Escape to Xonel

Chapter 5: A Splash of Death

Vivian

November 16

We stared out the glass windows at the growing blue planet they call Hīdreatt. The solar system we were in had seven planets over all. The gravitational pull was unique as all the planets were the same distance from this sun year-round, and the largest planet was in the middle and got smaller as they fanned out. The planet we were heading towards was the fifth planet. All of the planets' surfaces are water, each with their own properties and quirks. Finally, we can get off this hunk of metal.

A few days later we woke up the entire ship shaking. I heard Kurt swear across the room. Peyton grunted, "Ugh, is the ship about to explode," she said half asleep, "Wake me up when it's over." I climbed down the bunk bed and checked the time. 4:46 A.M. Great, now I won't be able to go back to bed. I heard someone knock on the door— More like bang it. "Who is it?'' I yelled through the rumbling. "It's Alexander," my brother replied. "What do you want?"

"We've just entered the atmosphere."

That woke me up all the way. I tried shaking Peyton and Kurt up, but they just grunted turned away. I opened up the door to see Alex and his buddies anxiously waiting for me. "Is anyone else awake, "No we tried the others, but no one answered," Noah answered. Noah was wearing some cozy looking pajamas, while Alexander and Lincoln were wearing shorts and tank tops. Still night clothes though. We ran to the viewing wing where a small crowd had gathered. The rumbling intensified as we slammed into the atmosphere of the ocean planet. The surface of the planet was painted with beautiful blues. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something interesting. Something on the surface looked like ripples in the water, or like waves all crashing into one center piece.

We left after a few minutes due to fatigue and being bored; we fell back to sleep. I woke up later to Peyton and Kurt's horrendous screeching for me to get up. I was drowsy and sleep deprived, but I slowly got myself out of bed. While we were getting prepared for the day Peyton asked, "Hey, what was all that rumbling last night, does anyone know?" "Oh, I tried to wake you guys up, but you were too stubborn to get up. And to answer your question, we made it to the planet Hīdreatt," I replied. They both stopped what they were doing and stared up at me. Kurt started but Peyton cut him off, "what the—," "Hey, we'll be having none of that language here. Let's keep this PG... or at least as PG as it can be." Kurt replied muttering, "I wasn't going to say anything bad."

After we had gotten ready we left the room and went to get breakfast. We met up with the others just before school. "So what does the planet look like," Giani asked. "Just like any other planet, with the exception of it being completely covered in water," Lincoln replied. Peyton just glared at him. Sophie just rolled her eyes. I guess they aren't much of a fan of sarcasm... that's something new...

We got a day off so we could check out the planet. Well, to be honest it was just a normal day of school because "checking out" the planet was just another way of saying a school field trip that requires us to be educated. My classmates and I were led down through a series of corridors where we found ourselves in the same room we entered first on this ship. Several other classes were also lined up, waiting to grasp sight of the new world in which we had landed. From a side door we saw a middle aged man enter and walk to the space between us and the door. "Hello, my name is Adrien Multer. You may address me as Professor Multer," the man said. He had black hair that was combed back and a short beard. His hair was graying with age and stress, and you could see wrinkles on his forehead. He wore a collared blue shirt and pants. "I will not be tolerating any off topic questions," he added. Well he seems like a bright guy. A team of other scientists also came in as we waited anxiously to get off the big vehicle we'd been confined in for months.