Galaxy's Edge

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. The cold, unyielding, emaciated hand of space grabbed at the occupants within the control room, pulling them out with force immeasurable. Faces twisted into shouts of pain and shock, and Zed witnessed all of it. Not a sound could be heard, but there had never been a more disquiet silence.

Just like that, the room had been emptied of life. The pressure was unimaginable, and started to squeeze Zed’s head like a vice. Just when he thought he wouldn’t be able to take anymore, screaming into the void; into the vast empty expanse of space, praying that it would take his life and end the suffering…

The lifesaving gel of “The Insanctum” deployed, filling the large breach in the front viewing glass. The gel wove its way down the broken fragments and locked, being inseparable in even the worst of conditions. However, this was only a temporary fix, as the chemical composition would only last for a couple of hours.

All of this processed within Zed’s mind while the oxygen flowed back into his system, and the vast pressure of space relinquished its deadly kiss. Gasping, Zed winced as he took off his harness, which had cut into him, leaving his blood trailing in an “x” pattern down from his chest. What had just happened?

They had just come face to face with a ship. But… nothing of their creation. An actual, galactic meeting between two races. They had been facing one another for only a couple of instances when… they had been fired upon. A ship with weapon capabilities? Zed’s mind was flashing at a million thoughts per second.

No effort had been made to reach out. These other beings had just fired, with no seeming regard to the life that they had just taken. Zed looked at the filled breach, anger, confusion, and sorrow all threatening to overwhelm him. He looked down as he stood up, observing his location within the control room. He had been in the back, far enough away from the front viewing glass that the pull had been just slightly less than what the others surely had experienced. That, and he seemed to have been one of the only ones to have cared about the harness provided at every location. That random combination had just barely saved his life.

However, soon there would be no life to save, if he didn’t act quickly. Planet 485T. His head snapped to the right, where one of the other viewing panels showed what lay in space’s depository, floating as though it weighed like nothing at all. There sat the obtrusively green Planet 485T, otherwise known as “Elagtrium,” which lay in the Gashton Sector.

A thought formed faster than he could put his actions into place. He scrambled towards the middle of the room, where the controls to fly the ship were held. An assortment of multicolored lights lit up the arrayed console in front of him, but he had spent enough time in the control room to know something of what he was doing.

As he started working the controls, he noticed that the substantially larger enemy ship was now approaching. It was now or never. He punched in several commands that started to turn the nose of the ship towards Elagtrium. A red flash coming from the front of the advancing ship indicated another shot. Panicking and out of time, Zed punched the initiator in front of him, sending the ship catapulting towards the planet.

***

The Insanctum was not a very large ship. In fact, a majority of it was the control room. Thereby, there had been no one else on board by the time that The Insanctum crashed into Elagtrium. The ship hit the surface, a tropic flush with plant habitation and smaller forms of life; and jarringly punched right through into the water below.

Right at the wrong time, Zed remembered one of the reasons they had initially made the journey out to study the planet. The entirety of Elagtrium was covered by a jungle rich environment, which had been a point of confusion at the time of discovery, as there were no greater bodies of water to be seen anywhere across the surface. Where was the water? Well, they had recently discovered that in fact the entire planet was covered by one extremely vast ocean, that had grown an outer layer of root systems and vegetation over the top of it. This essentially made the planet one large, floating island.

However, being pursued and not very versed in landing tactics, Zed was unable to correct his trajectory, ending up within the body of water underneath the tangibly solid surface above. He had managed to strap himself in once again in preparation for the crash, and was met with a crushing impact against his chest as the water caught the ship, absorbing its mass into its own limitless expanse.

Gasping and badly cut, Zed fumbled for the emergency kit just underneath the main control desk. He unstrapped once he found it, although the ship was listing at an awkward right angle, and soon he wouldn't be able to stand. He could hear the ship struggling to maintain elevation, as there were no large breaches to the hull. But he could hear some water making its way in…

Now in a panicked state, Zed tore open the kit, which held a couple of med pens. Grimacing in pain and grinding his teeth, he uncapped one of the pens and ran it over where both of the harnesses and cut into him, letting the cool adhesive begin to immediately repair the damage. Taking a couple of deep breaths in, he tried to compose himself. He had to get out. Zed could hear more water rushing in, as the hole began to be torn apart by the fury of the sea.

Almost completely horizontal with the ceiling at this point, he let himself slide down towards the side of The Insanctum. There was a maintenance hatch, and once he cleared that, he could exit. As he got close he jumped for it, landing almost directly on top of what should have been a parallel door. He turned the several safety latches in place, allowing the door to open into the second, last safety chamber.

Zed jumped inside, ignoring the PEM’s, or Planetary Exploration Masks, that were suctioned to the wall. These worked both in space and on inhospitable planets, but the general guess was that Elagtrium would be compatible with their bodily compositions. With all of that in mind, Zed pressed on the release for the second wall, and was met with the coldest, darkest water he had ever felt as he exited The Insanctum.

Black. That was all Zed could see. The water, having no natural light able to break upon its layers, might as well have been the void of space he was so used to seeing. Except without the stars. He felt the drag of the ship behind him as it slowly sank into the unending depths below. He couldn’t tell if his eyes were open or not. His body just floated there, naked in the wastes of the ocean.

He could feel his limbs starting to freeze. With all his might he rotated, until he saw the faint droplets of light reaching down to the unfriendly water from above, where his ship must have punched through. Pushing his limbs to their limits, he swam up, towards his savior.

Zed punched through the water and grabbed onto the edge of the roots that traveled upwards into a thick pattern that created a sense of solid ground. Gasping, he climbed up to the surface, rolling onto his back and letting the green-filtered sun reach him through the canopy above. A tear rolled down his cheek, intermingling with the rest of the drops of frozen water.

Zed clenched his eyes shut, his sense of sorrow and confusion almost too much to bear. He had lived alongside his comrades for so long… so many long years, exploring the cosmos for the future of their race. What was happening? Surely this couldn’t be a dream-state. He lay there, trying to come up with solutions to his problems. Mostly, it circled back to getting revenge for his fallen brethren. He would make these aliens pay. His tracker!

With a quick thought of realization, Zed reached to his shoulder, realizing he could squeeze the location that the tracker lay within him and alert the others. He had to warn them. He had to let them know that they had made contact with other intelligent life. And it was not good.

***

“Well,” started Adam, his rare and unique southern drawl shining through as he spoke, “Ain’t this thing a sight for sore eyes.” He stared at the alien through his scope on the laser rifle, crosshairs directly lined up with its midsection.

“Stop!” Demanded Sonya, tears welling within her eyes. The first intelligent life that humanity comes across, and they had all opted for the aggressive path. “You didn’t give them proper time to respond to the signal. They could be friendly! Are you insane!” She was yelling now, not caring if her voice carried over to the alien lying on the tropic floor.

“That’s enough.” Grunted Eric, the commanding chief of the investigating team. “They could have just as well fired upon us. We just took the advantage, and by the looks of it, we did the right thing. I mean, look at it!” With this, he gestured in the direction of the creature.

Everyone paused, looking through their lenses to observe the rather formidable looking being. It had humanlike proportions, but bigger, with more arms and legs. And the head…

“You cannot kill it!” Sanya fiercely demanded, turning on the others.

“It’s reaching for something on its shoulder. Your call, boss. It could be trying to send a signal out.” Adam bluntly said, kneeling down and positioning himself into a rock solid stance.

“This is one of the only planets that might be suitable for a large portion of us to live on. We can’t risk these…things taking it over. Take the shot.” The commander stared at the creature as it started to increase its movement.

“NO!” Sanya screamed again, lunging for the barrel of the rifle. Too late. Adam took the shot, and Sanya knew from experience that he did not miss those kinds of shots.

The sound of the rifle echoed throughout the surrounding landscape, silencing all the strange forms of life that made their home there. Sanya looked through her lense. The creature lay there, not moving. Dead. Sanya, horror clear on her face, turned to look at Adam.

“What have you done?”