01
ThePlanetunfurledbelowlike a blossom during the first spring. Not that I knew what spring looked like, having been born in a colony. Changing the seasons in a place that never saw a sun would have been a waste, and so, I fought Ryker for a window seat.
I didn’t expect there to be so much green in all the universe, let alone on a single planet. The color reached across the land, and as the clouds dispersed, a blue ocean greeted us. The Planet, titled something completely fucking ridiculous that we ignored because we wouldn’t be capable of pronouncing it anyway, resembled what Earth once was, based on the adverts. Land and water, serene and full of life, spread upon its surface, entirely untouched by colonization.
“Breaching lower atmo,” the shuttle’s com declared.
The seatbelt light blinked on, painting the cabin in crimson. An alarm wentwhump, whump, whump,and the engines sounded more like a beast than metal.
“When we land, no one leaves the shuttle without my say-so,” Roys said from the front of the cabin.
“Yes, sir,” the group agreed, except me. I kept my attention on the porthole.
“Ethin,” Roys warned in that low gravely voice that made my teeth grind.
“Lucky,” I corrected.
“Repeat my last order.”
Beside me, Ryker laughed and earned a fist to the gut.
“No one leaves the shuttle without your oh so special permission,” I said.
Roys’ eyes rivalled space itself. Practically black from a distance, and a deep, unreal blue if one dared to risk proximity. The scars across his needlessly attractive face made him all the more intimidating. Each mark spoke of a battle that he survived and most of us wouldn’t have.
“Good. Now share with the group what our mission is, so I know you paid attention back on Main,” he ordered.
More snickering bled from the group. Twenty-four soldiers spread throughout the rattling cabin. The red lights hastened, signaling the upcoming landing. The shuttle’s timer blinked at fifty seconds. Roys would make us wait long after landing if I didn’t follow orders. MostlybecauseI didn’t follow orders. But this time I would, because I had never felt fresh air on my face or grass or unfiltered water, and no bootlicking captain with an attitude problem would impede that.
“We’ve been sent to neutralize all threats within a ten-click radius of the habitat to ensure the safety of all future tenants. Our biggest threat, based on scans, is not the animals that inhabit this place, but the flora. We are never to go out in less than a group of two, and we must all report our findings to you immediately to ensure our safety and that of the survey team that will join us in two weeks,” I said without breaking eye contact.
Ryker whistled and blocked my punch to the gut that time.
“Twenty seconds to landing,” the shuttle comms announced.
Satisfied, and far too smug, Roys turned away.
Annoying fucker.
We abandoned the cloud cover to observe the flora we were so warned about. Corporate’s report didn’t have more than a dozen dangerous flora listed because that was the most the droids gained prior to being demolished. Initially, Corporate believed animals tore the droids to shreds. After vid feed returned detailing the eradication of an unfortunate droid, they learned flora caused the varying degrees of violent demise.
The flora of this world were peculiar creations, an array of plants ranging from gleaming orange bulbs that caught fire to their surroundings when agitated, to towering structures with stems as thick as a grown man’s waist and broad tops where tendrils snatched prey to be wrenched into the canopy and dissolved. A particularly nasty flora paraded itself as a yellow flower that, when approached, ripped out of the soil to reveal a monster of rooted decay that enjoyed ripping the flesh off its victims and devouring their innards. That video, involving a regrettable rabbit-like creature, made the entire troop sick to their stomachs.
The shuttle landed in a field previously cleared by droids, the remnants of which were sprinkled about. From the window, their remains studded the landscape, broken hands and feet protruding from the loose soil. Grass and moss ravaged their skeletons, making the droids appear as if they had been there for decades rather than a month. The Company didn’t lend the best of the best AI to non-colonized planets, particularly those on the Outer Rim. Too much risk of losing big tech like security units. They didn’t consider droids much of a loss, or us, so the militia investigated instead.
The shuttle landed with a lurch. Arana hurled into a bag. Her stomach never enjoyed landing and her already cool white skin had a sickly shine. She wiped the remnants of sick from her mouth and launched to her feet.
“Don’t give the captain a hard time.” Arana retrieved her canteen to wash out her mouth. She spat into the pack, then brushed her teeth. She always carried a toothbrush for potential shuttle rides.
“He’s going to be more pissy than usual, and I am in no mood to run the perimeter when we could be snatched by who knows what to be eaten nice and slow.” Arana leaned over the seat to seize me by the collar. “I have two good women waiting for me back home, and if I do not get to fuck them again before I die, I will kill you myself.”
Smacking her hand away, I said, “Good to know that sex is more important than our friendship.”
“You bet your ass it is. I haven’t had a decent fucking since we left the last port.” Arana gave a great sigh, her eyes drifting to Iylene lifting their packs out of the overhead compartment. “If I weren’t in a closed polycule, I would jump your bones tonight.”
Iylene spoke with no inflection in their voice, as aevid’s often did. “If you tried, I would shoot you.”
Aevid’s were known for two things; apathy and shedding. The latter of which I could have gone my whole life without seeing, but unfortunately, Iylene shed once a year, leaving remnants of their pale blue skin throughout the barracks. Had a horrendous smell too, like baked rotten meat. Their species stood tall and thin with smooth hairless skin and long tails that helped them run or jump.
