DEEP SPACE

Light danced across the bare surface of the asteroid as the sun rose. The asteroid lay on the outer fringes of the solar system, the light from the sun barely reaches here. A group of star ships have been orbiting the asteroid for four days, only one will be leaving on a deep space voyage to a nearby planet that seems to be inhabitable.

Smaller ships glided around the main larger ship making last minute adjustment and preparations. On one these ships is Admiral Parks he is in charge of all of the necessary equipment and the crew. Every thing was going perfectly, he grinned to himself I deserve a pat on the back or something. He stood from his chair and walked down to a holopad (A small rectangular computer that is easily carried and used) he picked it up and pressed the "Crew" button on the mission tab. A total of 27 people will be embarking on this trip, made up of 15 soldiers, 5 scientists, 5 engineers, 1 captain, and 1 pilot. Parks pressed next on the display and a list of names popped up.

CREW
Anton Chekhov: Pilot
Burton Antone Small: Soldier
Brianna Clark: Scientist
Carson Alberto Fields: Soldier
Clyde Loove: Scientist
Eduard Zakharov: Soldier
Earnest Parsons: Scientist
Donald Hodges: Soldier
Donovan Dalton Acosta: Soldier
Ethan Crane: Engineer
Geraldo Mcconnell: Soldier
Geraldino Pisani: Soldier
Idris Abdul-Haqq Kassab: Soldier
John Barker: Soldier
Lacy Carey Pate: Soldier
Lyman Rudy Page: Engineer
Latonya Hurst: Soldier
Phillip Weisz: Engineer
Marquis Fuentes: Soldier
Mariam Lindstrom: Captain
Marcy Noble: Scientist
Nelson Jack Roberts: Soldier
Noelle Brooke Alford: Soldier
Porter Mark Tucker: Engineer
Simon Burton: Scientist
Taku Miyauchi: Soldier
Victor Parrish: Engineer

As Parks read through he rubbed his chin, all of them were the best at what they do. A loud electronic ding sounded, the ship was ready to leave.

The crew aboard the Omen Challenger were scrambling to their stations. People darted around going into various rooms and stations. Captain Mariam Lindstrom was in charge of the whole mission once they left the solar system. She jogged to the captain's seat and sat down softly, the only padding on the seat was just a foam pad otherwise the seat was all metal. She slid on the headset and adjusted her seat. A confirmation came through the headset that every one was in place.

"Alright, are we cleared for departure?" She talked into the headset to Admiral Parks' ship.

"Yes you are cleared." Admiral Parks responded.

"Okay, Lets go crew." She gave the order to the pilot.

The pilot grabbed the throttle and pushed forward gently, the ship lurched forward then sped off into deep space leaving the other ships, it will be at least a month before they reached their destination. Mariam was pressed back into the hard back of the seat, she braced her self for the inertial dampeners. Pilot Chekhov switched the inertial dampeners on. Mariam felt as if she ran into a wall, the inertial dampeners were on and the crew could move freely.

Second day after departure

Ethan Crane adjusted the camera, they told him he needs to keep a video log of every day. He cleared his throat and spoke, in a few minutes he explained everything that happened the interesting ones and the boring ones.

Ethan stooped low to get into the crawl space he was to repair a broken pipe that had burst and spewed fluid every where. He twisted his body and grabbed hold of the maintenance ladder and started to climb up. It was tight but every maintenance tunnel was small and engineers had to work in small places so he was fairly used to it. He climbed for a few minutes then crawled through a tunnel that branched off of the main shaft. There were no service lights in this tunnel so he pulled a Light-Stick from his pocket and tapped the bottom on the side of the wall. The Light-Stick glowed bright, not bright enough to blind him but bright enough to light about 4.5 feet in front of him. Ethan crawled deeper into the tunnels eventually he found the broken pipe. The side of the pipe was cracked and greasy fluid covered the floor of the maintenance tunnel. He had blocked fluid from this pipe so none was coming out, he grabbed a can of sealant from a pocket and placed a square cloth on the inside of the pipe and sprayed it with the sealant. He turned the valve and let the fluid rush into the pipe, he checked his repair job and it was holding up. Ethan crawled out into the engineers' room and stretched his job was done now he could relax. He relaxed the rest of the day until he went to bed.


Ethan grumbled, finally he was done with the video log. Even though it took a few minutes it felt like it took two hours, and he had to do this every day, well at least he wasn't the only one who had to do it everyone on the ship was required to record a log every day.

Miriam Lindstrom sat in the captain's chair in the bridge, very soon they will be arriving at the planet. She stood up and walked to her quarters. The crew was anxious even giving the nameless planet nicknames like Planet-X or other silly names.

Captain Lindstrom stripped down and dressed into the formal captain's clothing. She glanced down at her watch and checked the time 5 more hours to go, the time would pass by faster than normal.

Miriam waited impatiently constantly sitting down and pacing around the room. She didn't know what to expect of the planet, will it be a paradise? At that moment a noise at her control console made her jump. She always wondered ehy it was so loud but she will adjust it later. She walked over to the console and put on her headset.

"Yes?" Miriam spoke softly into the mic.

"We have arrived." Replied the pilot.