Synopsis

The vessel shuddered, a final groan of metal before silence descended, heavy and absolute. When I opened my eyes, the familiar hum of the engines was gone, replaced by an unsettling quiet. The bridge was intact, miraculously so, but the viewport offered no comforting sight of stars or familiar constellations. Instead, an alien landscape stretched out before me – a vista of violet sand under a sky of swirling emerald clouds. I ventured out, the gravity subtly different, lighter somehow. The ai