an act or instance of choosing; selection:
Her choice of a computer was made after months of research. His parents were not happy with his choice of friends.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/choices
Blue, I often wonder how I got here, in predicaments like this, amber. I wondered if it was my life choices, blue. My own stupidity, amber. Maybe I just don’t think before I act, blue. Maybe I think too much, amber. I could be just very unlucky, blue. Oh, or maybe I am just unqualified, amber. I was definitely unprepared this time.
The SRV ricocheted off the ground.
The last mapping probe sent its data back from ZUNUAE PD-A D1-3858 1 A, it was time to catalogue some biologicals. Four biologicals, one of which I had never heard of before so the excitement was prematurely rising. As for the planet itself, it was the usual I had come to expect on this leg of the expedition, dry rocky body with a smidgen of metal.
We poked through planets aura and the the sky lit up pale blue, the core stars twinkling away as if a figure skater had set their jacket as the back drop, to the stage play that will be my adventure.
I disembarked on foot to get a lay of the land, before employing the use of the Scarab. Looking back up at the Hiraeth as she stood there, patiently, the dust playing around her ankles. Time for a selfie I thought, being a fan of all things 21st century, I took my camera drone in hand, stretched out my arm, the lens facing me, my traveling companion at my back and pressed the oddly labelled “Take” button.
ZUNUAE PD-A D1-3858 1 A, appeared to be a warren of hill and steep sided valleys. Depending on what I find, I think a trip back here may be in order just practice my SRV driving skills. I jumped into the SRV and headed down into a nearby hollow choosing my descent carefully. It was relatively quickly the planet’s flora began to show itself, not even five minutes away from the flat landing area. Tussock Pennatis, stood everywhere and growing in amongst the rocks Frutexa Fera.
Travelling along the valley floor I had made it to the mouth of the pass, with no signs of any additional biologicals. I took to my feet and and wandered along what remained of the valley walls. After a slight rise, another gorge snaked off into the distance with mountains rising high into the glittering sky.
On further investigation in the SRV, the connecting snaking gorge was more like the serpent’s tongue with it being the cross roads between three additional passes. two rising up from either side and continuing off towards the mountains.
I took a short detour into the gully to my left, but found nothing other than flowerless Tussocks. These did look quite splendid in the bright yellow light coming from the nearby star.
My prescribed route, came to an abrupt end when the ground opened up into a chasmous void before me. If I were a betting man, I would have taken a run up and used the Scarab’s thrusters to punch over to the other side. But taking a lesson from ATHAIP PK-B B47-14 C 4 I tucked tail and looked for a safer passage.
Luck was on my side, heading up a narrow gully in the valley wall I stumbled upon a hollow with biological signals in the bottom. Concha Labiata, these were. I got busy scanning, as per usual I would now be chasing the dying light in the search for bacteria.
The difficulty in searching for bacteria specimens, is that the majority of the time they are usually a variation on colour of the dirt they are growing in. My search took me high and low, gully to mountain top.
So focussed on my bacteria forage, I neglected the ever increasing messages on the SRV view screen. Now a new light I had never ever noticed before
illuminated. With that a warning flashed over my view screen. “Fuel Low 5%”. I brought the Scarab to a halt, and proceeded to navigate through the myriad of menus on in control panels. All I needed to do was synthesise some fuel and I could get back to the task at hand.
After some time shouting and screaming at no one and rolling around in rage. I picked myself up off the floor of the cockpit and began to scour the radar readouts. Sulphur, I needed one more unit of sulphur to synthesise some fuel, just one stinking, bloody unit.
In an effort to conserve what juice I had left, I set out on foot to see if I could find an outcrop or mineral deposit of some sort. Not finding anything suitable nearby I sent out the drone. It didn’t take long, just over the brow a small hill, wan an outcrop perched next to a ravine that lead into flat plain. At the opening of that plain the fading light underscored a patchwork of spiral shapes in ground, I think I had found my bacteria.
All I needed to do was get back to the SRV, get to the outcrop, mine it, synthesise more fuel and get down to the valley floor before loosing too much light.
Rolling the SRV forward, in an effort to save time, I opened the cargo hatch and deployed the plasma repeaters. Blasting the outcrop on my approach, mineral nuggets ejected into the air, the COVAS identified these as two iron and one sulphur. The computer locked on to the sulphur.
The planet’s low gravity allowed the mineral samples to glide back down, unfortunately this also allowed them time to creep further down the valley incline. The much precious sulphur hit the ground and bounced back up and ever nearer the edge.
Continuing with my forward trajectory, I punched the SRV’s throttle to full.
As I spun through the air, I heard the satisfying sound of the mineral sample being caught by the cargo scoop.
Flashes of the amber ground, blue sky, ground, sky again as I hurtled towards the valley floor. My mind wandered, do I just not plan far enough ahead? Will this be the time the SRV explodes?
The SRV landed on its wheels, the suspension nearly giving up as the rock below scraped the underside of the hull. Entering into an uncontrollable spin, i left gravity to take it course and released my stony grip on the throttle.
After the pounding from the centrifugal forces subsided, I started the fuel synthesis. Once more opening the throttle, I was dashing into the embers of the failing light… looking for bacteria.
The Javi Times 