The Cold Planet

Prologue

      A bead of sweat dropped down her spine as she desperately watched the monitors. Her anxiety growing with every passing second. She knew they were out there. She knew they would call. She just didn't know when. Seconds grew into minutes. Minutes grew into hours. She could feel the tension in the room. Everyone was holding their breath. Just when she thought she couldn't take it anymore, the monitor began to beep and flash its red light.
     "Mission Control, we have landed," the disembodied voice of the pilot called over the speakers. Cheers erupted from the room. Everyone was congratulating and giving praises of good will. But that was only the beginning.
     The landing on Pluto was, by far, the hardest journey to the other planets. Soon she would have to deal with food shortages and water crisis and so many other problems that she didn't want to think about it. She wanted to enjoy the sigh of relief for a little while.
     "Don't get too excited," the voice said. What was his name again? Donald?
     "We still have a lot of work to do," speaking her thoughts exactly.
     The last planet was now under way of becoming the last human inhabited colony in the solar system.
     "How is the visual? Are there any problems with the landing site?" She questioned. Even though she was excited, she had a sneaking suspicion that this cheerful atmosphere was not going to last long.
     "No problems as far as we can tell. The visual is normal. The atmospheric dome is still giving off too cold air, but it's not so bad that it can't be inhabited," he replied.
      Good. Then for today, her work was done. She left the room, still cheering.  As she walked away, she smiled, thinking of the old thing people used to say when they first landed on the moon. One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind