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Chapter 6

After what seemed like an eon, the ship was finally in orbit around the fungal planet and the team was getting everything ready to separate the lander and start the mission on the ground. The ship had been emulating the day and night cycle of earth during the trip, and it was early in the morning. When Matt stepped out of his quarters, he noticed that Dan had already left and thought that he was probably preparing his team, which would stay on the orbiter, for the launch of the lander. He knocked on Carters quarter and after quite a while, the door opened and Carter stepped out.

"Good morning! Today is the big day, we don't want to miss anything, right? The orbiter team is already preparing, wanna come take a look at the scans?" - Matt asked, visibly excited.

"Yeah sure, is Eve coming?" - He said with a quick yawn in between.

"I think she's still in her quarters" - Matt answered, walked over and knocked on her door, too.

"Yes, one second!" - She said from inside.

After a few minutes, Evelyn stepped out of her quarters, holding a bunch of notes and papers in her hands. In that moment, Matt remembered that she also lead a science team, the one that went down to the surface. 

"Oh, do you have to brief your team, too?" - Carter asked, before Matt had a chance.

"I'm not sure. I'll be at the meeting with everyone else, I just want to make sure I'm prepared." - She said.

"I'm sure you'll be fine. We all know so little about this planet, and we all get orders from the general in the end." - Carter said.

"That's what I'm so worried about. We know so little and I'm the one in charge of the science team on the surface." - She answered.

"Well, let's see what Dan and his team can find out with their scans. I'm pretty sure our sensors can get a lot more information the the rover." - Matt said, trying to calm her down.

When they arrived at the bridge, the general and some of the security personnel were already there, along with Dan and his science team. They were watching the big screen, seemingly waiting for something. Matt immediately knew that they were waiting for a scan to finish, and walked over to the crowd.

"So, which scan are we doing?" - He asked into the crowd, then quickly added: 

"And sorry for bursting in here like this."

"We are scanning for a suitable location for the lander and the base camp. It's a geographic scan." - Dan answered quickly. After watching the progress animation on the screen for some time, it finally finished and the screen now showed a geographic map of a very flat area with a river running through it.

"This looks like a great location! I'm assuming that is water?" - General Harms said.

"Yes, it is most likely water. We obviously have to run it through a filtration system, but we I'm confident that our systems can handle it. The next scan will scan the surrounding area for bio-signs. That means plants, mushrooms and even life, if there is any, which I doubt, since the rover didn't find any life. If you agree, of course." - Dan said.

"I think this location is very suitable for us. What radius will the scan cover, and how long will this take?" - The general asked. The rest of the crew, including Evelyn, Matt and Carter, were staring at the image of the surface, taking it all in.

"It would scan a 10 kilometer radius around the center, which would take around 20 minutes, but I can increase the radius, if you like." - He answered.