Lust in Space Pt. 01

I laid back in my bed, trying to ignore the pangs of hunger in my belly. I felt crabby, frustrated, and more than anything... I felt exhausted. Going without food for the last three days had robbed me of my strength, and our situation didn't seem like it would improve anytime soon.

Today marked the 32nd day since our spaceship had run out of fuel. We had been able to hold out for several weeks with our food reserves, but without power to keep our systems online the food production systems had stopped functioning.

We had enough water to last us for another month, but the battery keeping the air filtration online would only last another few weeks at most before that gave out, too.

The situation was looking more and more grim, and it was getting hard not to sink into despair.

My twin Angie was still trying to think of ways out of our predicament, something I had already given up on. We had no fuel, we had no food, and we had no way to get either of them. There weren't any outposts nearby, nor were there any settled planets recorded in the vicinity.

Weeks ago, not long after we ran out of fuel, I had asked my dad what had happened and he had just looked accusingly over at my mom, who sighed dramatically.

"Look, I miscalculated, okay? I didn'trealizethat the last outpost we stopped at would be out of fuel. How was I supposed to know that?? I thought we would at least come across another ship to ask for a trade or something, but we've had no luck."

"Don't you know that you're always supposed to keep enough fuel on hand to get you between refill stations? You can't always count on outposts to have the supplies you want," Dad retorted, and Mom stuck her tongue out at him.

"I tried to butsomeonedidn't give me enough credits in the budget for that. I can't make fuel appear out of nowhere, and I have to have a way to pay for it."

Dad sighed and gave up on replying, clearly trying to stop the argument before it got any worse. We had all been crabby without any of our entertainment systems online, so we had been bickering more and more often; and that was before our food ran out.

Even Angie and I, who almost never argued, had been getting into little spats over the last few days; neither one of us was tolerating the hunger very well. We'd been on restricted diets already to preserve our food rations, but even doing that wasn't enough to make the supplies last forever.

"Cynthia!" said Angie's excited voice from the doorway and I turned to look at her as she burst into the room, her face aglow. "Cynthia, I found something! Come look!" she said excitedly, rousing me from my sleepy stupor.

"What is it?" I asked hazily, and she grabbed my hand to start tugging me up from the bed.

"C'mon, come look!" she said, seeming unwilling to explain further.

I sighed and sat up slowly. My body felt sluggish and heavy as if I had lead anchors tied to my limbs, weighing me down.

"Do wehaveto?" I asked. "I'm tired, Angie," I said, even as I rose to my feet and steadied myself by grabbing the frame of the top bunk- Angie's bed.

"Trust me, it'll be worth it. Come with me," she said, her voice not losing its excitement in spite of my lack of enthusiasm.

I sighed and grumbled to express my irritation but still did as she asked, following her through the hall and to the observation deck.

"What is it?" I asked again, and she grinned.

"Look!" she said, pointing down at a nearby planet.

I walked over to the view port and frowned, not sure what she was so excited about. "Uh... okay? I see a planet. We've passed by a lot of them, Angie. They're all barren and uninhabited."

She nodded. "I know, but I don't think this one is!" she said, her grin only growing. "Look!" she reiterated, pointing again.

I tried to look where she was pointing, and after a moment I saw what she was talking about- although the planet appeared rocky and barren, there was some sort of massive structure, visible even from far beyond the planet's orbit.

"Whatisthat?" I asked, perplexed. It was a strangely-shaped structure, like some sort of irregular polygon. I had no idea what it might be, but it was clear that it wasn't a naturally-occurring structure. Someone- or something- had created it. Which might mean that they could help us!

It wasn't much to go on, but it was better than the despair and hopelessness I had been wallowing in since we had run out of food.

"Well... have you told Mom and Dad?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"No, I wanted to show you first and see what you thought."

"Well, it... I don't know what it is, but... clearly it was created, right?" I asked, and she nodded her agreement.

"Yeah, I think so too! So, that might mean that we can get some sort of help, or that we can scavenge something useful. It has to be better than starving or suffocating to death, don't you think?"

I nodded, and she grinned. "Okay, let's talk to Mom and Dad, then," she said, racing off to their room. I started following after her but I quickly realized I was too dizzy to get far, so I just sat down on a stool instead, and I waited for her to inevitably come back and show them.

Sure enough, a few minutes later Angie appeared in the doorway with Mom and Dad, and I noticed that our brother, Kieran, followed them in.

"Look!" she said, seeming to have explained no more to them than she did to me, based on their confused expressions.

They looked to where she was pointing and frowned.

"See that structure? Cynthia agrees with me, we think it had to be made, right?"

"I mean, sure, but I don't see any signs of life on that planet. Maybe it's just ruins," Mom suggested.

"It could be," Dad agreed. "I... don't know if there's any way to know without our scanning systems."

"Why don't we go down there and check?" Angie asked as if it were the obvious choice; Mom and Dad exchanged wary glances.

"Well... it's not listed as a planet that's inhabited by any known sentient species, so... I don't know what good it would do for us to go down there. If there's no one still there, we would have wasted the last energy on our ship to get stuck on some long-abandoned or long-dead alien world," Mom reasoned.

"So what if there's no one there? Someone clearly made that structure, so maybe they left some sort of supplies there!" Angie reasoned. "I know it's a risk, but if we don't take it, what's the alternative? Just... all dying here together and drifting in space forever?"

"You make a good point," Dad said, seeming to mull it over in his mind. "Do we even have enough energy left to make the landing?" he asked Mom, and she nodded hesitantly, as if she didn't want to answer.

"Yeah, we do. Just barely. But if we land, there will be no energy left. Not even enough for air filtration. We don't know anything about the atmosphere of that planet," she added.

"But it does have one," Angie said pointedly, refusing to be dissuaded from her hope. "That's at least something, right?"

Mom nodded again, still seeming unconvinced. "I... I'm not sure if it's a good idea. There's just too many unknowns, and we have no guarantee that we'll even find anything useful," she said, but Angie just shrugged, completely nonplussed.

"I... can't really think of any alternatives," Kieran said quietly.

"I think it's the best idea we've got," I said, and Angie nodded approvingly at me. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to die without at least trying. This is the first hope we've had in weeks, so it feels foolish to pass up the opportunity. It may not work out, and we may die, but at least we'll have done everything we could, right? We already know that if we do nothing, wewilldie," I added.

Angie nodded again, seeming pleased to have my support, and our dad slowly nodded his head in agreement.

Mom sighed. "Well, if you all agree, I... guess we will, then," she said. "Everyone, prepare to land. I really hope they have oxygen," she added, and I nodded my agreement.

Mom and Dad made their way to the cockpit while Angie, Kieran and I hung back so we could continue to look out and observe as we approached.

After several minutes, I heard the sound of the engines kicking on for the first time in over a month.

It didn't take long before the ship started to reroute, suddenly heading toward the planet in the distance. As we got closer, I could see that the massive structure was even bigger than it had first appeared, and I realized it had to be miles across.

We drifted into the orbit of the planet and descended down, landing on the barren field near one of the edges of the structure. And true to Mom's word, only about 15 seconds after we landed, the engines sputtered and died only moments before I heard ventilation system shut down, too. The emergency lights we'd been using to get around shut off, leaving Cynthia, Kieran, and I sitting in the dark room, only dimly lit by the faint glow from the window. I wasn't sure if it was nighttime or if the planet didn't get bright the same way our home planet did.

"What now?" I asked, and Angie shrugged.

"Now... we wait. Mom will run tests to see if the air is safe before we try to go out," she said. "We just... have to wait for them to let us know."

"I hope this was worth it," Kieran muttered. "What if there's nothing here?"

I sighed. "I hope they have lots of food," I mused, trying to think optimistically.

Angie pulled me into a tight hug. "I hope so too," she said, placing a quick kiss on my cheek.

It was only a few minutes later before Mom rushed into the room. "Well, at least we landed somewhere with a safe atmosphere. I don't see any signs of vegetation or anything, so I'm still not sure that there will be anything here for us, but I guess it's worth going out to look."

Angie and I nodded enthusiastically before my siblings and I followed after her as she led us to the ship's entry port, where Dad was waiting for us. Without a word, Mom began the slow process of manually opening the hatch. Normally our system would open and close it with no problem, but without power the door had to be unsealed and opened manually.

It was nearly 5 minutes before she had it open, and it became obvious that there was little in sight for miles other than the massive structure. There were some small hills and in the distance and it looked like there might be some mountains, but all around was completely devoid of life.

When we left the ship, we were able to get a slightly better idea of the size of the gigantic structure- and I was completely awestruck. It was made out of a smooth material that looked metallic and it was so massive that I couldn't even get a proper idea of its size from this vantage point; it was by far the biggest building I had ever seen- if you could even call it a building. I didn't know if it had any doors since the only thing I could see was a tall, smooth, reflective wall.

Angie walked right up to it and started banging on the wall. "Hey, is anyone there?" she called, and I was filled with a sudden sense of dread.

What if we met someone who was hostile? I'd been so lost in the hope for survival that I'd not really stopped to think about all of the things that could go wrong.

"A-Angie," I said, putting my hand on her arm. "I'm not so sure that's..." I started to say, but I trailed off and squeezed Angie's arm as I saw a big section of the wall slide up, leaving a large hole in the wall several meters away from us.

I was filled with a sudden terror of what unknown awaited us inside.

My brother and my parents quickly made their way over to us and we huddled together, waiting in agonizing silence as... nothing happened.

We waited for a few minutes without a word before Angie muttered "Uhh, hello?" under her breath, and I giggled out of nervousness.

"Shhhhh," Mom said hastily, trying to keep us quiet.

"Why?" Angie whispered. "Nothing is happening."

Mom rolled her eyes and whispered "They clearly know we're here. We should be cautious so we don't offend them or accidentally trigger some sort of trap," she said, and Angie rolled her eyes but stayed quiet as she was asked.

Another few minutes passed before Dad turned to us. "Maybe we're supposed to go inside?" he asked us and Angie and I shrugged back at him.

We cautiously walked toward the opening in the wall, Dad leading us with a guarded expression, so I couldn't tell what he was thinking. Was he afraid, too? If so, he wasn't really showing it.

As we neared the opening, I felt myself start trembling, and Angie took my hand to comfort me (or perhaps herself). I couldn't really get a good look inside until we got close, and when I did I was shocked to see that there was a strange, tall, lithe-looking creature that stood on four legs. It was like nothing I had ever seen before and I was almost at a loss for how to describe it properly.

It had smooth grey skin from its head down to its muscular legs which terminated in what looked like paws of some sort. It had a long body that curved upward, almost like a centaur from old mythology stories I had once seen back on Earth, but instead of a horse and human, it just looked... well, alien. The creature's lower body looked similar to a spider, while the upper part of the torso was broad and half-covered in some sort of small spikes. It looked almost like something between a reptilian and an insectoid creature.

It had 2 arms ending in hands with long fingers, making it look vaguely humanoid (aside from the strange torso-shape). The face was surprisingly normal for how alien the creature looked; it had a mouth, no nose, and four eyes that were laid out in a diamond shape.

"Hello," Dad said cautiously, and the creature blinked all four of its eyes at once. "We need help. Do you understand us?" he asked, and it blinked again but otherwise didn't respond.

Dad carefully took a step forward, and the creature didn't seem to acknowledge his movement except for more blinks of its eyes. When the creature showed no signs of aggression, he took another step forward, and then another. Eventually he was standing right at the entrance in the wall, only about 10 paces away from the creature.

There, Dad seemed to hesitate, unsure of whether or not he should continue, so the rest of us moved forward to join him, and we all stood before the entryway, observing in silence.

Except for Angie, who stepped forward into the opening before anyone could stop her.

"A-Angie!" I cried, and I started forward after her, but Mom grabbed my hand to stop me from following after my twin.

I was filled with terror for Angie's well-being, but the feeling was short-lived; it was quickly quelled when I heard her start giggling.

"I know, right?" she said, sounding amused, as if she was replying to something I hadn't heard.

"Wh-what?" I asked, my fear turning to confusion.

"Oh, so you can understand us!" she said, and the creature blinked at her.

She turned back to look at us, a wide grin on her face. "Guys, get in here already," she said, rolling her eyes impatiently.

I was the first to follow in after her, and this time Mom released my hand, allowing me to move forward. Kieran followed after me, and my parents trailed in last, seeming the most hesitant to enter.

"Welcome," said a quiet voice that I somehow knew I wasn't actually hearing with my ears. "What sort of help do you require?" it asked. Was it the creature speaking? I could only assume so, but it felt so strange that I wasn't sure what to make of it.

"Our ship is out of fuel and we haven't eaten for days," Dad said, and the creature blinked.

"What fuel is required? What do you consume for nourishment?" the voice asked, and I shivered slightly.

The voice was gentle, but it was unsettling to hear it directly in my mind. There was no intonation of any kind, which made the voice feel very strange and uncomfortable.

"Our ship ideally needs a nuclear core, but it is also capable of using combustible-" Mom started to say.

"We'll eat anything," Angie interrupted. "Please, I'll take anything you've got, I'mstarving," she said, and the creature only blinked back.

"Follow me," said the voice, speaking into our minds once again.

"No," Mom said stubbornly, and the creature blinked at her. "We have no idea who you are and this could very easily be a trap. Girls, think about it," she said, looking at Angie and I, trying to appeal to us. "Why did the wall open up almost as soon as we got out of the ship? It's almost like it was trying to lure us in," she said, her voice accusatory.

The creature blinked and the voice spoke again, emotionless and smooth. "Your caution is unwarranted. I have no intention of harming you. I let you in because you requested assistance."

"Okay, but why didn't you say anything until we came inside?" she asked, and the creature blinked back.

"I spoke to you as soon as you left your vessel. You were unable to hear me until you entered our dwelling."

"Why?" Mom asked, still sounding suspicious.

"The material of the walls is reflective of telepathic communications. It amplifies them within the structure and prevents them from traveling outside of it."

Mom frowned thoughtfully. "How do we know you won't hurt us?"

"You do not," the voice said, still with no emotion or tone of any kind. "You are free to leave if you do not wish for assistance."

Angie rolled her eyes at our mom. "Oh, come on, Mom. If it was going to hurt us, why wouldn't it have already done so? Plus, what other choices do we have?" she asked, and Mom sighed, silently admitting her defeat.

Angie turned back to the creature. "So, uh, you have food?" she asked hopefully.

"Follow me," the voice said again, and this time the creature moved for the first time. It turned surprisingly gracefully and started walking down what looked like a long corridor. From the inside, it was clear that the material of the walls was actually closer to some sort of glass than a metal, as you could see through it to the outside. Whatever the material was, it was only reflective from the outside.

We followed the creature as it moved down the corridor. Angie was fearlessly following in the creature's steps, and I walked alongside her, trying to be brave, too.

I couldn't help but notice that the wall closed behind us as we started to move away from it, and I wondered if that meant we were still free to leave... I tried to shrug away the thought. Like Angie had said, we didn't really have any better choices.

Although the outside of the structure was massive, it didn't take an especially long time to get to a large room with strange fruits and vegetables laid out on a table with no chairs.

"This is nourishment that our kind grows," the voice said in our minds. "We will speak further after you have eaten your fill. These foods are non-toxic to most species," it added, and Mom rolled her eyes.

"Oh, that's real reassuring," she said sarcastically. "Mostspecies," she repeated, and Angie shrugged.

"I'd rather die from eating than starving," she said pragmatically, and she reached forward to pluck a small fruit that looked like some sort of light-pink berry off the table.

She popped it into her mouth and bit down, grimacing immediately. "Well, maybe not eatingthat," she said, chewing it up and swallowing it reluctantly. "Okay, got it. The pink berries are super sour and not delicious at all."

Without hesitating, she reached out and grabbed some sort of larger, yellow fruit that looked almost like an apple from the table. She bit into it and moaned with pleasure. "Okay, but these are todiefor," she said, holding one out to me.

I grabbed it and bit into it, relishing the sweet and tangy flavor. It was almost like an orange in flavor, but the texture was more like that of a tomato. It was very juicy and full of small seeds that were easy to swallow.