Episode One
Lights, Camera, Impact!
By T.L. Charles
Published by Annulus Publishing
Copyright © T.L. Charles 2015. All rights reserved.
Formatting by T.L. Charles
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Episode One
Lights, Camera, Impact!
The desert world of Magna 5 was largely inhospitable to extraterrestrial life. The planet's north pole, if it could be called such, was mostly sand, with the occasional canyon to make things interesting. The south pole, on the other hand, was home to a dozen large, active volcanoes that always seemed to be erupting on any given day of the week.
In between these two poles were two continents, half sandy wastelands, half volcanic rock, with thousands or perhaps even millions of smaller islands scattered throughout the Blood Sea (so named because of the red color of the ocean's water) that took up half the planet's surface. It had no inhabitants; at least, no natural inhabitants. Scientists and researchers from Universal Alliance member worlds often stayed on the planet for a few months at a time at a research station built there, researching the unusual rocks and atmospheric conditions in order to help improve the entire UA's understanding of the universe.
What made the planet even more dangerous, however, were the massive meteorites that struck its surface every so often. Magna 5's gravity was strong enough to pull even the largest meteors to its surface, where they would crash and cause massive explosions. Once, a meteor fell inside one of Magna 5's super volcanoes, which resulted in an eruption that covered almost the entire planet's atmosphere for weeks and made travel to the planet impossible even with the best breathing equipment money could buy.
All in all, Magna 5 was not exactly Jason Space's ideal place to spend a summer vacation. He stood on the deck of the Adventure, looking out over the massive planet that loomed before them on the ship's main monitor. Below him, his friend Helena Galaxy—also known as Captain Galaxy—was checking and rechecking her bag to make sure she had all the right tools, equipment, and provisions she would need to survive out there on Magna 5's wastes.
“I really think maybe we should go somewhere else,” said Jason, who preferred to think of himself as 'Mr. Space.' “I heard Shizor has really nice weather this time of year. Even Namox is pretty good.”
Galaxy didn't look up at him as she zipped her backpack shut. “We need money and right now rocks from Magna Five are selling like hotcakes to UA scientists. I'm just going to do down there for a few days, collect as many interesting or unique-looking rocks as I can, and come back. Simple.”
“But Magna Five is big and scary,” said Space. He paused, and then said, “Okay, I guess every planet is big and scary, but it's bigger and scarier than most. The water isn't even drinkable. You might die out there, even if you wear the right safety equipment.”
“If you're really so worried, you could come with me, you know,” said Galaxy as she slung her backpack over her shoulders. “Besides, I'm just going to go to the Barren Isle. It's supposedly largely untouched by extraterrestrial life; therefore, there are probably a lot of good rocks down there that no one's taken. I doubt I'll run into any serious trouble.”
“I dunno,” said Space. “There might be rock monsters. Like, really big ones that can eat people.”
Galaxy rolled her eyes. “You know that's just a rumor and one that was debunked by the Rumor Disprover on his TV show last year, too. The planet is totally lifeless.”
“You can't be sure about that,” said Space. “Besides, that was one of the worst episodes of the series, in my opinion. He just came, explored a tiny chunk of Magna Five, and declared it completely and totally uninhabited by rock monsters. He didn't even go to the volcanic regions, where most of the rumors claim that the monsters exist.”
“Very few people in general have gone to the volcanic regions, Space,” said Galaxy, adjusting the straps of her backpack. “Besides, I don't intend to go those regions myself. Barren Isle is mostly sand and desert and completely devoid of terrestrial life or volcanoes and lava. I'm going to be completely fine, especially since I don't plan to be down there long.”
Galaxy made her way over to the stairs and walked up to the platform Space stood upon. He immediately blocked her path, his arms spread apart so she couldn't move around him. She stopped and looked at Space in disbelief.
“You can be like a really stubborn child sometimes, you know that?” said Galaxy. “Move.”
“Take Sparky with you,” Space said. “He can help you. And being a robot—”
“His wiring will get all messed up by the sand and heat,” Galaxy finished for him. “Again, it's just going to be a quick trip there and back. If anything goes wrong, I'll send you a message and you and Sparky can come down and save me. I thought we agreed on that earlier.”
“We didn't,” said Space. “We actually didn't agree on anything. You just said you wanted to go down there and I just said that I thought you shouldn't go at all.”
“Whatever,” said Galaxy as she pushed her way past Space. “Look, I appreciate your concern, but it's hardly necessary. A few days down on one tiny island on Magna Five is hardly what I'd call dangerous work, especially in comparison to some of the other things we've done recently.”
Galaxy walked up to the door, which slid into the walls as she walked up to it, and was joined by Space. He walked uncomfortably close by her side as they walked down the hallway.
“I still don't like it,” said Space. “Sure, we have done more dangerous things, but Magna Five is still pretty freaking scary.”
As they turned the corner, Galaxy said, “And this conversation is really getting us nowhere, you know. Unless you have something new to add, keep your mouth shut.”
As it turned out, Space didn't have anything new to add, although he managed to make himself look very cross as they entered the teleporter room a minute later. Galaxy jumped onto the teleporter pad as Space went to the console and began inputting the coordinates that Galaxy had given him. He was still frowning when he finished and looked up at her.
“Last chance,” he said.
Galaxy put her space helmet on her head, c
hecked her oxygen levels to make sure she had plenty of air to breathe, and said, “You know my answer.”
Space shrugged and pressed the big red button that read TELEPORT.
Immediately, Galaxy disappeared from the teleporter platform, making Space wish he could have thought of a better argument to persuade her to stay.
-
Though Galaxy would never admit this to anyone else—would barely even admit it to herself, actually—she never really liked teleportation all that much.
Sure, it was probably the most convenient form of transportation available, and yes she had specifically built the teleporter pad into the Adventure during its initial construction seven years ago, but that was only because teleporter pads were all the rage. Nowadays, of course, most starships did not have them because, as it turned out, teleporter pads had the nasty side effect of sometimes backfiring and reassembling the target's atoms in the wrong place or, occasionally, in the wrong way. She tried not to think about that too much.
The only reason Galaxy had not yet gotten rid of the Adventure's teleporter was because it was built into the ship and removing it would require millions of digits she didn't have and an entire shipyard of shipwrights that she didn't have either. That, and Space thought it was the coolest thing ever and would probably lead Sparky in a mutiny if she ever even suggested they get rid of it.
Thankfully, the Adventure's teleporter had never malfunctioned,