NOVEL NEXT Chapter 42 - First Steps
Luca and Emily walked up to the dropship, its hull still radiating heat from entry. The airlock exterior flashed green, indicating pressure had stabilized.
Chris's voice crackled over comms. "Alright, here we go. Don't forget to smile for the history books."
The airlock door slid open with a hiss, and the first thing Luca saw was Ryan lugging the camera rig down the ladder, grumbling under his breath.
"Careful with that, man," Luca called up. "You drop it, and our first step on an alien world gets remembered as your dumb ass breaking the tripod."
Ryan shot him a look that could curdle milk. "I hate you."
Chris clapped Ryan on the back as he passed. "He's right, though. You drop it, we're making 'Ryan Fumbled First Contact' a thing."
"Shut up and stand still so I can frame the shot," Ryan muttered, setting up the tripod.
One by one, they descended. Danny went first, his boots thudding against the metal rungs. As soon as he touched the ground, he threw his arms in the air like he'd just won a championship. "Fuck yeah! Alien planet, bitches!"
Ryan snapped the first photo.
Once everyone was clear, Luca's hand instinctively moved toward his helmet, ready to lift the visor and taste this new world. How often do you get to be the first person to taste a brand-new planet? But before his fingers could touch the release, Joey's voice called out.
"Wait! Don't remove your helmet yet." Joey was already pulling out a sleek device from his utility belt. It was a combination of a handheld scanner and a data pad. "We confirmed atmospheric composition from orbit, sure, but that doesn't tell us about pathogens, microbes, anything our bodies might not be prepared for."
Luca froze, his fingers hovering inches from the seal. Fuck, I almost killed myself. He'd been so caught up in the moment, he'd nearly done something catastrophically stupid.
"Good catch, Joey," he said, the relief in his voice genuine. "Remind me to thank you properly later." The guy had probably saved them all from a horrific alien plague. Or maybe I just would have gotten a really bad headache. Who knows? Those little bitches might have wanted to infect me and my crew, little shits.
"What is that?" Ryan asked, pointing at Joey's gizmo.
"This baby," Joey replied, beaming, clearly desperate for someone to ask about his new toy, "is a TL-8 Atmospheric Environmental Risk Scanner. Analyzes the air for harmful particles, like viruses, pathogens, spores, you name it."
Luca took the bait. "How much was it?"
"Oh, you know, not much," Joey said with a proud grin. "About 40,000 credits."
"Damn," Zoe cut in, "You paid the price of a car for a vacuum?"
"It was up for auction!" Joey replied defensively, holding the scanner closer to his chest. "Figured it would be useful."
As they waited, Luca's gaze swept over the landscape. It was… peaceful. The lavender sky, the dream-like trees. New Dawn, Ryan had called it.
"All clear!" Joey's voice rang out, waving his little microbe scanner thing. "No detectable pathogens or toxins. But stay alert. This isn't Earth. If anything feels off, report it immediately."
That was all Luca needed to hear. Time to breathe some alien air.
With a deep breath, Luca gripped the release on his helmet and twisted. The seal broke with a soft hiss. He lifted the visor, letting the helmet tilt back onto its hinge. The cool air of New Dawn hit his face, crisp and tinged with an earthy scent that reminded him of fresh rain on dirt. It was weirdly familiar.
For a moment, he just stood there, breathing. The air felt… good. Not the recycled, filtered crap on the ship. This was pure, untouched atmosphere, and it filled his lungs with a heady mix of peace and exhilaration.
The crew watched him intently. After a beat, Emily stepped forward. "Luca?" she asked. God, she looked good, even with that bulky helmet framing her face.
A slight breeze brushed against his face, and he found himself smiling, a stupid, goofy grin he couldn't control. "It's... perfect," he murmured aloud.
He turned toward them, his grin widening.
Then he staggered back, clutching his throat.
Gasping and choking.
He saw Ryan shout, saw Joey lunge forward as if he could perform emergency CPR from ten feet away.
He heard Zoe yell, "FUCKING HELL, LUCA!"
Then he straightened up, perfectly fine, grinning like an absolute bastard.
"Kidding."
Dead silence.
Then, Emily was in front of him, punching him squarely in the chest. "IDIOT!"
Joey muttered a string of curses, breathing hard. Ryan looked five seconds away from beating him to death. Zoe was just shaking her head, pacing in a small circle, clearly processing her life choices.
Ryan sighed and lifted his camera.
Click.
First group photo.
Luca was still laughing when he turned back to them. "Go ahead," he said, his voice full of mischief. "Take a breath." If I'm gonna die from this, I'm taking everyone with me.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
One by one, the crew cautiously followed his lead. As they lifted their visors, he saw their faces light up.
Zoe let out a low whistle. "Well, I'll be damned," she muttered. "It's better than home." Zoe, impressed? That was saying something.
With their helmets off, the crew exchanged excited glances. The next task was getting out of the bulky EVA suits.
He gestured toward the dropship. "Let's store these in the Peregrine. No need to lug them around." Time to ditch the astronaut crap and get down to business.
Unencumbered at last, Luca stepped away from the group and let his gaze sweep across the scene before him. The Percival sat gleaming in the alien sunlight, its hull scarred from the descent. The Peregrine waited nearby, ready for exploration. His team... his friends. They were scattered around the landing site, finally breathing freely under an alien sky.
New Dawn. Proxima Centauri b. The air was clean and crisp in his lungs, the sun warm against his skin. They'd actually made it. Six weeks from their departure in Sol, and now they were here, ready to begin the survey mission that would change everything.
Ryan appeared at his left side, hands on his hips, surveying the landscape with the same sense of wonder. "Not bad for a day's work," he said quietly.
Emily joined them on Luca's right, her presence warm and grounding. She didn't say anything, just stood there with them, taking it all in.
The three of them stood together in comfortable silence, watching their crew and their new world, ready for whatever came next.
The air was warm and sweet. A low, rhythmic chirping echoed across the field, unlike any insect Luca had ever heard. It was metallic, almost musical. Tiny wings glittered as alien bugs flitted between pale yellow flowers, and something large rustled in the treeline before darting away, unseen.
After a moment, the silence stretched a bit too long. Emily glanced sideways at Ryan, who was still admiring the landscape with apparent fascination.
"So, uh," Emily cleared her throat, "you planning on chaperoning all day?"
Ryan's grin was immediate and knowing. "Oh, right. Yeah, I should probably go... check on the equipment or something." He started backing away, still grinning. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"That leaves us a lot of options," Emily replied dryly, though her cheeks were still flushed.
Before Ryan could get too far, Chris's voice boomed across the landing site. "Hey, before you two go making out, take your weapons!" He gestured toward the weapons locker they'd unloaded.
Luca felt his face heat up, but moved toward the weapons. He shouldered his TL8 Sniper Rifle, the familiar weight comforting. Emily strapped her twin Energy Blasters to her belt, the soft clicks of the holsters somehow loud in the alien air.
"Ready?" he asked.
Emily nodded, and they turned away from the group, walking toward a gentle rise that overlooked the landing site. The slope wasn't steep, but it would give them a better view of their new world.
Halfway up, Luca glanced at Emily and extended his hand. "The terrain's a bit uneven," he said, though they both knew it was more than that.
Emily then took his hand, her fingers warm against his. Together, they climbed toward the crest of the hill where the alien landscape beckoned.
The vista that spread before them was breathtaking. From orbit, they'd seen the landscape in abstract. More like patches of color, terrain features, and atmospheric readings. But this... this was a living world.
A vast valley stretched below them, painted in shades of red and violet under the red dwarf's light. Strange trees with coral-pink leaves swayed in the breeze, their trunks a deep burgundy that seemed to pulse with inner light. Crystal formations shone in different patches. Those would be worth taking a look at.
And moving through it all... life.
In the distance, a herd of massive creatures grazed peacefully. They were unlike anything from Earth's fossil record... six-legged giants with armored hides that shimmered between deep purple and iridescent silver. Their elongated necks ended in heads topped with fan-like crests that flared and shifted color as they moved.
"Jesus," Emily breathed, her grip tightening on his hand.
But it wasn't just the grazers. Something serpentine and enormous moved through the meadow beyond the behemoths, its scaled body easily thirty yards long, colored in bands of magenta and gold. It moved with fluid grace, sliding into and out of view through the tall grass.
Closer to them, smaller creatures darted between the crystal formations. They looked almost like Earth's deer, but with four eyes arranged in pairs and skin that seemed to shift between deep blue and translucent pink, revealing a network of glowing veins beneath.
"Look at that," Luca whispered, pointing to their left.
A pack of two-legged predators had emerged from behind a cluster of coral trees. Squat and short, their bodies low to the ground and covered in what looked like natural armor plating. Their coloration was striking. More reds and purples, blending into the foliage. Their legs carried them in a strange, hypnotic gait, and their heads were flat, with multiple eyes that glowed like embers.
"Are they... hunting?" Emily asked.
The pack was indeed stalking something... one of the smaller deer-like creatures that had wandered too far from its group. The predators moved with the patience of Earth's wolves, but there was something alien about their coordination.
"This is incredible," Luca murmured, his mind racing even as he stood transfixed. "The way they've adapted to the red dwarf's radiation... the bioluminescence, the colors. It's like evolution took a completely different path."
A shadow passed overhead, and they both looked up to see something massive gliding through the pink sky. It had the wingspan of a small aircraft, its wings stretched wide and membranous, colored in deep purples and golds that seemed to shift and change as it moved. It circled once, as if curious about these strange new visitors, before disappearing beyond the far ridge.
"We're not alone," Emily said softly.
The red dwarf hung low on the horizon, casting everything in that otherworldly light that made the entire landscape seem so surreal.
Luca realized he was still holding Emily's hand, and that they were both breathing harder, not from the climb, but from the sheer magnitude of what they were witnessing.
"So," he said finally, his voice husky with emotion, "still want to talk?"
Emily turned to face him, her eyes bright with wonder and something that had been building between them since his confession. The alien landscape stretched endlessly behind her, but all Luca could see was the way the red dwarf's light caught the gold flecks in her eyes.
"Actually," she said softly, reaching up to cup his face with both hands, "I think we've done enough talking."
And then she kissed him.
It was everything he'd imagined and nothing like he'd expected all at once. Sweet and desperate, gentle and fierce, with the weight of weeks of unspoken feelings pouring out between them. Then instinct took over, and he kissed her back. His hand landed on her hip, maybe a little too awkwardly, but she didn't pull away. Instead, she leaned in closer, and his world narrowed to just her.
When they finally broke apart, both were breathing hard, grins spreading across their faces.
"I've wanted to do that for a long time," she murmured, pulling her arms around his neck, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Luca exhaled sharply, a laugh escaping before he could stop it. "Glad you did," he said, and it came out so breathless and ridiculous that he almost cringed. But then he saw her grin, and suddenly he didn't care anymore. He was grinning too, his face heating up as if it were on fire.
Luca leaned in to kiss her again, slower this time, softer, letting himself feel every second of it. Her lips melted against his, and she responded instantly, her hands sliding up to cradle the back of his neck. He could feel the warmth of her skin beneath his fingers, the rapid rise and fall of her breasts.
"Come on," Emily said, grabbing his hand and pulling him back toward the slope. "We need to tell the others."
They ran down the hill together, laughing like teenagers, the magnitude of their discovery and their first kiss making them giddy with adrenaline.
"Guys!" Luca called out as they approached the group, trying to catch his breath. "It's about to get interesting. We've got company, and it's big. Don't wander off."
But he was still grinning, and Emily's hand was still in his, and despite the warning, he'd never felt more alive.