In the Beginning
written by: Stuart Mark
Captain ampaS Contou stood up from the commander’s chair and moved in front of the screen; his nervous tic had his left eye blinking rapidly. He was finally here, and the planet Earth was filling the screen as a blue and green sphere. It was more beautiful than the descriptions he had read for the last thirty-odd years of his life. His life goal was on the brink of achievement.
Pion Passary joined him with his navigator’s tablet in the crook of his left arm. His fingers tapped on the surface as he made minute adjustments to their location in the galaxy. He took a breath before speaking to ampaS.
‘There is the the planet known as Earth. I must concede it is more enticing than I expected and certainly more interesting than the previous stops we have made.’
ampaS ran his hand through his thick black hair and turned to Pion with a smile on his face.
‘It is a fantastic sight to see. It looks just like the descriptions recorded a hundred million years ago. We are privileged to see it this close up, and now we can do our experiments to confirm that it has recovered from the conditions that the humans left it in. Time for mIn Manchi to work her magic. Please call her to the bridge.’
Pion pushed a button on his tablet, and the loudspeaker squawked in Klingon “ratlhtaHvIS tInob.”
Pion placed the tablet in its docking station on the command deck and rejoined ampaS at the screen.
‘ampaS, I still believe a trip to the surface by you is very risky. Let us rather send down a probe to sample the atmosphere and collect additional visual information.’
ampaS flicked his hair back in place and turned to face Pion.
‘We have so little time here, I would not like to waste it on a probe unless it is absolutely necessary. A physical visit gives us a better opportunity to look around at all the potential samples to collect, rather than relying on the probe analysis. We could send down probes to a number of areas just before we leave to do samples and send the results back home.’
The door to the bridge opened, and mIn moved her tall frame through the door. ampaS marvelled at the way she walked, no, it was more like gliding. Her striking figure always had heads turning. Her features accentuated by her tight-fitting flight suit.
She stopped next to ampaS with her mouth slightly open and stared at the image.
‘Wow! It is far prettier than I ever imagined. I can hardly wait to go down there and see it for real.’
Pion scowled. “I was telling ampaS that I don’t think that is a good idea. The mission brief was to only send down probes. We need to know about the atmosphere and the gravity fields to ensure that it is capable of supporting the Klingon life form.’ He folded his arms with his lips tightly closed.
ampaS raised his eyebrow. “The mission brief did not forbid an actual visit to the surface. It only suggested the probes would be sufficient, but gave discretion to the commander. As I am the Commander of the mission since Captain Bloudy passed away, that discretion lies with me. mIn, what has been the analysis that you have done so far?’
mIn touched the keyboard on the command deck, and the screen was replaced with a table of figures.
mIn moved towards the screen and used her laser pointer to point to the right-hand column.
‘All these figures are in the green zone for supporting Klingon life. There is sufficient atmosphere, the temperatures are in range, and the gravity readings are acceptable. In fact, moving on the Earth should be easier as the gravity is slightly less than that on Klingon.’
ampaS smiled. ‘In your opinion, mIn are there any factors that would prevent an actual descent to the planet?’
‘Not that I can see so far. A descent is done in a heavily controlled fashion and can be aborted at the slightest indication of danger. In my opinion, it would be a safe exercise.
Pion shook his head. ‘It’s reckless in my opinion, and I would like my concerns to be noted on the ship’s log.
‘Duly noted and logged. While mIn and I are out of the ship, you will remain in charge of the Outer Reach.’
‘Yes, Sir.’
‘Ask transportation to check the craft in preparation for our descent. mIn, please meet me in the briefing room to finalise the location and duration of our visit to the planet in thirty minutes.
‘Will do.’
ampaS swept out of the bridge.
Pion turned to mIn.
‘Talk to him again. I don’t believe this expedition is necessary and could endanger the entire crew of the ship.’
‘I’ll try, but you know how stubborn he can be.’
Pion nodded and picked up the tablet and tapped in instructions.
***
The door to the briefing room slid open and mIn entered after which it slid closed.
‘Lock the door, mIn,’ said ampaS as he pushed a pad across the table, ‘I don’t want us disturbed while we finalise the details.’
mIn set the lock to read and read the message on the pad.
“Room likely bugged.”
ampaS brought up a map on the interactive screen. ‘This is the area formerly known as Lebanon. Are you sure this is the best location for the expedition?’
mIn moved up to the board and zoomed out slightly. ampaS started to write on the pad.
‘It is located next to this sea, and the initial investigation showed that the area has recovered well since the humans were self-exterminated. They had damaged the earth to such an extent that, around 2020, the earth was no longer capable of healing itself. This area, while it had exposure to quakes, was largely undisturbed by the changes in the weather, particularly variations in temperature experienced in other parts of the globe.’
ampaS held up the pad and mIn read the message and nodded.
‘It is also a flat area with very few hills, which will mean we should be able to have a good landing, and the terrain will be better to traverse.’
While she spoke, she zoomed out and then moved to zoom in south of the line humans called the tropic of Capricorn and pointed to a location.
‘We expect that this area will have many specimens for us to collect, including flora and fauna as well as rock samples. Our scientists will be able to compare to the samples recovered from missions in the years from 2000 to 2050 and report on the changes.’
ampaS wrote again on the pad and held it up.
mIn nodded and pointed to coordinates at the top right of the screen. ampaS noted them on the pad.
‘ampaS,’ mIn smiled, shaking her head as she spoke, ‘Pion asked me to talk you out of a physical visit. He sees it as endangering the whole ship and our mission as a whole.’
ampaS nodded.
‘He is a good first officer, and he is right to question the necessity of the mission. You and I have spent a lot of time determining the best location for the scientists to get samples from. A probe does not have the lateral vision that we have. If you are still comfortable with this, we should go?’
mIn nodded as she said in an uncertain tone, ‘Well, it does have risks. We have not landed a craft on the surface in millions of years. We will be relying on data from those days and the small updates that we have done that have changed our projections of what the atmosphere is going to be like. But we will be able to land and, more importantly, be able to return to the ship at the end of the expedition.’
‘It’s a go then.’ ampaS removed the sheets he had written on from the pad.
‘Time to prepare to descend to the Earth.’
***
The landing craft shook and trembled as they hit the edge of the atmosphere. Flames showered past the windows as the craft was pulled through the thickening atmosphere towards the earth. The cacophony inside the craft was more than ampaS had expected. They knew it would be rough if not violent, but everything rattled, and their ears were not used to the noise after the months spent in deep, silent space.
mIn looked across, and ampaS nodded. This was a well-rehearsed routine between them. mIn adjusted the coordinates to their new chosen position.
The craft turned, and the G-force tore into their bodies, winding them as they hurtled towards Earth. His eyes bulging, ampaS strained his finger to the deploy arrester button. A loud bang, and the craft started to slow.
‘Anti-gravity arrester working. We should have a safe landing now, mIn.’
She nodded and checked the location against the co-ordinates.
‘On track for touchdown on schedule.’
Through the windows, they saw puffs of white cloud approaching and glimpsed green lands below. They exchanged excited smiles as the craft drifted below the clouds and slowed its descent, although the ground appeared to be coming fast towards them.
‘Here we go for the landing.’
The automatic landing computer slowed them to a standstill a few hundred feet above the earth and then manoeuvred away from some trees to a clearing close to a stream. They descended smoothly to the earth.
‘Landing successful, ampaS.’
‘Check the atmosphere and gravity.’ mIn pushed a button to deploy a probe. ampaS pushed the communicate button. ‘Pion, Touchdown successful. Will be in contact when we are ready to return.’
‘Understood, Sir, congratulations. We look forward to your return.’
ampaS and mIn opened the door of the craft and stepped outside. It felt as warm as in the craft, and a gentle breeze tickled their noses with a fragrance of the flowers around them. The craft had landed in a perfect location. They had trees about two hundred metres from the centre of the clearing.
ampaS said, ‘Come on, we don’t have a lot of time. Get out of our space suits.’ He ripped his suit open and tossed it inside the craft. mIn did the same, and once naked, they both embraced with a passion they hadn’t enjoyed previously.
‘mIn I am so excited with this adventure, but are you sure you want to do this.’
‘Completely. I have deleted the location in the computer and erased the audit trail. I set the auto-return time to ten minutes from now. Throw all our Klingon clothes in the craft, we have to get away from the force of the takeoff. Call me Eve, please.’
‘Call me Adam.’
- In the Beginning - April 22, 2026
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