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Chapter One
Tayla
Gravel crunched under the heel of my boot and little puffs of dust rose, only to fall slowly back to the ground, suspended in the low gravity. Breathing hard, I made the last few feet to the top of the ridge and looked out over the expansive landscape. Gazing toward the horizon, my breath caught in my throat and tears sprang to my eyes, threatening to spill over. This was it. My life’s work.
“Wow.” Alec threw an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into a companionable hug. “You really did it, huh?”
All I could do was nod slowly, taking it all in.
This was TerraOrb 5, a fledgling planet grown from nothing more than a little organic matter and a whole lot of love. And I, Doctor Tayla Ingress, was the pioneer of the project. For nearly a decade, I had worked for a solution to Earth’s overcrowding problem, after, one night, an idea had struck me. What if I could replicate the early formation of planets inside a controlled environment? And what if I could do it in such a way that the newly formed planets would follow Earth’s orbit closely enough to replicate the habitable conditions we humans are accustomed to?
I had to admit, even I didn’t think it was possible. For years, my team and I had tried to perfect the recipe for organic growth before we finally hit upon a winner. But then we had another problem. Once we got the formation of the planet started, we still needed to induce an atmosphere.
To date, my team had managed to launch twelve orbs into space. This, Orb 5, was the first planet to give us hope.
Sure, it might have seemed a little hasty for me to jump on the first shuttle I could find, abandoning my apartment and everything in it to chase my dream, but this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Besides, other than my colleagues at the lab, it’s not like anyone was going to miss me while I was gone, and who could blame me for wanting to take a little vacation after so much time spent in my lab?
Even if it was a working vacation.
“Let’s set up the equipment here,” I said at last, having found words when my eyes simply couldn’t process any more of the untouched vastness before me.
“Here?” Alec asked. “We’ve barely left the ship. Don’t you think we should do a little exploring before we settle in?”
I could see the glimmer of excitement in his eyes, the thrill of being part of history in the making. I chewed my lip, thinking over his request.
“We make camp here,” I said firmly. “This ridge gives us a perfect view of the surroundings, and if anything goes wrong, we can get back to the ship quickly enough. Besides,” I said, giving him a wink before his expression could become too crestfallen, “who wants to lug all this heavy equipment around while we’re exploring?”
At that, he gave me a brief smile and set to work. There were a dozen or so suitcases and rolling crates packed with delicate equipment. All of it was designed to measure the conditions of the rapidly building atmosphere to determine whether the air was breathable. Until we had a definitive answer, Alec and I were forced to keep oxygen masks on and limit our oxygen usage. We only had enough to get us through a few weeks. If we still didn’t have positive test results by then, we’d have to jump ship and head back to Earth for a resupply.
It took a few trips to haul all the gear from the ship and get it set up, and by the time we finished, the sun was setting. My colleagues Earth-side were seeing it all from a different vantage point. In Orb 5’s murky green atmosphere, the sunset featured fewer pinks and purples, and turned the sky a milky-gray instead.
“Well, we can work on that.” I abandoned the overlook to help Alec wrestle our tent up the rugged slope.
Together, we assembled the canopy and staked it down to the ground.
“Is this really necessary?” Alec grumbled. “I mean, there’s not even a light breeze. In fact, the weather’s so nice, I thought maybe we could sleep out under the stars tonight!”
I glanced sideways at him, an amused smile crossing my lips.
“Until we know what we’re up against, we shouldn’t be taking any unnecessary risks.”
Again, he looked hurt at being shot down, but I patted him on the back.
“Don’t worry. Once we have the test results, you can spend every night under the stars for all I care. But for this first night, we stay in the ship, and we make sure our equipment is properly protected.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he moaned, rolling his eyes.
Back home, I had a reputation as a hard-ass. My lab, my rules. Here, I’d found myself begrudgingly enjoying Alec’s company, listening to his ideas and laughing at his witty remarks.
A shimmer in the sky caught my eye. Shielding my eyes, I squinted, as if that might help me see the source of the glinting light. A reflection of some sort. That shouldn’t be there. I kept staring.
“Alec?” I whispered. “Alec!”
He rushed to my side, skidding in the loose gravel and almost toppling over before he came to a halt beside me.
“Look!” I said, pointing at the sky.
His eyes grew wide, and I was just about to ask what it could be when he screamed and grabbed my arm.
