I Failed (Outer space)

Ethernit was sitting in the control room when all of a sudden alarm went off. "Target in range, target in range, target in range…" "Shut up! I see. I hate this automatized system. I knew I should have come with Dragonians. Even though I would be exposed immediately."

He looked out of the huge front window to see Planet 003. Somehow it gave very calm impression. There was only one moon orbiting the planet. "I have never seen habitable planet with only one moon in my entire life cycle."

Alarm went off once again. "I swear…" Finally, he got back to work. His mission was to check how life has evolved on the surface. Under normal circumstances, Explorers don´t expect much of evolution, but Ethernit was warned about possible danger and a high level of evolution on this planet.

After a quick scan of surroundings, he has found only a few unidentified objects on planet´s orbit. None of them seemed to be a weapon. "What are these things…" He wondered he to himself. "Since it is apparently not dangerous, I think it is safe to go to get some samples." He knew for sure that there are some kinds of life forms but had no idea what to expect. Nobody gave him any hint or information about this planet. After all, it´s his fault.He is where he is.

After that accident during which he accidentally killed an Explorer, The Leader lays eyes on him and gives him the most dangerous missions. As if he wants to get rid of him… Well, he does.

It´s been a half life cycle and still his punishment is not over and probably never will be.

He was getting closer and closer to the Planet 003´s surface. Still no signs of any danger or resistance. He proceeded in his mission. Keeping his eyes on front window, he noticed something weird. The objects that the scan had found on planet´s orbit were not natural. "That is weird… I don´t see any spaceships or signs of developed life forms. But still somehow the creatures living there must have ability to get their devices out of their atmosphere… How is that possible?" Ethernit was left with his confused thoughts.

In the meantime, scan spotted moving object in their direction. Ethernit thought it was just another of these weird artificial objects getting closer to him. He was wrong.

…..

His senses came back. It took him a while to realized what happened. He tried hard to remember last moments before losing consciousness. Unsuccessfully. The view from the window was covered in… He did not even know what it was. "What just happened…" He managed to get up without major issues. He checked his hands just to make sure he did not break anything. It is almost impossible for Explorers to break anything from their bone structure. However, Ethernit was not that perfectly physically built as other explorers in same part of a life cycle.

Normally he would not be able to see anything without any light source, but his boosted senses allowed him to see even in dark. The ship seemed to be still functional from the inside. It was switched off due to fail safe. If any kind of weapon would hit active engine, ship would explode. At least Ethernit did not have to listen to all sorts of warning alarms.

"So, they have weapons… This place seems to be more dangerous than I thought."

Ethernit was not trained for any kinds of combats. He knew how to operate ship under attack, but that´s it. And yes, also had spent some part of his life cycle training combats on Dragonians. "What now… Yes. Samples. Gotta get out fast, take some life form samples and return back."

There was still possibility that the ship will be highly damaged from the outside, but he did not want to think about that option at all. That would probably mean his death.

"Come on, calm down. You can do it… They know about us. Since they shot us down most probably… Was it a weapon? Was it some of their artificial objects that I collided with?"

His thoughts became more and more unorganized. Explorers are trained to handle critical situations well. He took a deep breath and came to his senses fast. Took a breathing mask with him in case the atmosphere was more polluted than his scan showed. In his private cabinet he opened a jar with gravitational beans. Those modify Explorers bodies to ignore gravity changes. This bean had effect on their bodies up to 10G. Planet 003, according to scan and some documentation, had only 1G more than Sirilia. So he would notice only a slight change. Longer exposure to different gravity levels could cause sickness.

He opened the main door and stepped out.