Chapter 2: On the Way

The ship’s AI spoke through every corridor and compartment. “Attention. We are in orbit around your new home. All shuttles will be dropped off and delivered to your landing locations within the next twenty-four hours. Please make your way to your assigned shuttle.”

Ted and Emma exchanged glances in the crowded hallway.

The AI continued, “Shuttles have been fully stocked with essential supplies—food, water, medical supplies, and tools. Each group will receive one hundred shuttles total, including thirty-three personal shuttles. All shuttles will remain functional for twenty years.”

Emma’s face broke into a wide smile. “Well, here we go!”

They pushed through the stream of people heading to the shuttle bay. Inside their assigned shuttle, Ted paused at the entrance to the pilot’s cabin. Both seats sat empty, control panels dark and waiting.

He turned to Emma. “Are you trained as a pilot?”

“Yes, I had the training.” Emma stepped forward, her fingers already reaching for the co-pilot’s harness.

Ted gestured to the pilot’s seat. “Do you want it?”

Emma’s eyes widened. She held up both hands and stepped back. “No way. It’s yours.”

They settled into their seats and ran through the pre-flight checklist. The familiar routine steadied Ted’s nerves. His hands moved across the controls, flipping switches and checking readouts.

Emma looked around the compact cabin, taking in the sleeping bunks behind them, the storage compartments lining the walls. “I guess this is our home.”

Ted glanced at her with a slight smile. “Then I’ll enjoy coming home each night.” His eyes lingered on her for a moment longer than necessary, a suggestively playful glint in them.

Emma’s head whipped toward him. “I didn’t mean it that way!”

The ship’s AI interrupted before Ted could respond. “Launching will begin in five minutes. Cargo shuttles have been launched.”

Ted ran through his panel one more time. Movement caught his eye—a shuttle detaching from the bay to his right. It floated through the massive bay doors and disappeared into the black.

“Shuttle thirteen, you are about to embark on a brand-new adventure. Good luck.” The transmission crackled through their comm system.

Ted took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders, trying to release the tension building there. He turned back to Emma with a laugh. “Don’t worry, I know you didn’t mean it that way. It’s just nice to know I can look forward to coming home every night to someone as lovely as you.”

Emma’s cheeks flushed pink. “Well, thank you then. And yes, I’m looking forward to it too.” Her smile carried genuine warmth, and some of Ted’s anxiety eased. Whatever waited for them down there, at least they’d face it together.

The engines roared to life beneath them. The shuttle trembled, then lurched forward. They were moving.

Ted’s hands hovered over the manual controls, ready to take over if the automated system failed. Beside him, Emma scanned her instrument panel with practiced efficiency, checking for any signs of malfunction. The main ship shrank behind them as their shuttle accelerated away.

’We’re really doing this. No turning back now.’ Emma thought to herself.

Through the viewport, other shuttles fell into formation around them. The sight stirred something in Ted’s chest—One hundred small ships carrying the 10 survivors of their group, all heading toward the same uncertain future. The formation held steady as they began their descent toward the planet’s surface.

The hour-long journey passed in tense silence, broken only by Emma’s quiet reports of their status. Ted watched the planet grow larger in the viewport, its surface resolving into continents and oceans, mountain ranges and plains. Their landing zone appeared as a marker on his screen, a spot on a vast equatorial landmass.

The shuttle shuddered as it hit the atmosphere. Heat washed over the hull, and Ted’s knuckles went white on the controls. But the automated systems held, and gradually the shaking subsided. They dropped through clouds, and suddenly the ground rushed up to meet them.

The shuttle touched down with a gentle thump. Ted let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Through the viewport, he could see their new world—real dirt, real sky, real grass swaying in the wind.

They’d made it.

Day 1 on Their New World

Ted’s gaze swept across the landing site as the remaining shuttles powered down, their engines whining into silence. The sky overhead hung a strange greenish hue, casting an eerie glow that made everything feel wrong somehow. Alien. Surreal. One by one, shuttle doors hissed open, and his fellow travelers appeared, blinking in the unfamiliar light.

From the nearest shuttle, a tall man with dark hair stepped out first. The woman beside him already had a farmer’s calculating eye, scanning the resources scattered around the landing site.

To their right, another couple emerged. The man had a sturdy build with broad shoulders, his hands calloused from years of hard work. The woman next to him was short and stocky. Her companion said something Ted couldn’t hear, and laughter erupted from her—a sound that echoed across the desolate terrain, strangely reassuring in its familiarity.

From the third shuttle, a lean man with sun-darkened skin emerged. His confident stride and the medical insignia on his uniform marked him as their physician. He immediately started examining a portable device, probably tracking atmospheric readings or health metrics. He turned to assist a petite woman with auburn curls as she descended the ramp. They moved carefully, their eyes scanning the environment with sharp attention. Ted noticed the woman glancing back at their shuttle repeatedly, as if reassuring herself it was still there.

The final shuttle released its passengers more slowly. A muscular man with close-cropped hair helped a willowy blonde woman down the ramp. She had sharp features and was already scanning the horizon methodically, her engineer’s mind evaluating their situation.

As all eight gathered in a loose semi-circle with Ted and Emma, the weight of their isolation became crushing. Ten survivors from what should have been two hundred. Strangers thrown together by circumstance, ranging from early twenties to thirty, each carrying their own hopes and fears to this barren world.

Ted stood there, taking in the faces of these strangers who would become his community—perhaps his only community for the rest of his life. The reality pressed down on him like a physical weight. Two hundred souls should have been standing here, building a new civilization together. Instead, nine pairs of eyes looked back at him. Some filled with wonder. Others with barely concealed fear.

The wind shifted, stronger this time, whipping across the barren grassland and carrying a strange metallic-organic scent. It rustled through the tall grasses stretching toward distant mountains, creating waves of movement that looked almost like an ocean. Ted’s farmer’s instincts kicked in automatically—analyzing soil composition from what he could see, estimating rainfall from the vegetation, calculating growing seasons.

’But this isn’t Earth.’ He thought.

That off-green sky was a constant reminder that everything he knew, every instinct honed over years of working his family’s land, might be useless here. The sun—if that’s what it was—hung at an angle he couldn’t quite place, casting shadows that seemed wrong. Too long. Too short. Slightly off in ways that made his eyes hurt if he looked too long.