Category : Books-Fiction

Sub Category : Science Fiction

   I lean back and wait for Lilly to come back from helping Lea to bed. She comes back and sits across from me, "what's up with him?" I ask softly and she shrugs, "I'm not sure, you'd think a pilot of all people would have been taught to eat before jumping." I lean forwards, "it's not just that, he doesn't act like he's even been through propper training." Lilly messes with her hair, taking out her sloppy bun and letting her waist length hair down, "I talked to him that day we went outside the ship to check for damage, he said that he didn't join up to even go out on missions." I look at her in confusion, "why would he join up, though?" She shakes her head, "he said it was personal, but maybe he's doing it because he was forced into it, I mean if he didn't want to be there, he could have dropped out at any point, but he waited up until the very last moment to attempt to go AWOL," She says, obviously trying to over think the situation, "do you think his parents might have had something to do it, like they forced him to join or something?" I shake my head, "it doesn't matter, we'll just have to keep an eye on him, eventually he's going to end up getting himself injured or worse, especially with how things are going now." Lilly nods and opens the engine hatch, "hand me some of that oil, this thing had been speaking for the past few hours." I do as she asks, "since we're just gonna be floating here for a while, I'm gonna get some sleep, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow," I tell her as I walk back to the bunks and take off my suit, getting into the bunk just below Lea's. "Ethan?" He asks softly, still sounding a bit weak. I arch an eyebrow, "yea?" I respond, "sorry I pretty much screwed us over." I sit up slightly, "what do you mean?" He sighs softly, "it's my fault that we excited the wormhole early, I should have been more careful about monitoring how stable it was." I smirk and kick the bottom of his bunk, smirking widely at his startled cry, "hey, don't blame yourself for that, we're alive, ain't we?" I say with a laugh. "There's a planet pretty close to here we should check out, I noticed it when I was checking the coordinates," He says and I shake my head, "that can wait, it'll still be there when you recover, now get to sleep," I tell him as I drift off myself. 
   I wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of footsteps I lay there and check my watch, yawning. I feel the ship turn sharply to the left and sit up, getting out of bed and looking around. Lea's sitting in front of the controls, "what's going on?" I ask in confusion, "I was feeling better, so I decided to go ahead and stear us in the right direction for that planet I told you about earlier," He says, still focused on the large monitor in front of him. I sit down in my own seat, "what do you think it'll be like?" I ask softly, more to myself them anything. "With any luck, safe," Lea answers. 
   A few hours later, the planet is visible in the front monitor, "go wake up Lilly," Lea tells me, "we're gonna land in about thirty minutes," I get up and do as he says, knocking on the wall next to her bunk, "hey, we found a planet that we're gonna check out," I say and she pulls back her curtain, "really?" She yawns, getting out and pulling on her suit, "how long was I out?" She asks, checking her own watch. "Only a few hours," I tell her before walking back to my seat and strapping in. 
   I hold my breath as Lea gets ready to land, worried that he might lose control of the ship. To my relief we land almost perfectly, I stand and put on my helmet, grabbing my equipment and waiting for the other two to get ready. Once they're ready we leave the ship, "how's the oxygen levels?" Lilly asks, "it's fairly similar to Earth's, except there are traces of arsenic, so I doubt it's safe to breath," I say. "We'll have to send our findings back to command to be sure, though it'll take years for it to actually reach Earth," Lea says, sounding a bit sad. I nod, looking around at the barren grey sand and rock, "we should check for plant life and water," I say, walking towards a rock formation that looks like it has a green tint to it. 

CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 5