Upon leaving Earth i was able to watch on the small monitor above my cocoon as she receded from view, a majestic blue and white globe lit by a halo of sunlight. Tears welled in my eye's, strapped tightly i was unable to wipe them away and so they rolled down my cheek.

And then the machine attached to my cocoon caused me to sleep.

I awoke for a short time as the ship passed the outer edges of the solar system, the monitor showed only an inky void lit by dimly sparkling lights, the planets and the sun, no more than motes upon a velvety dark sheet.

Again i slept.

Awaking once more, the real time clock showed that thirty three years had passed and the ship had entered the space between dimensions, a nether world of limitless possibilities, the ship and myself one of those many possibilities. Nothing showed on the monitor. This was true vacuum, absolute, frictionless. Mechanical arms massaged my body and electrical impulses exercised muscles that would otherwise atrophy.

Sleep again closed over me.

Conscious again, where? This time the RL clock showed ninety seven years had passed.
The monitor sparkled with a myriad of lights and swirling gaseous clouds of star stuff. Abreast of the ship a large swollen orb burned brightly, its companion star a red giant, was a meagre blot in the far distance.
No more sleep, the machine works feverishly at my body, fluids and vitamin rich soups are pumped continuously through me for hours, ingested and expunged over and over. And ever so slowly i become fully aware.

Information flows from sensors and banks of circuits through optical cables into the neural plug attached to the base of my neck. An orbit is calculated and the ship slows and slips into an embrace with what will now and forever more be my home. Before the landing can be attempted news of our success at reaching this distant land is collated along with technical information from the computer and sent on the return journey back through the link created by my journey, to Earth, a hundred years will pass before another man will see and hear these things. My own thought journal will be sent after the landing and my initial investigation is complete.
At the time of my leaving Mother Earth thousands of other pods had also been released into the cosmos, men and women like myself, volunteers, for lack of a better word, on a mission to save mankind. How many of those others would find a habitable world, one percent, five percent, fifty percent? It was a one way journey we had all undertaken, some may never make it to the destination that they had been programmed to, we knew the odds. The pods were based upon a new technology, a stream of total nothingness had been accidently discovered between dimensions, existing between time and space, a place where faster than light travel was possible. A chance for mankind’s salvation had been found, but where to go?
And so it was us that were chosen, to find a new home, a new beginning.

The cocoon releases me from its grasp and i can move once again, albeit within the small confines of the ship, oh my body aches and screams.
At last, because i grow impatient with every passing hour the ship finishes it's calculations and prepares to descend. Once more strapped tightly within my cocoon i await my final moments aboard the ship, within hours i will be standing on a land sixteen hundred light years from Earth.

The planet has only small seas pocked over it's earthen skin, small dots of blue scattered over a green and brown land, no oceans at all. The ship has chosen to land just below the equator near one of the seas, to the east a range of mountains marches north, west and south plains and forest meet. There is a place at the edge of the sea where mountain range, forest and plain converge.
A perfect home for a lonesome man!

At last the ship drops and a moment of ancestral fear engulfs me, but quickly passes as the excitement surges through me born on the wings of my body's secretions.

Unbound, i stand perched before the hatch, shaking. Courage comes at last and the door swings outward, i hold my breath involuntarily until at last i am forced to breathe or pass out. The air taste's sweet and just ever so slightly tinged with spice, nothing like the foul air that was strangling my home the day i left. I cannot speak, that ability was removed by the surgeons before i left, to make room for devices inserted into me, and so i think into my journal which is attached to my back.
"One small step for man..." and then i stop, it doesn’t seem right. Instead i think to myself, " Thank you Gaia for accepting me". I had decided to call this planet Gaia during orbit, the scientists at home had named it GS7. I never bothered to ask them why.
I grasped the pulse rifle by the door and stepped out onto a virgin world, unspoilt by man......until now i mused.

Those first few days i did not venture far from the ship, i erected my home from the panels stored within its skin, it would never fly again. I dug a small well using the machinery that was once a part of the ships drive. I set up a safety perimeter made of parts from the ships electronics. During those first few days i noticed small animals, mostly grazing creatures no larger than a small dog, some birds, sparrow like and some small insects. None of them bothered me or it seems showed any interest in me or my home. I didn't see any predators at all, which i guess is strange.
After a week of pulling apart the ship until it was nothing but a shell and storing its remains safely for use later i began to slowly widen my explorations in an ever increasing circle.




continued next post

[edit on 15/2/08 by mojo4sale]

It was at day twelve that i came across the ruins. Stunned i stood there for an age, just staring. Nestled between two small hills it looked like a large warehouse made of what appeared to be a local stone, polished somehow to an unnatural smoothness. The hills on either side were lightly wooded as was the area in front, i might have walked straight past and never noticed it if it wasn't for the screech of some animal from the tree's.
Gathering myself i approached within a few feet of the building, though the area around it was largely overgrown and unkempt the building itself looked as if it might have only been erected that day if it weren't for the leaves and dirt piled around its perimeter. I circled the entire thing; there were no windows and only what appeared to be one doorway. The doorway looked slightly wider than what you would expect on Earth but the height seemed no larger or smaller than needed for a man of my size. There was no handle on the door but there was a small recess just off to one side and at about chest height.
The dirt that had built up over time in front of the doorway looked to be about two or three feet deep, i dont know how long it would take for that much dirt to accumulate around something so i am unable to surmise how long the building had been unoccupied, if it was in fact unoccupied. I suddenly felt uneasy.
The day was getting late and i decided to return again tomorrow and attempt to get within.

As i approached the building again in the morning i was pleased to notice that i wasn’t apprehensive at all. I stood before the doorway and peered into the recess, it was square shaped about six inches each side and it looked to be about six inches deep. I slowly put my hand within and my fingers felt a small protuberance at the back which i pushed. Immediately the door hissed open and a rush of stale air escaped from within. Holding the rifle before me i walked slowly within. I was in a room that i judged to be the equivalent of the entire structure, it resembled some kind of temple, i was tempted to say church, but there was something distinctly unchurch like about the room. Stone benches lined the exterior of the room and a wonderful mosaic pattern covered the entire floor, a nature scene of forest and plain and strange and exotic creatures. A diffuse light was being emitted from the ceiling from metallic strips. At the far end of the room stood a large statue of a strange beast. Slightly taller than a man, with a horn rimmed pointed skull, bipedal and very muscular, it seemed vaguely birdlike and reptilian. It was wearing robes that appeared to be covered in feathers.
I stood before the statue and examined it closely, six fingers and opposable thumbs but with a talon like appearance. It’s face was elongated and what appeared to be tiny horns circled its head like a crown.
It was a masterful piece of sculpture, the detail magnificent in its fine detail.
I reached out to touch it and a searing pain sliced through my head, if i could have screamed they would have heard me back on Earth. The pain brought me to my knee’s and i had a vision of claw like fingers within my skull, prying at my thoughts, pulling apart my memories, like sandpaper on my soul. I screamed silently for what seemed like eons. Then as suddenly as the pain had come it disappeared.
From the floor i looked up in dismay, the statue was looking down at me, it’s eye’s an ebony abyss.
It’s slit like mouth did not move but i clearly heard it’s words within my mind.

“You are here, why?” It asked.

I pointed to my mouth, how could i explain that i couldn’t speak?

“Speak with your mind and i will hear and understand”

“I come from a planet very far away”

“Why?”

“Our planet is dying, we are looking for a new home”

“This is not a home”

Puzzled i thought, “I don’t understand, is this not your home”

“No this is my tomb”

Perhaps i am missing something in the translation.

“No you understand, i use your words, this planet is my tomb”.

“How can you speak to me”

“I am eternal”

“I still don’t understand”

“I was locked within this room thousands of years ago, below this statue in a stasis chamber, my mind is free to roam though my body is locked within”.

A small chill ran up my spine, why would anyone entomb a creature alive for thousands of years.

It answered and i realised that my thoughts were not my own anymore.

“The race that lived on this world lived in harmony with nature for millennia, they were advanced in science and philosophy and their world was and is a paradise. I came from the stars and landed here and lived with these people and taught them. They made me their King. I taught them the dark arts, the science of the void and they debased themselves before me”.

I shivered and the creature continued, “A group of their kind rebelled and tricked me into entering within this chamber beneath your feet and i have been entombed here ever since. After entombing me they deserted this world and fled into the stars, knowing that upon my eventual release i would hunt them down and exact my revenge”.

I found the courage to ask “But why didn’t they simply kill you?”.

“I am eternal, you could vaporise my physical form and i would merely find another host for my being. But whilst my body is alive and trapped within this chamber my mind cannot leave, but i only needed to be patient and wait and here you are”.

“What makes you think i will free you”.

“You do not need to, you have already sent a message to your home planet, in a hundred years others of your kind will arrive and they will open my tomb and i will be free to wreak my vengeance. Your people will die slowly, i will flay their bodies and their souls will burn”.

I tried to get to my feet but i couldn’t move, an evil laugh echoed through my mind.

“But why would you do this?”.

“Do you not know, it was your ancestors that entombed me”.





mojo.

Mojo, loved it!

It kept me interested and Had some excellent ideas. I liked the massage and stuff for the muscles.

Hopefully we don't end up flayed :-)

Keep up the good work.

i really liked it, it just seems that it was a forced ending though.

either way probably the best (short) story I've ever read.



Roswell.

Oh Mojo! I lived the story with you from beginning to end. This is a winner.
S@F for you.

Great idea mojo

At first I didnt want to read another long story considering that everyone seems to be posting one nowdays, but a few sentences caught my eye ("this planet is my tomb") and lured me to read the whole thing.

I really enjoyed it. Dark with a hint of poetry to it. Great flow and very descriptive.

Nice one.

Becker

Thanks guy's for the feedback. Glad you liked it.

@roswell, your probably right Ros, i think i did sort of rush the ending a bit. I felt that it was starting to get a bit long for a short story comp and i guess i rushed that last bit. But trust me if i hadnt stopped then i'd probably still be writing. lol.

Cheers mojo.

Very awesome read Mojo!! Like the visuals and descriptive details of how your body needed to be replenished with nourishment and muscles massaged. You had me all the way to the end. It might have been rushed a little bit but still loved it. I hope that if we ever find another planet that we treat it well and have the technology to live with the planet and not take from it. Star & flagged. I hope to read the rest of this sometime without the rush.

Mojo, your stories never cease to amaze me in creativity and versatility.
You truly are a worthy opponent in any writing contest.