Dane Mallahan

A spacecraft hovers through a misted yellow-green haze. The color of baby vomit, one of the crew members thinks. It certainly wasn’t the most inviting of planets. There’s only a bit of turbulence as the wind in the low atmosphere buffets the ship. It’s a small vessel, a transport ship, enough to fit six crew members comfortably, along with an array of scientific instruments, tools, and gadgets stored in the hull to help in their explorations. The ship belongs to a larger convoy that has stationed itself on the outskirts of this solar system.
The craft starts to move lower in the atmosphere on this unnamed planet, controlled by their pilot. The ship is unmarked, an unidentified craft made of special alloys to ward off errant space debris. It was plain and gray; the people who created it not knowing any code, law, or requirement to identify what was theirs. No. This is the first voyage of its kind for these people and the crew that sits on board. This exploratory mission that this shuttle and its crew endure is one of a few they refer to as the Away Team.
The first feet on the ground of planets that may contain life, or hold some form of resource that the lead convoy ship, and whomever comes behind, can use along their journey. Life, as far as they knew it, and could be scanned by the convoy. This is their mission, one that they have been chosen for, but one that each member has their own opinion of.
The craft breaks through a low-hanging covering of clouds – these ones a dense purple and blue – and the ground below appears. It is a rocky planet, come to find, craggy and desolate. Now that they are within sight of their projected landing area, the craft speeds up and wings down to a flat stretch of solid ground. Their thrusters fire and the ship lowers daintily to the ground. The landing gear detracts and the ship lands safely.
Without much pause, a sliding hatch door depresses into the ship’s side and one of the crew members stretches their body into the open void of this yellow-green atrocity of a planet. They all wear protective suits, made of the same alloy that their ship is constructed of. Light, durable, and made to be especially flexible so the scientific crew can accomplish their goals in the detection and collection of certain materials.
The lone crew member jumps to the ground, his booted exoskeleton protecting him from the increased gravity. He hits the ground with an ummph sound releasing from his lungs. “Better turn up the power.” He mumbles to himself as he brings up the suit’s holo-board, a keyboard interface that allows them to make adjustments to their suit and exoskeleton.
“Gravs off.” He says through the coms, but no one responds.
He looks around the planet and kicks at the dusty ground.
“I thought the scanners said there was water on this planet, fat lie that was.” This crew member exclaims.
Another slot opens on the ship beneath the door and a metal ramp extends out to reach the surface.
“There might be water, Musaf, might.” Another crew member says as they appear and walk down to meet the lone crew member on the planet, Musaf.
“There always ‘might’ be water, it’s always the same damn thing. We haven’t seen anything new in weeks.” Musaf complained.
“It’s space, Musaf, everything is new, every time.” A third member walks out, followed by the remaining team.
Six of them in all, each with a different specialization. Musaf was the one with the most combat training and survival skills. The pragmatic but optimistic second person on the planet was Shelby. She was the lead scientist, having the most general experience; bio, energy, geology, she knew a bit of everything. She was also the one responsible if the team didn’t complete their tasks.
The third member to speak was the pilot and secondary survivalist, Elza. She made it a point to put Musaf in his place when he needed it. The remaining two scientists, Ulla and Terrin, and another much younger member rounded out the team. This last member came from a family with a higher power; Drake, the captain of their convoy ship’s son. Having just turned fourteen, his father thought that exploring the unknown universe would be a good step towards making him a man. Drake’s father was not like most fathers in this regard.
“We should get the sensors set up. This place gives me the creeps.” Terrin said.
“I’m with you on that, this yellow haze feels like ….wait, is it changing?” Ulla said, shivering.
The masses of gas were indeed moving and changing, they were now a purplish mixture. Some light greens, a gold trace here and there. Shelby wasn’t interested, she moved to the back of the ship where the hull was located and the other two scientists followed. Elza scanned the right and left and then followed as well to stand guard.
“So what are we looking for on this heap, specifically?” Musaf asked.
“It’s a gas giant with a rocky core! No one expected that to be possible.” Drake said excitedly, chiming in as he turned in circles with his head titled to the sky.
“Some would say the rocky core precludes this from being a gas giant.” Shelby replied, “But I think we’re going to have to move our measuring stick in the years to come.” She eyed some of the swirling gases above as well.
The yellow haze hung to the ground, and several feet above, but the dense clouds and fogs above had started to change again, this time resembling oranges and reds that swirled together in the winds. Were they interacting with each other? This location seemed to be calm, set inside a small valley, but no one could tell what was out there.
“You know the drill, Musaf, we’re looking for any gas we can harvest and use on the convoy and mark the planet for any resource gathering by any future convoys,” Shelby said.
Musaf looked back at her and grunted.
“You really believe that, don’t you? That there will be other convoys.”
“You don’t?” Shelby eyed him annoyingly and pointed to the kid, but she was too far away for Musaf to understand what she meant, nor did he care.
“Nope, not a chance.” He scoffed.
Shelby was willing to keep quiet and let it die, for Drake’s sake, but the boy surprised her.
“My father said the next convoy would be behind us in five years, it’s been three, maybe you can be more pessimistic in a few years?” Drake said defiantly.
Musaf looked blankly at the boy for a few seconds before bursting into laughter.
“HAHAHA. The last three months you’ve been quiet as a mouse; I think I like this better.” He said wildly. “I’m going to check the front.” He said, still laughing to himself.
Shelby motioned for Drake to come over and help them and he followed orders. They both thought about what Musaf had said, about the last three years. How long and trying it had been for them all. Away from most or any family they had ever known, with the likelihood that they would never see any of them ever again.
“What’s got into him?” Ulla said as the three other members used the loading dock and arm loader to move three pods onto the planet’s surface.
“He’s crazy, crazy with the floats,” Elza stated.
They did not know if Elza was entirely joking or not. She was superstitious, part of more than a few that believed those that went crazy on board or killed themselves suffered from ‘The Floats’. Though the ship had artificial gravity, many posited that artificial wasn’t enough.
“Don’t talk any of that business around me, no merit or point in any of it,” Terrin stated.
“Yeah, Elza, jeez, it’s not a great time to be bringing up stuff like that…out here,” Ulla said, looking around hesitantly in the shifting clouds.
Elza rolled her eyes.
“Let’s just get these sensors set up and get a move on,” Shelby commanded.
This was still all so new to all of them. It had only been a year since the Away Teams had started checking the surfaces of planets. The convoy leaders thought it pointless to look at anything so close to the solar system they had just left. Some knew the obvious reasons – that they would not ever be close enough to use those resources again. Others knew the not-so-obvious, that their galaxy would be long dead and gone, those materials along with it.
Shelby, Ulla, and Terrin proceeded to pull the cargo pods from the rear of the hold.
“Where do you want them, boss?” Ulla asked Shelby, always trying to maintain an upbeat attitude.
Shelby took stock of their surroundings, then pointed to a small outcropping of stones that formed a wall nearly as tall as them.
“That looks like as good a spot as any.” She stated.
Terrin was gazing up into the sky, watching the colors shift again to a more green base.
“Berylium, argon, methane.” They mumbled. “You’re really going to get a better reading out in the open, doll.”
“The sensors will make due,” Shelby said and started to roll over the pods, but Terrin crossed their arms and stood still, their tall form towering over the other two.
Terrin always questioned Shelby and felt the need to press their intelligence and authority as an expert in their field often.
“What’s the use of dragging these heavy ass crates all the way over there?” Terrin imposed.
Shelby stopped and Ulla bit her tongue. She didn’t like it when they fought, when anyone fought.
“Are you in a hurry?” Shelby scolded.
“There’s a million other planets out there that we can be searching, let’s just do it quick and get out of here,” Terrin complained.
“A million planets. Huh.” Shelby leaned against the cargo pod. “There’s probably more than that, and we aren’t going to touch a thousand of them in our lifetime, probably not even a hundred. So, we might as well do things well and enjoy the scenery we are lucky enough to frolic around in.” She said, throwing up her hands and mocking Terrin at the end.
Shelby nodded at Ulla and the pair started to pull along the heavy pods toward the outcropping of stone, grunting with effort.
“I guess she’ll get a gold star then,” Terrin commented under their breath, unheard by the exertion of the others, and started to help Ulla with the second pod.
They eventually got them pulled over to the stones and popped the crates open. Drake and Elza approached and looked over their shoulders as they began to open the pods and connect some of the wiring and gadgets together. Elza squirmed with restlessness.
“You want to watch them or tag off to explore?” She asked Drake with a twinkle in her eye.
Drake looked off into the distance; behind their ship was a vast desert of rocky hills and crevasses. That made him hesitant. As much as he wanted to explore an alien planet, he also wanted to live to see another day.
“Ehh, I’m fine watching.” He said nervously, thinking about the monsters and hidden holes throughout the planet’s surface.
“Suit yourself.” She replied and sauntered back to the ship.
Drake felt sort of guilty looking at her walk away; they had only been together a short time, but he could see her – and to some extent Musaf if he had feelings – being left out. She and Musaf had little scientific training, and the other three in the group were specialists in their field. Ull’s was biological, Terrin’s was physics with a smattering of chemistry, and he knew Shelby knew most out of the three. That’s why she was in charge and usually had the final say.
Though Shelby and Terrin bickered on more than one occasion, mostly on how to get things done. Now, though, the three were working in tandem to set up the sensor machine.
“Where’s the damn power cable?” Shelby grunted, reaching around within her pod.
Drake moved around to watch from the front, his curiosity for machines and gadgets aroused. He looked down at the three pods, each containing a different assortment of gear.
“What is all this stuff?” Drake asked.
Terrin and Shelby were digging into the pods, but Ulla grinned at Drake, feeling a parental need to teach.
“This one right here is the energy reactor, a Hydrogen fuel cell and converter.” She said, pointing to the pod Shelby was rooting around in.
“This one is the control module and computer.” Terrin interrupted Ulla’s explanation and she frowned at them and wrinkled her nose.
Drake saw this and laughed.
“And this pod contains the sensors that will draw in and read the composition of the gas,” Ulla finished with a smile.
“Found it!” Shelby hollered from halfway inside the pod.
Her torso hung over the side as she reached deeply to snag the missing power cord.
“They need to secure this stuff better next time, I’ll make sure to include that in my report.”
Shelby attached the power cable to a coupling on the reactor and the computer module, twisting it into place. She then flipped up a computer screen from the module and flicked a power switch. The screen turned a green color and black lettering tumbled across the screen in lines as the computer booted up.
“Shame they chose to skimp on the components that will aid in the main focus of our ‘mission’.” Terrin scoffed. They had grown tired of having to use outdated equipment; they weren’t used to dealing with such constraints back home.
“It’ll get the job done, and we work with what we got,” Shelby commented absently as she brought up the control drivers.
She entered a few lines of code on the over-sized keyboard – a necessity since their suits could not interface with these “outdated” machines – and hit enter. A port hole on the box that held the sensors opened and disc-shaped objects spun straight into the air. Drake’s head shot up as he followed their ascent through the different colored clouds. They had shifted with the wind and now contained a mass of purples and blues, flitting with specks of gold. Terrin stepped back and watched with Drake.
“See, the sensors will work just fine over here,” Shelby commented.
“Didn’t know about those…” Terrin mumbled under their breath.
“What’s that?” Shelby said, the coms picking up Terrin’s remark.
“Nothing, what are they picking up?” They shoved past Ulla and looked at the screen.
“Nothing yet,” Shelby said, entering another few bits of code.
A small graph flashed onto the screen that showed five of the disc-like drones throughout the atmosphere. The lowest drone was close enough to see and Drake pointed up at it.
“Look!” He said in awe.
The drones had sent out a circular laser array that had to be a hundred feet across. This red laser circle lifted up and dropped down as they scanned the area. The laser switched to a green color, then yellow, blue, and finally a dazzling white. The white laser seemed to cut through all of the colors within the clouds. Finally, the light show was over and Terrin and Shelby looked anxiously at the screen in front of them.
Then the numbers started to come in. A half screen with different tabs opened for each sensor and calculated the percentages of gas found around each.
“Amazing,” Terrin said, trying to force Shelby out of the way.
But Shelby pushed back and fully took over.
“Argon, helium, some oxygen bound within. Huh, I wonder where that came from.” She said, pondering the origins of these gases.
She continued to tab through each sensor, stopping at the last one, the highest in the atmosphere.
“Hydrogen, large pockets. They’ll love this.” She said.
The winds shifted and the gases changed again. Gold and red streaked through the sky above. Shelby saw this and wondered.
“Let’s take a few more surveys before we go.” Without pause, she set up the sensors for another round.

While the scientists and the boy were completing the mission, Musaf was off on his own. He kicked at a gas-covered rock and the green flecks of whatever substance dissipated into the air. He had learned early to keep to himself; the com lines were supposed to always be open. There could shut them off, tune out others, but he didn’t want to suffer the wrath of Shelby if she found out. If he could get far enough away, though, they wouldn’t be able to pick up his voice and he could not be heard if he made any outbursts. He thought if he could get far enough away, then he could finally scream. Fuck, he was bored.
He scanned the environment for any sources of danger or trouble. Nothing. Though this environment could tear them apart without their suits, right now everything was code blue. Fine and dandy like a glass full of brandy. He grinned at the rhyme and then started to think about his old life. He had given up everything to be on this mission. Everything for his family, but everything and his family. Only the trained were destined to be on the first ship.
His wife, child, sister, father, and mother…all left behind on the planet he could not stand to name. A tear came to his eye and he sniffled.
“Musaf?” A voice echoed over the coms.
He turned sharply and could see Elza’s form standing there behind him.
“Don’t sneak up on me like that, I could have blasted you!” He cried
“You don’t even have your gun out, jackass.” She grinned. “What are you doing out here anyway?”
“I saw a crevasse this way when we landed; I’m looking to see if all the little green men are hiding in it.” The vulnerability had vanished and he gave Elza a crazy and wild glance.
She crossed her arms and scoffed.
“Don’t bullshit me, you were thinking about them again.” She said with some amount of concern.
“I told you that once in confidence, fellow survivalist, and you turned me into the psych wardens!” Musaf said, nearly seething, not thinking or caring to know if he was far enough away for the others to hear.
“You needed help! I didn’t know what to say to that, I didn’t leave anyone behind.” She kept her arms crossed tightly across the alloy breastplate of her suit.
She held her combative and assertive demeanor, but she felt insecure as well; she still didn’t know how to talk to him.
“It doesn’t matter, I don’t want to talk about it,” Musaf said, dismissing her concern.
He turned and moved further towards the sharp drop-off not far away. He glanced down and was unable to see the bottom. The clouds were thick and dense down in this trough. But he could see the jagged ridges of stone along the cliff below him and shivered. It would be a painful way down.
Elza appeared at his side, her mouth was still tight and her body ridged. Feelings made her uncomfortable, that was another reason why it was so hard to talk about Musaf and his past. She wasn’t used to dealing with feelings.
“I grew up in the military, core servant. Not sure if I ever belonged to anyone…parents that is. So I don’t know what it’s like for someone to care about you, or care for anyone.” She mused.
“You don’t know what I don’t want to talk about it means either,” Musaf grunted.
She smacked his shoulder with her gauntlet and it bounced off harmlessly. He grinned for a moment and then turned somber.
“We wear these suits…they protect us from many things but…” He trailed off and she did not pursue.
This was the nicest conversation between them in several missions, but their quiet moment was suddenly interrupted by a huge updraft coming from the endless depths below. It pushed Musaf back and lifted Elza off her feet.
“Shhhhhiiiiiiiitttt.” She howled as the gust sent her sprawling back to the rocky ground behind them.
Her body hit the ground and skidded to a halt. The yellow haze billowed up around them. Musaf rushed over to her, the wind still blowing behind him.
“You ok?” He said, kneeling down to examine Elza’s suit.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She said, looking behind Musaf, “But I think we need to get to the others.”
She pointed behind Musaf. He could see the fright in her eyes and turned to gaze where she pointed; behind them, in the crevasse, a whirling sprout started to build. The updraft had formed into some sort of tornado that was turning and whipping the gases around its torso. It started to move along the walls of the crevasse and the winds picked up.
“Shit.” Musaf echoed, picking Elza up from the surface of the moon.
They both sprinted for the ship.
“Everyone on the ship!” Musaf yelled through the coms. But he got no response.
“God damnit.” He said, sprinting harder and leaving Elza slightly behind.
“You four hear me?? Back on the ship, now!” He kept bellowing and finally got within distance.
“Musaf, what’s that?” Ulla asked.
“Look up!” He shouted.
The four of them could now see Musaf nearing the ship, and behind him, the colored gases swirled together forming a harsh blackness.
“What the fuck is that?” Terrin asked, their teeth starting to chatter in fear.
“Tornado! Back on the ship! Move!” Musaf yelled as he continued to close in on them.
Ulla grabbed Drake and booked it back up the ramp, pulling the outside leaver and opening the airlock door. She pushed Drake inside and prepared to help the others on board. But Shelby was set at the computer typing away.
“Shelby!” Terrin yelled, “Shelby we’ve got to go!”
“Not yet, scans almost done.” She said, unwavering.
“We’ve got enough scans!” Terrin interjected.
“We can’t leave the drones up there and I can’t recall them yet. One minute.”
“We don’t have a minute!” Terrin shouted, grabbing Shelby’s arm, but the leader pulled it back.
“You go, I’ll be fine,” Shelby said sternly, confidently.
The winds had started to pick up around them and Terrin thought for a moment about staying, but they were no hero. Terrin ran back to the ship but Ulla stopped them from entering.
“It’s her choice.” They said to Ulla and walked on board.
Musaf skidded to a halt at the base of the ramp and Elza met him not long after.
“Jesus, will you get her on board,” Elza shouted to Musaf.
“Gladly, Captain!” He said jokingly.
Elza rushed on board to prepare the craft for takeoff while Musaf rushed to Shelby.
“Oh, fancy scientist lady! We’ve got to leave, now!” He motioned emphatically with both arms, back towards the growing storm.
He was starting to perspire in his suit as he exerted more force to stay standing upright; the winds were increasing quickly.
“Only a few more seconds,” Shelby said, eying the computer screen, unaware of anything other than saving those drones.
“We could be dead in seconds!” Musaf roared.
There was a beep from the console and Shelby hit a few keys.
“There!” She shouted and struggled out from behind the terminal.
The winds became harsh around them, but the discs fell back down to the planet and coupled together, locking back into their docking station.
Musaf grabbed Shelby as the wind buffeted against them; they all heard only their exertion as the two tried to maintain their footing. They started to stomp foot by foot back to the ship.
“Increase gravity!” Shelby said harshly.
“No, too much strain on the suit and on me!” Musaf yelled back.
They were almost to the ramp and Elza could see them approaching.
“Mag on once you hit the deck and I’ll reel you in.” She said.
Musaf felt the cling of metal on metal a his boot struck the ramp, first one, and then the other. He pressed a finger to his palm and his boots locked on. With the increased stability he pulled Shelby close to him and onto the ramp. She locked on as well.
“Good to go!” Musaf yelled as she did, having an idea of what Elza’s plan was.
The pilot hit a sequence of buttons and the ramp started to retract into the ship. It pulled Musaf and Shelby along with it, and Ulla was there waiting to bring them inside. Musaf and Shelby unmagged their boots and came crashing into the airlock. Ulla hit the airlock lever to close the door and they were all safely inside the ship.
Musaf grunted as he jumped upright and helped Shelby up. The three of them stepped into the main cabin and Musaf pulled off his helmet. His long black hair fell out.
“That was stupid, Shelby.” He said while taking a seat at his station.
She sat across the bay from him but refrained from removing her helmet.
“Until we find more minerals to refine and other resources to make more shit, we have a finite amount of equipment; those things matter just as much as you and I.” She said bluntly.
“Honey we don’t matter to them and you know it.” Terrin laughed. “You might think that we are the best of the best, but I know that we are only the bet that they are willing to risk.” They also removed their helmet, believing that the mission was over. Their bald head glimmered with sweat. The sweat of exertion and of fear.
“I wouldn’t start the bitch session just yet you two, we aren’t out of the woods yet,” Elza warned, looking at their radar and other screens.
“What do you mean?” Drake asked, a tinge of fear returning to his voice.
“It’s not safe to take off, we’ll be battered around by that thing.” She advised.
“It’s a space ship, a little bit of wind is going to hurt it?” Ulla questioned, and Musaf laughed in an uproar.
“HAHAHA, I’m turning you all into cynics, I love it.” He clapped his gauntlets together.
Shelby left her seat and went to Elza.
“What’s it looking like out there?” She asked, and Elza brought up the viewing screen. She switched to the side camera and could see the massive black tornado hovering over the crevasse and exuding gasses out of its bottom. The winds continued to buffet the ship and rocked it slightly on the landing gear.
“Shit,” Drake said.
“Watch your language,” Ulla said vehemently.
“Who cares?” Terrin remarked.
Musaf sat silently giggling to himself and Shelby and Elza watched the tornado in a terrified sense of stillness. They stared diligently into the storm. They knew the only hope they had was for this thing to blow out or move on. The ship swayed again, this time enough to rock them in their seats. Hands gripped the sides of their chairs and Shelby steadied herself at the console.
Terrin put their helmet back on. The storm moved closer. There was another large gust that picked them up briefly and dropped them back to the ground. Drake cried and Ulla screamed.
“Anything we can do?” Shelby asked Elza.
“Side thrusters, maybe, but dunno how far back that would take us.”
“It’s flat as far as I could see,” Shelby commented.
Another large gust and Elza’s hand went for the throttle.
“NO!” Musaf yelled. “If you topple us….” He reached for his helmet and put it back on his head. “If you topple us we won’t be able to right, and if this storm carried on we’ll be fucked.”
“He might be right, as much as I hate to admit it,” Shelby commented.
They sat there with every muscle fiber in their bodies tense; holding on and holding upright; holding together. They stared at the screen, the camera showing them a swirling mass. But it continued to hold in its position within the crevasse it was situated in.
Another few minutes passed and the skies started to settle. The wind died down and the twisting figure in front of them abated. The black mass of gasses started to flow and separate or become enveloped in other systems of gas. The colors returned to the original puke green, but none were upset to see it this time.
“Thank God,” Ulla said as they all began to relax.
Musaf slunk back in his chair.
“There’s no God out here, only luck.” He said dismally.
“We should check the cargo, see if it’s damaged,” Shelby said, focusing her duties on the others as well.
“You can go, I’m not going back outside,” Elza said. “You’ll need me at the helm anyway.” She went back to preparing the ship and released the ramp back onto the planet.
Shelby could tell that the mighty pilot was scared.
“Musaf, give us a hand.” She said as the other scientists left the cabin.
Drake started to get up but Musaf pushed him back into his seat.
“We won’t be long.” The survivalist said bluntly.
They exited the ship and walked down the ramp, this timeless arrogant and carefree. They went to the pods. They had been blown around slightly, but the backing wall had saved them from being sucked up or blown away completely.
“Looks a little dinged up. Power cable snapped, but they should be able to fix it in engineering.” Shelby said as she squatted to check on the damage.
“Let’s load up and get off this hell hole,” Musaf grunted.
“Aw, did Musaf wet his pants, need to change your undies?” Terrin laughed, but Musaf pounced on them, pushing Terrin up against the stone wall.
“I won’t take insults from the likes of you, you weak…what are you anyway?” Musaf yelled and they fumbled against each other as Terrin tried to push Musaf away.
“Musaf! Knock it off.” Shelby proclaimed as she and Ulla tried to pull them apart.
He did stop, eventually, but his aggression carried on; he grabbed a pod with each hand and started to pull them away. A show of strength and a petty attempt at further intimidation, Terrin thought, but nonetheless the pods moved and Musaf grunted away.
“Terrin, are you OK?” Ulla asked, going over to them.
“I’m fine.” They shooed her away, focusing on packing the last pod.
The three worked in silence and pulled the pod back to the ship together. No one said a word. They knew Terrin was different, but they also knew that they didn’t want any special treatment. So, the other two had never brought it up.
Terrin rushed back on the ship as they neared and Ulla and Shelby, along with the brooding Musaf, used the loader to get the pods back on the ship. They didn’t say a thing to him either. Coms would pick it up at this range.
They finished loading and stepped up the ramp and into the ship.
“We’re all set, Elza.” Shelby notified the pilot.
“Good thing, the colors are starting to change again.” Elza pointed and they noted the shift to purples and blues.
They wouldn’t be able to build a permanent settlement down here, at least not safely, and who knows when the rest of the convoy would even be along, but Shelby thought that the readings and telemetry would give their ship a good amount of hydrogen to harvest.
There were never enough resources out there, especially for them, the first of their kind. The first steps into the unknown. Elza fired up the thrusters and ascended from the planet’s surface. They were all tired and cranky. They needed to get back to their bunks and rest.
They didn’t know when they would be needed or called for again, the sensors on the convoy could only reach so far. But they would be called on again, and they would be ready.