AWAKEN - HUMANITY: Book One

Chapter Ten: All Aboard

Captain West sat in the small conference room, with him around the table was Senior Officer Shelly Kirby now wearing one of the Starlight One jumpsuits, Samantha Raven, the archaeologist, Craig Ryker the ships doctor, Tom Kane his science and technical officer and Safron the Data Gatherer who was studying a small 3D graphic display of the planet surface on her tablet. In the centre of the table was a 3D holographic display of Commander Steve Drake, the white outline continually distorting and the sound crackling.

The Captain spoke leaning forward in the chair, "we will of course send you all the relevant data to you, Safron will upload her files today..."

The Commander spoke, his words faint then loud. "...as soon as I receive them..." the picture distorted, "...I will package and send onto JFK One, in the meantime..." the picture flickered and shifted as the Commander seemed to turn his face, "...I will send an urgent communication thread through informing them of the situation."

The Captain nodded his head, "we are going to the surface from the dark side, that way we will not be in the directional path of the blue light. It will take longer but it is a safer approach."

Safron Spoke as she played her fingers on the small 3D image on her tablet. An overhead camera in the ceiling quickly turned to her location using voice recognition, this allowed the Commander to see a 3d image his end of who he was speaking with. "The rotation of the planet and our descent path will add approximately two additional hours, the...'

Cade interrupted with a weak smile, he wanted this conversation over with and get to the surface as quick as possible. "...thank you Safron..." He turned back to the image, the ceiling camera spinning back to him as he spoke, "...we will keep a communication channel continuously open on Starlight One, that should reduce any delay in connection and we will obviously keep you regularly informed."

The image of the Commander flickered. "As soon as I have any information from Earth..." static filled the room, "... I will relay back to you, until then please remain in your current position... until further notice... most of all be safe," the 3D image flashed bright then dimmed, "...we cannot afford any more fatalities."

The Captain nodded, he didn't plan to move the ship from its current location anyway, best stay protected, those light bursts could not penetrate its way through the planet. "Of course, until we speak again Commander. This is Starlight One closing communication." He pressed a virtual button on the table and the 3D image scattered itself to nothing.

The Captain glanced at each one of them around the table, his eyes scanning theirs for any reaction. "Okay then we had better prepare the shuttle." He turned away to leave then turned around. "Safron, Samantha and Craig, gear up you are with me, Tom you have the ship."

Shelly reluctantly raised a hand. "What about me?"

The Captain smiled, "apologies, I thought you knew you would be joining us, we need to know as much as possible about what is down there and no better time than to discuss on the way down there."

They were all about to leave the room when Safron spoke up, stopping them all in mid step. "Captain, the radiation levels down there will be high, I suggest we use higher grade suits."

Cade looked at Safron, he hadn't thought of that, he cursed himself for not thinking it himself, what else had he forgotten? It had been so long since making these kind of decisions, years in fact, he could see by the others faces their bewilderment in not expressing such safety concerns.

Damage limitation Cade, damage limitation, he thought as he smiled at the group. "Already thinking about that one, Tom can you arrange for the Rad Level Suits, the ones the engineers use for leaking nuclear cells, they need to be in the locker room asap."

Tom nodded, Cade walked out thankful he managed to rescue that little oversight. The others followed, now more nervous not knowing what they would be walking into.

                                                                                  ••••

The shuttle disembarked Starlight One, turning sharply to the left, coming around the moon at a wide angle to descend down to the dark side of the planet, the opposite side of where Ground Base Section 5 was situated.

Inside five occupants were all fully suited in dark orange space suites, on each of their left arms were three small green coloured tabs, each the size of a small coin. When all three were red then they had an hour left before the suits were inactive against the radiation levels. Each wearing their helmets the front of the glass squared off into three panels, each breathing heavily as their breadth stained the glass as they exhaled.

Safron examined her suit, staring at the arms and looking down at her legs. She wondered why she had to wear such a contraption, she was after all artificial therefor did not have the ability to obtain radiation poisoning.

Doctor Ryker watched her, he smiled and touched her leg to gain her attention. "The suit is an additional barrier so the radiation cannot affect any of your circuitry, more to the point extra protection in case that blue ray hits any of us."

The shuttle penetrated the upper atmosphere of the planet, it shuddered as it entered, soon piercing the darkened clouds of the night side. Samantha peered out the window and all she could see was darkness, not like Earth with its millions of street lights illuminating the night sky like fireflies in a woodland.

"Jesus, this is some ride." Samantha muttered holding onto the base of the seat with both hands, her knuckles white. Shelly sat next to her placing a hand on her shoulder to reassure the archaeologist and smiled as the ship creaked around them and the walls started to vibrate.

Samantha tapped her wrist control panel, a small tablet sized unit built into the arm of the suit, it held all vitals for her to manage, heartbeat, radiation levels, air content, air pressure and external air quality. Anything to distract her from the flying.

Shelly noted the apprehension, "Hey Samantha maybe it's time I gave you some intel on this artefact of ours."

Samantha smiled and nodded her head the best she could in the suit, she didn't have the heart to say she already knew.

"Clearing in four seconds." The Captain announced sat behind the small console touching the various screen buttons trying desperately to maintain the flight path. Suddenly they cleared the clouds entering a layer of fine mist, a powerful searchlight on the front of the drop ship came to life cutting into the mist like a knife, the vibration stopped and the ride quickly became more manageable and comfortable. Rain suddenly started to beat down on the observation window, hammering hard on its metal frame echoing through the shuttle.

Within seconds they were free from the clutches of the weather system, flying over a wooded area, the tall miss-shaped trees twisted and curled within one another, as if they had melted into themselves looking more like a surrealist painting covered in autumn red leaves that fluttered in the breeze. Ahead was a mountain range, a wide circumference of rock with the summit disappearing into the base of the clouds.

As the shuttle crossed into the daylight side the brightness overwhelmed them all, to the point even the darkened glass of their visors didn't offer quite enough protection. Each closed their eyes as the light intensified before dimming, the Captain dropping the shuttle lower to the ground, its scanners frantically searching for any sudden bursts of energy.

"Landing in five seconds." The Captain commented his fingers working the screen. "Okay brace yourselves, we are going in." The Captain tightened his safety belt and released a smile to everyone as reassurance everything was going to be alright.

Sam just sat there biting her lip, she hated flying at the best of times, a large safe space ship was one fear to overcome (she has slept through ninety percent of the journey so that was okay) but flying in a small shuttle through alien winds and rain was something else she hadn't really thought through.

The nose of the drop ship rose in the air as small engines hidden underneath fired slowing the it down, small retractable legs appeared and gracefully the ship began to land throwing dust and leaves into the air around it. The ship landed.

"Okay we are down."

"Thank God!" Samantha said aloud