Edit: Hi, there! I have decided to put this story on hold until after Astroneer's 1.0 release. I might get it back up again soon, but no guarantees. I am NOT abandoning this project. I still have so many ideas and stories to share. I just would rather wait until the game is complete, so I won't have to change stuff around and backtrack too often. Thank you for your patience.

Chapter 1

Landfall

Somewhere in a dark room floating through the cosmos, a cryo-stasis pod hatch opened with a 'hiss' and a young man stumbled out and fell to his knees. He then crumpled over and coughed for a minute for his throat was very dry and his legs and arms were very sore. He had a pounding headache and a ringing in his ears. He lay there in his weakness for a while. "What the heck is going on? Where am I? Who am I?" he thought. His mind was a swirling mess.

He was wearing a light blue jumpsuit, had short brown hair, and had bright green eyes.

Eventually, his strength came back to him and his headache and the ringing stopped. With all his might, he got up and looked around.

He was in a cylinder shaped room with no windows and white metallic walls. There was the stasis pod he just came from on one end, a large monitor on the right wall, some large crates against the other and a large door on the other end. There were other terminals and computers on the walls too. The man tried to remember where he was but nothing came to him. He didn't even know who he was.

He cautiously walked to the large, thin, monitor and touched a small 'A' shaped icon in the corner of the screen. The screen came to life and showed a play icon. The man reached up and hesitated for a moment before tapping the icon. The logo of 'Exo Dynamics' came up on screen and a loud company jingle played. The man winced from the loud sound in the otherwise silent room.

"Greetings, Commander!" the voiceover on the video played. The voice sounded like the stereotypical car salesman or company CEO. "Exo Dynamics presents, solar system LEST3R 36B!" The display showed an animation of a star system with several planets orbiting a star. An icon labeled with "You Are Here" was orbiting a planet.

"We know you may not remember much right now, but your memories should come back soon. Our stasis process can sometimes temporarily erase memories." The man watched the video and raised an eyebrow.

"To get you up to speed, the year is 2512 EST(Earth Standard Time). Your name is Commander Nick and you are 20 years old. You are our top-rated 'astroneer'. Trained by the best to be the best astronaut there can be! And by 'we' I mean Exo Dynamics. We built the ship you're in now and we got you and your crew here safely. We also invented and designed most of the equipment you'll be using.

"I'm in space? I'm in space?! Why don't I feel weightless then?" Did I sign up for this? Ugh, I'm thirsty." thought the man, apparently called Nick.

"You and your team are going on the adventure of a lifetime!" the video continued. "To explore the solar system and prepare for further habitation and eventually, large-scale industry. That's what it means to be an astroneer! You're currently in orbit around a planet we've nicknamed "Terran". It's the most habitable of all the planets in this solar system. You'll start here and then build up a base and prepare for departure to the other planets, and then explore them." Nick was getting tired of the far too excited and bubbly CEO presentation voice.

"Exo Dynamics will supply your tools and equipment to get started and will support you along the way. Please check behind you in those crates to find your space suit and Terrain Deformation Tool(TDT)." The screen showed schematics of a space suit and some other weird tools an devices.

Nick walked over to the crates and found one with what looked like space suit icon on it. He pushed the large green button on the top and the crate flew open. Inside was a white space suit with blue strips on the shoulder pads, legs and the helmet and a shiny gold visor. The was a life support control pack on the chest with a few large yellow air tubes running from it to the helmet. It had large lights on the side of the helmet for working in the dark. Something looked familiar about the suit, but it was too fuzzy to make a connection. Like in a forgotten dream.

There was also a large suit EVA backpack that looked like it could attach to the back of his suit. It had many red slots on it and little gizmos and gadgets all over it. This he did not recognize and he had no idea how to use it.

The video continued to play. "An AI assistant will accompany you and your crew on your endeavors. They will assist in decision making and instruct on how to use your equipment. Decisions are ultimately up to you, but the AI can provide some useful information. There should be enough food and supplies to last you and your team for about a month. After that, your team will have to be self-sufficient. In the event of an emergency, a rescue pod will be sent to retrieve you and your crew.

"Exo Dynamics wishes you the best of luck and we look forward to your homecoming. Remember, you are pioneers, engineers and astronauts all in one. The Astroneers! Now go! Explore, discover, build and thrive!" The screen showed the company logo and jingle and video ended.

Nick blinked at the screen a few times. A whole lot of information had entered his and confused brain very quickly. He looked back to the space suit. A whole planet to be discovered, and then a whole freaking star system! But he was so confused. "Who am I? I'm a commander? Who is my crew? I don't know how to lead! What will we find out there? What if it dangerous? Are we just gonna be left here? What about home? Do I have a family?"

Standing around and waiting, he decided, wasn't going to get him any answers. Looking through the other crates he found some food(nothing fancy, just protein bars and freeze-dried fruits) and some "Oh thanks goodness!" water. After spending who know hows long in stasis, anything tasted good. He sat down and ate a protein bar and drank (a lot of) water.

Feeling re-energized, Nick donned his suit (with some difficulty) and EVA pack, picked up the rest of the crates and headed toward the hatch on the other side of the room. Opening it revealed a cone-shaped landing pod. It had Exo Dynamics and the label 01 on the side. He put the boxes in the little cargo bay on the side of the pod. He then took one last look at the room that had sheltered his sleeping body for what could have been decades. He then stepped in, sat down, strapped in and sealed the hatch.

Inside was a console with many buttons on it, none of which he recognized. There was one flashing button labeled: AI. He pressed hoping that it was the AI assistant.

A synthesized female voice came in through his helmet speakers and an icon showed up on his helmet's Heads Up Display(HUD). ["Good morning Nick. I'm your AI assistant, Anna. Would you like help with anything?"]

Startled, Nick answered back. "Uh, Hello? Um, what should I be doing?" he asked

["The landing pod is almost ready for departure. We are just waiting for the rest of the crew to get ready."] came back the reply.

"Oh, uh, could I talk to them?"

["Certainly."] A little chime sounded and three more icons appeared.

"Uh, hi? Can anyone hear me?" Nick asked.

"Sup! New suit, who dis?" A gruff but hearty sounding male voice chuckled.

"Hiya!" said a more energetic and fun female voice.

"Oh, hey there." a quiet and shy female voice said.

Nick was relieved that there were other people nearby. "Hi, guys! So, apparently, I'm your commander. My name's Nick. Did you guys get videos too?" he asked.

"Yeah man. The real annoying guy right?" the other male asked. "Oh yeah. My name's Chris. Pleased to meet you."

"Yeah, well I'm Tristi." said the excited girl.

"Um, I'm R-Ruby. Pleased to meet you. Sir." stuttered the nervous-sounding girl. Nick could tell she was very uncomfortable.

"Hi, guys. So, um, do any of you know what we're doing?" Nick asked.

"Nope, not at all!" exclaimed Tristi, clearly not really concerned for their safety and more so about the adventure.

"Not really." Chris said.

"Oh, I was hoping someone would know." said Ruby. It seemed the others had lost their memories too.

["We are ready for departure to Terran's surface. Awaiting launch order from the commander. Please push the flashing orange button on your navigation console"] said Anna.

"I guess that's me." Said Nick

"Then punch it man!" Chris nearly shouted with anticipation.

"OK then. Launch!" Nick said as his pressed the button.

["Launching"] confirmed the AI.

On cue, the pod bays opened and all four landers dropped from the large, orbiting station. Nick felt his gut get thrown as they transitioned to microgravity and he began to float in his seat. He also got a good glimpse, through the porthole, of the ship that had brought them to this foreign solar system.

A long cylindrical craft with huge engines, massive fuel and gas tanks, and a large rotating ring to simulate gravity. That's why he felt gravity even in space. The whole thing looked very expensive and must've taken a long time to build. It was a marvelous sight to behold and Nick couldn't help but say, "Oh wow!", and he heard one of the others gasp too. As the landing pods began their de-orbit burn the ship rotated out of view. The next sight, however, took Nick's breath away.

There, below them was Terran. Strikingly bright colors. Gentle green grasslands and forests. Rocky blue plains. Snow-capped mountain tops and deep dark ravines. Orange and yellow deserts. White, soft and puffy clouds and beautiful blue lakes and rivers. It looked like a paradise. "Is this going to be our home from now on?" Nick wondered, nearly in tears.

The whole crew sat in silence as the pods descended into the atmosphere. The pods quivered, and shock as the landing burn brought them down to the surface. Nick saw the sky outside the window become more and more blue and he began to hear the noise of the wind rush past his pod. Eventually, the four pods landed in a circle, in a grassy field, about 40 meters from each other. Nick relaxed as the hard landing he expected never came, but instead came a gentle touch down.

This was it, an entirely new planet that no one had ever been to. He and his crew would be the first Astroneers to explore and colonize this alien world. "So, what do we do now, Anna?" he asked the AI assistant.

["I would suggest leaving the landing pod"] it answered back.

"Ah, of course." Nick deadpanned.

["Then you should meet up with your crew and begin preliminary scouting and base construction."]

"Alright, let's see what we've got here." Nick said as he unbuckled himself from the chair.

End of Chapter 1

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Hey there, thanks for reading my first chapter. I plan to make this a long-running series (40 chapters or so) so stay tuned if you want more. The next chapter will have more character interaction and will be longer. I just had to get this intro out of the way. And yes, I am taking some artistic liberty. This will not be a 1:1 recreation of the game.

I want to aim for about 2000+ words per chapter. I will try to upload a least once a month, but I have no set schedule and I still have a life ya know.

Please use the review section to let me know what you thought, give constructive criticism, or just a word of encouragement. You can select to follow the story or me for updates for when the next chapter comes out.

I don't know maybe this story won't be read by many and it will just end up lost in the pile of many others stories. XD Well you did read this so thanks again.

Until next time,

Dashanerocket :)