What The Shadows Know
Far from the cosmopolitan spires of the Capital planet, a desolate world hangs deep in the cosmos. This planet exists far away from any star and is part of no solar system. It is filled with deserts and the ruins of some ancient civilization. A glass and steel sphere of unknown manufacture orbits this planet. These remnants are the only sign of life on this bleak world. It sails through the darkness of space, cold and alone; no atmosphere surrounding it that might support life. The buildings, which are crumbling, derelict, and uninhabited, are clearly well past their days of glory. The shadows cast long in the starlight and seem pensive here, like they are waiting for something to happen.
Breaking the silence, a pyramid-shaped ship explodes out of the depths of space and slows down as it gets closer to the surface of the world. It lurches towards the ground near a large set of decaying columns. A set of landing gear disengages from the bottom of the ship. They look like large skis. Two of them appear closer to the exhaust and one larger one appears just under the nose where the cockpit sits. The craft lands carefully on the planet’s surface, rocking into place on the desert sands. The shadows almost seem to react to this, moving slightly in the new ship’s direction but then settling back in their prior place until…
The captain comes striding from her swift-wing’s bay doors and is confronted by this silent, miserable enigma. The ship that bore her team is, in shape, not unlike a bird of prey. The plasma core engines that power it protrude from the rear. From there the ship reaches a sharp point at the nose. In the middle of the pyramid-shaped ship are wings that jut out from each side. These wings point forward from the rear exhaust. Towards the back of the ship is a single vertical stabilizer. Swift-wings are science vessels with only forward lasers in the nose for defense. Looking around this quiet, dismal world she wished she was equipped with the star-mines that the battle-talons carry for more dire threats. Wish in one hand…, she thought to herself.
“We’re preparing the equipment for offloading now, captain.” came the voice of her second-in-command hissing over her comm in her helmet. He was her right hand man. She knew he would do a good job getting things up and running.
“Thank you, commander,” she said in her normal command voice. The voice she used in her command duties was normally stern but this time there was a difference, something lighter, in her tone that he recognized.
“You finally made it.” his voice crackled into life all around her and she could hear the encouragement in his voice. She smiled in spite of herself. They had worked together for a long time and during some nights away from the Solar Institute, they would discuss their dreams. It had always been a dream of hers to discover new worlds and go deeper into the galaxy than anyone before her had gone. The Confederacy’s reach into the void of deep space had already reached well beyond the confines of their solar system but she always dreamt of finding a planet unheard of by the other Solar scientists. It looks like she finally got her wish.
Her deep green eyes took in the sight of this newly discovered world. She reached for her pocket scanner that was in one of the pockets of her black pressure suit. The suit was not unlike a flight suit. It fit tight to her frame. On her back was a generator that supplied oxygen to the rounded helmet on her head. The helmet was mostly made of steel with a large slit of glass that showed off her attractive features. Her blonde hair was tied in a bun to fit in the helmet. There was a vacuum tube that went from the generator on her back to the back of the helmet, pushing up breathable air so she wouldn’t suffocate. On her left shoulder sat the flag of the Confederacy, a red eagle perched on a tree limb on a gray field. On her right, the insignia of the Solar Institute, a sun split into gray and red Confederacy colors on a blue field . On the left breast of her suit, the designation of her command hung. Around the waist of her suit was a belt with multiple, small cases that contained various tools.
“Is there any atmosphere at all, captain?” She pulled up the scanner and thumbed it on. It beeped to life. The digital display could scan for multiple known chemicals. She set it to detect oxygen around her. While the scanner was doing its job, she looked up at the strange glass and metal object that orbited this planet. It looked like someone had created a string of steel and set it on the surface of a glass globe in a complicated spider web design. She was truly perplexed by it. She couldn’t help but wonder who or what had made it. It had to be artificial, didn’t it? She had never seen anything like it before. Her gaze drifted to the columns near her. The material of these constructs had gathered beneath them. Then, suddenly, something seemed to move in their shadows. She blinked but saw nothing. Nothing could be living here, could it? The scanner beeped twice, shocking her out of her thoughts. The display showed a zero to indicate there was no oxygen in this environment.
“Well, there’s definitely no breathable air. Have everyone suit up before bringing the equipment out of the bay.” She didn’t really have to tell her crew that but it was protocol to have it on record. All comms were recorded and would eventually be reviewed by the Regents of the Solar Institute. They were sticklers for protocol. Something flicked in the corner of her vision. She could have sworn the same shadow had twitched. She narrowed her eyes at the building.
“I think I saw something near one of the ruins. I’m going to check it out. When you’ve finished getting the scanners ready, come out and meet me.” The captain spoke into the emptiness surrounding her in the helmet.
“Yes, captain. Be careful, though. We know nothing about this world,” her second-in-command jokingly chastised her. He knew her well. Her curious nature was a boon to her as a scientist but it could get her in trouble. “Remember what happened on C-G983,” he laughed.
“I couldn’t have known that the cave was filled with flying lizards or that they were that poisonous,” She shot back with a smile. Disturbing the flying lizards' sleep had cost them a few welts and a few days to heal but they learned a lot on that trip.
“Curiosity killed the cat,” her commander’s voice laughingly drifted into her helmet. This was a familiar game between them. She would respond as she always did.
“But satisfaction brought her back. I’ll be fine, commander. Keep preparations going and I’ll meet you shortly.” The captain made her way to where she thought she saw the shadow move. As she got closer, something bizarre happened. She saw what looked like her shadow rise from the gloom below the column. It walked toward her in the same manner that she was moving toward the ruin. She stopped and it stopped as well but only a few feet away. The captain immediately pulled out her pocket scanner. As she was scanning the shadow, something attracted her attention. A crease in the form of a deep crescent slashed across the face of “her” shadow. Is that a smile?
The shadow reached out “her” arms and suddenly they stretched and shot out towards the captain, wrapping around her arms at her elbows. She was yanked toward the shadow like she was a fish caught on a line and she was being reeled in. The force of the movement made her drop the scanner. The captain fought valiantly. She struggled and pushed her feet against the sandy surface of the planet. She tried to pull out of the shadow’s grip but it was all in vain. Slowly, inexorably, she was dragged across the planet’s surface toward the shadow. As she was pulled closer, the shadow sent other “tentacles” out from “her” body to wrap around the captain, pulling her faster into the shadow itself. In the blink of an eye, these tentacles wrapped around her entire body, dragging her into “her” shadow, and then suddenly they both disappeared.
The planet was silent once again. The swift-wing sat in stillness as the crew inside still had no idea what had happened to their commanding officer. The crew was busy setting up equipment, getting into their pressure suits and preparing to discover a new world. And the shadows slowly made their way toward the ship.