Short Story Collection

Aris-14

Dear people of Earth,

This is the crew of the Aris-14. We will probably be dead long before you receive this message, but we have nothing to lose. After all, we are now a hundred light-years away. In reality, it will take a hundred Earth-years for this to reach you, and another hundred years for your reply to reach us, but because Planet-34 is close to a supermassive black hole it experiences severe time dilation, from out point of view it will take five years for this message to reach you. And another five years or your reply, or anything, to reach us.

Forgotten about us yet? I wouldn't be surprised if you had. From your point of view it has been hundreds of years since the crews of Aris-14, Aris-15 and Aris-16 were sent to three exoplanets. This message was sent a year after Aris-14 landed on this dump of a planet, and since then we haven't received any messages or supplies or anything. We have no idea what's going on anywhere else in the universe. Seriously, a little information would be helpful. But because I'm a nice person, I'll give you a little information about us.

Yeah, guess what? Turns out Planet-34 is tidally locked. One side of the planet faces the star and the other side faces the void. The side facing the star is a desert, the opposite side is a frozen wasteland. Therefore, we set up base in the middle of the planet, the ring that formed that had the perfect conditions for us. The sun never rises or sets, but remains on the horizon. The gravity is slightly lower than that on Earth, so we had to create it artificially. Because the star is a red dwarf and is consequently much dimmer than the sun, any plants are black or red to make the most of the limited sunlight. We've sent a sample back already. The other planets in the system are much closer than the planets in Earth's solar system and are often visible and are as big as Earth's moon. 

There is also no word from Aris-15 or 16, I suppose I should now call them inhibitors of Planet-45 or Planet-12. We do not even know if they made it to their planets or survived. We do not know if you have destroyed yourself through nuclear war, or if the sun has scorched the Earth, or if you remember us. When this message reaches you, it will be the year 2872.

Even if you don't remember, please help us. We can't survive for much longer. We can hold out for ten, perhaps twenty years, but then we're dead. Water is not a problem, but please send supplies, food, anything. Please.

Sincerely, 

Grace Harisen, Julian Murr, Naomi Kay,  Alexander Lee, and Dylan Lesart, the last survivors of the Aris-14.