“Smile, look at the camera
...” the flashlight appeared and at the same time I was almost forced to
wake up from my sweet dreams. It was Tara, who takes care of all scientific
experiments and the lab work as well. She dragged me towards the pilot’s cabin.
Remy and Shiva were on their respective seats, doing something with the buttons
and levers of control panel. The front screen was showing a picture of a
planet, it was a blue-red-green colored planet.
“Sasha, look at this, I have analyzed the environmental
properties of this planet and its air is safe for humans. Can you see those
structures, they could be mountains and plateaus ...” Tara
pointed out towards the screen, where a slideshow was running.
“And look there; doesn’t that look like flat surface?”
Was that a question or an offer to explore more, I got both
and replied, “Yes it appears so, you could be right.”
“And could be wrong, as you have been many a times.” Remy
laughed and winked at Shiva.
“Have you checked about habitation?” I asked Tara and she nodded her head in positive way and moved
both her thumbs in negative manner. I recalled all those occasions when this
nodding and moving went wrong, but was there any other option? Our resources
were now decreasing and it has been 3 years since we are wandering in the
infinite space. No success so far...
Day 1
After a couple of hours, we (Tara, Shiva, Rhea the robot and
I) were all set to land on that unknown planet. The ship entered in the orbit
of the planet and after few minutes it landed in the foothills of a mountain
region. We checked our space suits and helmets; everything was fine. One by one
we stepped out from the ship. Remy remained inside the ship. As we tried to
walk, we understood the gravity issue because our feet were getting a little
jump after every step. Rhea started a quick analysis of atmosphere. Within few
moments she informed us that there is sufficient oxygen and other familiar
gasses in the atmosphere, the humans can breathe easily without wearing the
heavy oxygen masks. Though, the temperature was high enough to burn the skin. We
were not in a position to take any kind of risk so we continued with our space
suit.
Rocks and scattered stones that were all we found around us.
The first thing that attracted our attention was the blue-purple hue of the
mountains and the similar purple yet mixed with red colored appearance of
surface sand. We started walking and looking here and there for any kind of
symptoms of life and vegetation.
“Ok, so we have got a warm welcome; what next?” Shiva asked.
“Oh, come on Tara , it’s not
the first time that we have faced such incidents...” I tried to console her. Although I called up the autopilot of rover and instructed it to follow us.
Few more things attracted our attention, some plant like
formations were there, dark red-brown colored, looking like the fossils of
plants. Tara and I reached to the conclusion that it is a dried region, but must
be having water like resources in past.
After few more yards Rhea’s alarm again blinked, this time
we did not wasted even a single second and entered into the rover and launched its
outer security shield.
Soon a big mammoth type creature appeared; thick hairs
covering the torso, transparent skin with blue shade. It has six legs, three
blue shaded horns and a trunk which was semi transparent.
“Violet Planet’s blue horned elephant”. Tara
chuckled. Yes, Tara named it Violet Planet,
because everything we saw here was VIOLET. However, this animal did not show
any signs of aggression and slowly moved on its way and soon got disappeared
among the rocks. “Shall we follow?” Tara was anxious. I nodded my head and soon we were
exploring the rocks.
“Something is sparkling there. What is it...? Water??” Shiva
asked.
It seemed that hilly area was now turning into narrow plains
and the thing to which Shiva pointed out was quite strange. So, first we sent
Rhea there to find out about it and we maintained a distance from that
sparkling structure. After a few minutes, Rhea sent us the information about
that thing and we almost rushed towards that.
“It’s unbelievable!!!!!! Melted mercury flowing like water”.
Tara exclaimed.
“Mixed with gold!!!” Shiva laughed and took a small jump.
This was really amazing, there was a spring in front of our
eyes, where melted mercury was flowing and giving a semblance of water. It was
looking like golden water because there were gold particles mixed with mercury.
In our search of various planets in space, this was one of the most amazing
things that we have encountered so far. Tara found
a name for this place as well, “The Golden Mercury Spring Field”. She did not
forget to take the samples of spring. We continued the journey with rover and
found few more springs of mercury.
My wristwatch was set according to 12 hours day and 12 hours
night and so far we had spent 6 hours on this planet. We were tired enough and
wanted to take a rest, but Tara went into the
lab for the testing of samples. Soon she came to the living area with a sparkle
in her eyes.
“Sasha … that blue/purple hue of rocks is nothing, but the
pure Tanzanite stone. The blue shade of animal’s skin is due to an unknown
chemical, which is the major component of their DNA. This blue chemical is also
present in the sand along with Iron particles. I think this planet possess rich
mineral deposits.”
We were totally astound by this information, meanwhile she
continued her speech..” the higher temperature of this planet is responsible
for the melted state of metals like mercury and I think during nights the temperature
may fall to a very low-level. Perhaps, the night will reveal the hidden reality
of this place.”
“Alright, then let the night do its work and let me sleep.” Remy yawned and Shiva was already snoring. I
too went back to my sleeping cabin.
Day 2
When I woke up, I looked out from the window of my cabin, it
was all dark. It was night and to my surprise, there was something which we did
not see during the daytime. Tara and Remy were
ready in their suits to go out and explore the new landscape of night. Rhea
once again analyzed the atmosphere and informed that the temperature is quite
low and cold. We were ready for anything unexpected or unpredictable, but the
mesmerizing beauty of nature was forcing us to forget everything else.
The fossils of plants that we saw in daytime were now fully
bloomed, the bio-luminescent, bright colored leaves and flowers and most of all
the trees which were not taller than a man. It seemed that the planet has woken
up from the deep sleep. Fireflies like creatures were flying over the plants.
“Now what would you like to call this place?” Remy asked Tara who was taking the samples and was lost in some
thoughts.
“Neon
Land
We laughed and moved ahead. We found similar scenes on our
way to “golden mercury spring field”. When we reached there, another surprise
was waiting for us. The mercury was now frozen and the gold particles were
creating a dusty yellow appearance for the frozen mass.
“This place needs different names for day and night. What
say, Tara ?”
She did not reply and remained quiet. Rhea’s alarm alerted
us and we get closer to each other. Soon a pair of two creatures emerged from
the grove of trees.
“Gracious goodness, what am I seeing?” I almost screamed.
They were very much like unicorns, the difference was their skin color, it was
translucent blue with lots of dots like the skin of Cheetah and they had two
horns. They both looked at us and quickly approached us with their horns
pointed towards me. I tried to get out of their way quickly, but that unicorn
cum cheetah sensed my cleverness and chased me; but in no time Remy fired a
“sleeping bullet”. The creature fell on the ground and within a few moments
fall asleep.
We saw few more animals;
however, the semi transparent skin, blue shade and wads of hair on different
parts of body were the common features of all of them. One of them was quite
scary, as it had two legs, a long eye in the middle of the forehead and two
small legs/hands/whatever were grown on chest. We
roamed around for 3-4 hours, but nothing more or significant we found except
the glittering plants. As I already mentioned the trees, I saw that they were
swaying continuously, their trunk was quite soft. First, we thought that they
could be carnivores, but nothing as such happened.
We came back to the ship.
"The station chief Sir Maitrey Pavlov Hendricks wants to speak with you Sasha, I received the message when you guys were out." Shiva informed me.
We came back to the ship.
"The station chief Sir Maitrey Pavlov Hendricks wants to speak with you Sasha, I received the message when you guys were out." Shiva informed me.
Are you guys
surprised with this strange name, let me tell you that we are now in the middle
of 22nd century and the whole world has become a big melting pot of
various cultures and civilizations. Sir Maitrey is an apt example of this
phenomenon. He is the chief of the Allied Space Station which monitor Mission
“Hello captain Sasha, greetings for you and your team.”
“Thank you
Sir.”
“So how is your
progress and did you find anything useful on this new planet?”
“Yes Sir, so
far we have explored some parts of South Pole of this planet and the result is
quite encouraging...” I explained about the weather and environmental
conditions, the creatures and vegetation and of course the test results of
samples. Sir Maitrey seemed impressed and happy with this job.
“What about
water resources, found any?”
“Not yet, but I
am pretty sure that they do exist because such diverse flora and fauna can’t
exist in the absence of water.”
”Al right then, all the best dear, stay safe and keep me informed about your progress, do not get disappear as you did in last two days.”
“Thank you Sir
and I will take care of that.”
Day 3
I decided to
make an expedition to the North Pole of this planet; maybe the Northern Star
would reveal those things that we are looking for. So, without wasting anymore
time, we set off a journey to the north. After an hour or so we were there,
Shiva told me that once again it is also a hilly area, but the plains covered
with grass/sand are also visible.
After landing,
I sent Rhea out to check about the atmosphere. She came back with stunning
information that took our excitement to a newer level. I left Remy inside the
ship and ask Shiva to take defensive security weaponry along with him and
instructed Tara to activate the mobile
laboratory and to attach it with the rover. We all were highly anxious.
According to
Rhea’s information the atmosphere contains oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and
Water Vapor. The presence of vapor and CO2 was enough evidence of life; the
question was in which form and to what extent. Is it developed or undeveloped?
So many question were storming my mind when I stepped out of the ship. To our
surprise the color blue was not there nor the purple on which we named this
planet. We roamed around for few minutes, it seemed as if it is the spring
season, the land was flourished with light green colored foliage. For a moment,
it felt as if we are standing somewhere on earth. There were various types of
plants showing every possible shade of nature and with each color; the Green
was dominating. Although there was another color that fetch our attention and
it was the white color of sand.
However, we
were not interested in all that, our main purpose was to find out the water
resources. Rhea’s sensors showed us the path not for the water, but for a
strange noise. After few minutes we were there.
“Am I
dreaming?” Tara screamed.
Shiva and I
were totally dazzled, I knelt down and I wanted to believe on Rhea’s
information that what we are seeing in front of our eyes is nothing else, but a
waterfall. A gigantic waterfall was flowing down from lofty black mountains,
but the thing which confused us was its color; it was brown like an almond
unlike the transparent water that we used to see on earth. Tara
took a sample and tested it in mobile lab.
“It is mineral
water; the brown color is due to the minerals mixed in the water. However, we
need to purify the water to decrease the quantity of minerals to make it
drinkable for humans.”
“There are
evidences of fossils in rocks as well.” Tara
added.
“What’s that?”
Shiva pointed out towards the heights of mountains. There was some column type
of formations spread all over there.
“Check them,
what it is, Rhea will be with you. Tara and I are going to explore this place
further.”
Rover was
running with a moderate speed, when Tara
checked the temperature... “Temperature is increasing, it’s getting hotter.”
I remained
quiet.
Shiva’s message
blinked on my eye glass.
“Sasha, you
won’t believe what we are seeing here. These are not just columns, but
rooms/caves built in the mountains and in each room, a large container has been
placed with an opaque glass cover. There is something inside the container, but
not visible clearly. What do you say ... shall we try to open them or bring
them inside the ship?”
“No, no, don’t
disturb anything, don’t touch anything. Just take the videos and come back for
now.”
Meanwhile, the
heat in the atmosphere was on its peak.
My eyes fell on a structure which was built like an igloo. We went near
and tried to investigate. The foundation part was built with bricks, but the
rest of the igloo was built with glass shields. It was transparent from roof
side.
“What is this,
some kind of “Green House” or a “Terrarium”? Tara looked at me and I understood
what exactly she was saying.
“A developed
civilization exist here, we need to be careful.” I replied.
Before, we
could discuss more, I got an urgent call from Remy, he informed us that Rhea
has sent some data about a fast approaching storm and we must get back to the
ship. That time we were around an hour distance from the ship, I wasn’t sure
whether we would be able to make it or not.
“Where is
Shiva, is Rhea with him and how much time we have?”
“No Sasha, Rhea
is here with me and Shiva left to join you guys after getting your last
message. Though, I have informed him as well and he is not much far from the
ship. You have only 10 minutes”
Now it was impossible to go back
to the ship so we decided to stay. Luckily, we found a tree grove and we
entered into that. The rover and its lab were covered by security shield. The
storm ended for half an hour and then it started raining heavily and it seemed
that it will never stop. Remy messaged me that Shiva safely made it to the
ship, but we were still stuck in the grove. Finally, after a continuous rain of 4-5 hours, it stopped and we returned.
Our rover was
just a few yards away from the ship, when I saw a giant bird (whom we did not
notice earlier) was hovering on our heads. Before, we could understand anything
or react that fat white/black colored bird swiftly swooped on Tara
and scratched the helmet glass with its sharp paws. I made some fires, but in
vain, it quickly got disappear in the fog which was now appearing on the
horizon since the rain fall stopped.
Night 3
“Any explanations for this strange weather?” Shiva was
looking outside the window panels where everything was covered in light brown
colored snow including that roaring waterfall which was now quiet.
”I am not thinking about the weather.” I spoke in low voice.
“You have any plans? Shall we make the first step of getting
introduced with the habitats of planet or should get out of here and wait for
the Station Team.?” Remy asked.
“Sir Maitrey wants us to exit immediately and wait for the
team, but I want to stay here for one more day and want go deeper inside this
region.”
“That could be very risky Sasha.” Tara
spoke the first time.
“We have come so far; risked our lives, gone through dangers
and lot more. For what? To exit and pave way for the others? I will stay.” I
spoke in a firm voice.
“All right, then it is decided, we will stay for one more
day and explore further.” Shiva
announced.
Day 4
We followed the same
path where we have found those igloos. We saw many more igloos during the
journey to the unknown directions. Finally, Remy stopped the ship in a vast plain;
Shiva’s boat-ship also got stopped. The front view was quite weird; a huge
pyramid was standing in the middle of that plain.
“So, I guess, our new friends are fond of pyramids, maybe
they are inspired by Egyptians.” Remy spoke in a very sincere manner. We both
came out of the ship; I went little closer to the pyramid, but not too close.
Suddenly, I felt that somebody is standing very close to me.
I turned my head and…
“Greetings Sasha, are you looking for us?”
A chill ran across to my whole body. I felt the trembles of
excitement, fear, happiness and thrill all together. The person or I should
better say the creature who spoke those words was not actually a creation of
flesh and bones. I understood that he/she is teleported here, therefore,
appearing as a body sketch made by electro-magnetic waves. A blue outline of
small dots was giving a shape to the body and I could also see a transparent
plexus of veins as well as. It was speaking in our language without taking help of any language decoder equipment, this was the least I have expected from an alien.
The electro-magnetic waves turned into a man who was looking
much like humans. Though, this man was very tall, maybe more than seven feet,
brown colored skin, brown-white hair hanging on shoulders and mongoloid eyes.
“Welcome to the DEVBHOOMI.”
“Who are you?”
“We are the descendents of Dev Vishwakarma and Maharishi
Agastya.” He replied in a gentle manner with a mysterious smile on his face.
My Entry for The "I Am Explorer" Contest of indiblogger.com and Tata Safari Storme.
The Second part of the Story is Here
Third part of the story is Here
