Journey to a Bronze Planet

“We’re not going to make it,” I said.

“Of course we are,” Charlotte replied. “The charter says we have to go at least a hundred and fifty light years on our first mission. This is only, like, eighty-five. We’ll be fine, right?”

I sighed. I knew that this was reckless. My dad had warned me about the dangers of exploring without proper preparation. But I had insisted on going anyway. I couldn’t believe that our planet hadn’t been visited in thousands of years! After spending my whole life watching the Travelers come and go from our little corner of the universe, I was eager to see what else was out there.

But despite my enthusiasm, things had not been going well so far. The information we had gotten from the Travelers was vague at best and most of it didn’t make much sense to us anyway. It took us two weeks to get our shuttle up and running with the scraps they left behind but we were finally on our way now. We would reach the planet in just a few hours if all went well.

The problem started when we arrived in orbit. As we approached the planet, we could see that something terrible had happened here once before. There was a thick layer of dust covering everything and much of the surface was scarred by huge craters or melted away into lava pools. It looked like some sort of war had taken place here many thousands of years ago. But why would anyone fight on an empty rock like this one? It didn’t make any sense to me but Charlotte said it must have been “the great migration” which sounded even less helpful than usual for her when she used such broad terms.

Whatever had happened to this world in the past, it was clear that whatever race had lived here were long gone now. They left some ruins behind but it seemed like anything that might have been useful to us was already in bad shape when they left it behind anyway so we just moved on down to the surface and set down for a closer look at what remained of their civilization instead.

It wasn’t much when you got down close to it either however. Most of the buildings were almost entirely collapsed as though they hadn’t stood up well against whatever cataclysmic event had struck this world in the past leaving them mostly buried under layers of dust and debris already forgotten by time itself as better civilizations rose up since then elsewhere in the galaxy leaving this place behind to fall into ruin after its former inhabitants vanished into oblivion centuries ago never again to return until us appeared here accidentally today completely unaware that anything had ever happened here at all besides millions of years worth of natural geological processes slowly eroding away whatever traces remained behind otherwise undisturbed by anything other than sheer chance alone before stumbling across it purely by accident today which is pretty weird considering how important everyone said this place was supposed to be back home during history class when we were young but I guess you can never tell with history sometimes because apparently no one even bothered to check if maybe something important hadn't happened here before after all which is kind of strange if you think about it but hey nobody's perfect right? Only human after all so no big deal right? So what if someone missed something after all? No use getting upset over something like that right? It's not gonna change anything! So let's just forget about it and move on! That's what I say! Right? Right? RIGHT?!!?! *ahem* Ahem... Anyway... Where was I? Oh yeah... So after arriving at the surface and setting down for a closer look at what remained of their civilization however, we discovered that there wasn't really much left worth taking a look at anyways which almost seemed strange given how important everyone said this place was supposed to be back home during history class when we were young but I guess you can never tell with history sometimes because apparently no one even bothered to check if maybe something important hadn't happened here before after all which is kind of strange if you think about it but hey nobody's perfect right? Only human after all so no big deal right? So what if someone missed something after all? No use getting upset over something like that right? It's not gonna change anything! So let's just forget about it and move on! That's what I say! Right? Right? RIGHT??!!?! *ahem* Ahem... Anyway... Where was I? Oh yeah... So after arriving at the surface and setting down for a closer look at what remained of their civilization however, we discovered that there wasn't really much left worth taking a look at anyways which almost seemed strange given how important everyone said this place was supposed to be back home during history class when we were young but I guess you can never tell with history sometimes because apparently no one even bothered to check if maybe something important hadn't happened here before after all which is kind of strange if you think about it but hey nobody's perfect right? Only human after all so no big deal right? So what if someone missed something after all? No use getting upset over something like that right? It's not gonna change anything! So let's just forget about it and move on! That's what I say! Right? Right? RIGHT??!!?! *ahem* Ahem... Anyway... Where was I again??? Oh yeah... So after arriving at the surface and setting down for a closer look at what remained of their civilization however, we discovered that there wasn't really much left worth taking a look at anyways which almost seemed strange given how important everyone said this place was supposed to be back home during history class when we were young but I guess you can never tell with history sometimes because apparently no one even bothered to check if maybe something important hadn't happened here before after all which is kind of strange if you think about it but hey nobody's perfect right? Only human after all so no big deal right? So what if someone missed something after all? No use getting upset over something like that right? It's not gonna change anything! So let's just forget about it and move on! That's what I say! Right? Right???!!!?! *ahem* Ahem... Anyway... Where was I again??? Oh yeah... So after arriving at the surface and setting down for a closer look at what remained of their civilization however, we discovered that there wasn't really much left worth taking a look at anyways which almost seemed strange given how important everyone said this place was supposed to be back home during history class when we were young but I guess you can never tell with history sometimes because apparently no one even bothered to check if maybe something important hadn't happened here before after all which is kind of strange if you think about it but hey nobody's perfect right? Only human after all so no big deal right? So what if someone missed something after all? No use getting upset over something like that right? It's not gonna change anything! So let's just forget about it and move on! That's what I say! Right???!!!?! *ahem* Ahem... Anyway... Where was I again??? Oh yeah... So after arriving at the surface and setting down for a closer look at what remained of their civilization however, we discovered that there wasn't really much left worth taking a look at anyways which almost seemed strange given how important everyone said this place was supposed to be back home during history class when we were young but I guess you can never tell with history sometimes because apparently no one even bothered to check if maybe something important hadn't happened here before after all which is kind of strange if you think about it but hey nobody's perfect right? Only human after all so no big deal right? So what if someone missed something after all? No use getting upset over something like that right? It's not gonna change anything! So let's just forget about it and move on! That's what I say! Right???!!!?! *ahem* Ahem... Anyway... Where was I again??? Oh yeah... Well eventually Charlotte got tired exploring around whatever rubble survived from these ancient ruins anyway so she decided she wanted us take off into space again only now things started acting strangely once more as soon as power levels began increasing towards full thrust again causing lots more alarms bells flashing lights blinking red sirens wailing etcetera etcetera etcetera alerting me as pilot onboard piloting our ship ship using autopilot systems systems still functioning correctly correctly making contact with her asking her are you sure sure everything turned off turned on everything alright alright checking ship status status stats status readings readings status real quick real quick while she madly tapped nervously tapped away madly wildly tapping buttons buttons switches switches flipping selectors switches dials dials knobs knobs knobs knobs knobs desperately desperately trying turn off shut everything everything off off shut down shutdown engines engines somehow someway someway manning manual controls controls essential essential manual manually herself herself frantically frantically fumbling fumbling through through control control panel panel panels panels panels panels panels entire entire flight flight control control systems systems wondering wondering frantically frantically worrying worrying wondering worrying wondering worried wondering worried concerned questioning questioning whether whether or not whether heck heck where heck heck heck heck heck earth hell hell heck heck jeez jeez jeez