Wake up on a strange new world.

I strapped myself from my chair and rushed over to my sister. “Emily!” I shouted shaking her, “Emily wake up!” For a moment I was afraid I had lost her, that I had failed to protect the last member of my family. But then her eyes slowly fluttered open and my heart started beating again.

“Julie?” she groaned, looking at me with groggy eyes, “What…What happened.”

“There was an explosion,” I told her, “Kyle was able to get us to an escape pod and launched us towards New Eden.”

“Kyle?” her eyes suddenly went wide, “Kyle! Where is he?!”

I lightly pressed her back into the chair and hushed her before she hurt herself. “I don’t know,” I told her, “But I’m not about to make assumptions about his fate.”

I helped Emily out of her chair, removing the straps, and prying her stiff body out of the chair. Once I made sure that she was okay, I made my way to the hatch and looked for the release. Next to the hatch I saw a lever along with a green light with the word safe imprinted on the glass, probably letting me know that the air was safe to breathe.

I then grabbed the lever and, with some effort, pulled it down. I heard the sound of the bolt popping, fallowed by the hiss of pressurized air escaping the crack. My sister and I then gave the hatch a hard push and shoved it off of the pod. We shielded our eyes as a bright blinding light struck us in the face, until our eyes were able to adjust.

The world we saw before us was massive and tropical, with trees reaching as high as the stars and colorful plants dotting the ground. I was a beautiful sight to behold. “It’s so pretty!” my sister cued.

I was inclined to agree with her. This world has clearly been untouched by man or any other intelligent race. “Remember, Emily. Those plants are probably colorful for a reason,” I told her. I remembered our father telling us that I you could see nature, then it probably wants you to see it. Emily nodded before heading back into the pod to search for supplies.

Near the back of the pod we found a storage locker with some basic supplies, such as a flare gun, a rain coat, flashlights, a shovel, several different types of fire starting kits, a knife and stone, a first aide kit, enough food and water rations to last a month, and a scanner to help us find more food. We also found an oxygen mask along with some hot and cold weather gear, but I didn’t think we were going to need those any time soon.

Close to the supply cabinet we found what would possibly be our salvation, an emergency beacon. Even better it didn’t look all that complicated to use, all we had to do was flick the on switch and any ship within a hundred light years would know where we were.

Eager for some one to find us, I grabbed the beacon and started working it out of its container when I felt my sister tugging on my arm. “Julie wait!” she cried, “What if the Tyrusiens find us?”

I froze and slowly moved my hand away from the on switch. She was right, what if there were Tyrusien ships nearby, or worse, one in orbit right now. For all we knew we were shot down by a Tyrusien war ship. If I set off the beacon right now, they could find us, kill us, and eat us. Or worse, impregnate us. But at the same time, what if there was an Earth ship nearby or survivors. If I don’t turn it on they would never find us.