Landing

“Okay, Laura, you can let him in.” I sighed, tapping my fingers on the dark oak table. It wasn’t even noon, and this day seemed to be a never-ending list of complications. This was the most meetings I’ve had in a day since the Colorado Tear incident of ‘21. I wipe the sweat off my brow, leaving a small dirty streak on my white button-up. The AC was out again; you’d think with the billions of government funds we received we could afford to fix the little things.

A soldier abruptly opened the door and stiffly walked in. He went straight to the projector and plugged his small laptop in. The way he moved about it was clear he was familiar with this room, which means he must have debriefed me before but I couldn’t recognize the angular shaved face to save my life. “Sir, you’re going to want to see this.”

I let out an internal sigh. The soldier had been waiting to see me for half an hour. Usually, I wouldn’t keep anyone waiting that long, but there was no other option with the back to back meetings all morning. No matter how often I worked with soldiers, they always made me uneasy. Something about their discipline was off-putting, or maybe it was their demeanor. This one was no different, and he moved into place robotically.

He took my lack of response as a go-ahead and pushed play on the video. In the center of the camera was a man readjusting a chair in some sort of space shuttle. He wore a blue jumpsuit, and his face looked well-rested. The white sterile wall behind him was marked with the words “LWSS Chariot.” It looked like he was recording the message in his personal quarters. The Light-Weight Star-Ship Chariot was currently sent to prepare the moon Titan for its first human colony. The man silently mouthed a few words under his breath and scratched his balding scalp before beginning.

“Hello, My name is Jim Nalton, and this is day 35. We successfully arrived at Titan yesterday and have begun constructing the foundations for liquid monitoring stations and for the first planetside habitats. The Captain is a remarkable man, everytime I feel drained or slightly discouraged, I see his optimistic face. The way he works harder and faster than anyone else motivates me to keep working hard. I still miss my wife and kids, but I know this mission is for the good of humankind. I’ve made friends with a Russian welder named Alexander. He’s a quiet giant, but has a good heart.”

“Hello, My name is Jim Nalton, and this is day 49. The foundations are done right on schedule, but yesterday, when we were doing our daily safety roll call, Alex was fucking missing. He never made problems with anyone and did nothing besides work and stay in his pod. Never went on walks or anything else dangerous like half the other idiots here. Today, work is canceled, and Captain Singleton is taking volunteers for a search party. I’m considering volunteerin’. I just really don’t want to be out in this frozen hell any longer than I have to. ” The soldier got up to hit the play button on the next log, but I held up my hand, and he stopped at the motion.

“Look, I have a lot going on today; what level of emergency is this? If it’s bronze or lesser, just give me a summary, and we can work out a detailed contingency later. “

“It’s a gold level, sir.” The soldier hit play.

“It’s day 56, none of the volunteers have found him, even after a week of looking. I think I’m going to volunteer tomorrow. ” The video feed sharply transitioned to a GoPro style POV that was attached to Nalton’s Suitport. The bulky suit protected him from the harsh elements of Titan but took away all flexibility as he waddled through a cramped, icy cave. His flashlight illuminated a small circle in the darkness, but it was barely enough to see.

Jim’s breath was annoyingly loud in his suit. With each breath he takes in the video, I wince, imagining his breath hitting my neck. “I found some footprints leading into this cave. Don’t worry. I set off a flare at the entrance so the others would know where to find me, but if I’m out here in this crap, then I at least want to be the one who finds him.” The roof of the cavern passage grew closer and closer to the floor until Jim was crawling on his hands and knees. “Hello! Alexander! Can you hear me!?” And then a groan echoes down the tunnel. “Shit, I think I hear him. It sounds like it’s coming from that tunnel to the left.” He crawled through the tunnel to his left, the sound of his suit scraping the narrow sides of the passageway. After a minute or so of crawling, it opened up into a large cavern. Lying in the center on the ground was a naked man shivering and rolling on the ice. The video abruptly cuts.

“It’s day 58.” Nalton paused, and I couldn’t help but notice slight purple bags under his eyes that weren’t there in previous videos. An agonizing scream from somewhere else on the ship caused Nalton to wince before continuing. “Two days since I found him. He was outside with no suit on, unconscious but somehow still alive. That damn cave was -180 degrees Celsius and filled with hydrogen cyanide, and that bastard was still breathing and maintaining his fucking body temperature.” He paused again. I may not have been a scientist, but that’s gotta be cold enough to flash-freeze anything.

“The captain has everyone on lockdown while they debate what to do. I think he’s planning on canceling the mission and heading home. Those screams you hear in the background are from Alex. His vitals are fine, but he’s currently in a coma-like state, and his skin has turned ashy gray. No matter how much morphine they give him, he just lays there and screams all day long. Honey, if you’re watching this, I want you to know I love you. I’m sorry I took this trip. I wish I would have just listened to you in the first place and not come. No amount of money is worth this.”

“Day 59, the captain has issued the go-ahead to prepare for departure. He says that for the wellbeing of Alex as well as the other crew members we’ll have to abandon the project for another crew to finish. I can’t help but feel defeated. It’s the right decision, though.” Agonizing screams cut him off. He waited for them to subside before continuing. “I honestly doubt Alex will even make it back; a thirty-five-day journey in his condition will be hard on him. Hopefully, they’ll see my rescue as a plus and pay me a bonus. The money from this trip alone will pay for my daughter to go to college.”

“Jimmy!” A short, stocky man came in wearing a matching blue jumpsuit. “Quit yapping to your camera and come play cards with us. We’re busting out the good stuff tonight.” Jim chuckled and shut off the camera.

The bags under Jim’s eyes were darker and more prominent. The screams that haunted the background of the past two videos were gone. “He’s missing again. It’s been three days since we left, and suddenly, he and Dr. Reese are both just fucking gone.” His voice was strained. “We’ve searched every corner of the ship, EVERY corner. This whole mission has been turned into a giant shit show. With my luck they’ll cancel the whole project and have men in black sent to make us disappear.” The lights around Jim started flickering. “Great, now what?”

I couldn’t help but feel uneasy. Two people missing like that was not good for publicity. Jim might have been joking, but I should probably send a team to clear this up.

“D-day 60. My name is Jim Nalton. They found Dr. Reese yesterday. He was dead, propped up in his chair. It…” He sighed, “It was gruesome. Hopefully, we’ll lie to his family about how he died. No one deserves to be remembered that way.” The lights flickered. “We are also experiencing a main power system failure. Our backup generator is enough to get us home if the main one fails completely, but we are all scared.”

This time he appeared to be in the navigation module. “Hello, my name is Jim Nalton. I don’t know what day it is. The creature was smart enough to cut off all communication with the outside world. I believe I am currently the last crew member alive aboard the LWSS Chariot.” A loud crashing noise interrupted the video memo as something repeatedly smashed into the steel door behind him. I felt goosebumps rise on my arms at the sound. The thick metal door behind him shakes with each hit. A screeching noise tore through the air, causing me to wince. Silence followed from the hallway outside the navigation room. “My current hypothesis is that an alien disease or parasite has infected Alex. It’s caused his muscles and skin to harden like steel and cause complete madness. He is unrecognizable.”

The hard banging sounded from the vent next to the man. He jumped back, falling over in the chair. He jerked out a pistol, aiming it at the vent. “I can still see the Captain’s ghost-white face now. I hope this message reaches you before this demon does. Tell my family I love them. God bless you all, and good luck.”

He aimed the gun at his head and pressed the trigger. The body slumped onto the ground. Moments later, the vent exploded outward as a dark shape shot forward. It tackled the man, pushing him out of frame. The sound of wet gnawing came just out of view of the screen. The soldier hit the stop button on the video, then looked at me, anticipating my response.

“Okay, we need to get a hold of this ASAP. We can track the trajectory of the ship landing and have a team of six agents waiting on standby. Where is the Chariot currently, and how much time do we have until impact?”

“We don’t know where it is, sir. We lost contact seven hours ago. The only thing we do know is that it landed somewhere in the western United States about five hours ago.”