THE VISIT

Peter Woodgate 

The landing craft gave one last blast from its anti-gravitational propulsion before settling, softly, on the planet’s surface. The two crew members had been sent down to confirm that, despite all the pre-trip calculations, the planet appeared unfit for colonization.

They looked out of the small viewing area before adding a “superheat” guard to their already well equipped suits. They then approached the air lock which would allow them access to the outside world.

The trip had been sanctioned with the expert knowledge that this planet would almost certainly be suitable for colonization. It was within a system where the sun was of an ideal size supporting several planets and that this one was of an ideal distance from the centre.

Although several million light years away, due to the revolutionary “warp plus” invention, the crew would be awakened from their hibernated sleep after just one hundred years. When this happened the anticipation and excitement felt by the crew was crushed when realizing the actual status of this planet. It was calculated to be about 4.5 billion years old and should have been in an ideal period of stability. They were horrified then to find a barren, orange shaded landscape of peaks and valleys, stretching as far as the eye could see with uniform monotony.

The two crew members climbed out of the landing craft and viewed the scene.

The sun blasted down on the landscape with pitiless uniformity turning peaks into bright orange and valleys into a murky brown. It was terrifying yet beautiful and both felt immense loneliness.

    They took some samples from the lifeless rocks and sand and ran them through their analysing computer. The results were somewhat mystifying as they showed the present condition had happened with speed, Seventy to one hundred years was the estimation. It was a puzzle as to what could cause such a calamity and as they ignited the engine that would take them back to the mother ship they left Earth with heavy hearts.  

 

Copyright Peter Woodgate