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Chapter 7

In the Lander, Matt, Carter and Evelyn sat next to each other. They were all staring at the screen, which was showing their trajectory towards the planet. The small blue dot that was the ship got further and further away by the minute and the massive sphere of Fungus A got closer. None of them were talking, and once again, Matt took in the silence of the void of space before they entered the atmosphere and things got more noisy. 

Some of the science team that were coming along to the ground held on tightly, the fear in their faces. Not Evelyn though. She had a huge smile on her face and couldn't wait to get to the surface to find out more about it. Matt and Carter were not smiling as much, as they had both been on many missions to unknown objects like asteroids and planetoids, and knew how dangerous such a landing was.

About 10 minutes later, the robotic voice of the autopilot sounded, though it could barely get through the noise of the lander sailing through the thick atmosphere .

"50000 meters. Initiating Deceleration burn." - The voice said, and they all heard the thrusters beneath them jump to life, making even more noise. At this point, even if they wanted to talk to each other, nobody would hear it.

"10000 meters. Deploying landing legs." - Once again, the robotic voice informed them about the status of their decent. Matt looked over to Carter and could instantly see the fear in his face. He had been on a mission where the lander was unable to deploy the landing legs, and so it was quite a rough landing. On this mission though, they could both hear the sound of the hydraulics working their magic.

"1000 meters. Speed is nominal. Landing is imminent." - This was typically the last message of the autopilot before the touchdown on the surface. With a bump, the lander touched the surface and the thrusters stopped firing.

Then the autopilot announced: "Vertical landing successful". The security of the seats was unlocked and with a "swoosch" sound, the lander's hydraulics relaxed. They had successfully landed. There were some relieved sighs among the team, one of them coming from Carter. Matt patted him on the shoulder and Carter turned to him with a knowing look and said:

"We made it. We're here!"

He must have said this louder than he wanted, as some of the others looked over to him. Most of them were either nodding in acknowledgment or just surprised. The general got out of his seat and walked over to the lander door. After a short silence, he stopped and turned to the crew.

"This is a momentous day for humankind. It is analogous with the first step of a human on our neighboring planet Mars, only now it is the first step on a planet of our neighboring system. And even though this is just a research mission to find a solution to the dilemma that earth is currently in, we will always be the first people who set foot on a planet outside of our home system." - Harms announced. 

After a short break, he pulled the lever next to the lander door, opening it. Some of the crew, including Evelyn, had already gotten out of their seats and made their way towards it. Slowly and with ease, the door lowered and bit by bit, a scene unveiled itself before them that was so unique that it took their breath away.

They had landed in the spot they had planned, near a river separating the infected area with the healthy area. Between these areas, where the river meandered away from the massive mountain range in the distance, there was a clearing of about 100 meters on each side of the river. Beyond that, the giant mushrooms stood tall above the brownish purple ground. Some grassy vegetation had pushed it's way through the dirt next to the river, where there were no mushrooms to compete for nutrients. In the distance, the tip of the largest mountain stood tall above the forest of mushrooms that covered the planet.