When I Hear The Calling

The Beginning

We scattered around the station like an ant colony under attack, grabbing the resources we have left from the nine months and placing them in the shuttle, it was dark so we had to bring a flashlight inside to see where we should put our supplies. We had a couple of hours left before landing so we all hurried to get everything in place to be ready for take-off. We all had our suits on and our helmets in our seats. We put our belongings on one side of the shuttle and our research and plants on the other side to balance the shuttle out. I put a strong tie around everything along with clear wrapping over the plants.

We then take one last look at the station before buckling into our seats putting our helmets on and closing the latch.

Cyclo flips the switch and presses two buttons. I look to my left as the covering start to reveal the glass, I see the other stations do the same as well. Cyclo pressed a button that made white noise come out of the speaker, which was on the right side of the shuttle. A black one.

"Cyclo, this is Rusert, we are ready for landing."

"Copy that, engaging engines, and disengaging space station."

The rumbling started up again I looked over to Lorra and held her hand.

"Launching in three, two, one."

Everybody had been launched towards Kelper moving twenty-five miles an hour. The shaking was much more intense this time as we pushed towards the gravity. I clutched her palm. I was paralyzed in my seat only hoping the shuttle would not malfunction on the way there. The front of the shuttle was on fire, like a fire-dipped strawberry. We entered the atmosphere.

I shut my eyes. Everyone I've known on this journey can disappear, everyone, I love would know that this mission was a failure and there would be no grave for me. The strongest earthquake, the loudest thunder. Lorra tightens her grip on my palm. I look at her and she gives me a familiar face, telling me, we will be okay.

We cut through the clouds like fog, then a deep blue ocean and lush green and red grass were coming into contact with our shuttles. I twist my head to see everyone else's faces glowing as we are all mesmerized by the earth-like planet.

"Stoping...thrusters," Cyclo explains trying to spit out words over the pressure building as the gravity was fully pulling us in.
"Copy that, engage landing up ahead, release landing sticks."
"Copy."

I look to my left, and out the window I see five other shuttles engage as flat sticks come out of each side of the shuttle emitting smoke one by one, from the farthest to the closest, being shuttle nine. But then, my window was blocked by the smoke covering the shuttle in fog as we land.

Sounds of engines and the release of smoke slowly disappear. We hit the ground bouncing back one final time before coming to a complete stop.

"We made it," Cyclo says with a toothy smile.

Through the operating speaker. Rusert repeats his words, but not to him, to everyone at the space center. Loud applause and cheering was heard through the intercom. Cyclo shuts off the speaker where the celebration had squeezed into a tiny ring then to silence. We open the latch, and air flows in.

Our crew and some others were lucky enough to land on the sand as other shuttles were bobbing on the water but either way, we were all lucky to be on the planet. I stumbled off the shuttle tripping onto the sand and so did the other crew members.

I get up pushing from my wobbly knees trying to hold my balance as I moved through the untouched shore. I turn around to the other shuttle's position the same with the crew members all looking around them.

In the distance were grass patches, or at least it looked like grass with a red tint to it. There were mountains not much farther than that. I turn to Lorra who was on near the shuttle kneeling against it letting the water splash on her lower body. She picked up sand between her fingers gathering the small rocks in her fist before letting them spill back into the shore. I turn to Sill, she was running around, trying to run towards the grass fields letting the breeze lift her brown hair. She tripped a couple of times but got right back up again to start running. Halden and Cyclo were still in the shuttle but eventually came outside with resources in their hands. Dropping them on the sand.

"This is so much better than artificial gravity," I say.

I look at the other shuttles. Shuttle two was pulling out wood planks hammers and wrenches. Shuttle eight was pulling out fishing equipment. Shuttle four was pulling out computers and wires. Shuttle three was pulling out first aid kits. Shuttle twelve, we were pulling out plants and vials for our biology research.
Each of us shuttles started to find areas we can set our camp. Most of us chose the grassy area while others preferred to stay on the shore. We built until night fell. We slept in the shuttles for the first night. The next day, Lorra and I studied the plants and organisms.

"Hey, Lorra."

She was following a trail of some bug that look like an ant but was dyed blue. "Yeah, what's up."

Does this mean we are the first Americans on Kepler?

"Yeah, it does," She says smiling then placing one of the ants in a glass container. She stares at the sky, the blue sky.

"And now we start over."

I picked up a stone nestled on top of bluegrass I looked under it to find an indention of some alien-like creature. "When do you think everyone else is gonna be here."

She takes a bit to answer. "...A couple of years maybe."

I grab my notebook and jotted down a quick study of what the animal looked like. "And what if they don't."

She puts her notebook in her bag. "Were humans Foro and as humans do, we race to achieve."

A shadow covers us blocking out the sun. We look back to see it was Sill positioning her arms to her hips. "Stop looking at plants weirdos and help us build. She chuckles"

We gather our equipment and follow her back to camp with our new research.

(10 years later)

"Foro! I squint to my right barely awake to study who it is. The last of the shuttles are here, get ready so we can help them, and be fast this time."

"Okay," I mumble.

The room fades to black as the creeks from the door stopped. I rest on my back and close my eyes. I could hear the ocean waves whisper and people laughing near the landing platform.

Most of the life on earth moved to Kepler. The ones that didn't go, were the elderly or tribes that felt no need to leave the planet they were used to. They wanted to live the rest of their lives on the planet they were born on...And I get that.
But here on Kepler, we have made many discoveries of new types of species and nourishments on Kepler ground, we traveled the mountains trending through snow, and searched the vast desert with the ground cracking below.

We saw the most beautiful things and I got to experience them with Halden, Sill, and Cyclo. And of course Lorra. But that's not all. Some of us built camps in different terrain, conducting our own research.

I hope to travel soon with my father who we have grown apart from since mom's death but now I think this would change as his shuttle had finally landed, shuttle seven. There is so much left to discover and many more memories to make in this new home. I really like it here, I really do. And now, I think of today.

I think about the movements and sounds around me. Loud construction to my left. Newcomers, laughing and tumbling to my right. I open my eyes.
I begin my routine.