The Green Inferno

Ch.1

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. As wails continue to be heard throughout the abyss of the galaxy as an unspeakable horror continues to escalate on the desolate planet of Amazonite. A remote planet known for its lush green but treacherous environment which was how the planet got its name. It is still a new planet discovered by earth and it has only been 10% explored due to the thick dense swampy jungles that pretty much take up the whole planet. The first set of explorers described there being possibility of large amounts of life however there are still some species that have yet to make their presence known. As well as the exotic plant life which has shown a lot of promise to possibly restoring a whole ecosystem to another planet. The reason why the plant life is so unique because the explorers discovered that the same trees and flora have been alive for over a billion years. There have been no signs of new plant evolving overtime its as if the same species is able to live on without the effects of harsh disease or large environmental changes. This is what has captivated a team of researchers that are off on a mission to Amazonite to look for a particular root plant that one of the last explorers Dr. Harry Livingston described in a journal that he wrote 50 years ago could be the key to helping restore all the plant life to another planet. Earth has taken a turn for the worse a lot of the planet green ecosystem is dying due to climate change and a lot plant disease have developed that is killing thousands of trees by the day. However, Livingston described when he came across with what he called “the Lazarus Root” was able to help heal and restore life to another plant species that was dying. It is also a tree itself and it carries a lot of spores when it blooms and blossoms can spread to other plants. When the last team explored all those years ago they were only there for a few days which seemed pretty odd it was as if they were in a big hurry to go or something had chased them off the planet.

The new team has about 12 crew members Blake the head of the expedition and an expert in biology and foreign intergalactic flora and fauna; Asta assistant chief science officer; The rest consist of Terra the lead pilot; field researchers Pam, Sean, and Aleera; Jayce, Ian, Banks, and Elias the ships engineers and the team’s security; and medical aids Hodge and Kris. The team was briefed before they departed Earth, they were briefed about the planets atmosphere and that it was like Earths. But they were advised so monitor anything different over a period after being exposed to a new environment. They were also told it might be best if they try to be quick with their mission to locate the plant and return to Earth as soon as possible because the clock was ticking to try and save all of humanity. So now the mission begins…

One week later.

The team is approaching Amazonite within the next few hours. What would usually take years to get this planet back then have now become a thing of the past. With Earths natural ecosystems dying the planet has evolved and became more advanced with technology than anything. Which makes intergalactic space travel no longer a hassle however compared to when the last exploration team ventured traveled to Amazonite the ships were designed for passengers and crew to be in a hibernated sleep.

Asta is a little anxious about the mission to locate the Lazarus Root after carefully digging through one of Dr. Livingstons files she discovered that not all the last explorers had returned to Earth. When they landed back on Earth, they told the council that a few of their crew members had died while in hibernation due to a bad life support tank and they had suffocated in their pods because of lack of oxygen. So, they buried them out in space through the incinerator.

Asta can’t help but raise a few eyebrows about it because its almost as if that whatever happened with the last crew Dr. Livingston was trying to hide it. Considering when the alarm buzzed on the ship during hibernation, he was the one that had been awaken when his crew members were in distress. Just everything does not seem to add up. But Dr. Blake has all the information saved in his room but she would ask him more but, the last time she asked he said that it was classified. But not to her because since she was second in command on this exploration. Asta can’t take it anymore so before they land, she is going to try and snag some more information from Blakes room before they land. Because if there is something that everyone should know for there own safety before landing on this still foreign planet, now is the time to know if the plug should be pulled and abort the mission. Then all of sudden there is a knock on Asta’s door and its Pam.

“Yeah Pam what’s up?”

“Hey Asta, Blake wants to have a quick briefing on the brig in the next 5 minutes before we land in the next hour”

“Okay sounds good I’ll be out soon”

Pam can tell something is up with Asta.

“Asta is everything okay?”

“Yeah everything is fine” Asta pauses and is hesitant to say what is really on her mind but still decides to tell her. “Its just everything seems a little cryptic.”

“Like what?” She nods her head and is curious now as well.

“I was digging through some of the files from the last expedition and it just makes no sense how that could have happened back then to some of the crew members. You know just as much as I do that those tanks back then were always carefully examined before they were put on each ship before departure.”

“I know what you mean Asta considering my dad over saw everything before that ship left all those years ago.”

“It’s just so odd” Asta can’t help but have a bad feeling about this mission. She and Pam then made there was to the brig for the briefing. As they both enter the brig Asta cannot take her eyes off Blake.

Then Blake starts to talk about the planet they are exploring and going over the same stuff as they were briefed back on Earth but what came next was not what they were expecting hear at all.

"I know we were all briefed back on Earth about it being a dense jungle with a lot of swampland as well but, there were a few things that were not mentioned in the briefing. The planet is inhabited by a lot of potentially dangerous creatures."

Asta's blood just ran cold and she could not move. She felt so betrayed after everything Blake had told her and everything she read in the reports. She could not help but wonder what could come next and now might be the time to stop the mission before it turns into a big disaster. Dangerous creatures was something that the council did not mention at all or in Livingston's files or could they all know something they don't want anyone else to know. Like what dangers are really inhabiting this planet. They just now went from being the invaders to now potential prey!