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“Immediately,” Iris said. “Do be careful. There is a maintenance hatch that will let you off just outside the elevator shaft. I’ll send the information to your holo card.”

“Thank you,” Arun said, checking her blaster at her hip.

“Dean,” Elon said, propping himself up on his elbows. He grimaced again before reaching to his left hip and handing me his own blaster. “You’ll need it before I do.”

“Thanks,” I said, accepting the weapon.

“Let’s go,” Arun said, heading for the doors. “I want to be back before nightfall.”

I agreed with her. I had no desire to be out in the open after the suns disappeared. Not with that mist and a freaking alien house two klicks from our location.

I headed out with Arun and Stacy. We covered the ground in silence, working quickly as Arun found the maintenance hatch in the elevator shaft and popped it open. A cool wind rushed inside the tunnel, echoing as it traveled down the lonely shaft.

Iris wasn’t kidding. The maintenance exit point was a good four-meter drop to the hill that the Orion had come to rest against. I went first, hanging from the ledge to shorten the drop before letting go. As soon as my feet touched the hill, I bent my knees to absorb the impact.

I had to catch my balance, but I was good. Stacy came next, and finally Arun.

“If we are not alone on this planet, we are better off trying to make allies of whoever or whatever is here,” Arun said, checking her blaster, then holstering it in her belt. “If we do see anything, keep that in mind.”

“Roger that,” I said as we climbed up the steep hill. “Try to make friends with the little green people instead of shooting them. You know, I have to say you’re both dealing with this pretty well. I’d imagine most people might freak out at the prospect of intelligent life on an alien planet.”

“I suppose with everything else that’s happened today, this is just another piece,” said Stacy. “What are we going to tell everyone else?” she asked as we made our way from the ship. “I mean, I want to believe the best about people, and I don’t want to lie, but adding this on top of what just happened?”

“I didn’t tell them about the Disciple on board, and look where that got us,” Arun said. “I’d rather tell them the entire truth in this case and let them do with it what they will.”

“And what exactly is the entire truth?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Arun said.

The twin suns were slowly making their descent. If I had to guess, we had maybe two hours of light left before the night took over. I wanted to be safely back inside the Orion by then.

It didn’t take us long to see the building in the distance. It looked like an entrance complete with walls, a pointed roof that came up like a steeple, and doors. It led into another small hill behind it.

“There,” Stacy said.

“I see it,” Arun answered.

The feeling in the pit of my stomach wasn’t exactly fear. There wasn’t anything to fear yet. It was a nervous warning. Like a little voice inside of my head was telling me that things were about to get a lot worse.

My blaster was tucked into my waistband. In two seconds, I could draw and have it pointed to anything that moved.

But nothing came.

We kept walking toward the doors until we stood right in front of it. My mouth was dry. Trying to wrap my head around aliens was something I never thought I’d have to do.

Standing in front of the doors, I could see how ancient they truly were. With cracks and carvings etched into the stone, it was like something from a history documentary.

“Iris, can you hear me?” Arun whispered into her holo card.

“Yes,” Iris said in a soft voice.

“I’m scanning the rock with my pad,” said Arun. “Can you detect any known substances? Is there a way for us to get an accurate age on this? Any details as to how long this entrance has been here?”

“Aside from normal rock, there are trace amounts of an unknown substance within,” Iris said. “Were I to postulate, I would say this structure has stood for at least a few hundred years, although I cannot be certain.”

“Hundreds of years,” Stacy repeated, walking closer to the massive doors towering an easy ten meters into the sky.

“We should go back,” Arun said, pointing to the sky. “It’ll be dark soon, and we have no idea what’s behind those doors. Better to face it in the light of day with a larger team.”

“Agreed,” I said. “We’ll return and figure this out. We have time.”

Stacy nodded along, lost for words.

“We will, my friends,” Arun agreed, an infectious determination on her face. “If not for ourselves, then for those we must protect. We are stronger together, are we not?” she asked, looking directly at me.

“That’s right,” I agreed, thumbing the blaster at my side. “And we’ll take on whatever comes next.”

Continue reading for ORION UNCHARTED.

For Jonathan,

And the many adventures to come.

-J.N. Chaney

To everyone who’s gotten knocked down following their dreams.

You get back up. You don’t give up. That’s not who we are.

-Jonathan Yanez

1

The Orion crashed. Like the ancient ship of old, the Titanic, the impossible had happened. Those of us who survived the crash were deposited on a strange planet that grew stranger and stranger every day.

This last bit rang truer than even I could have imagined. Boss Creed and I led a team north from the Orion. The idea was to get a decent perimeter set up around the ship in order to get a proper read of the land.

Turned out the planet’s ecosystem allowed for a variety of habitats to coexist in a relatively