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Terra Academy
Episode 64: Rescue Mission
By dsguy411
A bunch of students from Terra Academy were gathering in the Sandshore Island’s Terra Patrol HQ. Today was a bit of an exciting day for everyone and it seemed only students second year and above were allowed to attend, with no sign of any first-years whatsoever. Marcus, Simon, and Rachel were all in their uniforms and standing first row with their fellow students. On a podium was a robust man, with gray hair showing he was of middle-age and had a big mustache of the same color.
“Greetings, fellow cadets,” said the robust man, “For those of you who don’t know me I am Trevor Hadfield, the 5th and current Seargent Major of Terra Patrol and the head in command of everything. Today I have called all of you students here for a chance to show me what you have learned so far. You will be shadowing an actual member of Terra Patrol to see how well you can apply what you have learned.”
Marcus looked a bit excited, seeing that he was actually to get a taste of his dream.
“What are you so excited for?” Rachel asked, “We go through what they do almost every other day.”
“However,” Hadfield added, “Don’t expect to be in the frontlines of anything. As you all know we are living in a time of piece.”
“What about the Lacertillian invasion last December?” a student asked.
“Or those sightings of those weird jellyfish people?” asked another.
“Well….the Lacertillians were quickly captured without incident,” Hadfield spoke, “And those sightings are just rumors that have not yet been confirmed. Other than that our planet has been living in a peaceful time thanks to my leadership of its greatest protector. Because of that the assigned task will not involve saving the Earth or stopping a terrorist attack. We only picked missions that would ensure the volunteer, based on their skill and training, would be in no way of any danger. Now if you step into the other room you can all choose which mission you would like. It is all extra credit, so attendance isn’t mandatory but encouraged.”
Once the speech was over all the students entered the room Hadfield mentioned and noticed a large, engine-shaped machine that showed out holographic images. It was actually a computer for the students to use to pick their mission. Of course Marcus was the first one to pick out which mission he wanted.
“Let’s see,” Marcus said, scrolling through his options, “Boring, too cold, too much water, not enough water, clean up? These are all lame. Where are the ones with action?”
Eventually Marcus came across something interesting. It was a rescue mission to a mining planet and volunteers for three people were opened up.
“There we go,” he said, typing his name only for a large, red X to appear on the screen, “Hey, what gives?!”
“Look at the screen,” Rachel pointed out, “It says fourth years only.”
“Awww,” Marcus groaned, very disappointed, “But I wanted to go there.”
“Well if it’s only for fourth years then there must be a good reason for it,” Simon assumed.
Rachel got on the keyboard and began looking for a mission she would find suitable for her and her friends. Happy with what she was seeing she typed in her name as well as Marcus’ and Simon’s. Marcus took a look at the screen to see what Rachel picked and made a face while the girl got out a ticket printed from a slot by the keyboard.
“Cattle Herding?” Marcus read, “What kind of mission is that?”
“Well it seems that the pens of Hudson island have been damaged from that windstorm a week ago,” Rachel explained, “So a bunch of cattle had gotten loose and they need help getting them back into their pens.”
“But that’s boring…,” Marcus groaned.
“Exactly,” Rachel said, turning around, “This mission is sure to not have any hostile aliens, crooks, or anything that wants to cause harm. For once we are doing things my way.”
While Rachel explained what was going on Robin happened to have been going through the computer behind them. She selected her mission and entered two random students on it as well. The ticket printed out and Robin got it. She turned around and bumped into Rachel, causing them to drop both of their tickets.
“Sorry,” Robin said, grabbing the ticket off the ground, “Didn’t see you there.”
“It’s alright,” Rachel said, grabbing another one, “Anyway, let’s get going.”
Simon and a disappointed Marcus followed Rachel while Robin walked away. On the computer screen that Robin used it showed the mission that Marcus intended to pick.
***
The Terra Trio were now at the docks where a bunch of students who already decided to pick their mission would get assigned to a certain ship or dock to anyplace that would require travel out of the island or the archipelago for that matter. The three walked to a computer installed in the middle of the dock and Rachel inserted her ticket.
“Ticket accepted,” the machine said, “Please proceed to Ship 4A.”
The three walked over to the ship the computer mentioned but found something odd about their ride. It wasn’t a boat but instead a large spacecraft with wings the shape of an upside-down V, parked on solid ground instead of the water. The front was slim but had a viewing window and there were multiple engines installed on the wings and back of the ship.
“This…is a 2096 FlareFalcon ship,” Simon said, recognizing the vessel, “But this cannot be, this cannot be our ride. Why would we need a spaceship to fly towards an island only about 10 miles from here?”
“Well if it gets us here fast then I won’t complain,” Rachel said, looking at the sign that says 4A, “And that sign matches the correct number we were told, anyway.”
The three walked up to see a lone young man waiting by the ramp that led into the ship. He had short, black hair and his uniform was green with while stripes. The man noticed the tree and smiled.
“Ah, you must be the volunteers,” he pointed out, “Well I am glad. We are in a bit of hurry and need to get to our destination fast.”
“Don’t worry, we won’t let you wait,” Rachel said.
The four got in and the ramp closed. Meanwhile, Robin, being accompanied by two male students, were heading to a small boat.
“This is odd,” Robin said, looking at the sign that said 3A, “This is the right sign but it doesn’t look like this ship could fly.”
She looked around and saw a sailor arranging crates with a forklift.
“Sir, where does this ship go?” Robin asked.
“To Hudson Island,” the sailor confirmed.
Confused, Robin was trying to make out why the ship went to a different destination she had picked out. That was when it hit her, remembering when she bumped into Rachel. At that point she realized that they got their tickets mixed up and her eyes bugged out.
“Uh-oh,” she muttered.
Then she heard something take off. Turning around Robin noticed the ship the Terra Trio came on as it was ascending way into the sky, aiming to leave the planet.
“This is not good,” she muttered, maintaining a somewhat nervous smile.
Word then quickly spread about the situation and it wasn’t long until it eventually reached to Hadfield.
“Sergeant Major!!” cried a female member of Terra Patrol, barging into his temporary quarters, “We have a problem. There has been a mix-up and three second years are on their way to a doomed mining planet.”
Hadfield, taking what he had heard, poured himself a small glass to drink, took a sip, and then spat it out from shock.
***
Back inside the ship Rachel was relaxing in a seat in a room of the ship, built to be like a passenger section for an airplane. All the windows were closed so neither she or her accompanying friends knew they were heading into space.
“These suits are luxurious,” Rachel said, “I cannot believe we get to ride something this awesome. I just wish it wasn’t for more than a few minutes.”
“I don’t know,” Simon doubted, “Something about this doesn’t feel right.”
“Greetings, cadets,” said the man who came onto the ship with them, “My name is Corporal Artison, but you can call my Arty.”
“Thank you, uh…Arty,” Simon spoke.
“Anyway, thank you for choosing this mission,” Arty spoke, “I need volunteers for this because the situation can be quite hectic.”
“Yeah, rounding up all those farm animals won’t be easy,” Marcus said, still a bit unenthusiastic about Rachel’s choice for their mission.
“Indeed, it won’t be….come again?” Arty asked, catching what Marcus said.
“I just said catching those farm animals won’t be an easy task,” Marcus repeated, “Plus it could be messy, too.”
Arty then let out a chuckle which brought confusion to the Terra Trio.
“Is something funny?” Simon asked.
“Thing is, we aren’t really going to a farm,” Arty said, “We are heading to Gliese 01032013b.”
Rachel then bugged out a little bit while Simon raised his hand.
“I beg your pardon, but I read a little bit of science magazines from time to time,” Simon spoke, “Isn’t that planet a mining planet?”
“That is correct,” Arty confirmed.
“But….but that can’t be right,” Rachel said, chuckling a little bit, “We have to leave Earth and go through space to get there.”
Rachel was trying to stay calm but she looked towards a closed window. She pressed a button and the shuttered opened up, where she could see a clear view of Pluto and its heart-shaped area on the dwarf planet. Having a bit of problem with space travel she clenched onto the arms of her seat tightly, hyperventilating a little.
“Why are you so nervous?” Arty asked, “You should’ve known about this when you selected the mission.”
Then, Arty noticed something on the Terra Trio’s uniform, something that made him a bit concerned.
“Say, you three have a band on each arm,” he pointed out, “You’re all second years. I thought this mission was for fourth years.”
The three then got really, really nervous about what was going on.
“But when we put the ticket into the computer at the docks we were told to come here,” Rachel said, thinking how this mistake could’ve happened, “But I bumped into Robin and…..I think we got her ticket my mistake.”
“Wait, Robin chose this mission?” Marcus said, sounding a bit happier now, “At least she got to pick something fun.”
“But this isn’t fun,” Arty said, “This is very, VERY serious. You see, this is a rescue mission and for a good reason.”
The corporal was walking left and right, wrought with worry about the mistake being made.
“What do I do?” he asked himself, “I have no time to make a return trip now. Everyone on there is going to be fried and it’s all my fault.”
The Terra Trio then looked really, really concerned.
“Uh…what do you mean by fried?” Marcus asked.
“Well….I wasn’t supposed to tell this to any low-ranked cadets but I think you at least deserve an explanation,” Arty said.
Pressing the button on the panel the light above projected a holographic image of a star system. It had a yellow star like the Sun but it had four planets orbiting it. The inner two were rocky planets very close to its parent star while the other two were gas giants.
“This is Gliese 01032013,” Arty said, pressing another button on the panel to zoom in on the closet planet, “And this is Gliese 01032013b. This planet is too close to the parent star for life to exist but is believed to hold valuable resources, leading it to be a mining planet ran by this man.”
Arty switched the image displayed by the light above to show a middle-aged man who was balding with brown hair on the sides and back of his head.
“His name is Cedrick Ruben,” Arty continued, “He runs the Ruben Asteroid Mining Facilities dotted across our asteroid belt but he recently took interest in mining exoplanets, and Gliese 01032013b is no exception.”
“But getting permission to mine of a planet outside the home star system requires approval from the Galactic Federation,” Simon pointed out.
“Yes,” Arty said, switching back to the exoplanet in question, “He said he filed all the appropriated paperwork but his reputation on Earth is a bit more……seedy. Anyway, three days ago a large comet slammed onto the planet and knocked it out of the orbit. Thankfully the mining crew was no harmed but their shipyard was highly damaged from the impact and are unable to leave the planet. In two hours the planet will collide with the star, incinerating anyone on it if they aren’t rescued until then.”
“Man, now I know why this mission is for fourth years only,” Marcus said, no longer feeling excited about the mission.
“I remember last night that Robin said she needed extra credit badly,” Rachel pointed out, “I never thought it was this badly.”
“We have to go back to Earth,” Arty said, “You aren’t qualified. But…it’ll drain the power cells a bit and it’ll take me awhile to refuel. I’ll never make it out of the system in time to initiate the warp drive.”
“No,” Marcus spoke out, standing up a little, “You can’t just do that. Those miners will perish if no one comes for them.”
“I know,” Arty said, “But it’s too dangerous for second years to handle. And I am already in loads of trouble for bringing you up here, even if it was by mistake.”
Rachel looked out into the stars. She was a bit scared of going through space and even to a doomed planet but she was more worried about the crew trapped there.
“Normally I would agree with your decision,” Rachel said to Arty, “But those guys need rescue now.”
“And if we are already in trouble for this mix-up we might as well do the mission,” Simon said.
“Well….,” Arty spoke, still unsure whether or not he should bring them.
“All we got to do is go on the planet, rescue the crew, and get off,” Marcus said, “Simple as that.”
“I’ll probably get reprimanded for this but…we’ll do it,” Arty agreed, “We’ll sort this mess out later but right now we got a mining crew to rescue.”
The Terra Trio smiled as Arty’s agreement as a green light suddenly came on above the man’s head.
“We are officially out of the Solar System,” Arty said, heading into the driver’s area, “We are now free to initiate the warp drive to the mining planet. Oh, and fair warning. The warp drive is on the fritz so you might feel some rocking. I advise to hold on tight.”
Arty grabbed the level on the right side of the driver’s seat and pushed it all the way up. Then the ship zoomed off at warp speed right past the old Voyager 1 probe. Inside the Terra Trio were indeed feeling some rocking just as Arty warned, with Rachel being the most terrified. Once their destination was within reach Arty pulled the level back to its original position and stopped close to a small rocky planet that was very, very, VERY close to its parent star.
“Did we make it?” Simon asked, a bit dazed from the trip.
“I hope so,” Marcus said groggily, I don’t think I can handle that again.
Rachel didn’t say anything as she threw up into the trash can. Simon looked at the night side of the planet and noticed a few lights at the surface. As the ship descended Simon saw that it was a mining facility with an air dome to seal in the oxygen but it was cracked completely opened. Next to it was a large crater, way too close to the facility. He looked around and noticed that large fiery orb that was the planet’s star.
“I am not sure,” Simon doubted, “Doesn’t look like anyone may be alive.”
“Do not worry,” Arty said via the intercom, “Sensors indicate there are four lifeforms on the planet.”
The boy looked around and noticed that despite the bright star he wasn’t bothered from the bright light. Of course he knew that such spaceships would be equipped with such glass. Finally the ship landed on the port of the facility and Arty came back into the passenger section.
“Okay, here’s the deal,” Arty said, “The dome is cracked so there is absolutely no oxygen right now and we have one hour and 45 minutes to rescue everyone. The night side is keeping everything cool and everyone alive, even us. Once sunrise comes everything is getting cooked.”
“So how do we go outside if we can’t breathe?” Marcus asked.
“Thankfully I have something for that,” Arty said.
***
The Terra Trio entered outside the ship via a ramp. They were all wearing spacesuits provided by Arty, who followed the three also wearing one. The suits were black but the stripes were that of their respective colors. Their helmets had a glass faceplate for viewing and was connected to two oxygen tanks on their back to allow them to breath. On the side of their helmets were a trans-modulator that allowed them to communicate with one another.
“So, what do you think?” Arty asked, “Setting foot on another world, far away from home. Must be special, right?”
“Uh…sure….special,” Rachel spoke. This wasn’t the first time she and her friends were on another planet but preferred to keep that a secret.
The four walked towards the main building and Simon looked around, noticing some large boulders that seemed to be out of place.
“Wow, that comet must have did a number here,” he said.
“Yeah, hard to believe anyone could have survive this,” Marcus said.
“It’s so creepy,” Rachel added, “Let’s just find the crew and get out of here.”
They entered the main building and noticed that papers and tools were everywhere. It was almost like a tornado had hit the place.
“Even creepier,” Rachel said.
The three walked down a long hall when they came to a two-way intersection. Going right they came across person, bearing a female figure and wore a spacesuit like the four but colored lavender.
“GAAAHHHH!!!” Rachel cried, getting startled from the surprise person.
“Relax, relax,” the person said, showing a female face. The orange glass, though, prevented the group from recognizing any facial features, “The name’s Claudia. I am a worker here.”
Rachel calmed down while Arty stepped forth.
“The name’s Coporal Artison,” he introduced, “I work at Terra Patrol’s Department of Emergency Exosolar Rescues. We have received your distress signal and will take you back to Earth.”
“That’s great,” Claudia cheered, “However…”
“What is going on here, Claudia?” asked a man, emerging from a doorway alongside the hallway, “We are hours away from death and you are slacking off!”
He came out of the doorway, wearing a red spacesuit and was a bit short of stature.
“Sorry, Mr. Ruben,” Claudia apologized, “But these brave soldiers are here to take us home.”
The Terra Trio peeked over Arty and saw through the man’s faceplate of his spacesuit. His face matched that of the hologram shown earlier at the spaceship. He was none other than Cedrick Ruben himself.
“It’s about time you clods got here!” Cedrik rudely spoke, “This planet is about to fry and I need to get off of it pronto!”
“Calm down, sir,” Arty pleaded, “We’ll get you and Claudia off when we get the full story of what is happening.”
Cedrick just stomped around while Claudia stepped forth.
“I was going over the rocks and gems we have collected when suddenly, without warning, a large comet slammed near our facility,” the woman explained, “At first our station survived with minimal impact but our computers said the impact knocked the planet out of orbit and spiraling towards the star. We would have escaped but a landslide happened and damaged much of our port, destroying our ships and leaving us trapped.”
“Landslide?” Simon questioned, “But we aren't close enough to any mountains and hills for that to happen.”
“I was puzzled by that, too,” Claudia continued, “But to make matters worse I got word that two of our miners are trapped in the nearby mines and cannot get out.”
“Who cares?!” Cedrick asked, “Now that help is here we can get out of here.”
The Terra Trio were then shocked by Cedrick’s words. It seemed to them that the owner of the mines care about nothing but himself. Simon stepped back a little and turned around to look out the window, seeing more rocks scattered about with a suspicious look on his face.
“I am heading into the ship,” Cedrick added, walking past the four, “If you aren’t coming with me then I’m leaving you behind.”
“Not without the keys you are not,” Arty replied, holding them out in front of the man.
Cedrick turned around and looked at the set that Arty hold. He did glare but didn’t stomp around this time.
“Very well,” he spoke, “But you better be here before this planet crashes and burns.”
“Well if the other two miners are trapped we better get them out of here post haste,” Arty suggested, “Claudia you stay here and make sure that Cedrick doesn’t cause any trouble to the ship. Rachel, Simon, Marcus, you come with me to the mines to get the other two out.”
“Actually,” Simon spoke out, “I think I’ll stay here and take a look around. Something doesn’t feel right and I want to find out right.”
“Hmmm,” Arty spoke, pondering over Simon’s decision, “Brilliant! Thinking like a true soldier. Well since you are staying behind I can trust you with these keys then.”
The Corporal threw the names over to Simon. Cedrick of course noticed that and let out a devious smile. Moments later Arty, Rachel, and Marcus found a hover vehicle and took off north to the mountains. Simon was outside on the facility grounds, looking at the crater and a bunch of rocks that left a trail behind, going up the crater’s rim.
“These rocks moved uphill,” Simon deduced, “They don’t do that naturally. Something moved them….but what?”
***
Arty parked the hovercraft outside the base of a mountain where the entrance to the mine was located. Rachel got out with Marcus and noticed that the night sky was starting to glow a bit orange to the east.
“The sky is starting to get bright,” Rachel pointed out.
“We have less than forty minutes to find the miners and get them back to the facility,” Arty said.
“Then let’s get going,” Marcus advised.
The three entered the entrance of the mine and walked down the main shaft into a large room. There were a few tools laid out from here to here but nothing more. Also there were entrances to other areas to the mine.
“This place is probably going to be a labyrinth,” Rachel said, “It’ll take us forever to find the two miners.”
“Hello?” cried a voice picked up on Rachel’s trans-modulator.
“Hi, this is Rachel DuBois,” she responded, “Are you one of the lost miners? More importantly where are you?”
“Yes, I am the lost miner,” the man confirmed, “The name’s Kyle and me and Tony are trapped in a small room, right next to the one you are in. You should see a large boulder barricading the mine’s entrance.”
The three looked around for a bit until Marcus spotted some wooden beams surrounding a large boulder.
“Well, that didn’t take as long to find them than you predicted, Rachel,” Marcus said.
“Lucky, too,” she added, “Do not worry. We’ll get you out somehow and back home safely. Just stay calm.”
“Well not to pressure you but Tony’s air tanks took a bit of a hit,” Kyle mentioned, “I was able to patch it up but he is running out quickly.”
“This is bad,” Arty said, “I don’t see anything to push that boulder out of the way.”
Marcus knew what to do but he needed an excuse to pull off his plan.
“Well, we can push the boulder together,” he suggested.
“What good would that do?” Arty asked, “The planet’s gravity is similar to that of Earth’s so even we three pushing the boulder together won’t make it budge.”
“Got any better ideas?” Marcus asked.
“Well….I guess it’s worth a shot,” Arty said.
Marcus, Rachel, and Arty grabbed onto the same entrance to the boulder.
“On three, we push,” Arty spoke, “One….two….THREE!!!”
The three began to push but at first it didn’t seem like anything was going to happen. However Marcus tapped into the strength of his Celestial Amulet and was able to get a boost of strength, just enough to push the boulder away and opening up the room. Inside was Kyle, fully alert, and Tony, who was sitting against a wall and barely conscience. Kyle wore a gray uniform while Tony wore a brown one.
“What do you know, it worked,” Arty said, coming to Tony’s aid.
The Corporal took one of his oxygen tanks and switched it with one of Tony’s allowing him to breathe a fresh supply of air.
“There,” Arty said, “Hopefully he’ll wake up soon.”
“So tell me, what caused the landslide?” Marcus asked.
“They attacked us!!” Tony cried, suddenly waking up, “They almost killed us!!”
“Calm down,” Arty told Tony, “What almost killed you?”
Suddenly rumbling was felt in the mines, rocks and pebbles falling from the ceiling.
“What is going on?” Rachel asked, “Are we having an earthquake?”
“Impossible,” Arty replied, “Gliese 01032013b has no plate tectonic activity.”
“Then if it’s not an earthquake, then what is?” Rachel asked.
Suddenly rocks slammed towards the group from every shaft except for the one leading out, pinning them back into the small room. Everyone was knocked forth and a small window was left. Marcus looked through it and noticed dark figures standing in the main room.
“I don’t believe this,” Marcus said in shock, “Lifeforms? On this desolate world?”
One of them got closer. In the small light left by a lantern they could see it was a rock-like creature in the shape of a gorilla. It emitted no sound because of the lack of air but its look was enough to intimidate anyone.
“This is not good,” Marcus said.
He looked towards Rachel and noticed her air tanks were really punctured, giving the girl a shortness of breath.
“This is really not good,” he added.
***
Simon was back at the main facility, unaware that his friends are in trouble. Even if he did know he had his own problems such as listening to Cedrick bark orders to her and Claudia. Both of them were packing up some of Cedrick’s things to the ship.
“Come on!” Cedrick barked, “I want all of my possession on this dump on that ship of yours. The sooner I get off this rock the better.”
“I don’t get it,” Simon spoke to Claudia, “Why are you putting up with this guy. He is a real jerk.”
“He is my boss,” Claudia answered, “I didn’t want this job but I needed it to pay off my rent back on Earth.”
“Well you deserve better,” Simon said, “For his a real ba…”
“But…,” Claudia said, cutting off Simon, “This job allows me to see that stars. They are pretty amazing as long as you aren’t hurdling towards one.”
The two got into the ship and placed down one of the boxes. Cedrick came in and took off his helmet, revealing his balding head. He looked around and seemed a bit displeased.
“Where is my box?” Cedrick asked.
“What box?” Simon asked, “We gathered every last one for you. And what are in these boxes anyway?”
“Just stuff we mined,” Cedrick asked, “But there is one box that held some special rocks of mine. I refuse to leave this planet until I find it!!”
“Hold you horses,” Simon spoke, “I’ll head back to the office and find it.”
The boy got out of the ship and headed towards the main facility.
“While I am out here I better find out about what is going on,” Simon said to himself.
The boy entered the main office of the facility, which was Cedrick’s office. Not much was left except for a few filing cabinets and a desk. Simon went to the cabinets first and looked through each file, however he could not find what he was looking for. Then he went for the desk and opened a drawer, finding a box.
“Guess this is his box,” Simon said.
He picked it up and was about to carry it out when the lid came off. The boy looked down and saw that the box’s contents were a few orange rocks covers in white jewels and a book on top. Simon set down the box and took out the book. Opening and reading the pages he knew that this was Cedric’s journal about the planet.
“March 18th, 2101,” the boy red, “I have managed to locate Gliese 01032013b and did a quick survey on the nearby planets. There are rumors that the planet holds vast amounts of rare jewels and metals. This could be something my company needs to launch its way as the most successful one ever. However I need approval from the Galactic Federation to get mining rights to this world.”
Simon flipped a few pages and found one about the Federation.
“June 3rd, 2101,” he read, “After weeks of meetings and negotiations I was able to get myself closer to being able to mine on Gliese 01032013b. I just need to survey the planet myself to make sure no rock creatures dwell on it. Apparently rock creatures can survive in any world no matter how harsh the environment is but they rarely occur. Also according to galactic law I can’t mine a world inhabited by a low-level sapient race. However, I am not too worried for there is no way I’ll ever come across something like that.”
The boy looked out the window and noticed an orange boulder sitting by some storage sheds. Taking in what he read he became really, really suspicious about what was going on.
“July 28th, 2101,” Simon read, “After almost two months surveying this rock it turns out creatures do roam this planet. They look like gorillas but are apparently smart…somewhat. And get this, the rare jewels are located on this planet and these brutes happen to eat them like rock candy. I have found what I am looking for but according to galactic law I am unable to because my crew said that they have enough intelligence to be sapient. Well…maybe if I lie to the Federation about what I found they’ll let me mine. If my crew decides to be blabby I can always fire them and get rid of any trace of them in my employee records.”
The boy flipped to one more page, the most recent one.
“September 9th, 2101,” Simon read, “After over a month of mining I learned the hard way that these creatures could manipulate rocks when I had my crew try to take a huge hoard of jewels that we were mining. Of course there was also a comet passing by when its orbit changed without warning and slammed this planet, damaging our facility. Now we are heading towards the star but luckily I sent a distress signal. Terra Patrol will get me and my precious gems out of here. As for those rocky monsters they can just melt away for all I care. They caused me enough trouble as it is. Of course I don’t want the crew to tell what really happened so I’ll steal the ship at the last minute and leave everyone behind.”
Simon looked out the window and noticed that the boulder was actually one of the creatures, sending a large boulder straight to the wall. It slammed into the wall but Simon got out of the way in time, holding the box in his arms.
“No wonder this is happening,” he said, figuring out what has happened, “I got to tell the others.”
He turned around but saw Cedric by the doorway, holding a laser gun at him with one hand and holding onto Claudia with another.
“Realizing something?” he asked with an evil grin.
Next thing Simon knew he found him and Claudia get pushed into a small closet. Cedrick was looking at the two, pointing his weapons towards the two and holding the box under his arm.
“You did this!” Simon shouted, “You knew this planet had sentient lifeforms and you chose to mine here anyway!”
“Those jewels were important,” Cedrick said, holding the box down and holding out a small, white gem, “These are called the Milky Way diamond. They are one of the rarest gems in the galaxy. These moronic monsters were just eating them but I found something useful, something I can sell.”
“Those rocks were their food,” Simon said, “They were threatened when you tried to take it from them. They controlled that comet and tried to destroy this place to save their food source. They didn’t know it would knock the planet out of orbit but they were desperate nonetheless.”
“If anything you are the monster!” Claudia shouted.
“Yes, but no one will ever know the story,” Cedrick said, blasting the journal with his weapon, causing it to be vaporized, “Now hand me the keys or else you two are next to go.”
Simon looked up and noticed a camera observing the three. Still he threw Cedrick the keys to the ship.
“So, you are letting us live then?” Claudia asked.
“There is no need to kill you,” Cedrick answered, “Once I leave you’ll all be trapped and doomed to be vaporized by the planet’s star. Now I better get going. I certainly do want my body to get tanned.”
Cedrick shut the door and broke the control panel that opened it, leaving Simon and Claudia unable to get out. He picked up the box and made it for the ship, laughing evilly.
***
Back at the mine Marcus was able to take out one of Rachel’s damaged tanks and replaced it with one of his, allowing her to breathe.
“Thank you,” Rachel said, catching up on her breath, “I thought that was it for me.”
“It will be it for all of us if we can’t get out of here in 25 minutes,” Arty said.
Marcus looked through the window and saw that the rock creatures were still swarming around. Knowing that breaking out would risk more injury he had to rely on one more strategy, something he knew Rachel would not condone.
“I can get us out of here,” Marcus said, “But….you’ll have to keep it a secret.”
“Marcus, you better not do what I think you are about to do,” Rachel said in a stern tone.
The boy used his amulet to break apart the rock wall and create a flash of bright light, blinding the rock creatues and stunning them.
“How…did you…do that?” Arty asked, shocked in awe.
“I’ll explain later, let’s get out of here!” Marcus cried.
Everyone got past the stunned monsters and got out of the mine. They could see that the sky was brighter and getting a bit warmer. Arty checked his watched and rushed towards the hovercraft.
“Let’s get out of here!” he ordered, “We have twenty minutes.”
Everyone got inside as Arty shifted into high gear. The vehicle took off at high speed by the rock creatures where pursuing them and fast, swimming through the ground like water. Marcus looked back and felt a little bit sorry for them. Although they attacked them they were in grave danger.
“I know what you are thinking about, Marcus,” Arty said, “I am afraid there is nothing we can do for them. Galactic law prohibits us from interfering with affairs of a low-level civilization.”
“What?” Marcus cried in shock, “We can’t just leave them to die!”
“I know it’s terrible to do such a thing,” Arty said, “But we have to follow protocols in certain situations. Though I am curious as to how Cedrick got a mining facility approved here with rock creatures roaming around. Something doesn’t feel right.”
***
Simon was working through a safe with a laser pointer he found. Right now things were getting a little bit hotter as the planet grew closer and closer to the parenting star. Despite the pressure Simon was able to break the safe open.
“There,” he said, “Now what’s in there that can get us out?”
“Venusian acid dust,” Claudia said, taking out a jar, “Stand back.”
Simon stepped back as Claudia threw the jar at the door. A cloud of dust erupted and chewed a hole large enough for them to escape.
“Now we gotta stop Cedrick from getting off this planet,” Claudia said, stepping out.
“You go ahead,” Simon said, looking back at the camera, “There is something I need to get first.”
They both went their separate ways. Meanwhile Cedrick was already in the ship, his helmet off, and starting the ignition. Claudia got out and saw that the ship was taking off.
“Not good, not good,” she cried.
However a large rock spire came out from the ground and snared the ship. Claudia stopped and noticed several rock creatures coming out of the ground, climbing the spire, and banging on the ship.
“Get away from me!” Cedrick cried, “I am getting off this dump whether you like it or not!”
Clauda wondered what to do as Arty came by with the vehicle with Rachel, Marcus, and the other two miners.
“Kyle, Tony, you’re alright,” Claudia.
“Yes, we got out thanks to these brave soldiers,” Tony said.
“Technically two of us are cadets,” Rachel admitted.
“Question is what is going on with the ship?” Arty asked.
“It’s Cedrick,” Claudia explained, “He lied to the Galactic Federation just to get the Milky Way diamonds. He knew these creatures live on this planet, he knew the rocks were there food, and he was willing to abandon us because we knew the truth. He is trying to leave us with the gems he made us mine.”
“What do we do?” Rachel asked, “We have about 10 minutes to get off this planet.”
Everyone looked to the right as the east sky grew brighter and brighter. It was just a bright light now and the shadow of night was getting covered with light. It touched a nearby radar station and the intense heat caused it to melt away.
“We have to get up there,” Arty said.
Marcus knew what he had to do. He hid behind a large boulder so that no one would see, clenching onto his chest where his Celestial Amulet was hidden.
“If you teleport me into that bright light of death then I’ll never forgive you,” he said to his amulet.
Focusing a little he was able to teleport and thankfully he ended up right where he wanted to be, right in the cockpit of the ship. He looked and saw Cedrick who immediately noticed the boy.
“How did you get in this ship?” Cedrick asked.
“Doesn’t matter how I got in here,” Marcus said, “What matters is that you drop those rocks right now. That’s all they want. If we do that then we can all get out of here.”
Cedrick didn’t say anything and point his laser gun at Marcus.
“Listen, kid,” he said sternly, “I am not giving up my jewels just because a bunch of rock monsters want them. In fact once I blast these thrusters I can get on out of here. First I need to get rid of you.”
“You better not,” Marcus warned, “Otherwise you’ll be really sorry.”
“What can you do?” Cedrick asked, laughing at Marcus’ threat.
Firing his gun a laser came at Marcus but he was able to form a dome of energy as a shield at the last second, deflecting the shot right at Cedrick’s hand. That made him drop the gun and wave his hand around in pain.
“How did you…,” Cedrick asked in awe, only to be interrupted by Marcus knocking him out cold.
With Cedrick out of commission Marcus got into the controls and wondered what to do. With only seven minutes left the boy had to act fast. Using a hover pallet he moved all the boxes into the airlock where the ramp would open. Pressing a button the ramp opened up a little. Even though the rock spire was blocking it was enough to allow the contents to slide on down. Everyone else was climbing the spire to see the jewels fall down and the creatures getting off the ship to reclaim them. Confused, Arty looked and saw Marcus inside the ship’s ramp.
“How did you get over there?” Arty asked in astonishment.
Before Marcus could answer Simon was at the base of the spire, climbing up a little.
“Wait for me!” he cried, “Don’t leave me down to burn.”
Once everyone got in and took off their space helmets everyone got into the cockpit. Claudia had cream hair, Tony had black hair, and Kyle and light brown hair. With only a one minute left they saw that the bright light was really close to the ship and much of the facility had melted into slag. Activating the thrusters Arty was able to break everyone free from the rock spire and left the planet. Now back in space everyone but Arty went to the passenger section and viewed the planet crashing into the star. The sight brought a bit of horror to everyone because the rock creatures down there have now certainly perished.
“It’s not fair,” Marcus said, “We could’ve helped them.”
Arty walked into the passenger section with Cedrick, now awake and cuffed. Marcus turned around and stomped towards him with anger.
“This is all your fault!” Marcus shouted.
“How is this my fault?” Cedrick asked.
“You knew they were there,” he explained, “You tried to disrupt their lives.”
“And they were the ones who knocked the planet out of orbit,” Simon said, “They didn’t know that comet’s impact would be that strong. Still, it’s all your fault that a species was wiped out.”
“I agree,” Arty sternly said, “History will forever see you as a monster because of your greed.”
A moment of awkward silence has passed and everyone could hear rustling. They looked towards the small box that Cedrick wanted, the ones with the gem-encrusted rocks. Simon stepped forth and removed the lid and much to his surprise the rocks were no longer there. Instead there were small versions of the rock creatures.
“I don’t believe this,” Simon said in awe, “They weren’t rocks…They were eggs. There’s probably about a dozen of these in here.”
Rachel walked towards the box and looked down, smiling a little bit.
“They look so cute,” she said.
“And they are the next generation of the species,” Arty added, “And their future. We are going to have to make a stop.”
***
The ship landed on another planet, not far from now destroyed planet they were on. Everyone was in their spacesuits once more as Arty released the newly hatched rock creatures into the barren landscape.
“This planet might not have the rare gems but the rocks here should be sufficient enough for their survival,” Arty said, watching the creatures assimilating to their new home and burrowing into the ground.
“Glad to know that their species will continue, hopefully for a long time,” Rachel said.
“Since they aren’t extinct after all I guess there is no harm done now, right?” Cedrick asked.
“I don’t think so,” Arty denied, “You are still under arrest for a few other crimes.”
“Like what?” Cedrick asked.
“Well for starters you lied to the Galactic Federation,” Arty answered, “As well as mass murder, interfering with official Terra Patrol business, and attempting to leave us behind on a dying planet.”
“Like you can prove that,” Cedrick challenged.
“Au contraire,” Simon said, holding out a disc, “I went to the security room before we left and found this little CD. It contains all the footage of your confession back at the closet.”
Cedrick then gulped a little, knowing he was in the dog house now.
“Perhaps we should turn you in to the Galactic Federation,” Arty proposed, “I bet after what they see from this disc you’ll probably be the first human ever exiled from this galaxy.”
“Exiled?” Cedrick gulped, “W..w…wait just a minute. I am an Earth citizen so I demand to be tried as such.”
“Well, thankfully for you that’s where we are heading,” Arty said, “Oh…and don’t tell anyone about this stop. Galactic law also forbids us from relocating a low-level species.”
As everyone came back inside the ship the Terra Trio seemed a little unsure about their trip home.
“Brace yourselves,” Marcus warned, “Once we get back we probably owe the Headmaster an explanation.”
***
Back on Earth Robin was pacing back and forth very nervously at the dock of Terra Academy. While the Terra Trio were away on the planet she had to do their mission and was covered with dirt all over her face and uniform. Now she was waiting and hoping for their safe return.
“Please be alright, please be alright,” Robin prayed.
She noticed something in the horizon. Stopping Robin noticed that it was the ship, zooming towards the island and landing on the dock. The girl watched as the ramp opened up. First came Arty with Cedrick still cuffed. Then she saw Claudia, Tony, and Kyle and lastly she saw the Terra Trio coming out. Happy over their safe return she ran towards the three and hugged them.
“Thank goodness you are all alright,” Robin said, “I feel so stupid letting you grab my ticket by mistake. I am so, so, sorry I hope you can forgive me.”
“It’s alright,” Simon said.
“Yeah we are okay now,” Marcus said.
“Besides, you wouldn’t believe what we had been through,” Rachel spoke.
“At ease Robin,” shouted an upset Headmaster Savage, aided by Trevor Hadfield.
Robin gulped and stepped away from her friends, maintain a straight stance and a salute.
“I want all of you in my office, now!!” Savage shouted.
***
The Terra Trio and Arty were in the Headmaster’s office while Cedrick was being watched by a few members of Terra Patrol. Inside they were explaining to Savage and Hadfield of what had happened.
“You see it was all a mistake,” Arty explained, “They thought they were heading to Hudson Island. Of course by the time I realized that mistake it was too late to go back. We had no other choice but to continue the mission.”
“But that doesn’t make it any more excusable,” Savage cried out, “I should have you three cadets suspended for pulling such a stunt!!”
“Now hold on there, Headmaster,” Trevor interrupted, “You are no longer an official member of Terra Patrol. If anything I should decide their fate.”
The Terra Trio then felt more afraid, not wanting to know what Hadfield’s judgement would be.
“I say…,” the Sergeant Major said, “We should commend them for their bravery.”
“What?” Marcus asked.
“Come again?” Rachel asked.
“A mission requiring of such skill would not be suitable for cadets of their level,” Trevor said, “Yet they were able to rescue the mining colony, discover the truth about the planet, and even exposed a corrupt tycoon’s true colors. If anything they should get 20 points of extra credit, each.”
The Terra Trio then smiled at their reward.
“Very well,” Savage said, “But next year I want measures taken to ensure this mix-up never happens again.”
“I’ll work on that,” Trevor accepted, “As for you Corporal Artison. You had to make a tough choice but you picked the right thing to do. Had you returned with the cadets everyone on Gliese 01032013b would have perished. For being able to handle such a tough call I think you deserve a raise.”
“Care to add a promotion to that while you are at it?” Arty asked hopefully.
“Don’t press your luck,” Trevor advised, “You are all dismissed.”
***
The Terra Trio were out by the docks with Arty escorting Cedrick into his ship. Watching with the tree were Claudia, Tony, and Kyle.
“Alright, I better get going and escort this guy to the HQ on the west coast,” Arty said, saluting the three, “Thank you for all the help. Although I doubt I’ll be seeing you again anytime soon I hope I’ll be seeing you again anyway.”
“Bye,” Rachel said.
“Take care,” Simon said.
Arty brought Cedrick into the ship and moments later it took off and disappeared into the horizon.
“So, what is going to happen to Cedrick?” Rachel asked.
“Ah there’s always been poor working conditions in his mines,” Tony said, “He’ll probably agree to make the conditions better in exchange for a lighter sentence. As for me I am done working at the mines. I am getting much safer job.”
“Me, too,” Kyle said, “Perhaps I could always go back to construction. It may be dangerous but definitely safer than being in outer space.”
“Well, our ride to Sandshore will be here any minute now,” Claudia said, “Thank you for your help, we are truly grateful.”
“And good luck finding some better jobs,” Simon said.
After everyone said their goodbyes the Terra Trio decided to head towards their dorms, hoping to put such a hectic day behind them.
“Glad all of that is over,” Rachel said.
“Yeah, hopefully we won’t have to deal with wild rock creatures again anytime soon,” Marcus said, “Though I wonder how they came to be?”
“That is one of the universe’s greatest mysteries,” Simon said, “Nobody knows for sure.”
As they walked towards the buildings something came out of the ground. It was one of the rock creatures from their trip that managed to stow away on the ship and sneak out after it came to Earth. A moment later it burrowed into the ground before anyone had noticed.
End
Episode 64: Rescue Mission
By dsguy411
A bunch of students from Terra Academy were gathering in the Sandshore Island’s Terra Patrol HQ. Today was a bit of an exciting day for everyone and it seemed only students second year and above were allowed to attend, with no sign of any first-years whatsoever. Marcus, Simon, and Rachel were all in their uniforms and standing first row with their fellow students. On a podium was a robust man, with gray hair showing he was of middle-age and had a big mustache of the same color.
“Greetings, fellow cadets,” said the robust man, “For those of you who don’t know me I am Trevor Hadfield, the 5th and current Seargent Major of Terra Patrol and the head in command of everything. Today I have called all of you students here for a chance to show me what you have learned so far. You will be shadowing an actual member of Terra Patrol to see how well you can apply what you have learned.”
Marcus looked a bit excited, seeing that he was actually to get a taste of his dream.
“What are you so excited for?” Rachel asked, “We go through what they do almost every other day.”
“However,” Hadfield added, “Don’t expect to be in the frontlines of anything. As you all know we are living in a time of piece.”
“What about the Lacertillian invasion last December?” a student asked.
“Or those sightings of those weird jellyfish people?” asked another.
“Well….the Lacertillians were quickly captured without incident,” Hadfield spoke, “And those sightings are just rumors that have not yet been confirmed. Other than that our planet has been living in a peaceful time thanks to my leadership of its greatest protector. Because of that the assigned task will not involve saving the Earth or stopping a terrorist attack. We only picked missions that would ensure the volunteer, based on their skill and training, would be in no way of any danger. Now if you step into the other room you can all choose which mission you would like. It is all extra credit, so attendance isn’t mandatory but encouraged.”
Once the speech was over all the students entered the room Hadfield mentioned and noticed a large, engine-shaped machine that showed out holographic images. It was actually a computer for the students to use to pick their mission. Of course Marcus was the first one to pick out which mission he wanted.
“Let’s see,” Marcus said, scrolling through his options, “Boring, too cold, too much water, not enough water, clean up? These are all lame. Where are the ones with action?”
Eventually Marcus came across something interesting. It was a rescue mission to a mining planet and volunteers for three people were opened up.
“There we go,” he said, typing his name only for a large, red X to appear on the screen, “Hey, what gives?!”
“Look at the screen,” Rachel pointed out, “It says fourth years only.”
“Awww,” Marcus groaned, very disappointed, “But I wanted to go there.”
“Well if it’s only for fourth years then there must be a good reason for it,” Simon assumed.
Rachel got on the keyboard and began looking for a mission she would find suitable for her and her friends. Happy with what she was seeing she typed in her name as well as Marcus’ and Simon’s. Marcus took a look at the screen to see what Rachel picked and made a face while the girl got out a ticket printed from a slot by the keyboard.
“Cattle Herding?” Marcus read, “What kind of mission is that?”
“Well it seems that the pens of Hudson island have been damaged from that windstorm a week ago,” Rachel explained, “So a bunch of cattle had gotten loose and they need help getting them back into their pens.”
“But that’s boring…,” Marcus groaned.
“Exactly,” Rachel said, turning around, “This mission is sure to not have any hostile aliens, crooks, or anything that wants to cause harm. For once we are doing things my way.”
While Rachel explained what was going on Robin happened to have been going through the computer behind them. She selected her mission and entered two random students on it as well. The ticket printed out and Robin got it. She turned around and bumped into Rachel, causing them to drop both of their tickets.
“Sorry,” Robin said, grabbing the ticket off the ground, “Didn’t see you there.”
“It’s alright,” Rachel said, grabbing another one, “Anyway, let’s get going.”
Simon and a disappointed Marcus followed Rachel while Robin walked away. On the computer screen that Robin used it showed the mission that Marcus intended to pick.
***
The Terra Trio were now at the docks where a bunch of students who already decided to pick their mission would get assigned to a certain ship or dock to anyplace that would require travel out of the island or the archipelago for that matter. The three walked to a computer installed in the middle of the dock and Rachel inserted her ticket.
“Ticket accepted,” the machine said, “Please proceed to Ship 4A.”
The three walked over to the ship the computer mentioned but found something odd about their ride. It wasn’t a boat but instead a large spacecraft with wings the shape of an upside-down V, parked on solid ground instead of the water. The front was slim but had a viewing window and there were multiple engines installed on the wings and back of the ship.
“This…is a 2096 FlareFalcon ship,” Simon said, recognizing the vessel, “But this cannot be, this cannot be our ride. Why would we need a spaceship to fly towards an island only about 10 miles from here?”
“Well if it gets us here fast then I won’t complain,” Rachel said, looking at the sign that says 4A, “And that sign matches the correct number we were told, anyway.”
The three walked up to see a lone young man waiting by the ramp that led into the ship. He had short, black hair and his uniform was green with while stripes. The man noticed the tree and smiled.
“Ah, you must be the volunteers,” he pointed out, “Well I am glad. We are in a bit of hurry and need to get to our destination fast.”
“Don’t worry, we won’t let you wait,” Rachel said.
The four got in and the ramp closed. Meanwhile, Robin, being accompanied by two male students, were heading to a small boat.
“This is odd,” Robin said, looking at the sign that said 3A, “This is the right sign but it doesn’t look like this ship could fly.”
She looked around and saw a sailor arranging crates with a forklift.
“Sir, where does this ship go?” Robin asked.
“To Hudson Island,” the sailor confirmed.
Confused, Robin was trying to make out why the ship went to a different destination she had picked out. That was when it hit her, remembering when she bumped into Rachel. At that point she realized that they got their tickets mixed up and her eyes bugged out.
“Uh-oh,” she muttered.
Then she heard something take off. Turning around Robin noticed the ship the Terra Trio came on as it was ascending way into the sky, aiming to leave the planet.
“This is not good,” she muttered, maintaining a somewhat nervous smile.
Word then quickly spread about the situation and it wasn’t long until it eventually reached to Hadfield.
“Sergeant Major!!” cried a female member of Terra Patrol, barging into his temporary quarters, “We have a problem. There has been a mix-up and three second years are on their way to a doomed mining planet.”
Hadfield, taking what he had heard, poured himself a small glass to drink, took a sip, and then spat it out from shock.
***
Back inside the ship Rachel was relaxing in a seat in a room of the ship, built to be like a passenger section for an airplane. All the windows were closed so neither she or her accompanying friends knew they were heading into space.
“These suits are luxurious,” Rachel said, “I cannot believe we get to ride something this awesome. I just wish it wasn’t for more than a few minutes.”
“I don’t know,” Simon doubted, “Something about this doesn’t feel right.”
“Greetings, cadets,” said the man who came onto the ship with them, “My name is Corporal Artison, but you can call my Arty.”
“Thank you, uh…Arty,” Simon spoke.
“Anyway, thank you for choosing this mission,” Arty spoke, “I need volunteers for this because the situation can be quite hectic.”
“Yeah, rounding up all those farm animals won’t be easy,” Marcus said, still a bit unenthusiastic about Rachel’s choice for their mission.
“Indeed, it won’t be….come again?” Arty asked, catching what Marcus said.
“I just said catching those farm animals won’t be an easy task,” Marcus repeated, “Plus it could be messy, too.”
Arty then let out a chuckle which brought confusion to the Terra Trio.
“Is something funny?” Simon asked.
“Thing is, we aren’t really going to a farm,” Arty said, “We are heading to Gliese 01032013b.”
Rachel then bugged out a little bit while Simon raised his hand.
“I beg your pardon, but I read a little bit of science magazines from time to time,” Simon spoke, “Isn’t that planet a mining planet?”
“That is correct,” Arty confirmed.
“But….but that can’t be right,” Rachel said, chuckling a little bit, “We have to leave Earth and go through space to get there.”
Rachel was trying to stay calm but she looked towards a closed window. She pressed a button and the shuttered opened up, where she could see a clear view of Pluto and its heart-shaped area on the dwarf planet. Having a bit of problem with space travel she clenched onto the arms of her seat tightly, hyperventilating a little.
“Why are you so nervous?” Arty asked, “You should’ve known about this when you selected the mission.”
Then, Arty noticed something on the Terra Trio’s uniform, something that made him a bit concerned.
“Say, you three have a band on each arm,” he pointed out, “You’re all second years. I thought this mission was for fourth years.”
The three then got really, really nervous about what was going on.
“But when we put the ticket into the computer at the docks we were told to come here,” Rachel said, thinking how this mistake could’ve happened, “But I bumped into Robin and…..I think we got her ticket my mistake.”
“Wait, Robin chose this mission?” Marcus said, sounding a bit happier now, “At least she got to pick something fun.”
“But this isn’t fun,” Arty said, “This is very, VERY serious. You see, this is a rescue mission and for a good reason.”
The corporal was walking left and right, wrought with worry about the mistake being made.
“What do I do?” he asked himself, “I have no time to make a return trip now. Everyone on there is going to be fried and it’s all my fault.”
The Terra Trio then looked really, really concerned.
“Uh…what do you mean by fried?” Marcus asked.
“Well….I wasn’t supposed to tell this to any low-ranked cadets but I think you at least deserve an explanation,” Arty said.
Pressing the button on the panel the light above projected a holographic image of a star system. It had a yellow star like the Sun but it had four planets orbiting it. The inner two were rocky planets very close to its parent star while the other two were gas giants.
“This is Gliese 01032013,” Arty said, pressing another button on the panel to zoom in on the closet planet, “And this is Gliese 01032013b. This planet is too close to the parent star for life to exist but is believed to hold valuable resources, leading it to be a mining planet ran by this man.”
Arty switched the image displayed by the light above to show a middle-aged man who was balding with brown hair on the sides and back of his head.
“His name is Cedrick Ruben,” Arty continued, “He runs the Ruben Asteroid Mining Facilities dotted across our asteroid belt but he recently took interest in mining exoplanets, and Gliese 01032013b is no exception.”
“But getting permission to mine of a planet outside the home star system requires approval from the Galactic Federation,” Simon pointed out.
“Yes,” Arty said, switching back to the exoplanet in question, “He said he filed all the appropriated paperwork but his reputation on Earth is a bit more……seedy. Anyway, three days ago a large comet slammed onto the planet and knocked it out of the orbit. Thankfully the mining crew was no harmed but their shipyard was highly damaged from the impact and are unable to leave the planet. In two hours the planet will collide with the star, incinerating anyone on it if they aren’t rescued until then.”
“Man, now I know why this mission is for fourth years only,” Marcus said, no longer feeling excited about the mission.
“I remember last night that Robin said she needed extra credit badly,” Rachel pointed out, “I never thought it was this badly.”
“We have to go back to Earth,” Arty said, “You aren’t qualified. But…it’ll drain the power cells a bit and it’ll take me awhile to refuel. I’ll never make it out of the system in time to initiate the warp drive.”
“No,” Marcus spoke out, standing up a little, “You can’t just do that. Those miners will perish if no one comes for them.”
“I know,” Arty said, “But it’s too dangerous for second years to handle. And I am already in loads of trouble for bringing you up here, even if it was by mistake.”
Rachel looked out into the stars. She was a bit scared of going through space and even to a doomed planet but she was more worried about the crew trapped there.
“Normally I would agree with your decision,” Rachel said to Arty, “But those guys need rescue now.”
“And if we are already in trouble for this mix-up we might as well do the mission,” Simon said.
“Well….,” Arty spoke, still unsure whether or not he should bring them.
“All we got to do is go on the planet, rescue the crew, and get off,” Marcus said, “Simple as that.”
“I’ll probably get reprimanded for this but…we’ll do it,” Arty agreed, “We’ll sort this mess out later but right now we got a mining crew to rescue.”
The Terra Trio smiled as Arty’s agreement as a green light suddenly came on above the man’s head.
“We are officially out of the Solar System,” Arty said, heading into the driver’s area, “We are now free to initiate the warp drive to the mining planet. Oh, and fair warning. The warp drive is on the fritz so you might feel some rocking. I advise to hold on tight.”
Arty grabbed the level on the right side of the driver’s seat and pushed it all the way up. Then the ship zoomed off at warp speed right past the old Voyager 1 probe. Inside the Terra Trio were indeed feeling some rocking just as Arty warned, with Rachel being the most terrified. Once their destination was within reach Arty pulled the level back to its original position and stopped close to a small rocky planet that was very, very, VERY close to its parent star.
“Did we make it?” Simon asked, a bit dazed from the trip.
“I hope so,” Marcus said groggily, I don’t think I can handle that again.
Rachel didn’t say anything as she threw up into the trash can. Simon looked at the night side of the planet and noticed a few lights at the surface. As the ship descended Simon saw that it was a mining facility with an air dome to seal in the oxygen but it was cracked completely opened. Next to it was a large crater, way too close to the facility. He looked around and noticed that large fiery orb that was the planet’s star.
“I am not sure,” Simon doubted, “Doesn’t look like anyone may be alive.”
“Do not worry,” Arty said via the intercom, “Sensors indicate there are four lifeforms on the planet.”
The boy looked around and noticed that despite the bright star he wasn’t bothered from the bright light. Of course he knew that such spaceships would be equipped with such glass. Finally the ship landed on the port of the facility and Arty came back into the passenger section.
“Okay, here’s the deal,” Arty said, “The dome is cracked so there is absolutely no oxygen right now and we have one hour and 45 minutes to rescue everyone. The night side is keeping everything cool and everyone alive, even us. Once sunrise comes everything is getting cooked.”
“So how do we go outside if we can’t breathe?” Marcus asked.
“Thankfully I have something for that,” Arty said.
***
The Terra Trio entered outside the ship via a ramp. They were all wearing spacesuits provided by Arty, who followed the three also wearing one. The suits were black but the stripes were that of their respective colors. Their helmets had a glass faceplate for viewing and was connected to two oxygen tanks on their back to allow them to breath. On the side of their helmets were a trans-modulator that allowed them to communicate with one another.
“So, what do you think?” Arty asked, “Setting foot on another world, far away from home. Must be special, right?”
“Uh…sure….special,” Rachel spoke. This wasn’t the first time she and her friends were on another planet but preferred to keep that a secret.
The four walked towards the main building and Simon looked around, noticing some large boulders that seemed to be out of place.
“Wow, that comet must have did a number here,” he said.
“Yeah, hard to believe anyone could have survive this,” Marcus said.
“It’s so creepy,” Rachel added, “Let’s just find the crew and get out of here.”
They entered the main building and noticed that papers and tools were everywhere. It was almost like a tornado had hit the place.
“Even creepier,” Rachel said.
The three walked down a long hall when they came to a two-way intersection. Going right they came across person, bearing a female figure and wore a spacesuit like the four but colored lavender.
“GAAAHHHH!!!” Rachel cried, getting startled from the surprise person.
“Relax, relax,” the person said, showing a female face. The orange glass, though, prevented the group from recognizing any facial features, “The name’s Claudia. I am a worker here.”
Rachel calmed down while Arty stepped forth.
“The name’s Coporal Artison,” he introduced, “I work at Terra Patrol’s Department of Emergency Exosolar Rescues. We have received your distress signal and will take you back to Earth.”
“That’s great,” Claudia cheered, “However…”
“What is going on here, Claudia?” asked a man, emerging from a doorway alongside the hallway, “We are hours away from death and you are slacking off!”
He came out of the doorway, wearing a red spacesuit and was a bit short of stature.
“Sorry, Mr. Ruben,” Claudia apologized, “But these brave soldiers are here to take us home.”
The Terra Trio peeked over Arty and saw through the man’s faceplate of his spacesuit. His face matched that of the hologram shown earlier at the spaceship. He was none other than Cedrick Ruben himself.
“It’s about time you clods got here!” Cedrik rudely spoke, “This planet is about to fry and I need to get off of it pronto!”
“Calm down, sir,” Arty pleaded, “We’ll get you and Claudia off when we get the full story of what is happening.”
Cedrick just stomped around while Claudia stepped forth.
“I was going over the rocks and gems we have collected when suddenly, without warning, a large comet slammed near our facility,” the woman explained, “At first our station survived with minimal impact but our computers said the impact knocked the planet out of orbit and spiraling towards the star. We would have escaped but a landslide happened and damaged much of our port, destroying our ships and leaving us trapped.”
“Landslide?” Simon questioned, “But we aren't close enough to any mountains and hills for that to happen.”
“I was puzzled by that, too,” Claudia continued, “But to make matters worse I got word that two of our miners are trapped in the nearby mines and cannot get out.”
“Who cares?!” Cedrick asked, “Now that help is here we can get out of here.”
The Terra Trio were then shocked by Cedrick’s words. It seemed to them that the owner of the mines care about nothing but himself. Simon stepped back a little and turned around to look out the window, seeing more rocks scattered about with a suspicious look on his face.
“I am heading into the ship,” Cedrick added, walking past the four, “If you aren’t coming with me then I’m leaving you behind.”
“Not without the keys you are not,” Arty replied, holding them out in front of the man.
Cedrick turned around and looked at the set that Arty hold. He did glare but didn’t stomp around this time.
“Very well,” he spoke, “But you better be here before this planet crashes and burns.”
“Well if the other two miners are trapped we better get them out of here post haste,” Arty suggested, “Claudia you stay here and make sure that Cedrick doesn’t cause any trouble to the ship. Rachel, Simon, Marcus, you come with me to the mines to get the other two out.”
“Actually,” Simon spoke out, “I think I’ll stay here and take a look around. Something doesn’t feel right and I want to find out right.”
“Hmmm,” Arty spoke, pondering over Simon’s decision, “Brilliant! Thinking like a true soldier. Well since you are staying behind I can trust you with these keys then.”
The Corporal threw the names over to Simon. Cedrick of course noticed that and let out a devious smile. Moments later Arty, Rachel, and Marcus found a hover vehicle and took off north to the mountains. Simon was outside on the facility grounds, looking at the crater and a bunch of rocks that left a trail behind, going up the crater’s rim.
“These rocks moved uphill,” Simon deduced, “They don’t do that naturally. Something moved them….but what?”
***
Arty parked the hovercraft outside the base of a mountain where the entrance to the mine was located. Rachel got out with Marcus and noticed that the night sky was starting to glow a bit orange to the east.
“The sky is starting to get bright,” Rachel pointed out.
“We have less than forty minutes to find the miners and get them back to the facility,” Arty said.
“Then let’s get going,” Marcus advised.
The three entered the entrance of the mine and walked down the main shaft into a large room. There were a few tools laid out from here to here but nothing more. Also there were entrances to other areas to the mine.
“This place is probably going to be a labyrinth,” Rachel said, “It’ll take us forever to find the two miners.”
“Hello?” cried a voice picked up on Rachel’s trans-modulator.
“Hi, this is Rachel DuBois,” she responded, “Are you one of the lost miners? More importantly where are you?”
“Yes, I am the lost miner,” the man confirmed, “The name’s Kyle and me and Tony are trapped in a small room, right next to the one you are in. You should see a large boulder barricading the mine’s entrance.”
The three looked around for a bit until Marcus spotted some wooden beams surrounding a large boulder.
“Well, that didn’t take as long to find them than you predicted, Rachel,” Marcus said.
“Lucky, too,” she added, “Do not worry. We’ll get you out somehow and back home safely. Just stay calm.”
“Well not to pressure you but Tony’s air tanks took a bit of a hit,” Kyle mentioned, “I was able to patch it up but he is running out quickly.”
“This is bad,” Arty said, “I don’t see anything to push that boulder out of the way.”
Marcus knew what to do but he needed an excuse to pull off his plan.
“Well, we can push the boulder together,” he suggested.
“What good would that do?” Arty asked, “The planet’s gravity is similar to that of Earth’s so even we three pushing the boulder together won’t make it budge.”
“Got any better ideas?” Marcus asked.
“Well….I guess it’s worth a shot,” Arty said.
Marcus, Rachel, and Arty grabbed onto the same entrance to the boulder.
“On three, we push,” Arty spoke, “One….two….THREE!!!”
The three began to push but at first it didn’t seem like anything was going to happen. However Marcus tapped into the strength of his Celestial Amulet and was able to get a boost of strength, just enough to push the boulder away and opening up the room. Inside was Kyle, fully alert, and Tony, who was sitting against a wall and barely conscience. Kyle wore a gray uniform while Tony wore a brown one.
“What do you know, it worked,” Arty said, coming to Tony’s aid.
The Corporal took one of his oxygen tanks and switched it with one of Tony’s allowing him to breathe a fresh supply of air.
“There,” Arty said, “Hopefully he’ll wake up soon.”
“So tell me, what caused the landslide?” Marcus asked.
“They attacked us!!” Tony cried, suddenly waking up, “They almost killed us!!”
“Calm down,” Arty told Tony, “What almost killed you?”
Suddenly rumbling was felt in the mines, rocks and pebbles falling from the ceiling.
“What is going on?” Rachel asked, “Are we having an earthquake?”
“Impossible,” Arty replied, “Gliese 01032013b has no plate tectonic activity.”
“Then if it’s not an earthquake, then what is?” Rachel asked.
Suddenly rocks slammed towards the group from every shaft except for the one leading out, pinning them back into the small room. Everyone was knocked forth and a small window was left. Marcus looked through it and noticed dark figures standing in the main room.
“I don’t believe this,” Marcus said in shock, “Lifeforms? On this desolate world?”
One of them got closer. In the small light left by a lantern they could see it was a rock-like creature in the shape of a gorilla. It emitted no sound because of the lack of air but its look was enough to intimidate anyone.
“This is not good,” Marcus said.
He looked towards Rachel and noticed her air tanks were really punctured, giving the girl a shortness of breath.
“This is really not good,” he added.
***
Simon was back at the main facility, unaware that his friends are in trouble. Even if he did know he had his own problems such as listening to Cedrick bark orders to her and Claudia. Both of them were packing up some of Cedrick’s things to the ship.
“Come on!” Cedrick barked, “I want all of my possession on this dump on that ship of yours. The sooner I get off this rock the better.”
“I don’t get it,” Simon spoke to Claudia, “Why are you putting up with this guy. He is a real jerk.”
“He is my boss,” Claudia answered, “I didn’t want this job but I needed it to pay off my rent back on Earth.”
“Well you deserve better,” Simon said, “For his a real ba…”
“But…,” Claudia said, cutting off Simon, “This job allows me to see that stars. They are pretty amazing as long as you aren’t hurdling towards one.”
The two got into the ship and placed down one of the boxes. Cedrick came in and took off his helmet, revealing his balding head. He looked around and seemed a bit displeased.
“Where is my box?” Cedrick asked.
“What box?” Simon asked, “We gathered every last one for you. And what are in these boxes anyway?”
“Just stuff we mined,” Cedrick asked, “But there is one box that held some special rocks of mine. I refuse to leave this planet until I find it!!”
“Hold you horses,” Simon spoke, “I’ll head back to the office and find it.”
The boy got out of the ship and headed towards the main facility.
“While I am out here I better find out about what is going on,” Simon said to himself.
The boy entered the main office of the facility, which was Cedrick’s office. Not much was left except for a few filing cabinets and a desk. Simon went to the cabinets first and looked through each file, however he could not find what he was looking for. Then he went for the desk and opened a drawer, finding a box.
“Guess this is his box,” Simon said.
He picked it up and was about to carry it out when the lid came off. The boy looked down and saw that the box’s contents were a few orange rocks covers in white jewels and a book on top. Simon set down the box and took out the book. Opening and reading the pages he knew that this was Cedric’s journal about the planet.
“March 18th, 2101,” the boy red, “I have managed to locate Gliese 01032013b and did a quick survey on the nearby planets. There are rumors that the planet holds vast amounts of rare jewels and metals. This could be something my company needs to launch its way as the most successful one ever. However I need approval from the Galactic Federation to get mining rights to this world.”
Simon flipped a few pages and found one about the Federation.
“June 3rd, 2101,” he read, “After weeks of meetings and negotiations I was able to get myself closer to being able to mine on Gliese 01032013b. I just need to survey the planet myself to make sure no rock creatures dwell on it. Apparently rock creatures can survive in any world no matter how harsh the environment is but they rarely occur. Also according to galactic law I can’t mine a world inhabited by a low-level sapient race. However, I am not too worried for there is no way I’ll ever come across something like that.”
The boy looked out the window and noticed an orange boulder sitting by some storage sheds. Taking in what he read he became really, really suspicious about what was going on.
“July 28th, 2101,” Simon read, “After almost two months surveying this rock it turns out creatures do roam this planet. They look like gorillas but are apparently smart…somewhat. And get this, the rare jewels are located on this planet and these brutes happen to eat them like rock candy. I have found what I am looking for but according to galactic law I am unable to because my crew said that they have enough intelligence to be sapient. Well…maybe if I lie to the Federation about what I found they’ll let me mine. If my crew decides to be blabby I can always fire them and get rid of any trace of them in my employee records.”
The boy flipped to one more page, the most recent one.
“September 9th, 2101,” Simon read, “After over a month of mining I learned the hard way that these creatures could manipulate rocks when I had my crew try to take a huge hoard of jewels that we were mining. Of course there was also a comet passing by when its orbit changed without warning and slammed this planet, damaging our facility. Now we are heading towards the star but luckily I sent a distress signal. Terra Patrol will get me and my precious gems out of here. As for those rocky monsters they can just melt away for all I care. They caused me enough trouble as it is. Of course I don’t want the crew to tell what really happened so I’ll steal the ship at the last minute and leave everyone behind.”
Simon looked out the window and noticed that the boulder was actually one of the creatures, sending a large boulder straight to the wall. It slammed into the wall but Simon got out of the way in time, holding the box in his arms.
“No wonder this is happening,” he said, figuring out what has happened, “I got to tell the others.”
He turned around but saw Cedric by the doorway, holding a laser gun at him with one hand and holding onto Claudia with another.
“Realizing something?” he asked with an evil grin.
Next thing Simon knew he found him and Claudia get pushed into a small closet. Cedrick was looking at the two, pointing his weapons towards the two and holding the box under his arm.
“You did this!” Simon shouted, “You knew this planet had sentient lifeforms and you chose to mine here anyway!”
“Those jewels were important,” Cedrick said, holding the box down and holding out a small, white gem, “These are called the Milky Way diamond. They are one of the rarest gems in the galaxy. These moronic monsters were just eating them but I found something useful, something I can sell.”
“Those rocks were their food,” Simon said, “They were threatened when you tried to take it from them. They controlled that comet and tried to destroy this place to save their food source. They didn’t know it would knock the planet out of orbit but they were desperate nonetheless.”
“If anything you are the monster!” Claudia shouted.
“Yes, but no one will ever know the story,” Cedrick said, blasting the journal with his weapon, causing it to be vaporized, “Now hand me the keys or else you two are next to go.”
Simon looked up and noticed a camera observing the three. Still he threw Cedrick the keys to the ship.
“So, you are letting us live then?” Claudia asked.
“There is no need to kill you,” Cedrick answered, “Once I leave you’ll all be trapped and doomed to be vaporized by the planet’s star. Now I better get going. I certainly do want my body to get tanned.”
Cedrick shut the door and broke the control panel that opened it, leaving Simon and Claudia unable to get out. He picked up the box and made it for the ship, laughing evilly.
***
Back at the mine Marcus was able to take out one of Rachel’s damaged tanks and replaced it with one of his, allowing her to breathe.
“Thank you,” Rachel said, catching up on her breath, “I thought that was it for me.”
“It will be it for all of us if we can’t get out of here in 25 minutes,” Arty said.
Marcus looked through the window and saw that the rock creatures were still swarming around. Knowing that breaking out would risk more injury he had to rely on one more strategy, something he knew Rachel would not condone.
“I can get us out of here,” Marcus said, “But….you’ll have to keep it a secret.”
“Marcus, you better not do what I think you are about to do,” Rachel said in a stern tone.
The boy used his amulet to break apart the rock wall and create a flash of bright light, blinding the rock creatues and stunning them.
“How…did you…do that?” Arty asked, shocked in awe.
“I’ll explain later, let’s get out of here!” Marcus cried.
Everyone got past the stunned monsters and got out of the mine. They could see that the sky was brighter and getting a bit warmer. Arty checked his watched and rushed towards the hovercraft.
“Let’s get out of here!” he ordered, “We have twenty minutes.”
Everyone got inside as Arty shifted into high gear. The vehicle took off at high speed by the rock creatures where pursuing them and fast, swimming through the ground like water. Marcus looked back and felt a little bit sorry for them. Although they attacked them they were in grave danger.
“I know what you are thinking about, Marcus,” Arty said, “I am afraid there is nothing we can do for them. Galactic law prohibits us from interfering with affairs of a low-level civilization.”
“What?” Marcus cried in shock, “We can’t just leave them to die!”
“I know it’s terrible to do such a thing,” Arty said, “But we have to follow protocols in certain situations. Though I am curious as to how Cedrick got a mining facility approved here with rock creatures roaming around. Something doesn’t feel right.”
***
Simon was working through a safe with a laser pointer he found. Right now things were getting a little bit hotter as the planet grew closer and closer to the parenting star. Despite the pressure Simon was able to break the safe open.
“There,” he said, “Now what’s in there that can get us out?”
“Venusian acid dust,” Claudia said, taking out a jar, “Stand back.”
Simon stepped back as Claudia threw the jar at the door. A cloud of dust erupted and chewed a hole large enough for them to escape.
“Now we gotta stop Cedrick from getting off this planet,” Claudia said, stepping out.
“You go ahead,” Simon said, looking back at the camera, “There is something I need to get first.”
They both went their separate ways. Meanwhile Cedrick was already in the ship, his helmet off, and starting the ignition. Claudia got out and saw that the ship was taking off.
“Not good, not good,” she cried.
However a large rock spire came out from the ground and snared the ship. Claudia stopped and noticed several rock creatures coming out of the ground, climbing the spire, and banging on the ship.
“Get away from me!” Cedrick cried, “I am getting off this dump whether you like it or not!”
Clauda wondered what to do as Arty came by with the vehicle with Rachel, Marcus, and the other two miners.
“Kyle, Tony, you’re alright,” Claudia.
“Yes, we got out thanks to these brave soldiers,” Tony said.
“Technically two of us are cadets,” Rachel admitted.
“Question is what is going on with the ship?” Arty asked.
“It’s Cedrick,” Claudia explained, “He lied to the Galactic Federation just to get the Milky Way diamonds. He knew these creatures live on this planet, he knew the rocks were there food, and he was willing to abandon us because we knew the truth. He is trying to leave us with the gems he made us mine.”
“What do we do?” Rachel asked, “We have about 10 minutes to get off this planet.”
Everyone looked to the right as the east sky grew brighter and brighter. It was just a bright light now and the shadow of night was getting covered with light. It touched a nearby radar station and the intense heat caused it to melt away.
“We have to get up there,” Arty said.
Marcus knew what he had to do. He hid behind a large boulder so that no one would see, clenching onto his chest where his Celestial Amulet was hidden.
“If you teleport me into that bright light of death then I’ll never forgive you,” he said to his amulet.
Focusing a little he was able to teleport and thankfully he ended up right where he wanted to be, right in the cockpit of the ship. He looked and saw Cedrick who immediately noticed the boy.
“How did you get in this ship?” Cedrick asked.
“Doesn’t matter how I got in here,” Marcus said, “What matters is that you drop those rocks right now. That’s all they want. If we do that then we can all get out of here.”
Cedrick didn’t say anything and point his laser gun at Marcus.
“Listen, kid,” he said sternly, “I am not giving up my jewels just because a bunch of rock monsters want them. In fact once I blast these thrusters I can get on out of here. First I need to get rid of you.”
“You better not,” Marcus warned, “Otherwise you’ll be really sorry.”
“What can you do?” Cedrick asked, laughing at Marcus’ threat.
Firing his gun a laser came at Marcus but he was able to form a dome of energy as a shield at the last second, deflecting the shot right at Cedrick’s hand. That made him drop the gun and wave his hand around in pain.
“How did you…,” Cedrick asked in awe, only to be interrupted by Marcus knocking him out cold.
With Cedrick out of commission Marcus got into the controls and wondered what to do. With only seven minutes left the boy had to act fast. Using a hover pallet he moved all the boxes into the airlock where the ramp would open. Pressing a button the ramp opened up a little. Even though the rock spire was blocking it was enough to allow the contents to slide on down. Everyone else was climbing the spire to see the jewels fall down and the creatures getting off the ship to reclaim them. Confused, Arty looked and saw Marcus inside the ship’s ramp.
“How did you get over there?” Arty asked in astonishment.
Before Marcus could answer Simon was at the base of the spire, climbing up a little.
“Wait for me!” he cried, “Don’t leave me down to burn.”
Once everyone got in and took off their space helmets everyone got into the cockpit. Claudia had cream hair, Tony had black hair, and Kyle and light brown hair. With only a one minute left they saw that the bright light was really close to the ship and much of the facility had melted into slag. Activating the thrusters Arty was able to break everyone free from the rock spire and left the planet. Now back in space everyone but Arty went to the passenger section and viewed the planet crashing into the star. The sight brought a bit of horror to everyone because the rock creatures down there have now certainly perished.
“It’s not fair,” Marcus said, “We could’ve helped them.”
Arty walked into the passenger section with Cedrick, now awake and cuffed. Marcus turned around and stomped towards him with anger.
“This is all your fault!” Marcus shouted.
“How is this my fault?” Cedrick asked.
“You knew they were there,” he explained, “You tried to disrupt their lives.”
“And they were the ones who knocked the planet out of orbit,” Simon said, “They didn’t know that comet’s impact would be that strong. Still, it’s all your fault that a species was wiped out.”
“I agree,” Arty sternly said, “History will forever see you as a monster because of your greed.”
A moment of awkward silence has passed and everyone could hear rustling. They looked towards the small box that Cedrick wanted, the ones with the gem-encrusted rocks. Simon stepped forth and removed the lid and much to his surprise the rocks were no longer there. Instead there were small versions of the rock creatures.
“I don’t believe this,” Simon said in awe, “They weren’t rocks…They were eggs. There’s probably about a dozen of these in here.”
Rachel walked towards the box and looked down, smiling a little bit.
“They look so cute,” she said.
“And they are the next generation of the species,” Arty added, “And their future. We are going to have to make a stop.”
***
The ship landed on another planet, not far from now destroyed planet they were on. Everyone was in their spacesuits once more as Arty released the newly hatched rock creatures into the barren landscape.
“This planet might not have the rare gems but the rocks here should be sufficient enough for their survival,” Arty said, watching the creatures assimilating to their new home and burrowing into the ground.
“Glad to know that their species will continue, hopefully for a long time,” Rachel said.
“Since they aren’t extinct after all I guess there is no harm done now, right?” Cedrick asked.
“I don’t think so,” Arty denied, “You are still under arrest for a few other crimes.”
“Like what?” Cedrick asked.
“Well for starters you lied to the Galactic Federation,” Arty answered, “As well as mass murder, interfering with official Terra Patrol business, and attempting to leave us behind on a dying planet.”
“Like you can prove that,” Cedrick challenged.
“Au contraire,” Simon said, holding out a disc, “I went to the security room before we left and found this little CD. It contains all the footage of your confession back at the closet.”
Cedrick then gulped a little, knowing he was in the dog house now.
“Perhaps we should turn you in to the Galactic Federation,” Arty proposed, “I bet after what they see from this disc you’ll probably be the first human ever exiled from this galaxy.”
“Exiled?” Cedrick gulped, “W..w…wait just a minute. I am an Earth citizen so I demand to be tried as such.”
“Well, thankfully for you that’s where we are heading,” Arty said, “Oh…and don’t tell anyone about this stop. Galactic law also forbids us from relocating a low-level species.”
As everyone came back inside the ship the Terra Trio seemed a little unsure about their trip home.
“Brace yourselves,” Marcus warned, “Once we get back we probably owe the Headmaster an explanation.”
***
Back on Earth Robin was pacing back and forth very nervously at the dock of Terra Academy. While the Terra Trio were away on the planet she had to do their mission and was covered with dirt all over her face and uniform. Now she was waiting and hoping for their safe return.
“Please be alright, please be alright,” Robin prayed.
She noticed something in the horizon. Stopping Robin noticed that it was the ship, zooming towards the island and landing on the dock. The girl watched as the ramp opened up. First came Arty with Cedrick still cuffed. Then she saw Claudia, Tony, and Kyle and lastly she saw the Terra Trio coming out. Happy over their safe return she ran towards the three and hugged them.
“Thank goodness you are all alright,” Robin said, “I feel so stupid letting you grab my ticket by mistake. I am so, so, sorry I hope you can forgive me.”
“It’s alright,” Simon said.
“Yeah we are okay now,” Marcus said.
“Besides, you wouldn’t believe what we had been through,” Rachel spoke.
“At ease Robin,” shouted an upset Headmaster Savage, aided by Trevor Hadfield.
Robin gulped and stepped away from her friends, maintain a straight stance and a salute.
“I want all of you in my office, now!!” Savage shouted.
***
The Terra Trio and Arty were in the Headmaster’s office while Cedrick was being watched by a few members of Terra Patrol. Inside they were explaining to Savage and Hadfield of what had happened.
“You see it was all a mistake,” Arty explained, “They thought they were heading to Hudson Island. Of course by the time I realized that mistake it was too late to go back. We had no other choice but to continue the mission.”
“But that doesn’t make it any more excusable,” Savage cried out, “I should have you three cadets suspended for pulling such a stunt!!”
“Now hold on there, Headmaster,” Trevor interrupted, “You are no longer an official member of Terra Patrol. If anything I should decide their fate.”
The Terra Trio then felt more afraid, not wanting to know what Hadfield’s judgement would be.
“I say…,” the Sergeant Major said, “We should commend them for their bravery.”
“What?” Marcus asked.
“Come again?” Rachel asked.
“A mission requiring of such skill would not be suitable for cadets of their level,” Trevor said, “Yet they were able to rescue the mining colony, discover the truth about the planet, and even exposed a corrupt tycoon’s true colors. If anything they should get 20 points of extra credit, each.”
The Terra Trio then smiled at their reward.
“Very well,” Savage said, “But next year I want measures taken to ensure this mix-up never happens again.”
“I’ll work on that,” Trevor accepted, “As for you Corporal Artison. You had to make a tough choice but you picked the right thing to do. Had you returned with the cadets everyone on Gliese 01032013b would have perished. For being able to handle such a tough call I think you deserve a raise.”
“Care to add a promotion to that while you are at it?” Arty asked hopefully.
“Don’t press your luck,” Trevor advised, “You are all dismissed.”
***
The Terra Trio were out by the docks with Arty escorting Cedrick into his ship. Watching with the tree were Claudia, Tony, and Kyle.
“Alright, I better get going and escort this guy to the HQ on the west coast,” Arty said, saluting the three, “Thank you for all the help. Although I doubt I’ll be seeing you again anytime soon I hope I’ll be seeing you again anyway.”
“Bye,” Rachel said.
“Take care,” Simon said.
Arty brought Cedrick into the ship and moments later it took off and disappeared into the horizon.
“So, what is going to happen to Cedrick?” Rachel asked.
“Ah there’s always been poor working conditions in his mines,” Tony said, “He’ll probably agree to make the conditions better in exchange for a lighter sentence. As for me I am done working at the mines. I am getting much safer job.”
“Me, too,” Kyle said, “Perhaps I could always go back to construction. It may be dangerous but definitely safer than being in outer space.”
“Well, our ride to Sandshore will be here any minute now,” Claudia said, “Thank you for your help, we are truly grateful.”
“And good luck finding some better jobs,” Simon said.
After everyone said their goodbyes the Terra Trio decided to head towards their dorms, hoping to put such a hectic day behind them.
“Glad all of that is over,” Rachel said.
“Yeah, hopefully we won’t have to deal with wild rock creatures again anytime soon,” Marcus said, “Though I wonder how they came to be?”
“That is one of the universe’s greatest mysteries,” Simon said, “Nobody knows for sure.”
As they walked towards the buildings something came out of the ground. It was one of the rock creatures from their trip that managed to stow away on the ship and sneak out after it came to Earth. A moment later it burrowed into the ground before anyone had noticed.
End
At long last I got an episode of Terra Academy up.
The Terra Trio got into a dangerous mission due to a mix-up as part of an event where cadets could shadow an actual officer of Terra Patrol. Now they are heading to a mining planet that is set to crash into it's parent star to rescue a mining crew and once they get there they learn that they aren't as alone as they think.
Terra Academy belongs to me.
The Terra Trio got into a dangerous mission due to a mix-up as part of an event where cadets could shadow an actual officer of Terra Patrol. Now they are heading to a mining planet that is set to crash into it's parent star to rescue a mining crew and once they get there they learn that they aren't as alone as they think.
Terra Academy belongs to me.
© 2015 - 2024 dsguy411
Comments1
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What a fun adventure that was! I did not expect those little rock creatures to be able to breed like that. And the mix-up? Well, I didn't think you were gonna let the trio have an easy one for a change, but dang, did they show their stuff today.