Looking down at the moon just before it fell into planet-shade it clearly had clouds and but not so much that it completely obscured the surface. Such planets were rare. It was very rare to see a planet that had water that wasn't completely covered in water, or a planet with an atmosphere whose atmosphere wasn't so thick it's clouds didn't block out any hint of the surface. Such planets are known as gemworlds due to their rarity. Usually terra-forming was used to create them artificially but that took millennia and i wasn't a millennial and this was my first gemworld. I wasn't surprised no one had found it however I was surprised by my luck. I wouldn't be rich but I could buy a better skiff and probably get married. I know you think all skiff rats are creeps but I'm not (not anymore). I may be creepy but I'm not a creep.
As the planets shadow began to blanket the moons surface as tenderly as mother tucking in her day old babe, my heart began to sink. There in the shadow I could make out gossamer threads and dotted lines of city lights on city streets. This moon had people. And thus I was no longer exploring but a beggar out of money. Cities are great when you have money to spend. They are pretty lame when you don't. I didn't have even have the fuel lay an orbit. No doubt the other moons had been explored as well. I had no choice but to bypass this system altogether. As I was about to leave the window and draw in the sails lights and bring her about the lights of the city went dark.
No wait I could still see a few tiny lights. They appeared to be more red in color. In fact they appeared to grow in brightness. I'm not a reimturine or any other sort of military practitioner and so please excuse my stupidity but the rockets had already ripped my second sail completely free by the time I realized what it was. Without all sails I'd never make it back to the mother-ship. I had no choice but to attempt a landing. As I prepared for planet-fall (it's actually a moon but you never call it moon-fall). As I prepared for planet-fall I felt a bit frightened. Here I am completely unarmed and yet entering into a world more hostile than any I'd ever known. Why would they be firing at me? Another odd thing is that I hadn't detected any radio transmissions.
I had never actually landed before so this was new to me. I'd done the simulations but it's like my mind went completely blank. I remembered to bring in what was left of the sails and then turned on the retro-shields. The planet grew larger. I had to bring the ship about and so I could only see a couple moons and stars. One star was so bright I couldn't look at it directly. I wondered if it was able to provide any warmth to the planets. I'd heard red stars provide more warmth than they do light and that that warmth gave the planets and moons that orbited a more steady climate. Steady climates make a planet more habitable and less desert like. These are the kinds of things I learned in the online tutorials I took which lead to me starting my own exploration business. I still haven't made any money and probably won't ever. My ship was about to crash on some strange moon. If there were people there were probably hostile life forms. The first lifeforms are the titans and they are these monstrous creatures who though they are wild and terrible they manage to transform the lithosphere of the worlds with their enormous claws.
It took about 3 hours for the ship to crashland on an inland sea. Being that it was airtight it didn't immediately sink. It sort of bobbled around. I could fire the engines and get it headed in the right direction. A skiff is sort of designed as if it were a tower with the nose at the top. This allows for one to use the thrust as a form of gravity. With the skiff on it's side like this I was literally walking up the walls. Well one wall anyway. The other walls were to the side and above me. I wasn't quite heavy enough to turn the skiff by walking up a wall which was rather surprising considering how small it was. The airlock was below me so at least I should be able to make it out that way. I entered it and closed the hatch behind me. My gear in my backpack would get soaked but there was nothing I could do. I stood upon the outer hatch and pressed the nob. The hatch opened. In rushed the water as the air saver sucked in all the air. I'd forgotten to turn it off so all the air went into reserves and the water completely engulfed me. I didn't even have time to take a breath. I scrambled losing my pack in the process and in agony I made my way up and under the hull to the surface.
My lungs were on fire by the time I broke the surface. I lay on my back looking up at the purple sky. I had hit anti-planet-side so that all I could see of the main was it's outer ring jutting up at an angle into the sky like a huge arc. That's all anyone in this region of the moon would ever see of the main planet. That's assuming that this moon was tidally locked the way Luna was locked with the earth showing only one face to the planet at all times. I'd crash landed on the far side of the moon. Because the far side went without the benefits of planet-shade the surface would be much more hostile to life. Still I could see what appeared to to be a bluish line of foliage at the tops of the cliffs I was swiming toward. Byh the time I reached the beach below the cliffs I'd The sun was clearly higher in the sky. I felt the warmth and I did feel much better. The Morning sun seemed as bright as any I'd seen on earth. I lay on the beach resting and soaking up it's rays. As I lay there the sky got much brighter momentarily. I looked up and saw a huge fireball. Some sort of meteor was burning up in the purple sky. I saw it pass overhead and then pass behind the cliffs. A minute later I heard the loudest explosion I'd ever heard. Foliage exploded from the tops of the cliffs and rained down upon me. Out of the sea walked what appeared to be a turtle with long tubular legs and a long neck that stretched downward to the beach in order to feast upon the brilliant blue morsels.
Actually it had been a while since I'd eaten. I still had rations though and I wasn't sure this thing was edible. Plus I'm a bit of a wimp about killing things. The largest thing I'd ever killed is a rat and that was just a mercy killing. It's snout had been destroyed in a rat trap and I figured it would never be able to eat again. I'd opened the trap and let it out and it probably thought the danger was passed. It took a long time to die though. I kept hitting it with a plank and the stick just kept breaking and the rat just kept moving. The giraffe-turtle was pretty big actually so I decided to move away from it. Who knows it could end up eating me.
I made my way down the beach wondering how I could manage not to forget the location of my ship. I needed to get it out of the water. It could serve as a home base for me and a shelter. I just wanted to explore a bit.
More meteors came down several times in the next few hours. I realized my chances of surviving a year on this moon were pretty slim. I had no idea how long this meteor storm would continue. If as I surmised the meteors were pieces of the ring that had become dislodged then it would continue indefinitely and eventually one would hit me or my ship. I needed to find a cave in which to keep it safe. Then I could try to figure out a safer place on the moon in which to lodge.
I was near a cliff so hopefully there would be a cave of some sort. I could use my retros as blasters perhaps and see if I could knock a few chunks loose. I walked about a mile down the beach hoping that nothing would eat me or fall on me. The cliffs were quite beautiful and the waves amazing. They would clearly be a surfers dream. The gorgeous turquoise water. The cliffs resembled the Twelve Apostles of Australia except that the light hit their faces rather than casting a shadow from behind. I probably should have stayed in the ship. I was just eager to feel the sun on my face. I realized it was time to get back to work and get my ship out of harms way. Having so little fuel though I really couldn't just use the skiff as a boat since very little fuel in space translated to even less fuel in this relatively thick atmosphere. It was about that time I realized I was being watched.
