Chapter 1
Chapter One
Daniel sat on the floor of the bridge of his spaceship, his legs crossed on the cold steel floor, his eyes closed, and meditation overtaking him into a gentle embrace.
“Criss cross applesauce,” he whispered.
“What are you doing?” Shawn asked.
Daniel started, jerking his head to the side, and opening his eyes.
“I didn’t know anyone else was in here.”
Shawn scratched his head. “Seriously, what were you doing?”
Daniel shrugged as he stood. “I was just craving applesauce.”
Shawn raised his brows. “I’m just going to go. It looks like you need to be alone.”
Daniel laughed. “I’m just ready to get back on the road.”
“Road?”
“The Ghost just finished repairs. I’m just ready for our next mission.”
Daniel’s watch beeped. His eyes lit up as he looked down and saw the president.
“President Reynolds,” Daniel said, grinning.
“Good morning, Daniel.”
“Have you a mission for us?”
President Reynolds smiled. His bald, brown head glimmered in the light behind him.
“Eager, are you?”
“I’m just having a lot of fun exploring planets,” Daniel admitted.
“And you’re doing a fine job as a captain. I knew you had it in you.”
“Seriously, do you have something for me?”
“Yes,” President Reynolds said. “I’ll send the information over to you. It’s in the 24735 system. We had a ping from one of our probes that detected life in the solar system.”
Daniel’s eyes widened. “Intelligent life?”
The president tilted his head. “That—I don’t know. There were life readings, but we didn’t detect any traditional signals that would indicate life. It could just be a bunch of plants and bugs.”
Daniel shrugged. “I’m looking forward to finding out.”
“Leave as soon as you’re able. And… good luck.”
Daniel’s watch went black. He sat in his chair and pressed a few buttons, putting on the ship’s alerts.
Ben and Zach ran onto the bridge.
“Is everything all right?” Ben asked.
Daniel grinned. “Everything’s perfect. We received our next mission.”
“You put the Ghost into yellow alert because we got a mission?” Ben asked.
Daniel raised his eyebrows. “Yup. It’s time for us to go.”
“We just finished repairs. You didn’t want to wait a few days and give people the option to visit the base?”
Daniel shook his head. “Absolutely not. We have a mission, and we shouldn’t’ dally.”
“Where to?” Zach asked as he straightened his bowtie and sat at the pilot’s chair.
“System 24735.”
“Inputting coordinates,” Zach said.
“What’s in system 24735?” Ben asked.
“No idea,” Daniel said.
“You didn’t get a preliminary mission log?” Ben asked.
“Pulling it up now.”
A file appeared on the view screen in front of them and Daniel began clicking around, looking at the preliminary information the president sent to the Ghost database. It showed the ten planets in the system, the orange star, and all the moons circling the planets. Daniel moved from the outer solar system toward the sun, looking for any relevant data. He stopped on the eighth planet.
“It looks like there’s potential life on the eighth planet. It has an oxygen atmosphere.”
“Only six percent. Not much life would be able to survive with such low oxygen,” Ben said.
“The seventh planet has potential.” Daniel scratched his chin.
“Eighteen percent. It’s more hospitable. Keep moving inward.”
Daniel touched his screen, continuing to scan the preliminary data on the planets.
“How close did this probe get?” Ben asked.
Daniel shrugged. “They send so many of these probes out, and the data retrieved from them isn’t the most reliable. The percentage readings of nitrogen and oxygen have been known to be a full three percent off at times.”
Ben shook his head. “That’s the difference between life or death on a planet.”
“That’s why they are sending us. If there is the possibility of life, they want someone to explore it.”
“Were there any radio transmissions detected from the system?” Ben asked.
Daniel shook his head. “No, the president said there wasn’t any normal indications of intelligent life, but scans showed the possibility of life in the system.”
“So, what are we talking about? A planet full of chickens?”
“At least there’d be plenty of eggs to eat,” Daniel said.
Ben rolled his eyes.
“Here we go. The fourth planet looks the most likely. Nitrogen seventy-nine percent, oxygen twenty percent. That’s near-earth levels…if the probe’s accurate,” Daniel said.
“Brilliant.”
“Zach take us out of the hanger bay, it’s time for us to explore.”
Zach nodded. “Aye, aye, captain.”
Daniel pressed a few more keys on his computer, making the view screen disappear, then the speakers started blaring music.
“What are you doing?” Ben asked.
“Playing mission music to get us pumped and going,” Daniel said.
“Are you sure this is appropriate?”
“Totally,” Daniel yelled over the music.
“Did you sync this with all the ship’s speakers?” Ben asked.
“Yes, everybody needs to hear this song.”
“Do they really?”
“Don’t need money, don’t take fame. Don’t need no credit card to ride this train,” Daniel sang.
“We’ve exited the hanger bay. Preparing to enter hyperspace,” Zach said.
“Time to hit the road?” Shawn asked from navigation.
“Roads!? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads!” Daniel grinned.
