Lost

I quickly nodded in understanding and headed to decipher my new treasure trove of information. Slipping into the work, I checked over the samples due to come in to Genetics Lab 12 and comfortably read over the information for three hours before finding anything even remotely incorrect. It was obvious I was at least the second person to check over this report, but I was happy to have this review on the Ornax root makeup reports anyway.

I flipped the pages and let my eyes drift down the charts and report for each of the sixteen samples until I landed on the third to last sample we would receive. The report said the root was 1.2 billion years old. Even if the sample could live that long, it didn't add up. Obliv was a rogue planet* until nine hundred million years ago. It was already fascinating enough that it had life on it, but without a sun or heat, life was impossible. Right? My head was spinning. If there was a mistake, I had less than eleven hours to fix it before samples came in, and if it were right, this would go against everything, I knew about what life needed to survive. The excitement of finding the truth filled me with determination.

“It's better to double-check anyway” I sprung up stretching as I went and made my way out of the lab with the report in hand, hoping to find some clues from the ground team this late evening.

I needed the info ASAP, so comms being down could be my excuse for being an impatient overbearing in person visitor anyway. It's not like they can be upset that the plucky new intern wants to double-check their work before samples are tested right.

A bit of panic, but mostly excitement took over as I was decontaminated and released from the lab toward the docking bays.

I pulled up my hola map and quickly located the ground teams docking bay. The main hall there was closed, so I'd have to take the long way around, but it was only a 30-minute walk, so I should still get there in time. Revewing my path one more time, I started to head down the endless halls once again.

The halls seemed to blur together as I walked down to the docking bays, I was only walking for a few minutes, but under the pressure of gravity, it felt as if I had been walking for hours. Even with the braces helping me, my legs were weak and sore from my excessive day of work. I brushed off my exhaustion with the promise of a nice relaxing evening when I was done. and tried not to think about how much further I had to go.

Even if the excitement was enough to keep my mind off the soreness of my legs, the elevator was still more than a present surprise when I turned the corner to descend to the basement.

I got to the bottom floor, and my hola pad began to flip out as it lost connection and forced my map to cut out. The hola pad would still respond to my voice and touch, but it acted as if it had been wiped of all its information.

“Maybe this is a part of the comm’s update?” I laughed nervously at how lost I was without my map. I had only been on board for only a few hours and was still unfamiliar with the area. but I remembered the rest of the route for the most part, and that was enough to keep me going. Mustering up what courage I had, I started in the direction my map last showed.

As I continued down the hall, the lights began to flicker before going completely black, I panicked and stumbled to the wall before I stopped to light my hola pad. Giving the metallic walls a ghostly reflection of my sole light source.

With the low light from my screen lighting the way, I let the fear set in as my mind runs wild with gut-wrenching thoughts. Most of which had vivid scenarios where I was brutally murdered. And even if I tell myself they're impossible, it doesn't change my unquestionable fear.

“Oh no, nope, nope, noooo; this is some serious horror bleep right here.” I stopped in my tracks and weighed the risks of continuing down the hall before realizing what I had said.

“Pffff, oh boy, even scared out of my mind, I can’t swear.” I quickly calmed myself down as I thought of my absurdity settled in. Having taken a moment to myself, I brought myself to follow the wall down the hall again, rambling as I went to keep my mind at ease.

I turned a corner with only the ghostly glow from my disconnected hola pad to guide me through the maze of halls. Taking my time to watch my steps, I tried to calm myself as I came to the end of this stretch of the hall before needing to turn yet another ominous corner.

I felt my heart stop as I watched a humanoid mass scrape its head on the seven-foot-tall selling and turned to face me with a wide frame and powerful arms that gave it an almost hulking silhouette. It was a good distance down the hall, but as soon as it stepped in my direction, I had no will to stay. Spinning on my heel and fighting the braces as I rushed back the way I came and prayed, I wouldn’t run into any walls as I stumbled on my feet.

I looked back only to see it race toward me, hitting the walls as if it were blind and releasing an incoherent sound from its indiscernible face.

I didn’t make it that far down the last hall before the elevator when I felt something grab my wrist with a ruff bark-like suffice. That was it, nope, nope, nope, nope, there was no way I was going to handle this rationally.

Letting out a scream, I turned twisting my captured wrist against the ruff surface, leaving my arm sore and scraped up as the cracks in its strange surface fought the change in position. Shifting my weight, I punched my mystery attacker with my free hand. I felt my hand sink into its solid head like mas as if I was pinching a tree. I may not have done much damage, but its footing faltered from the impact, and taking the chance, I made a run for it as it lost its grip. Both my arm and hand were sore and scraped up from the ruff interaction, but I was free.

The darkness didn’t do much to cover up its inhuman characteristics from my

vision when I turned to punch it, nor could it change the wooden feeling I got as my fist

collided with what I thought was its face. And even as it recoiled to the wall from the impact, it was easily three feet taller than me. As I made the misstake of looking back around at it, I watched as Its eyes burned a yellow tint and lines along its form glowed rusty reds and oranges highlighting the feathery shapes making up its frame.

“Nope, Nope, Noooope, no, no, no, nooo” stumbling down the hall, I could feel the adrenalin of my fearful encounter overriding the effect gravity had on my body. I could feel my whole body scream at the pain but not as loud as my head. My energy seemed unlimited until I saw armed guards, I might not know who they were, but at least they looked human.

“Hu… Help…” Relief extinguished the fear as I approached the soldiers. I fell from the exhaustion as my adrenaline burned out and fought my eyelids as I lost feeling in my limbs.

“ Sir, do you think…”

My vision faded to black, leaving my mind restless yet thoughtless.

…

Silence seeped in as my mind drifted to quiet dreams of everything and nothing

all at once.

Author speaking- so quick explanation a rogue planet is a planet that doesn't orbit a sun, Obliv was a rogue planet that got caught in a sun's orbit billions of years after its formation.

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