lost in thought, contemplating if I had really made the right choice signing up for this mission , but a soft voice calling my name pulled me from my daze. It was Sam, she was walking quickly to catch up.

“Do you really think he was being serious like Hello? We are human beings..”

I let out a soft chuckle but knowing what was at stake my face returned to an expression of concern.

“I don’t know, Sam. When have you ever seen Yuri not be serious? I mean he is right we are totally blind going into this..”

Sam blinked several times, A mixture of shock and bewilderment on her face as we reached our rooms.

“I guess we will find out, after all it is too late to be pulling out now, I shall see you soon, let us hope we find something amazing, yeah?”

Sam opened her door as she peered at me, I gave her a soft smile with a nod -soon- the time had finally come. We all sipped up our cryo-suits, standing in front of our pods, the ship’s automated voice came over the speakers.

“Cryo-sleep active, pods opening”

All the pods came to life as the hatches lifted upwards, a hiss came from each one followed by a cool mist flowing over the grated floor, Yuri gave us all a firm nod.

“Enter, comrades”

We all followed orders, climbing into the pods, the cold gel like inlay rested comfortably on our backs. The ship’s voice spoke out once more.

“Pods..closing, have a nice sleep”

I couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle, but before long my pod let out a soft clicking noise as the cold mist began to sweep in around me filling the interior until the view port was covered, I closed my eyes as I felt myself drifting to sleep.

Those cryo dreams are weird, no joke I dreamed I was flying on a cloud as my first cat -A black and white type tabby cat- was singing me a lullaby I used to listen to as a baby. But the dream was interrupted by several loud hisses. The ship’s mechanical voice sounded off but it sounded muffled as I chapped my lips together, they felt dry and my tongue felt like sandpaper, my ears ringing as I listened.

“Destination reached-. Engaging waking up procedures.”

As I woke up, I felt like a zombie for a lack of words. My arms and legs felt like jelly, as I sat up peering around the other pods. Then when I felt the bile quickly rising up my throat as I wretched up the last bits of contents of my stomach, I finally realised why they had grates under each pod. For the next ten minutes all I heard was groans and people wretching, I peered up to see Sam. She was in the same situation as me, trying to gain some bearing.

Yuri stumbled towards us, coughing slightly as he strained to talk.

“Ugh…Yes..get yourselves together..secure your areas, meet back here…one hour..fully suited”

Each of us made our way for our cabins on wobbly legs, holding onto the walls as we tried to regain our balance. I barely made it to my room, half falling into it as I flopped onto my bed. A pained groan left my lips.

“Why did I sign up for this?”

The next hour was a blur of people as we rushed around the ship on autopilot sorting ourselves out, then going to our areas to secure all the equipment before making sure nothing was broken. When we all met up in our spacesuits, everyone looked like they had a few rounds with a professional fighter.

Yuri and Peter were already sitting in their seats at the head of the ship talking among each other about routes and plans, Vivian was sitting, reading over logs and medical data. Her brown locks in a messy bun as she massaged her temples, Sam was setting up sample tubes as I sat next to her, she gave me a pained smile.

“I thought cryo-sleep was supposed to be painless..”

I groaned in agreement with her as the cockpit door opened up and Simon shuffled in, his slicked back hair was now all over the place..Peter took this time to have a jab at him.

“Like a hangover without the drink, right?”

A smirk on Peter’s lips as we all turned to watch them, Simon closed his eyes with a huff, wagging an arm at him as a silent protest, slumping into his seat.

Soon our attention was drawn to the viewing port as a strong light started to shine through, once our eyes adjusted-. That’s when we saw it, Saturn..the giant planet we all saw in books and pictures-.now we saw it with our own eyes, it’s beauty against the darkness of space was awe inducing, even Yuri’s stern gaze had changed to a starstruck expression, every astronaut’s dream was to see our solar system in person.

The silence was cut off by the ship’s mechanical voice “Target arrival in T-minus forty minutes” Yuri’s stern gaze returned as his command voice came out.

“Peter, pull the map up. I want a course plotted to the warp gate for a smooth transition.”

“Yes, sir, charting now”

Peter was quick to respond, pulling up a computerised map, clicking through a few buttons as several white lines began flowing around Saturn, ending at one point which was blinking with a soft red.

“Engineering, Status report?”

Yuri’s question was directed towards Simon, peering over his shoulder from the captain’s seat.

Simon turned to his work station, pushing buttons as the screen let out several audible clicks before an image of the ship appeared, with more of a diagram of the vessel, followed by several charts. Simon’s eyes read quickly through the charts as he replied.

“All systems are stable, dear captain. Ready for warp jump”

I could see the cocky smile coming from Simon as he kept his eyes on the screen.

“Cop-.. Simon take this seriously..”

Yuri’s deep sigh came swiftly as he had to take a double take at Simon’s response.

“Course chartered, Captain”

Peter spoke, as Yuri nodded.

“Very good, bring us around and engage course.”

Peter took the controls of the ship, clicking a few buttons as the craft began to slowly gain speed, moving around Saturn’s rings, the size of the vessel compared to the rocks floating around the planet, it really brings a true perspective on how small we really are in this universe.

Peter was careful, making sure we didn’t get pulled in by Saturn’s gravity, the beautiful colours of Saturn as the storms and strong winds made the planet come to life, the colours flowing like water.

As we rounded the planet, the ship’s voice gave us a steady countdown, “Warp gate location-. Ten minutes away”

Yuri spoke up. Straining his eyes as he leaned forward, peering out the viewing port.

“I’m not seeing anything, are you sure this is the right location?”

Peter peered at him, a bit of doubt in his voice.

“This is the location the map provided”

Me, Sam and Vivian peered at each other, a bit of nervousness showing across our faces.

Simon spoke up from beside us. His expression was serious, that was concerning as it was completely out of character for him.

“We need to activate the disk, that’s the key.”

He turned to his console as he clicked several buttons, from the front of the ship we heard clicking and hissing. From the view port we saw a panel of the craft open up, as a golden disk with strange text around the outside lifted into view, attached to a mechanical arm. See what I haven’t said yet, not only did the last UFO give us a map with a location, it gave us the key to get there.

The disk stopped suddenly as the arm fixed into place in front of our ship, Simon rested a hand on a lever counting down as he did.

“Three-.two-.one, Activating Disk” as he flipped the lever, it took a second but then we heard a soft hum coming from the front of the ship, it began to get louder and louder until the whole vessel began to vibrate.

We all watched with eagerness, looking for the sign that the warp gate was out there..a sign that we didn’t come here for nothing.

Soon we saw our answer as a red dot came to life in the distance, it stood out against the void of space-. Two more lit up forming a circle shape as we watched out, the tension thick as they began to rotate, slow but it soon gained speed.

From the middle of the circle a white dot formed, but as fast as it formed it quickly expanded, leaving a milky white gate in front of us.

Yuri sat silently, seeming to be lost for words as he eyed the now warp gate in front of us.

Vivian, now leaning forward in her seat let out a whisper.

“It’s..It’s beautiful.”

Sam rested a hand on my shoulder, I turned to look at her with a look of disbelief on her face, followed by a smile as she hugged me.

“It’s real, Natasha-. We are finally here!”

Yuri, finally waking from his staring let out a soft huff as he blinked a few times, he peered at Peter.

“Take us forward, slow pace-. We will take this slow and steady, we do not know what will happen once we enter the gate.”

He turned to look at all of us, speaking again.

“Comrades, this is the moment we have trained for for months-. What ten years of research took to accomplish, as we step through this unknown..I remind you all to be professional, we will get through this all together, I promise you that much.”

The vessel began to make its way towards the warp gate, as we all held our breaths. The ship’s voice rang out as we got closer “Contact with gate in..Three-.Two-.One.”

The front of the vessel touched the milky substance, the material of the gate started to creep over us, the substance attaching itself like a hand reaching out for the craft, slowly pulling us in. But as it reached the end of the ship we were launched forward, the ship started to shake violently. We all held our heads as a sharp screeching rang out over us, the pain was indescribable, it felt like my brain was about to explode.

The vessel’s warning lights were blaring as the inside of the ship was lit up with blinking lights, the ship’s voice repeating “Warning, Warning”. From what I could remember from the outside of the ship, it was like a bright light you see in the movies, the ship shaking with the thrust the gate had provided, but soon we heard a large boom as we were spat out, back into the void of space. The violent stop had made us all lurch forward as the ship came to a completed stop, all the systems seemed to shut off.

Yuri called out, holding back a strained grunt.

“Comrades, are-..You all okay?”

Several grunts and groans let him know we were all alive but battered, I peered around me as I held my head, Vivian was pulling herself from her seat, peering at us all.  She said something as she looked beside me, but it was muffled as my ears were ringing, I held my head as I peered down.

“Sam!” I shouted out as I peered at her unconscious body, looking into her space helmet I could see it was covered in blood, we all rushed to her side.

“Get her to the medical bay now!”

Vivian ’s voice finally cut through the ringing as she hooked an arm around Sam, struggling to lift Sam’s limp body. I tried to help as we slowly got her into a position where we could move her as we made our way to the medical bay.

As we made our way out I could hear Yuri talking to Simon.

“Simon, get us back up and running quickly.”

For the next forty minutes we sat stranded before all the systems rebooted. Lucky for Sam she had just hit her head as we came out of the warp gate, the blood we had seen was a gash to her forehead, Vivian was quick to patch her up. Sam woke up not long after as she slowly peered at us, her senses returning to her.

“What happened to me?”

Vivian rested a hand on her shoulder, trying to give her some reassurance.

“You hit your head on our departure from the warp gate, you manage to leave a nice gash. You will need to rest for now as I suspect you have a mild concussion.”

Sam slowly nodded as she turned to rest, Vivian turned to me.

“Return to the bridge, she will need some rest for now and you won’t be of much use to us down here, will you?”

I peered at her for a moment, not wanting to leave Sam, but Vivian was right, we had a mission to get on with and I am sure Yuri would not stop considering he would leave us stranded on a planet to ensure the ship was brought back.

As I returned to the bridge Simon was lost in his monitor screen, I hadn’t a clue what he was doing, some technical stuff, Peter glanced at me.

“Is she okay?” I gave him a small nod at that.

“Yeah, she is awake now, she had a cut to her head and Vivian thinks she has a mild concussion.”

Peter and Yuri looked at each other as he shook his head. “ Let us continue on” the sturned voice Yuri calling out, the ship jolted forward as it returned to a steady cruise throughout the stars.

We steadily followed a signal from the map, the space we flew seemed similar to ours, except there were two suns facing each other, this caused the planet we were searching for to orbit in a figure of eight around both sun’s. The shock was plain across our faces, this concept was unheard of.

Peter already had a report up as the ship had begun scanning the planet.

“What a curious sight, no?” Yuri nodded in agreement with him.

“What else does the report show?

Peter continued to read the lines of text as we drifted towards this new planet.

“It would seem this planet works on forty hour days, as it reaches the middle of the sun, it switches rotation to the other star, during this time the gravity of both stars cause the planet to constantly slow and speed up. It is safe for us to step on surely but it is still weird.”

The planet that we were heading to, it was twice the size of the earth. It gave out a pinkish hue and what we could only describe as a pink ocean. Several land masses were scattered across the planet.

Yuri gave the order.

“Intercept the planet as it slows in the transition, it is time we landed and finally explore this planet.”

The door slid open as we began our entry to the planet. Vivian came in, followed by Sam-. Her head was bandaged as she looked a little worse for wear, I turned to Sam and gave her a soft smile as she sat down.

“Are you going to be alright?”

Sam gave me a weary nod.

“I’ll be alright for now-. I Think”

The ship finally breached the planet’s surface as it fought against the drag, the vessel shuddering as we met the atmosphere. Yuri called out.

“Sam, what is the atmosphere like?”

Sam took a second as she turned to the monitor behind her as the planet’s readings popped up.

“It seems to be similar to earth, the oxygen slightly higher..But it should be easy enough for us to breathe, if not more pure.”

Yuri nodded once.

“Simon, what is the ship’s condition?”

Simon already had the report ready.

“There was slight electrical damage as we exited the warp gate, nothing that can’t be fixed quickly..there is also a small fluid leak in the mess area..It might take three hours at the most to fix, but she will dance another day.”

Yuri shook his head slightly at that.

“If your skills are as good as your talking, then I believe so, once we land, get repairs going right away.”

Peter let out a soft chuckle, Simon rolled his eyes at that.

As we continued into this new world, the trees were pink with a mushroom type dome where the trunk met the leaves, the rocks were similar to earth if not a bit twisted, the dual suns casted a nice sunset, soft patches of grass and moss covered several of the rocks and cliff faces.

“There, that clearing looks stable. Set us down there Peter.”

Yuri called out with a bit more excitement than usual.

The vessel rounded into the clearing, with several loud hiss, we touched down on the landscape with a shudder, the ship rocking back and forth.

Yuri turned to face us all.

“You all know your jobs, we will get to it. We don’t know if there are any diseases to watch out for, so until we can get a clear reading everyone is to keep their space suits on..All clear on that?”

We all nodded eager to get out to the new world in front of us. As the ramp lowered and we were hit by the sounds of the new world, it was strange and calming all in one..It reminded me of home. The insects chirped with a soft wind blowing against us.

Sam and I began collecting samples, I took vials of water and plant life and Sam took mud and some rock samples. Simon was outside taking multiple scans of the ship, inspecting it for external damage. Being on solid ground for the first time in six weeks was an experience all on its own.

As we began making our way back to the ship, the wind picked up, the trees fighting back against us as we felt the planet rumble.

“Earthquake?”

Sam looked at me questioning the sudden shift. The radio in our helmets crackled to life as Yuri’s voice spoke out.

“All teams..All teams, return to the ship quickly.”

We didn’t have to ask twice, The rumbling became more violent, as we entered the bridge of the vessel, Yuri and Peter were talking quickly to each other.

“Peter, activate the anchor points..Simon brings up the ship’s fire shields.”

Both men worked quickly as they pushed several buttons, we heard several bangs as the ship’s  landing feet launched several anchor points into the ground. All the viewing ports were covered as several metal plates began pushing upwards, adding armor to the vessel.

Vivian entered the bridge with a confused expression as the ship’s internal lighting came on.

“What’s going on?”

Simon answered, Yuri and Peter were too concerned for questions.

“We’re about to exit the slow point of the sun’s orbit, the planet is picking up speed. Though it should settle after a few moments.”

We jolted forward slightly, reacting to increased speed, from outside we could hear the wind pick up and several thuds as we assumed loose rocks were hitting the ship. But one massive jolt sent us stumbling, the ship’s warning lights came on as Simon let out a gasp.

“Something big just hit one of our thrusters.”

The sound of straining metal rang out as the wind pushed against the ship, Yuri let out a groan.

“There is nothing we can do for the moment, we just have to wait for it to pass.”

For ten minutes, we all held onto solid surfaces as The ship shook and groaned against the rumbling planet, but soon it began to settle, everything returning to normal.

“Get outside and tell me what we are looking at, deactivate the shields while you are at it.”

Simon peered at Yuri as he huffed, giving him a half assed salute as he turned off the shields. The plating retracted and the sunlight began to shine through, this time it had shifted to a dull blue colour as Simon exited the bridge, a few tools in hand.

“Researchers, did you collect the samples?” Yuri’s gaze turned to meet us.

“Yeah, we got what we could before coming back.” I answered.

“Good, get to work on testing them and let me know if there are any developments.”

We both nodded as we made our way to the labs. Myself and Sam were deep into testing when Simon’s voice came over our radios as he seemed panicked.

“Ugh..Captain, thruster one has been badly damaged, it seems a large boulder has crashed into the side of it.”

There were a few moments of silence as we all awaited Yuri’s answer, but a few Russian curse words came through.

“How long will it take to fix it?”

Yuri finally said, we could all hear the stressed tone behind it.

“Ah..We’re looking at two days here give or take, I don’t know how much has been damaged internally, I’ll also have to patch the panel.”

A grunt followed as Yuri spoke.

“Right..see to it, that is the priority right now.”

As we continued on with the samples, Sam called my name. Her monitor showed the rock samples.

“This is amazing Natasha, it’s like these rocks were hand made, the structure of the minerals seems to be-.. Lab created.”

I blinked a few times, a sceptical look at the screen.

“You mean to tell me every rock and pebble were lab made? I mean look at the size of the planet, how could anything do that?”

Sam let out a soft scoff.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, whatever creatures that were before have for a lack of words-. Terraformed the planet. Only question is, who made them?”

I looked at her with a bit of shock across my face as I quickly returned to the samples I collected.

“My God.” I gasped, “Sam, come look at this. Micro-life, even the single cell organisms are constantly regenerating, over and over again. If given enough time, They could evolve to be-..Well immortal.”

“This is ground breaking, if we could copy all this back on earth-..We could start the next evolution of mankind, possibly repair all the damage caused by global warming-.. stop all famine-.We could become essentially Immortal.”

The possibilities were endless, this type of research was well beyond our means. But the radio crackled to life as Simon’s voice called out.

“Uhh..Guys, you might want to come out here-..I’ve..Well I’ve spotted the locals.”

Without a second thought myself and Sam sprinted for the door, not only did we find this world we may have finally discovered alien life.

As we exited the ship, everyone was outside by this time all peering to the top of a hill, there was a figure floating towards us, the sun blocking out any features we could make out.

The was a mixture of shock and gasps as the figure came into view -..It was..A purple squid like humanoid, it had normal hands with sharpened claws at the tops of each finger, it had no legs-.where it’s legs should be where tentacles, several tentacles flowing gracefully in the wind seemingly using some kind of levitating technology to keep it floating, it didn’t appear to have a mouth, it’s skin just flowing downwards toward a chin like structure. It peered at us with piercing yellow eyes, the pupils like pins, it was.dressed in a long flowing red robe, several gold inlays woven into the fabric..

Yuri gulped as he stepped forward, the sweat dripping from his forehead as he peered at the alien. He bowed to it as he spoke.

“Greetings, we are space travellers from the planet earth, in the milky way galaxy. We traveled a long distance to come here, we followed your map from one of your lost spacecrafts..It led us to your warp gate, we mean no harm to you-. We only seek to learn and understand.”

With that the creature seemed to cock its head, taking it back at our “Intelligent life” or the fact we managed to use its technology. It pulled a strange orb from its robes, clicking a button as a soft hum rang out in our heads, our ears crackling with interference. We finally heard the creature in our heads as it spoke.

“Hail, Earth Kin-. I am using our transmitter to translate our language directly to you. I find it curious that you have travelled far to come here, from what you have told me, you came through the “Gamma” gate. The key and map you speak of was lost hundreds of years ago, with the gate becoming lost to us, I thank you for returning it to us..I commend your race for being able to build such a craft to come back here. As I remember it, the last time we visited your world, it was in the “Bronze era” “

The creature’s voice sounded elegant and garbled at the same time as it communicated with us, our group was bewildered, not only had we found alien life but they had visited our world before.

Yuri, surprised at the communication, sputtered out a response.

“Our kind has always theorised other beings visited our world, influencing our ancestors through art depictions, some would have referred to you beings as gods..But to have it confirmed-..It changes everything we know, once we inform our race about this, we hope you would come to earth and share your technology, help move us into a new generation.”

Yuri’s words hung in the air, as the creature before us kept its gaze on Yuri for the longest while before letting out a gurgle as it cocked its head, talking to us once more.

“It is true, we will be visiting your world, we will conduct vital research into the developments of your kind, but you have the warp key as you call it-. The material and minds to develop such takes thousands of your earth years.”

Yuri watched as the creature went into his explanation, the confusion turned to horror as one of the creature’s tentacles shot out and wrapped itself around Yuri’s neck. Yuri struggled against the choking force, grunting as he struggled to breathe. All of us froze as we peered at each other, not sure if we should help him or run for our lives.

“You should be glad to know you and the ones with you will be the first to give us insight to your race, we will take you and learn all we can from you. Once we have done such we will move on to your world and make it -..Better”

A scream rang out from behind me, I turned to see Vivian being dragged off behind one of the rocks by another creature, her nails digging into the dirt as she tried to resist, leaving disturbed dirt in Its wake.

Peter was next to be taken, writhing in pain on the ground as one of the creatures had shot him with some form of taser, making its way to collect him.

“F-. This”

Simon had turned and already began to run for the ship, myself and Sam turning to follow. But we didn’t get far as from the front of the ship, one of the aliens had already begun to remove the disk..it must have snuck up behind us as we were ambushed, its tentacle launched out for Peter as he attempted to duck, but they were smarter. The tentacle arced downwards as it grasped his ankle, flipping him over as it slammed him into the ground unconscious, a spray of blood coating the ground beneath him as his nose exploded against the force of the slam.

“Run for the cliff edge, slide down the bank!”

Sam shouted as we turned and ran for the side, praying we weren’t next, my lungs burned as heavy breaths nearly clouded my space helmet as we got closer and closer to the ledge, right as we went to jump. Sam cried out in pain and terror and one of the aliens had managed to grab her waist as she went to jump, she held my hand as we lay against the bank.

“NO-..no Natasha please don’t let them take m-..”

Her begging for help was cut off as she was violently yanked upwards, her grasp slipping from mine as I began tumbling down the bank, landing hard against the rocky ground.

I groaned as I looked to the ledge, my arms and legs were scraped and bruised as soft drops of blood began to fall onto the ground. I gasped as reality hit and adrenaline forced me to get up and keep running, at this point it was more of a limp than a run.

I dove into some of the heavier bush, it gave me a good view of the cliff I had come down, panting and heaving as I tried to catch my breath. I had now realised I was the only one to escape.. How Was I going to get home without everyone? I couldn’t pilot the ship plus we needed the key, so against every warning bell in my head..I limped towards the clif hoping the aliens had left the ship now they had captured everyone else

Slowly I made my way back up the hill, dragging myself upwards as I neared the top, I lifted myself up Slowly, peering over the ledge. The ship was just as we left it..minus the disk.. as the breeze hit my face, it was quiet as even the bug life had gone silent-. The signs of struggle still covered the area, the blood splatter where Simon was slammed into the ground – the claw marks carved into the dirt where Vivian had resisted, but everyone was gone and I was alone.

Entering the ship ,it remained silent and undisturbed as nothing from inside was taken. The aliens must not have seen much worth in our technology as I made my way to the medical bay, limping in as I searched for a brace for my leg, finding it in one of the upper compartments-. Next I went for bandages for my wounds along with some spirits to clean them.

I let out several whimpers as the spirits hit my wounds, the sharp stinging sensations causing me to cry out-. Next was the brace, as I slipped it over my leg, I let out several quick breaths trying to be brave. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I tightened it, the pain was almost unbearable to me, it made me slump back in the seat, breathing heavily as the sweat ran down my face..I was exhausted, I felt my eyes get heavy as I fell asleep.

I awoke to a thud against the side of the ship, jolting me awake in my dazed state, blinking a few times as I peered around, the ship felt cold and hollow, as I heard my heartbeat in the silence..I needed to find the others-.. I don’t know what I was going to do but I need to find them..Hopefully it wasn’t too late.

Exiting the ship, it seemed like the morning as the sun rise peered over the horizon, the blue hue lighting up the clearing around me. I huffed as I tried to gain some sense of direction, ending up heading the same way the alien first came down, scaling the hill was slow and steady, my leg was still injured no matter how much I braced it, the sharp pains as I walked was a reminder of that.

I made my way over the top of the hill, I scanned my surroundings, when I spotted it-. The alien craft was just there, they must have moved it closer while I was sleeping..It was a large black craft, in a crescent shape, the bridge rested at the largest arch of the crescent, it beeped and hummed several times, lights blinking all over it.

I watched it in awe, the sheer size of it as it easily dwarfed our craft, god only knows how many of those creatures were in there, even better..How was I ever going to find our team in there?

But what choice did I have? It was the only way I could get off this planet, to get home. So reluctantly, I made my way down towards the craft. The material was a weird shiny metal as I saw my battered reflection in the side of it, running my hand over the smooth surface as I made my way around, trying to be as quiet as I could, looking for a way in.

That’s when I finally saw it, a vent of some sort resting against a stack of rocks. I felt hope..Maybe I will be able to find the team easily enough. I tried to hype myself up over the overwhelming dread as I wiggled my way into the vent, crawling through the winding tubes.

I passed several internal vents in the ship, the passage ways were like the outside of the vessel, black oval like corridors seemed to stretch on forever as I made my way through. The next few vents I looked through the aliens floated past, gargling to each other.

But soon-..The screaming, I heard the blood chilling screams; it sounded male as I hurried towards them, Panic setting in as I wanted to help our crew.

As the screams came closer and closer, I peered into the vent as I let out a gasp – Several breaths of terror and disgust sent me reeling..Yuri was strapped to an operating table. His head was held in place as it was clamped down, he screamed in pain once more..They still haunt me even now as the memory plays over and over, his hands and legs were shaking -..His fingers stretching out tight as he reacted to the Pain ..

They were-…pulling his eyes out.

As the alien turned away, I could see Yuri’s condition, the clamp forcing his head down had two attachments forcing his eyelids open, the eye socket was bleeding heavily. As the creature set the eye down on a tray I seen what they had use, It was a claw like apparatus, three slim claws with barbed hooks on the end, it turned back to claim the other eye, Yuri screaming out in pain once more, as I had to continue on not able to watch them take parts of him, But it didn’t stop the sound of wet ripping.

The harsh reality set in as tears streamed down my face-..It was too late for Yuri, I wouldn’t Be able to save him. I continued on down the vent as I heard humans talking. Hope fluttered once more as I thought maybe I had found the other..Gotten to them before they were used in horrible experiments. I peered through the next vent, the first thing I noticed was a movie playing, A woman running around with children- Only it was from the child’s perspective.

When I saw where it was coming from, Vivian was sitting on a chair, twitching uncontrollably as I followed my gaze upwards. Her long brown locks were shaved off as the top of her head was severed off exposing her brain, I had to hold back my gags as I begged my stomach not to throw, peering through the vent once more. There were two large metal rods sticking out from points in her brain, one of the aliens adjusting them slightly, that’s what was causing her to twitch as I realised..It wasn’t a movie they were watching-..It was her memories.

I moved on, surely there had to be someone alive, peering Into the next vent, it was Peter his lifeless eyes looked upwards into nothing as they had begun to cloud over-.. It was too late for him..He was already dead, as an alien sat beside his corpse. Peter’s throat had been cut open and his vocal cords had been removed, The alien had them in a machine as it began to stimulate them causing wet signs and grunts in Peter’s voice..Why arthree trying to mimic us? Are they going to hide in plain sight?

The sights were getting more gruesome, I didn’t know how much more I could take, how many more of my crew-mates were twisted a cut open, I continued on pleading for one to be alive. I came up on the next vent, the metallic copper smell invaded my nose; this caused me to pause for a moment as I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath I peered in, bile rising to my throat as I did.

It was Simon, only he had been skinned alive, he was strung up as his muscles and bones were exposed, I could hear him grunting and gurgling-. He was dying, droplets of blood coated the floor as I scanned the room-. His skin was hung up beside him, two aliens inspecting it like a fine coat, touching and poking at it. This caused me to turn away, seeing the stretched out flesh that was once Simon. I was questioning why I was doing this? Sam was likely dead too or strung up to some twisted experiment, peering back the way I came my resolve had more than faded now as I tried to come to terms that I was truly the only one left.

Several strange beeping noises filled the alien ship, a strange orange glow flowed around each room as a jolt sent me tumbling throughout the vents, banging into every turn as I fell through one of the vents, landing with a deep thud, a metallic clang rang out as I did-.. I hadn’t realised how much time had passed, the planet was slowing as we had reached the centre of the two stars, the corridor where the gravity slows the planet as it transitions To the next sun.

I stood up as I felt exposed, lucky as this room was empty, but I didn’t know how much time I had before the aliens came back, I scrambled to my feet as I let out several hisses in pain, my injuries ached as I backed up into a shelf, I turned as several wheezy, silent screams escaped my mouth..Sam was looking back at me, her lifeless blue eyes once filled with such joy looked directly into mine..Only it was her decapitated head floating in a jar of a strange blue liquid, her mouth was contorted into a twisted scream, her blonde hair floated freely in the Jar.

As I backed up from the self, I saw her other body parts in separate Jars, strange labels adorning each one. I scrambled for the vent, stacking several metallic boxes on top of another. I didn’t care if I made noise anymore..I needed to get out of here, this ship held nothing for me-.. I was scared by the sight of everyone I knew on this mission, they all had been put through torture.

I quickly moved through the vents, making my way back towards the outside once more, not caring to peering through the vents again. As I stepped down the ship’s smooth exterior again, I began limping back towards our ship. I started to weep uncontrollably, the sight of each crew member playing over and over in my head.

I reached the ship as I pulled my space helmet off, my vision blaring from the tears, I sat in the captain’s chair, pulling my legs to my chest as I gave up..What else could I do? I was stranded here, I had nowhere to go. I could leave the ship as the fear of being caught by the aliens was too great.

My head shot up as I heard a deep noise coming from outside, the sun was blocked out as I saw the alien craft lift upwards, getting ready to take off. That’s when it clicked where they were going, they were heading for earth. I stumbled to my feet, my legs felt even more wobbly as I made my way for the broadcast station. It still had power as I turned the dish towards the warp gate, bringing the microphone up as this is my warning..I hope you believe my it..I hope it gets to you before they do, I’m banking on the signal traveling through the warp gate with the ship.

I’m telling you all now-. You need to prepare. You need to fight them, they are going to try and take over our home, they will try and terraform our world, then perform horrific experiments on all of you.

If you do manage to fight them off and get the warp key back..Please come back for me, I don’t want to die here, I just want to come home..I will try to survive off our rations for now after that I-. Don’t know what I’m going to do .. I just..want to see my family again..