37
Aiden
Endless plains of sandand rock accompanied the Maine’s descent from space, a monotony of orange and gray that made everything blur together and blend with the gold-tinted skies. The cruisers remained in orbit, drifting in the atmosphere as they waited for landing instructions, while Aiden and the rest of the frigate’s crew searched for an entry point to the underground caverns.
“Heading north toward that mountain,” Bea said to George over the comms, steering the Maine in that direction.
“We can’t get a good read on it from up here because of the dust storm,”George explained, his voice scrambling a little.
“The Maine’s scanners are picking up something… A sinkhole, I think.” She reached for the pack of dried pears on the co-pilot’s seat and tossed a slice into her mouth. “It’s definitely big enough for us and the Sinaloa, though I’m not sure a cruiser would fit.”
“Ping us the data as you pass, and we’ll figure out a way to get them underground.”
“Roger,” Bea acknowledged as she plunged the ship into a menacing cloud that loomed like a wall of solid brown mist.
The thickness of dust and sand limited the sunlight’s reach and a gloom settled around them, giving the interior a hazy orange-brown tint. In the distance, Aiden caught the jagged form of a lightning bolt split in four and hit what was either cliffs or the ground.
Darren, Kristen and Nyle had moved to the mess hall, while Aiden had remained in the cockpit with Bea and the head of the geologists’ team, Dr. Hudson. He was a tall man with tattooed biceps and dark brown eyes.
“Do you think we’ll find anything alive down there, doc?” Bea tossed, eating another pear slice. She noticed Aiden watching her and offered him some, but he had to refuse because his stomach was definitely not up to having food in it quite yet.
“Based on the readings we got onboard the Astero, there are definitely plants. Preliminary analysis suggested they are very similar to Earth specimens. If I had to guess…” Dr. Hudson trailed off and narrowed his eyes at his tablet. “It’s probably because of the temperature, water and the air conditions in the caverns.”
“So, if the conditions are so similar to those on Earth, and there are plants, shouldn’t there be animals, too?” Aiden offered, remembering he’d not seen anything about that in the report.
“I agree. In theory, you are right, Kesley. But there haven’t been any indications of fauna so far.” Dr. Hudson shrugged. “It could be that animals do exist but have evolved differently from ours, so they are invisible to the tools we have… Although, I find that unlikely. Bio or heat signatures tend to have universal markers we can detect.”
Aiden wondered what those animals would be like if Hudson was right about their evolution. His mind was still a little shaken up from the jump though, so he didn’t get far,deeming it a pointless brain exercise when the likeliest scenario was that there weren’t any or the cruisers would’ve detected them.
After a while, the outlines of peaks and spires started to take form amidst the brown of the dust storm. Bea avoided them with ease and directed the ship in a smooth arc to the dark maw of the sinkhole. It was bigger than Aiden had imagined it and it reminded him of the lake near the Valrais mansion, though instead of a mesmerizing silvery blue that reflected the sun, this here was a gaping abyss that gave him chills.
The Maine dove right in. Complete darkness engulfed them, and even the ship’s searchlights could do little to dissipate the blackness around. It was like it ate up all light without fail, and as they continued their descent, tense silence settled inside the cockpit. The only sounds came from the scanners gathering data and pinging it to the cruisers in orbit so they could analyze it.
Aiden’s attention shifted from the console to the beams of light on the other side of the viewport, but he found everything still just as dark and disorienting.
“Fuck it,” Bea scoffed and turned the searchlights off. “Can’t see anythinganyway.”
It took Aiden’s eyes about a minute to adjust, but when they did, he could pick out the slight variation in the hues of black outside the Maine. At first, they were barely discernible, but with every mile they descended, the contrast became more pronounced, and bits of color started to sneak their way into the otherwise uniform darkness. Then, as they passed the ten-mile mark, an expanse of shadowy blue stretched before them, going as far as Aiden’s eyes could see.
“Is this thesea?” he asked, squinting at the gray outline of a shore in the distance. Beyond it was a darker elongated shape that the radars told him was a forest.
“Yes,” Dr. Hudson said, nodding. “And the readings look good, too.”
Aiden gave the midnight blue under them another look and trained his gaze on the horizon as they approached the shore. Now that they were closer, he could see a faint orange glow shining behind the trees.
“Bea…”
“Yeah, I see it. But I’ve no idea what it is. The Maine’s systems can’t identify the source. We’ll have to leave that to the Astero. Darren,” she turned to the rest via the comms, “get your ass over here. You guys gotta see this.”
Everyone arrived within a minute, crowding the cockpit. Nyle sat in Bea’s lap and let her ruffle his blond hair, while Darren took the co-pilot’s seat. Aiden perched his ass on the armrest.
“Do we have a good spot for a forward camp?” Darren asked as the Maine cleared the water and flew over the forest preceding a gorge.
Bea glanced at the statistics on the main console. “Yeah. The area by the water and the one behind the forest are plateaus, so we should probably set up there. I’ll circle back.”
She left the searchlights on upon landing the ship on the beach, choosing that area instead of the forest as they weren’t quite sure what the orange glow was yet. They didn’t disembark immediately, instead preparing the equipment and tents while waiting for confirmation from Dr. Hudson’s team that the air was indeed safe for breathing.
“Alright, everyone, we’ve got the OK from the cruiser team as well. We’re good to go,” Bea announced over the Maine’s comms, making her way down the U-shaped ramp of the cargo hold along with Dr. Hudson. “Let’s set up base!”
