SmackDown: Back to Our Roots

Round 1: Rooted Dreams - @sacredlilac

The Captain turned back to the window and gave one curt nod. "Let's go have a look around." She pressed a button on the intercom. "Polly, take us down."

CHAPTER 2 - Slight As A Breeze

The crew had assembled near the hatch by the time the ship gave a slight lurch when the landing gear made first contact with the planet's surface. Teo smiled back at their beaming faces. He didn't need to tell them anything. They could see from the windows what they'd found.

The Captain began, "Only Teo and I will be going out initally-" she held up a hand at the collective groan of protest. "You all know protocol. As soon as we've had a look around, then Polly, Karan and JuJu, I'm sure the ship could use a thorough inspection from the outside. Jamal and Mo, we'll need help taking samples. However, all of that waits until the initial survey is complete. I know you're all eager to get off this hunk of metal, and I'm sorry I haven't been able to get any of you planet-side in years except Karan, but we need to proceed with utmost caution as per an alien planet. We'll leave the hatch open, though. We can all use a dose of fresh air."

Teo nodded at the Captain. "Aerators on everyone. The air is thin, but breathable."

"This place is dead?" Karan Medved leaned a thick hand aside the hatch, his clever eyes showing he'd already reached the same conclusions the Captain and Teo had discussed earlier about allotments.

"As far as the scans show, there are no signs of life," replied the Captain. Teo watched her piercing look that gave the mechanic an unspoken command to keep his thoughts to himself. Karan twitched his middle finger once and turned back to the window. As the only crew member permitted to leave the ship with the Captain when they landed to sell their scrap, the two could read each other like a book.

Once the Captain was satisfied everyone was safely covered, she cracked a rare smile behind the clear cover of her aerator and pressed the button to open the hatch.

It began it's silent retraction, and bright orangey-red sunlight streaked in across the dark floor of the ship through the first crack. They all watched the rays approaching steadily. The sunlight as eager to touch them as they were it.

As the hatch opened further, a light breeze slipped in as well, carrying dust particles backlit by the streaming sunlight. The wind through Teo's hair and over his few bits of exposed skin was the most wonderful sensation. He stretched his arms wider, and ignored the pinch of regret that he couldn't smell anything with his aerator on. He didn't know if he'd remember what a real planet smelled like anyway, since he hadn't been off the ship in almost fifteen years.

He watched the dust swirling in the flow of wind that came in more strongly. Everyone smiled and laughed. JuJu had her head tipped back with her eyes half-closed and a beatific smile on her face. Polly and Jamal held their hands out as if they could catch the breeze in their gloves.

For a moment, the particles in front of Polly arranged themselves in a perfectly straight line pointing at her face, stretching out and almost straining to touch her through the plastic, but when he blinked they were merely dancing around her again in the wind. Teo glanced at the other crew members, but saw nothing other than eddies of dust twirling around each person and creating a slight film on the masks covering their faces.

The ship's doctor Jamal Seabrook pointed outside. "Where's the water? The soil looks dry already."

Teo whipped his head around to look. "You're right. It was raining hard enough to have collected at least an inch or two of water." Teo looked at the Captain. "Permission to disembark."