Deep space exploration is a war we are fighting, an intergalactic war. There are Allies, The Rebels, the Exiles, the Troopers. All fighting one war, space exploration. At this point we are all past the bombs, and mass murder, and the genocide but we still have soldiers, soldiers who have to abandon their homes and families forever. I still remember the words of my dying father “war never changes son, it takes everything you got and leaves you with nothing, God doesn’t like war”. I seriously doubted him, if God never wanted war then why is there so much of it?
It’s 5.30 Universal Standard Time, we are about to approach a very peculiar planet. We first detected it at Terra Prime, our home planet. I still remember it, my dad, the head of the Terraforming committee showed it to me and said that this planet could be our next frontier. Within 7.30 UST we’d be entering the atmosphere of Planet(SWTFA7) provided I have enough antimatter to get the ship into the hyperspace. “Jules” I enquired, “What’s the antimatter count?” “99 dots sir”. Yeah, that’s enough to get us into the hyperspace, “Alright crew, buckle up we are about to go hyper”. *ZOOP*.
We underestimated the gravitational pull of the planet. It is precisely 1.98 times more than we calculated. My dad calculated and his calculations were never wrong. The hull began vibrating under the immense gravitational pull, we cannot apply the thrusters coz we used half the antimatter during the hyperspace travel. “SIR” shouted Ross, terrified “We are going down, I cannot pilot this thing alone anymore”. I grabbed the stick and hoped for the best. “Remember son, war never changes, this is war we are fighting”. We entered the atmosphere of the planet, the anti heating agent kicked off and protected the ship. “Brace for the impact” I shouted. Just before the impact our pilot Ross applied the thrusters which might cost us dearly in the future. The ship landed with minimal impact. All crew members intact and alive, time to explore this planet.
I opened the hatch and according to the standard protocol the scouts were to be sent at first, no robots coz robots are only well, robots. As I opened the hatch I saw red. Everything was red. as if some maniac had murdered this planet and left it to bleed to death except for the fact that it is already dead. The scouts returned and reported nothing unusual, .2 times more atmospheric pressure than Terra prime, 1.98 times more gravitational pull than Terra Prime, just normal stuff, nothing unusual. Taking this is as a positive sign I, the main explorer stepped out of the ship. My vitals were normal according to my suit but I could feel my skin burning with plastic and the smell of rotten corpse. The suit that we wore was a closed system so there was no chance that we could smell anything besides our own sweat. Or, is it my sweat? Upon asking the two scouts about unusual burning sensation and smell their answer was negative. Suddenly I heard something loud, like a million souls screaming for help, pleading, begging, howling, as if God had abandoned them. I raised my gaze and I saw a cave, it was coming from there. I had to see it, this is war we are fighting after all. I started walking towards the cave. The burning sensation increased, the smell intensified. I felt like I was leaving behind everything. I felt like a soldier. I turned back to check up on my crew, they were doing good, following protocol. I entered the cave, screaming, so fucking intense screaming. You could die hearing it. Upon going further I saw people. People like us. Their flesh rotting, their teeth falling, drinking their own piss, sitting in their own feces, the smell was nothing to be compared with and if someone died they got resurrected and thrown into same condition. As if God had abandoned them to their own misery. A woman looked into my eyes “you are one us”. I tried to run out of the cave but i stopped. Something made me stop. A voice, a very familiar voice “war never changes son, it takes everything you got and leaves you with nothing, God doesn’t like war”. I turned around and saw him “we are the agents of war son, we must rot in hell for eternity, welcome home”.
