When a lone astronaut finds nightmare moon on the lunar surface, his entire universe is sent into a tail spin
I’ve been to places most have never even seen, walked on the shoulders of the gods and yet, even with all the knowledge I’ve gained over the course of my adventures among the havens, when I met a horse on the moon, it became quite clear that there was a great deal about the universe that is still a mystery to me.
It seems that no matter how smart, strong or experienced you are, the one foe that can never be bested is, and always will be, time. At the height of mankind’s existence we took to the stars, and found a place that could support life. I can hardly believe that in my lifetime earthlings will have a new world to call home, and that that home can give mankind a second chance, a new life with a new history. Unfortunately that star is out of my reach, which is why I don’t really look out there anymore.
My name is Lieutenant John Mercy; well Captain now really, the year is 2058. I’ve never done one of these Captains logs, but protocol says I’m overdue , so I figured I’d do a little recap of the events leading me here. I come from a military family, I have the NAVY on my mothers’ side and the Army on my fathers’ side with me in the Air Force, but what I wanted to do more than anything was go to space, to be an astronaut. By the time that project pathfinder had gotten the green light I had worked my way through the ranks to Lieutenant. With a box full of medals from over 100 successful missions, I was on top of there recruiting list. It only seems like yesterday when I walked into my COs office, and there awaiting me was a sharply dressed man holding my file.
“Its Lieutenant Mercy isn’t it?” he said with a strong educated voice as I was just walking in, I immediately noticed the strips on his uniform and saluted which he returned.
“Yes sir” I said bringing my hand back down to my side. “I was told to meet with Cornel Dice?”
“You where, but I think this is a conversation best had in person, given its importance, so I told your Cornel to take an early lunch”
“Importance, sir?”
He opened my file “Says here that you’ve applied for NASA four times, why?”
“It’s what I’ve always wanted to do sir, to this day the bonds of Earth have always felt like a ball and chain.”
With a smile he leaned in close and said “I know exactly what you mean”
And then he told me about Project Pathfinder. To sum up the operation, NASA decided that we’ve been looking through the same telescope for to long, and that its time for an upgrade. To build a bigger better telescope and move it further away from earth, a lot further. NASA decided to build a massive telescope on the moon. The crew of this mission was only fourteen in strength, aboard the USS Athens. The brand new Space Station, complete with all the best toys, everything from artificial gravity, to multi purpose drop ships, to a fully equipped kitchen and a ship board A.I. named Adam. When we finished construction, it was considered the greatest technological achievement in human history. They called it The Key, but I never new why. Nor did I really care, I came to the place where only a few humans have ever been to, I slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch to face of god. I was so happy, but at the same time a little sad. For me, the moon was always a taunting reminder of how small I really was and even though I’ve done so much with my life I would never touch it no matter how high I reached. But when my chance came and I walked in the foot steps of Neil Armstrong, I just laughed. It didn’t feel as good as I hoped.
For awhile we were like rock stars, talking to the media, kids in class rooms, the president and other world leaders all through a web cam. You see, we could not come back home yet; building the Key was just half of the mission. The other half was maintaining it, making repairs when needed and such. But it didn’t take NASA long to realize that the Key did not require an entire crew to function, and with the motivation of money behind the wheel, the fourteen crew of the USS Athens was cut down to one. The others where re-assigned to another project.
And now it’s just me, and Adam I suppose, but talking to a text based A.I. is not what I call a stimulating conversation, pretty good chess player though. I do miss my crew mates but NASA was not wrong, the Key can be maintained by one professional, and on the bright side the information that NASA taught me is worth billions, they speared no expense in making me as universal as possible, this includes engineering, physics, medical, even combat; no better way to relieve stress then getting in the ring and having a few sparing matches with a good friend. Any skill I could need.
But nothing could have prepared me for what I saw out there, in the dust and rock. This is where it gets weird; I got a reading on a few of the solar panels that power the telescope, most likely a stray asteroid sent some debris scratching the surface of the panels, happens all the time, so I suited up, grabbed my gear and launched out of the hanger, bound for the light side of the moon, where the solar panels are stationed. It was a routine task and it really didn’t take me long, using my educated scanners I found the damage and applied a super conductive electrical sealant and then repositioned the askew panel back towards the sun. As soon as Adam confirmed energy output returning to optimal levels, I decided to go for a little walk seeing as how I have a few more hours of oxygen left anyway I figured, why not?
The modern day space suit is very similar to the EMU model of 2013, if a little more conservative. But ever since Pat Vincent got torn in half due to and asteroid impact, all modern day EMU come with armor plaiting. It’s really an eloquent design, keeping that iconic look of the astronaut wile being much safer and more maneuverable; I can actually sit down in it. Witch is exactly what I did when I spotted a comfortable looking rock after walking around for half an hour and ignoring Adam telling me to return to the Athens. So there I am just chilling on the moon and looking up at home among the stars, but when I returned my attention to strait ahead, and what I saw completely changed my opinion of reality forever. There staring me right in the face, was a large black horse, with a horn, emerald eyes and a mane and tail made of the stars themselves. Now, I don’t have a lot of experience in dealing with psychotic delusions but I’d like to think I acted fairly rationally.
“Holy shit!” I yelled as I fell backwards over the rock, I stammered to my feet and turned to be on eye level, which is when I noticed that the horse had wings
“w-what the hell are-“ my sentence was cut short, I cant really explain it but somehow this thing tossed me a good 100 feet without even touching me, low gravity sucks.
After she flew over to where I landed she did it again but just held me in place a few feet off the ground “How dare you sully our moon with your presence, vile creature! What are you anyway? Have you been banished here as well?”
“I don’t even know what you talking about you crazy horse, I don’t even know if your real!”
“You insolent creature of metal and cloth!” With that, it slammed me into the ground and drug me over to her until I was right below it, placing its hoof down on my chest plait with a surprising strength, despite my struggling and the added help from my suit I could not get away from its clutches, however from the sound of its voice I was able to deduce that it is at least female.
“I ask you again, what are you, speak now or I will end your misbegotten existence” she spoke with the kind of authority that dictators speak with, the kind of authority laced with danger, hatered and full blown evil, feminine but evil. But like all dictators eventually do, she made a mistake. She brought me close enough to tase her ass. The taser extends from my right fist into an electrified brass knuckle, and I punch it right into her chest and as she cried out in pain the combined effort of the electricity and the force of the hit was enough to send her flying a good 15 feet, low gravity is awesome. Wile she’s crippled in pain I jump to my feet and take off like a bat out of hell, towards my drop ship. I reach my ships large drop down door and spin around to see how close she is behind me, but shes right where I left her, though she’s not in pain anymore, it’s a little hard to tell because of the distance, but it look as though she’s just sitting there staring in my direction, I shake it off, open the door and head for the cockpit.
When I arrive in the hanger of the Athens, I didn’t leave cock pit, I just sat there in limbo, staring at the screens, switches, and all the other components of the flight mechanisms. I look up at a flashing light next to a computer monitor,
“Captain, I think this is a very bad idea, you would be completely alone down there.”
“How is that deferent from any other day? I’m not gonna argue this with you Adam. What ever is down there, it posses a threat to the safety of the Key and by extension, the safety of the Athens and as captain of the Athens I’m putting the station on high alert and I order you to stay out of my way wile I handle this.” I stated bluntly as I began loading rounds into another one of the assault rifle clips. I was livid, finding it hard just to keep my hands steady; I must have dropped the same bullet three times. I didn’t know what she is or where she came from, but if I had to beat the answers out of her I would.
“You sound like a madman Captain, I must persist that you remain aboard and try to relax and calm down. You’re suffering from extreme delusions, don’t you know what you sound like?”
“Just listen to me god damn it! I’m not letting her run wild on the surface, what if she gets the bright idea to start hurling boulders at the Key?”
“It’s a she now? Captain I cant let you leave the Athens, not in this state.”
“Theirs nothing you can do to stop me, Adam so just give it a rest already!”
“Captain please”
“I’ve heard enough.” With that I shut off Adams screen, and began making my way back to the hanger, fully loaded and ready for a fight. Walking down the halls every once and a wile a screen would come on with Adams text on it, but I refused to give it the time of day. Last I check, I was the Captain of the Athens and all decisions concerning its safety and the safety of the Key were in my hands, and so long as I’m breathing, that’s exactly where there gonna stay. When I reached the hanger I decided to pass on the drop ship and use the Multi Propose Insertion Vessel which has its own medical facility, just incase I receive a few mortal wounds. However, upon entering the helm of the MPIV (or Big Daddy as we all called it) the head screen had a flashing red sign on it.
A.I. authorization code: 164G2D3-CAF582
Docking clamps secured and locked
“You mutinous son of a bitch” I quickly entered in my captains override in the command console, and the clamps came loose with four loud clanks. I glared at one of the onboard cameras. “You and me are gonna have a talk about this on my return.” Nothing came on the screen witch give me reason to believe that that’s not a talk he was looking forward to. He knows that the Captain can override any system that they want, and they’re the only ones who can shut the A.I. unit down using a secret code phrase which begs the question: when did he grow a pair all of a sudden?
I inputted the coordinates of where I got tossed around like a tennis ball. The ship departs the Athens inbound for the lunar surface. The idea that I had imagined the entire ordeal gave me pause; I mean what if Adam is right? What if there was no horse on the moon and what ever happened down there was nothing but a hysteric delusion, was I really losing it? But soon these thoughts are pushed to the back of my mind when my scanners started picking up a heat signature not far from the solar panels. It didn’t take me long to locate a flat surface to land, just a mile or two away from my first encounter with her. Big Daddy kicked up no small amount of rocks and dust upon landing, got to love a good entrance. The hatch slowly lowered down, and with my weapon at the ready I started to move towards the blip on my radar. I just hoped that since she knew that I could fight, and with the presence of a weapon she would be in a more negotiating mood and violence wouldn’t erupt.
It took me a good hour before her shape started coming into view. It was hard to tell at that distance but she looked different and the closer I got the more certain of it I was. Her coat was no longer pitch black, but a dark blue. I continued to move myself forward, trying to stay focused and ready for anything. But something else was off about her, I already established that she was a different color, but she didn’t have that commanding, tyrannical look any more. She looked almost sad, sitting on the ground staring at a rock. How hard did I hit her?
After what seemed like an eternity I got within a few feet from her maybe a yard, but how had she not noticed my presence for the time it took me to get here? Then it hit me, kinda hard too, she was crying and not just like a few tears but borderline sobbing. How many horses are up here? Because this is not the same creature that wanted to beat the shit out of me last time I was here.
I lightly bump her shoulder with the barrel of the gun in order to get her attention. She spun around in complete shock but didn’t hit me or anything; she just stared at me with those big tear soaked emerald eyes.
“Wha- what art thou?”
“What?”
“Hath thou been exiled to this prison as well as I?” I aimlessly looked around the lunar landscape as if an answer would appear in the distance wile she wiped her face dry, sadly my answer never appears so I had to contend with:
“What?”
“Where in Equestria dose thou hail from?”
“Wha- nope, not gonna say it a third time, I’m just gonna let that one slide right on bye. Are their any more of your kind, on the Moon?”
“There is no other pony here other than you and I, Golem.”
“Pony? Golem!?”
She stood up so as to face me at eye level. “Yes, thou are clearly no pony. Thou seem to be made of metal, fabric, and glass rather than flesh, bones, and blood so thou must be an imitation of life. A Golem”
I was about to disagree on the definition of a Golem, but then realized that I would be having an argument with a horned, winged, talking, blue horse, and decided that I should just let it go.
“Who are you?” I finally asked
“We are Princess Luna, ruler of the night and guardian of the stars. Or at least we use to be. Before the poison known as Nightmare Moon came to be, which is the one I believe you are referring to.”
“I thought you said we’re the only ones here. Where’s the horse I met a few hours ago, about your height, black, likes to though people for shits and giggles?”
“Thou speaks of Nightmare Moon, more or less”
“Well I need to have a little chat with her, where is she?”
“You’re looking at her”
“I’m confused”
“Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna are one and the same”
I had to stand there in silence for some time in order to rap my head around what I just listened to.
“So let me get this strait, you’re a blue, horned, winged, talking horse princess with multiple personalities on the moon? This is a really in-depth hallucination”
“Thou questions the reality in front of them?”
“That’s and understatement”
“If thou carries on such as this, thou will face a never ending torment of uncertainty. Our advice would be to simply let it go”
“Let it go?”
“Do not trouble yourself with what is uncertain, for nothing in this life truly is certain my friend of creation”
“Well, real or not you’re much more pleasant to be around then that Nightmare Moon. Which reminds me why I’m here, does this Nightmare come here often?”
“She comes and goes as she pleases, but it was I who let her come to be in the first place. Though jealousy and resentment, she found her way into being and took control like an illness. Had our sister not of banished us here, terrible things would have come to pass.”
“Well, my father would say that admitting you have a fault is half the battle and that you are already on the path to defeating your enemy.”
“Thy father sounds wise.”
“Yeah, a wise ass.” My swearing caused her to giggle, which I have to admit may have been the cutest thing I ever heard, causing me to holster my weapon on my back. Seeing me putting my guard down caused her to relax a little and take a seat and the ground, in which I joined her.
“So what usually keeps your other self at bay?” I asked, still curios about the mare sitting next to me.
“We do not know, it seems something has caught her attention keeping her distracted, we really do not wish to converse about it any longer.”
“I’m sorry, I understand.”
And for a wile we just sat there and stared up at the Earth, hanging in the sky like a beautiful ornament on a Christmas tree, or a post card from a friend from back home. Describe it how ever you want, it sure was a wonderful site to share. The only shame was that there is, and only ever will be, a small handful of people who can say they’ve seen what I’m seeing right now. And I’m sitting on the moon with a beautiful blue horse, so I suppose I fit into an even smaller minority of those who have walked among the heavens.
“I don’t think I’ve introduced myself yet, my name is Captain John T. Mercy” I said wile still looking up the Earth.
“Well Captain John T. Mercy, I can’t exactly say it’s a pleasure but I’ll give Luna your regards.”
Before I even had a chance to reach for my gun, a bolt of electricity furiously passed through my body, sending every nerve in a torturous state of agony. I fell over backwards on the cold hard rock of the moon, screaming in pain as my body had gone rigged and stiff, unable to move or even think right. I forced my eyes open and saw something truly unbelievable; the stars moving, there alignments changing and forming in on us. Then the wind started to kick up all around Nightmare Moon, which was extremely bizarre because there’s no atmosphere on the moon.
“My time has come! Take one last look at that world in the sky Captain because soon it will be remade in my image!”
After what seemed like hours but was only seconds she released me from the madness I was entangled in, and I began to catch my breath. With my lungs full of air again, I turned to see that Nightmare Moon hovers a good seven feet above the ground, and the stars are just about aligned. The wind around Nightmare moon had now become a soaring tower of dust and rocks with random bolts of electricity shooting out of every side. I could only just barely see Nightmare Moon inside the pillar of death, as she continued to climb higher and higher.
I can’t just shoot her because Luna is somewhere in there, and even if I wanted to, the electric shocks shorted out my weapons firing system, it’s useless. And my window is closing fast.
“The sun will never rise!” she shouted in a menacingly sick and twisted voice, It was now or never, success or failure.
“You’re not going anywhere!”
I threw away all caution and charged the pillar; she was high in the air, but not high enough. Right before I entered I leaped through the air passing into the tornado, getting peppered with rocks and bolts of electricity. It hurt so badly but I was on course, I was so close I could look into her wretched eyes. I extended my arms ready to catch her like a predator on his pray. Time had slowed down; the nanoseconds it took felt like minutes. Soon I was out of the tunnel, and landed hard in dirt. I could feel that the soaring wind had stopped, but something was wrong, my arms where empty; I was too late, Nightmare Moon was gone. It was at this moment that I realized I had at least three broken ribs, and maybe a few fractures. I had to get moving, and back to Big Daddy because I knew where she was going, I knew how to find her: Home.
The walk or rather the crawl back to Big Daddy was far more painful then Nightmare Moons electric shock. It was as if the rocks and dust of the lunar surface had been replaced by serrated razor blades and I decided to make this journey naked. After an hour and a half of dragging myself to my ship I finally made it. Closing the hatch behind me, pressurizing the cabin, and removing my suit. Taking off my suit was no easy task with the amount of brakes and fractures I had collected but I did it and made my way to the infirmary. Waiting for me there was my doctor in a can; an automated medical treatment apparatus designed to asses my injuries and repair them with great precision and skill. I move my body onto the table so the machine can do its five million dollar job.
Three hours of painful reconstruction later, I hobble my way to the helm and set a course for the Athens, It was very a long flight.
Upon entering the hanger I was immediately buzzed by a very anxious A.I.
“Captain! I’m so happy to see that your alive, the sensors all went crazy for a wile, none of the readings made any sense, they kept trying to tell me that the moon had dangerous atmospheric conditions”
“Y-you don’t know the half of the weird shit that’s g-gone on today”
“Your vitals are weak Captain, what happened down there?”
“I got my ass kicked that’s what happened now we really don’t have time to play twenty questions, right now I need you to transfer to Big Daddy’s mainframe can you do that for me?”
“Of course captain, but why?”
“You know what? With the way you have been acting I don’t have to explain shit to you. Just look at me! The A.M.T.A left scars that I’m gonna have to live with for the rest of my life. You should have enough proof to assume that I’m not crazy.”
“You’re right Captain, I owe you an apology. I should have never of betrayed your trust and judgment, you have my word that I will never again doubt your capabilities as Captain”
“Well thanks for saying so, that means something. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to prep a new suit and a new rifle.”
“Captain, theirs something else you should know.”
“And to think my day started off so well, what is it?”
“After you left, I contacted NASA about your troubled condition, they ordered a temporary leave of absence and sent someone to replace you, but that was at least eight hours ago, your replacement never came.”
“And he never will”
“Captain?”
“I let hell get loose, so you better believe I’m going after her.”
Consciousness finally found me in a blurry, unsteady haze of confusion and a sense of being lost. I could only make out shapes of the objects around me and I could feel the things that I was directly in contact with, like cold metal and the warm touch of blood trickling down my thigh. As my surroundings slowly came into focus, I came to the conclusion that part of my disorientation was due to the fact that there was almost no light, except for the occasional spark of exposed wiring. Moving quite slowly, I brought my hand to the back of my helmet which was, for the most part, still intact and undid the locking mechanisms holding the helmet to my head. I slipped it off and tossed it with minimal effort. The sound of the helmet bouncing on the ground filled the helm, giving it an eerie feel.
I rubbed my eyes in a vain effort to restore more of my vision. I feared that if I just got back on my feet, I would become even more disorientated then I already was, and I don’t want to pass out right now, so I just sat up. A decision I instantly regretted as a sharp wave of pain rushed through my entire body. I looked down to see a jagged piece of metal shrapnel protruding from my left thigh right between my armor plating, blood slowly dripping off of it onto the floor… or ceiling I really wasn’t sure where I was lying. I knew I was still in my ship, but the question on my mind was: what in the world happened to the ship?
“Adam?” I ask in a weak voice, but looking around I saw that the screens around me where mostly broken and if there was a screen intact it was blank. After I looked around the cabin, I could tell that I was on the floor of my ship and (thankfully) not the ceiling. I knew because I was just a few feet in front of the command consol in the center of Big Daddy’s helm. The massive windows at the front had the blast shields over them. The large metal guards designed to protect the helm incase of a collision seem to have done there job as the windows where still intact. However, I could not say the same for much of the rest of the helm. Hardware was scattered about the floor, and there was some hull damage here and there.
I looked down at my blood soaked leg, as I listened to the gentle sound of blood falling from the tip of the shrapnel piece down onto the floor, I began to look around for the emergency medical kit, seeing as it was no longer on the wall where it should be, it must have been thrown onto the floor somewhere. I soon spotted the glowing red little box under a busted up screen on the far side of the room. With no shortage of obstacles between us, I gritted my teeth and in one motion pulled the metal piece out of my leg. My ears rang from the sound of my painful scream. I fell back over, about ready to pass out but I forced my self to stay conscious just a little longer. With the med kit in site I let the shrapnel piece fall to the ground, listening to it cling as it hit the metal floor. I griped my bloody leg hard, in order to keep the bleeding down; I could already feel the warm red liquid starting to pool around me. Knowing that my clock was ticking, I began to pull myself across the floor.
One seemingly eternal drag later, I had managed to reach the far wall, and my little case of goodies. I pulled it out from under the broken screen and leaned myself up against the wall. I opened the med kit, struggling to stay awake, and pulled out a small lantern, a bottle of water, a bottle of numbing alcohol, a small hand held cutting laser, a stitching gun, and a can about ten inches tall filled with (in my opinion) one of the best medical achievements by man. I turned on the lantern which provided enough light to see what I was doing, removed my hand and begin to cut open the leg of my suit, being careful not to burn myself. Soon the laser’s small battery died, but not before I was able to cut a portion of the left leg of my suit off, exposing my wound.
Next I started washing the blood away; watching the red liquids run down my leg was somewhat entertaining in a really sick way. Then I realized I was starting to go into shock, and I had to move quickly wile I was still in a good state of mind. It was time for the hard part, I took the bottle of alcohol and was just about to pore it on, but before I began poring I quickly went back into the bag and found a bite guard, because I new that this was not going to be pleasant.
With the bite guard in my mouth I took a few deep breathes and started poring the alcohol on the wound. Every muscle in my body went stiff, my head jerked back against the wall, but I had to stay strong, stay awake, and keep going. I threw the bottle to the side, grabbed the stitching gun in one hand and in the other hand, the gash. I started implanting the stitches on either side of this three inch canyon in my leg. After six stitches the small sterile strings automatically came tight, sealing my wound and bringing my flesh back together. It was nothing but one painful experience after another and I was beginning to sense my inability to remain awake for very much longer. I then grabbed my can of magic and began to spray on the gash and all around it. The condensed, sterile liquid began to harden into mash like bandage, forming to my body and shrinking slowly in order to form a proper field dressing. I could feel it getting tighter and tighter, but I kept spraying all around my exposed thigh making the mesh thicker and thicker. My vision was starting to go, objects that were once clear where returning to there blurry state of being.
Soon the can was empty, along with all of my strength. My arm fell limp to my side and the can slowly rolled out of my hand onto the floor. The last thing I heard was the sound of the can rolling away from me. And the last thing I saw was the trail of blood from where I started leading to the pool of blood I was sitting in. I soon gave in and passed out once more.
I’m not really sure how long I was out, maybe a few hours or so. But when I awoke not much around me had changed, as if it where a dream. But my crashed ship, weak status, and injury where all too real, not to mention how alone I was. I could here nothing but the sound of my own breathing, which was actually a small comfort because it told me that I was still alive. My vision was much better, my leg didn’t hurt as much as before, and my mind was back on track. I looked around the helm, which was being illuminated by the lantern that I left on. It was such a mess, I had no idea if I could get this thing flying again or not. But thoughts of repair where going to have to wait, when my eyes rested on the doorway leading out of the helm and into the rest of the ship. Looking at the door, I decided that this wreck was not safe anymore and its time to see just where the hell I’ve landed.
I leaned forward got off the ground and on to my feet, making sure not to put more pressure on my left leg then I needed to. Standing up gave me a pretty good head rush, nothing to put me on my ass but enough to remind me that I lost a lot of blood and that I need to take it slow. I bent down, grabbed the small lantern and started limping my way to the exit. But a thought ran through my head and I decided to put my helmet back on, which I was able to find with out too much trouble.
I had to put some extra TLC on the door to get it to open, but nothing I couldn’t handle. In front of me were a few steps that lead to the hallway, and at the end of the hallway was a wall and two separate walkways across from each other. Both of which lead to different areas of the ship, like the med bay on the right, and the sleeping quarters on the left and so on. But every walkway led to the cargo hold, which is the only place I really cared about because from there I could get out of this death trap. After limping down every passage and corridor of Big Daddy I finally reached the cargo hold, which was in even worse shape than the helm. Supplies like food, weapons and miscellaneous hardware was scattered from corner to corner.
But with the echoing abilities of this particular room, I could here something out side the ship, pattering on the roof of the hull. I knew what it was, but it had been so long sense I heard it, I had to stop for a moment to remember if it really is the rain, and not my imagination. I stood there for a moment, listening to the gentle sound of raindrops outside. After spending so much time in space, it felt as if Earth decided to play me a beautiful symphony on my return to home. I could not stand it any more, I needed to go out side; I had to see the sky.
Seeing as how the control panel for the big main door was sparking erratically I set down my lantern and made my way to the port side access hatch, about the size of a standard door. I twisted the lock open and pushed on the door just enough to see a much welcomed beam of light. I pushed it all the way open and was blinded by the bright light of the outside. I took one small step outside, feeling the rocks and dirt under my boot. I closed my eyes and put my entire body thru the door and into the sunlight. I could hear the rain beating on the top of my helmet and immediately unsnapped it and threw it to the ground. I turned my face to the sky and let the droplets of water gently splash upon my face, letting the cool water run down my cheeks. And the warmth of the sun touched down on my very tired eyes like the perfect hug, saying welcome home my old friend.
I could not ask for a better welcoming then a soothing, light rain on a bright and sunny day. I must have stood there for a good five minutes, basking in the embrace of the home I left so long ago. However my bliss was short lived, for when I looked down and opened my eyes, what I saw shocked the hell out of me; at the edge of the crash site… trees, lots of trees, like a whole forest all around me. I saw a forest once when I was young, but at the time deforestation had become a huge problem. So when I say I saw a forest, I mean I saw a picture. And these trees did not look like that picture, with the colors so vibrant and full looking. The more I looked around at my strange surroundings the closer I came to panic. But before my little freak out could surface something caught my attention on the forests edge. Hidden within the darkness of the cover of the trees, all I could make out was two glowing yellow orbs, causing a stop in all form a rational thought within me. And before I could do or say anything, a second pair of these glowing orbs emerged on the left of the originals, and then a third pair on the right. The tree line was only a few yards away, but I still could not tell just what I was looking at; everything about this felt very wrong.
I took a single step back, before those glowing orbs turned into the most haunting yellow eyes I have ever seen. I reached for my pistol but, even though my pistol was right at my side like it always is, those eyes leaped out of the tree line coming right for me so much faster than I would have ever guessed. Each pair of eyes was adorned on the body of a wolf, but something was different about these wolfs, they were… wooden. I didn’t even have a second to ponder this as the leader was only a few feet away. I pulled out my gun but far too slowly; I only got one shot off and it missed the leader and hit the right wolfs ear, but the wolf didn’t falter, none of them did. The lead wolf leaped through the air right at me.
When the wolf made contact, it took me right off my feet, over backwards back into the cargo hold knocking my gun out of reach. Chasing after the leader, the other two had wedged themselves in the door way, fighting with each other to get through. I struggled to keep the vicious wooden creature away from my head, as its mouth chomped away at the empty space between my flesh and his fangs. With only one arm in the crook of the creature’s neck, and the other supporting it, it was close to my face, its claws where no match for the hard armor of my space suit, but its teeth would rip my face apart. The creature was drooling sap all over my face; the sticky substance was getting everywhere. I turned my head away and got and ear full of the creatures chomping, snarling, and growling.
I looked around and spotted a broken metal pipe only a few feet from me. I sacrificed my left arm to reach for it and with out the help of my left arm, my right arm couldn’t hold the distance and the wolf’s head came within centimeters. He was now so close I could feel his hot breath on my skin, ready to tare every bit of flesh away from my body. My fingertips could just barely touch the bottom of the pipe. With every passing second, the monsters vicious teeth got closer and closer to my skin. I was so close; I could almost get a finger around it. I listened to the other wolves getting near the moment when they’d break free of the doorway and then I would be done for completely. Finally I got a grip on the pipe, raised it and rammed the sharp end right through the wolf’s head, and as I looked into its bright yellow eyes I saw its pupils dilate, and then it fell limp over my body.
Sap running down the base of the pipe, I took a second to catch my breath. But then I remembered the other two wolfs, so I shoved the limp carcass off of me, got to my feet, pulled the pipe out of the dogs head and impaled the wolf on the left through the mouth, out of the back of its skull. I then gave the other one a good strong kick in the face, sending him out of the doorway and back outside in which I follow him out after yanking the pipe out of the, now dead, wolf. The sun had been swallowed up by clouds now, and the rain and wind had picked up into a full blown thunder storm. The wolf had gotten itself into a defensive stance. I noticed that the wolf’s ear had a chunk of it blown off from the gunshot from earlier. We stood there staring at each other for about a minute before the creature started backing away from me. I did a quick thrust of my make shift spear at him, which caused the dog to turn tail and sprint for the tree line and right before it left my site, it looked over its shoulder and shot me a glance, then disappeared in the darkness of the forest.
Completely fatigued, I felt my wound weighing heavy on me as I limped back into the cargo hold. I kicked the dead wolf in the doorway outside, and then walked over to the other one that came within centimeters to the flesh of my face. I starred at it for sometime before whispering to myself:
“What the fuck has Nightmare Moon done to my home?” With that I reached down and grabbed two of the animal’s legs and hauled it outside. Once I returned I closed the door and locked it. With my face still sticky, I picked up my lantern and started looking for some water (mostly to drink, but I figured I’d clean up just a little as well). After some time of searching through tipped over containers and busted pieces of equipment, I found a metal crate full of water bottles, and my gun soon after which was returned to its holster.
With a clean face, or at least clean enough, I sat myself on the cold ground and started drinking the water by the bottle and listening to the heavy rain beat down on the ships hull. After my third bottle I felt my tired and sore body truly for the first time. My hands where shaking, my breathing was heavy, my pulse was high. I was on the verge of passing out once again. With no energy to left to fight it, I let the empty bottle roll out of my hand onto the floor and laid back on the cold metal container, shut my eyes and hope that I will have recovered my energy when I awake.
Home sweet home was the last (corny) thought that entered my mind before I slipped into an unconscious state for the third time, completely unaware of what was waiting for me the next day.
Adams attention siren went off with an extremely annoying tone that mimics your generic alarm clock but even though I loathed that noise that I had to listen to whenever I didn’t wake up on time, it was the only sound I’d ever hear from Adam. “Alright, I’m awake…now shut up!” the alarm went off immediately. Despite the fact that it was Adams only form of audio communication, I still hated it. But now that I think back, I’d give anything to hear it again.
I rubbed my eyes in a vain effort to wake up and started to pull myself upright, feeling groggy but functional. But it quickly became obvious to me that something was out of order. What first clued me in was that my bed was oddly stiff and cold. And the second was that I was wearing my space suite.
My eyes began to pry themselves open and in an instant, what I assumed was a strange dream became all too real. I was sitting in the middle of the cargo hold, crates and hardware scattered around, exposed wires hanging from the walls and ceiling. Not too much structural damage which was a good thing but it sure wasn’t passing any safety examinations anytime soon.
But my attention was soon taken to a little red glow several feet away. So I got to my feet and was still quite sore, but at least I had a lot more energy this time around. I glanced down and noticed how dirty my field dressing was and made a mental note to get it changed before I leave the crash site.
Looking towards the red glow I noticed that there was a slight flashing of white light right next to it so I started hobbling my way to it hoping that it was a sign the there was still power to the ship. My leg wound was really hurting me now and I was having to put in some effort to move it, so I made another mental note to add pain killers to the list of things to get before venturing off to see where I’ve landed.
Eventually I made my way to the source of the red glow which as it turns out was the light of a stray security camera on the ground. Right next to the camera was a screen that was attempting to flicker to life with its wiring loosely handing out of the back and a well sized crack going down the screens top left corner. With no small amount of effort and pain, I sat down next to the screen and leaned it up against a nearby crate. I decided to apply a little tender love and care to the struggling piece of equipment and gave it a good smack on the side, and with a few more flashes of light it came to life and began to boot itself up. To be quite honest, in no way did I ever think that would work, but it was nice to see that I had a bit of luck left.
“Can’t beat good old fashioned physical stimulant” I joked to myself, but it kinda hurt to laugh so it was more like a short lived chuckle. After my quick fix to the computer screen, the empty space began to fill with some all too familiar words.
“Emergency landing protocol, Captain you should assume crash position.”
“Adam…we already crashed.”
“Oh… I see. Well no worries then. Have you been injured, Captain?”
“You could say that, but you know what they say about what doesn’t kill ya.”
“Not really, but it’s a pleasure to see you alive, Captain.”
“Same to you Adam, I’m assuming that you where protected by the black box function and are now running a system restore?”
“Aye Captain,”
“So are you in a position to give me a status on the condition of the ship?”
“Not right now, because my hard drive is running on only thirty percent power.”
“Can you at least tell me how long we’ve been immobile?”
“Well it has been 10 hours sense I was forced to go offline, I think. But I can’t say that I know what went wrong with the ship, at least not yet.
Well I’ll work on getting you up to working condition, but for right now, I need to get myself to working condition and that means pain killers. Then I want to take another look outside, this doesn’t seem like the Earth we left.”
“Aye Captain, take caution.”
“Count on it.” No way was I letting my guard down again, but I wasn’t going to be much good with a filthy rapping on a fairly sever wound. So after a slight struggle I got back to my feet, and started limping my way to the med bay. However unlikely it may be, there was a chance the A.M.T.A was still operational and I could get this big ass gash on my leg taken patched up in no time. But even if it was completely busted, I could still get hooked up with some serious painkillers.
Upon working my way through the mess of a cargo hold, I actually took a second to take in my mistake how I failed to get that equipment more secured before my departure. In my defense however, there was no way for me to know that this trip was going to end in such a monumental crash. It should have been a simple reentry into the atmosphere, bound for the nearest approved emergency landing zone.
About the time I reached the staircase leading to the upper decks, I started to wonder. Just how the hell did I crash this ship? The question had been present in my head before, but for some reason I couldn’t form an image, so I pushed it back and worried about what was in front of me at the time. But at that moment of self contemplation, I started to regain some memory of the incident, so I leaned up against a wall closed my eyes and attempted to concentrate on remembering the details of the landing. And without much delay images began to pore into my mind, not very many, but a few.
“Course locked and ready for re-entry into Earths atmosphere, Captain.”
“Copy that, assuming manual control, releasing orbital anchors, beginning decent now, looks like smooth sailing into port.”
“Weather conditions confirmed with minimal wind difference.
Then there was a bit of a pause before his text came back on the screen. “Captain, what do you think will be waiting for us?”
My eyes grew a little heavy after reading Adams question. Like the thought of returning home felt wrong, or that I was making a rash decision and the only thing awaiting me was failure or ridicule. I thought about touching down at the A.E.L.Z. only to find that the only thing wrong is me, and that the entire ordeal was nothing more than a hallucination. Or that I’m too late and Nightmare Moon has already had her wicked way with the world. In truth I had absolutely no idea what was awaiting me on the grown… and that frightened me to my core.
“Home Adam, home is what’s waiting for us, I hope.”
Unfortunately my memory began to fade again and once more everything became a blur. Retuning to the present, I started making my way up the stairs towards the med bay, and with every grueling step it felt like it was a thousand miles away. Sharp explosions of pain surged through my body as I inched further on. One lifetime later I finally got to the med bay and in one moment my hopes of a perfect world were shattered so badly that it actually resembled the condition of the ships medical facilities.
The room was a complete mess; The A.M.T.A. was (more or less) completely trashed, and there was a nice plethora of broken sharp objects like glass and knifes which put an extremely opposing blanket’o death across the floor and tables. Without my plated shoes, traversing through this room would be its own level of hell.
Working my way through the med bay, I spotted the cabinet that had the heavy duty pain killers, which I desperately needed. The cabinet was still locked up tight so I figured it would still be in pretty good condition. However, when I tried to unlock it the whole thing just fell off the wall and collapsed on the floor spilling its contents on the already messed up ground.
With a great deal of agony, I bent down, sifted through the mess and located the much desired drugs. Since it didn’t matter where I injected myself and I didn’t want to take off my suit, I stabbed the needle into the only exposed area of skin; my neck. At that moment it dawned on me that I left my helmet outside, so I made another quick addition to my mental checklist to pick it up on my way out. My pain began to reside well enough for me to function well enough to get the dressing replaced, because it had gotten quite filthy during my fight with those dog things.
Now with a not so excruciating wound with a clean dressing and a makeshift first-aid bag I was ready to re-arm myself and start getting my bearings. It was foolish of me to waste the time that I did the first time I stepped out, standing there in the rain and sunlight. But I knew what was out there now; danger.
After a quick visit with the small armory room which was not far from the med bay, I had all I needed to defend myself. I practically cleaned the place out of ammo for my rifle and pistol. We never carried explosives aside from what we used to blast away rock during construction of The Key. The only thing I could find was a small shock grenade which was like a regular taser except you toss it and it shot electric bolts of electricity in every direction in a sort of wave like effect.
Confident in my ability to protect myself, I went for the Cargo Hold and side port where I had my fight with a couple of carnivorous tree things. I unlocked the hatch, readied my rifle, griped the handle then swung the door open. I took a quick step back into the ship, ready to shoot anything that tried to get in and tear me in two. But as it seemed that the coast was clear, so with my weapon still drawn at the ready I moved outside the door for a third time.
Stepping out into the open space of the crash site I noticed the two animals that I killed where right where I left them, along with my helmet. I was a little unsteady when I first stepped out of the ship but as soon as I had my helmet back on, my nerves settled. After I cleared all the angles of approach I made the quick conclusion that I was alone, which I found kinda weird. It had been almost a day sense I landed and yet the only contact I’ve had was with a couple of deadly wood things, not exactly what I would call a giant leap for mankind.
Soon I determent which way was North and headed into the forest that surrounded me. I made note that all the plant life that I saw looked, more vibrant than the pictures I saw as a kid.
After only a few minutes of walking through this dense terrain I came into contact with something very unusual.
“What fresh hell is this?” I said while picking myself up off of the ground after smacking full body into some unknown barrier. I began inspecting this anomaly simply by touching it (very scientific). Every time I touched it, a small wave of what seemed like electricity traveled through it for a few feet then dissipated.
I tried knocking on it and received a similar response. Gave it a little kick, and only made the wave of sparks travel just a little further. I even opened up a few rounds and only succeeded in making the wave spread about five feet or so.
Eventually I decided to just simply walk around it. But after an hour of kicking it to see where it would end, it became quite apparent when I had come in a full circle around the crash site and ending up back where I was to begin with, that some how someone or something put me in a cage.
“Perfect Captain, I can see you much better now.” Seeing as how I was going to need his help anyway, I set up a few cameras and sensors around the crash site so Adam can keep a better eye on me.
It had been at least three days since I made the discovery that my path to answers was stopped dead in its tracks by some unknown barrier. But I was not idle in those couple of days.
In that time period I had established power back to many of the ships systems. Including my text based A.I. who just got a front row seat to me running tests on the mysterious force keeping me from venturing outside the crash site. I fixed up a small base of operations just outside the large open cargo bay door; complete with some basic equipment from the ship Adam can use to assess our environment, some tables with essentials like bottles of water, food packs, and my medical supplies, all under a big canopy.
Unfortunately, during this time I had been unsuccessful at recalling what caused the crash in the first place. Got a few flash backs here and there, but always the same thing, so I didn’t really learn anything that I didn’t already know. We tried fixing the computers recording system but even with Adams help, it was proving to be actually quite hard, and without those logs Adam was unable to tell me anything. So I pushed it closer to the bottom of my already huge to-do list.
However, I did learn how the massive barrier worked. Well when I say that I mean that I understood what it did, but as far as how it did it, was something else entirely.
It seemed to run on a form of kinetic energy dispersion. I smack it with a shovel and the force of the impact gets spread through out the surface until the initial force has lost all of its original impact strength. But with Adam back in action we were able to come up with a few theories as to how to cancel out the shields properties and break it.
I didn’t want to bring one of the few monitors still working outside, so my companion was communicating with me through a small screen worn on my wrist.
I stopped wearing my space suit wile trapped here, but my encounter with the wooden dogs was enough to convince me to suit back up when I got out. It might not have been practical in a forest but I couldn’t help but think that there were worst things out there then those dogs, so I’d need the protection the suit came with.
“Okay, the EMP from the shock grenade should be able to cause an overload on the barrier’s dispersal properties.”
“Captain you tried that already, it didn’t work due to insufficient power output, remember?”
“Yes, I remember all one hundred times you told me that yesterday. But last night, while you where calibrating that long rang scanner, I tinkered with it.”
“Captain I’m reading a significant power increase on that grenade. Anything in the blast radius of that will be completely fried, artificial or organic.” He wasn’t wrong.
I cranked up the power so high, if I got hit by this it wouldn’t just assault my nervous system, it would short out every neuron in my head, leaving me completely brain dead. For some reason, the thought reminded me of my injury. I rubbed the wound on my leg, it still hurt but I was dealing with it much better. Still had a bit of a limp, but I soldiered on.
“I did the math Adam, the south end of the crash site is plenty far enough to keep the ship out of range, and with the timer set to the longest time, I’ll have a good thirty seconds to make it back here before it goes off and cooks everything in my head.” I said while making my way to the entrance zone of the crash on the south end.
“Very well Captain, but if it should fail, will you try the Ion Drive?”
“I won’t have a choice. Engaging the Ion Drive might just cancel out the shield, simply by applying so much force that it does not have the surface area to spread all of it out, but since it’s a little unstable right now I’d prefer to keep that as a last resort. I know that I’m running out of options, but that’s just a bit too risky. And let me tell you, this cabin fever is driving me up the wall. I’m not getting any answers standing in a crater, whatever is out there is obviously not like the earth we remember, and I intend on finding out why.”
“Aye, Captain.”
With out too long of a walk I reached the far end of the crash site and came into view of one of the markers I set up so I could find the edge of the barrier quicker (it’s just a stick with a peace of cloth tied around it). Anxious to get it done I took off the safety and twist the metal cap until I heard the click, then the erratic beeping started, signaling that the grenade was armed and the clock was ticking.
I hurled it at the barrier and took off running as fast as I could, completely ignoring the pain making its way through my leg. I didn’t look back so I didn’t know how close it landed, but I heard the barrier react to the grenade hitting it so I figured:
“Close enough!” I yelled as I made it to the camp. I quickly grabbed a pair of binoculars, knelt down to catch my breath, give my leg a rest, and watched the area where the Grenade ticked away. At this point my leg was killing me, but the combination of adrenaline and the painkillers I took made me not care.
5 seconds after I grabbed the binoculars I was ready to see some fire works
10 seconds later and I was starting to get suspicious. It should have gone off long before.
“Guess I was moving pretty quick.” I reassured myself
20 seconds
30 seconds
At 40 seconds the bomb was already over the timers’ limit, so I thought it may have shorted out.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I groaned as I stood up. I glanced down at Adam on my wrist hoping he knew what was going on.
“It happens to everyone Captain.”
I was about to call him some “colorful metaphors”. But at that precise moment a quick but bright flash of light erupted from the grenades position. I looked down through the binoculars to see if there was any visual effect on the barrier. As I looked I saw a shock wave composed of every color of the spectrum travel up through the barrier, soaring over my head. As it passed over I noticed it had a mesh like quality. But I soon lost site of it as it fell behind the ship on the north side of the crash site, and out of view.
It was quiet as I passed a quick glance to the closest camera, as if Adam could return the look I gave him. Without a word I ran to the closest marker on the west side. Stopping just outside of shields position (marked by another stick), I slowly extend my arm and for the first time in days I felt the slight tug of a smile on my face as my hand passed the marker completely free. My arm fell limp against my body.
“Back in business.”
It was looking to be about 10:00am, and I was ready to move out. I quickly walked back to the camp site.
“We’re out Adam, launch the Raven and find me some heat signatures, but don’t fly beyond the crash site.”
“Aye aye Captain, launching Raven now.” I listened to the Ravens small plasma jet engines ignite and lift off wile I put on my suit.
The Raven is just a small drone Adam can use for on site assessment. But we often used its mounted turret to help blast denser materials out of rock faces during construction of the Key. It saved us explosives and he was a good shot (plus it was pretty cool).
With my suit on, Adam in the sky, and a pack of essentials like water and painkillers, I was confident I was ready to get moving. Armed with my side arm and rifle I was also confident in my abilities to defend myself.
“What’s it looking like out there Adam?”
“From this distance I can see, either a clearing in the forest or it’s where the forest ends, I’m not entirely sure.”
“It’s a start, how far and in what direction?”
“Head West for 2.4 miles, you should come to the edge of the forest.”
“Pick a spot and send a NAV point to my GPS.”
“Negative Captain, for some reason I am unable to connect to your suits systems right now, would you like me to provide over watch with the Raven?”
“No, I’d prefer the Raven to remain here and out of sight. Use it to keep in eye on the camp, but stay below the tree line. As for the suit system malfunction, we’ll sort that issue out later.”
“And if you get lost?”
“Don’t worry, Big Daddies position is marked on my GPS, if I get lost, I’ll just come back.”
With that I started walking out of the crash site and into the forest, into the unknown. I didn’t really know much about forests aside from what I read in books. And this place was no park. It was massive, dark, dense, and teeming with life. I really can’t recall a time when some animal or bug wasn’t making some noise off in the distance.
But there was something else about this forest that unsettled me as much as Nightmare Moon did. This place was evil, or at least it felt like it. I could feel it right through my helmet, the feeling that this place hated me. Weird right? I wasn’t sure if it was the tight spaces, or the fact that there was no light shining through the tree tops, but it made me feel very uneasy. At this time the sun was high in sky, but the fact that I didn’t really have much light, it made my think: I’m not welcome here.
2.4 miles later I spotted a light beyond the trees, and soon was graced with the sun once again. Getting out of that forest felt like coming up for air after being dragged deep beneath the sea.
It was defiantly the end of the forest and not just a clearing. I came into a simple grass field with nothing really interesting to see. That is, until I started looking around. I spotted a little dirt road, not to far from where I was standing.
Looking down its length, I noticed a few things about it. On one side, it seemed to stretch endlessly, but the other led to a house, however I couldn’t see much further than that. This is when I realized that, in my excitement, I left the binoculars back at the ship so I decided to head for the only civilization I could see.
With that I started down the small dirt road toward the house.
Even though it was still pretty far away, I was able to make out a few details of the place like a garden, and what looked like a small stream cutting through the property. The more I looked at it the more I started thinking that it was more of a cottage. Though I had no idea who or what lived there, they were going to meet an astronaut.
