It is tough to achieve a breakthrough. It takes years of working tirelessly, sleepless nights, too many coffees and a boatload of inspiration. This diligence is what got 6 great minds together, and on to Cyphon.
One by one, they suited up and began stepping down a 200-step ladder. After all, rockets are not built for easy access. First off was the excitement bug, Ellie. This March-born firecracker was the first to suit up, first to get in line, and the baby of the troup. One by one, the rest of the adults stepped down after Ellie.
Landon, a lover of picturesque locations, got his camera out to click photographs for Vincent and Clara. But alas, devices are futile in this land. “Something in the air, it must be”, thought Landon. Callie was ecstatic; one off the bucket list finally. Old Barn, as casual as ever, walking around, scaling the area, scanning for any dangers.
Robert and Jim were at what they did best. Building a make-shift pad for them to work out of, until an entire unit may be set up. All supplies were taken off the ship: food, water, batteries, seedlings and some plants (eating is still essential!).It was going to be a tough couple of days, if connectivity is not an option on land at Cyphon. They would have to keep going into the ship, taking turns, to speak to their loved ones, and update the office from time to time.
Fast forwarding one week into the future. The entire stay pods are set up. Each with their own rooms, a common area, a greenhouse of sorts and a composting system. “We are humans. Of course before technology, we grew up learning farming. So be it!”, hummed Robert to himself while turning around the soil for his tomato patch.
Landon, Barn and Callie took routine hikes around the land to find resources, any sign of life or movement. Nothing. Zilch. But they did discover one thing. Air was crisper than it was on Earth and the stars were bigger and brighter than ever. Little did they know, what they saw as stars, would soon be hitting the land that they walk on. Traveling to Cyphon since eons, and these 6 minds were blissfully unaware about how the planet has a magnetic effect on asteroids.
Hiking back to base, they began to see the stars growing in size. It struck them like lightning and they began running as fast as they could. Madeira was their companion for this journey, and they wrote a quick message and sent it hobbling away to the base. Off zoomed Madeira, into the dusty path as fast as it could.
Jim was busy scouring the location for soil samples for their greenhouse. Who knows? Maybe foreign soil will improve the growth more than our home soil. No harm in trying, anyhow. Ellie. That little firecracker. Compost, compost, compost. Her excitement was through the roof to see how fast the waste deteriorated to fuse into the compost (minds don’t click when they are excited, and she did not realise that even though the air was crisper; it was also deadly in it’s own ways).
Robert had just walked out of the greenhouse after tending to his patch when Madeira came rocking at his feet. He saw the message and looked towards the sky. Two big asteroids charging at them and barely any time to think. Callie, Landon and Barn, running as fast as they could towards the ship. Forget the pad, forget the farm, it was time to save ourselves. Robert called out to Ellie and Jim a couple of times. They were not to be seen anywhere, thanks to a sandstorm that kept on rising around them.
Wrong time to be disappearing. There was no time to waste. We could lose these two for now, Robert thought. They have no children, they are for themselves. We could send a rescue flight back to get them. He rushed up the ladder – the long, long ladder. All buckled and firing up to the sky, just in time before the asteroids hit.
Smash! Bang!
The sounds were deafening. The impact was mind-boggling. Of course, no one ever grew up knowing how an asteroid attack feels. Jim held on for dear life to a cliff side that he was swung to. Ellie to the poles of the pod station. Compost flying everywhere. Rubble from the asteroids. Looking down would be a mistake – an asteroid had ripped through and created a deadly ravine. “Please God, I hope everyone else is safe. How am I going to get out of here?”, she feared.
Jim finally found his way to the pod station by pulling himself over the cliff and scaling the route from outside. He screamed and screamed for his team. The ship out of sight, the pod ruined, a deep valley created on one side, and asteroid rubble on the other.
“Have I been left behind? Did they know this would happen?”, he suspected. “Help!”, a faint cry from afar. He ran around. “Who is that? Call out louder so I can find you!”, he responded while he frantically searched all around.
Finally, two familiar faces meet each other. “At least we have each other”, they thought to themselves. There was no rescue coming. They had made peace with that fact.
“How dare you leave them without any warnings?”, shouted Callie at Robert. “They were part of our team. Do you know what you have done? We don’t know what’s down there and whether they’ll live or die”.
Robert had no answers. He sat in his seat, buckled up; perhaps even ready for the belts to choke him for the folly he made. Leaving even one from the team was never an option. Going back cannot be an option either. Fuel was just enough for one trip back.
On the other side, Jim and Ellie have taken refuge in the small patch of their greenhouse that was left. “No one is coming for us”, sobbed Ellie. They knew they needed to work through this together, but where could they even begin? It would take years to create a life, let alone deal with any dangers that come their way.
“We do have to begin, so we know where we end up, right?”, Jim said meekly. It was the only way. When all the paths are closed, we have to build our own. There will be wrong turns, there will be small joys. Beginning is essential.
And so they did. Two individuals, trying their best to create a life for themselves on a planet they know hardly anything about. They just know they have to do their best to survive!
Written By Anisha Masand
Part 3 of the story on 27th Nov ’20.
Week 47, November ’20
