Note: So this is something I decided to whip up for the past week or so. This was supposed to be based off of Jacksepticeye's first 60 Parsecs letsplay, but I doubt it will turn out to be the exact same, cause it's way too depressing.
So really, I'm making this up from the top of my head. This was all really fun to write though y'all. I hope you enjoy^^
A burst of electricity surged through the shuttle, sparks popping as fire blasted an aura from outside. The uneducated astronauts screamed in terror - they were falling fast - they could only watch, horrorfied, as the planet's floor began spiraling towards them.
Then, the ship rocked - its nose smashing into fresh earth -
...Or rather, fresh not-earth, now that Deedee thought about it.
Her fingers were still vice-gripped around the joystick, eyes bugged and teeth bared as she expected death to come at any moment. The capsule flipped upside down for a few heart-stopping seconds, gravity seemed to fail, and more yells pierced the air - but thankfully, they landed upon ground again.
The searing hot metal screeched as it was dragged through the rocks, seemingly lending a hand at digging the poor humans' graves. "How lovely," ASTRO would have commented through the chaos.
Before Dawkins attempted the landing - only minutes prior, Emmet tried to steal away the controls. He was blabbering on about science: the importance of speed, distance, gravity and the certain percentage of heat the shuttle could handle before it exploded.
But now, he was somewhere in the back of the ship, screaming bloody murder with the rest of the crew. And before Deedee knew it, she was too.
A mountain was approaching, and so was a radioactive-looking wasteland beneathe it. Deedee desperately jerked the controls, somehow steering the capsule away from the hazards, but resulting in a circuit-breaking smack into an unseen object in front of them.
The crew yelped as they were flung forward, some painfully slamming against the wall from the impact. But then, they froze - realizing a miracle happened. The shuttle had stopped.
The captain, who was on the verge of a panic attack, could hardly believe it. It took a few mind-melting minutes - and maybe a swig or two of caffeine - before she finally managed to turn and face her crew.
It was a mess, to say at the least.
Emmet and Tom were both kneeling on the floor in a duo-ed "tornado drill' position. They were peeping up at her with wild eyes, probably awestuck that they were both still alive and uninjured.
The same couldn't be said for the other crewmate. Specifically, "the large, red-haired man in the green suit," who was upside down in his seat, disoriented, and hugging the chair as if his life depended on it. Multiple bruises decorated his forehead and a black eye was beginning to form.
'Great, another screw-up..." Deedee thought bitterly. Though, she growled in frustration once she noticed her condition wasn't any better.
'Baby,' was his name, Deedee recalled. A bit ironic for someone as big and brawned as he was. (Not to mention the patchy, ungroomed beard he and the rest of the crew had grown by now.)
It has almost been 12 days. That's how long it's taken him, in particular, to even make eye contact with her. Most of the crew's social interactions from those 12 days consisted of only stares and mumbles, besides an occasional wink or snarky comment from Tom.
Emmet was the only one who actually tried talking with her. Although, their conversations were usually warped by their varying opinions and different experiences. Hence, what caused them to almost be killed.
"How in the hell did you do that!?" Tom sputtered in disbelief. Deedee held up a finger, chugging the rest of her bitter, ass-tasting beverage before responding, "...I'm going to make more coffee."
With that, she walked over to the crafting machine and began pouring herself some hot, fresh, plot-convienent caffeine. She was only halfway done filling her cup when Emmet piped up:
"Hey guys, check out this view!"
By the time she spun around, the men were already huddled at the window. "Wohohoho!" Tom chirped at the sight, "Are those...temples? Buildings? And all that sand...Are we looking at some sorta alien desert?"
"Hmm..." Emmet set a glove to his chin curiously, "It could be... But this is space, afterall. It could be anything..." He paused. "...Maybe a world full of alien fungus or orange fluids, it could be poisonous or medicine or something our minds can't even comprehend..."
Tom mocked his scientific wonders with a scoff, "...Looks like someone needs to check," He claimed, "Deedee?"
The blonde woman met his gaze tiredly, "Since you're the fabled 'captain', you'll have the job of deciding who goes. And it better not be me. So you have two choices: smartass and dumbass - who'll it be?"
As if on cue, ASTRO spat out an essay worth of text - 99% of which they already knew.
Tom sighed irritably, taking the honors of ripping the papers out of the machine and summarizing it for them, "Yadda yadda... the shuttle crashed, the communicator is broken, Deedee and Baby are hurt. Blah blah blah... Something about a moo...uptopia? Huh. Oh yeah, and the expedition thing's activated. Right on skedule."
Deedee walked over to the expedition module, or more specifically, a useless, ratty, sorry-excuse-for-a-spacesuit hanging on a rack.
She looked at her three teammates. Tom was already shamelessly helping himself to another can of soup. As much as she wanted to send him to the deadliest place on the map with no supplies, just to make sure he'd die in the worst possible way - she digressed. They needed supplies. And if she sent him out, he likely wouldn't bring anything back, regardless of how desperate they were.
Emmet seemed liked a good choice. He was the smartest, decently athletic, but not at all strong. She wouldn't be surprised if she sent him out and he never came back, so she decided against it.
And... Baby Bronco, who was standing there silently, fondling his hands together nervously. He hadn't said a word to her or...anyone really, since she had first dragged him into this mess. Other than the mumbled 'no's' and 'yeah's' when she asked him if he was hungry or not. Nothing else.
The captain looked in Emmet's direction, forcing an out of character sneer, "Baby," She announced. The black man's curiousity-filled gleam vanished, "Baby!?" He blurted out, shocked. "Me?" Bronco also seemed to be in disbelief.
"Yep." Deedee answered blantly, "Emmet, you almost killed us. I can't give you the satisfaction of exploring this place. That, and you're too useful to risk dying just yet." Baby's face paled at the mention.
"Yes, but... but!" Ellis stammered. "Ah...this should be a treat." Tom commented, twirling a make-shift spoon in his mouth.
Dawkins took Bronco by a bulky arm and pointed at a mountain in the distance, "See that?" He nodded hesitantly. "The map says there's a cave there that contains minerals. Lots of minerals. I want you to grab as many as you can, and take a lighter so you can see. If we get minerals, we can craft. If we can craft, we can recycle. If we can recycle, we can eat."
"Ok..." He blumbered in a bass-like voice, "And, er... what was that part about dyin' again...?"
"Don't." She snapped, "You're...strong, maybe not the brightest...but you can do it. We're counting on you."
The ginger froze a moment, as if not expecting it. "...You...you mean it?"
Deedee studied his expression in suspicion, wondering if the awkward young adult was just playing defenseless to fool her. "...Yes." She assured him. He suddenly beamed, something she'd never seem him do for as long as she'd known him,
"I won't let you down, Cap!"
...
When the airlock door wafted shut, Dawkins cringed. "I think he's going to die." She admitted distastefully.
"Hey, that's one less mouth to feed." Tom chortled, pointing two fingers at the two cans left in the pantry.
Deedee was already beginning to regret her decision. She should have sent Emmet, he would've known where to go... probably. Besides, he had caused her enough problems already - and now, she was stuck with him...and Tom. She groaned, cursing her stressed mind for overlooking it.
She wished Maegan were here, the clever old woman would've known what to do. She would be a much better leader. She wouldn't have failed her motivational speech on the first day. She would know how to handle the band of weirdos she brought aboard. And she'd probably go out of her way to cheat the game, going out on an expedition on her own, just to keep her crew alive.
Emmet's voice snapped the captain out of her caffienated daydreams,
"It's sand!? We're more than a hundred and fifty lightyears away from Earth and somehow this place is just a mirrored version of the Saharan Desert!?" He screeched, crushed as he watched Baby's slow decent towards the caves. The way the yellow ground sloshed around his boots, it bombarded him with memories of the beach. Oh, he could really use a beach right now...
"Isn't that a good thing?" Deedee questioned before taking yet another sip of coffee, "You didn't want him to die just by stepping out there, did you?"
Emmet set a hand to his head wearily, "Of course not! It's just... I've been craving excitement, you know? To see something we haven't seen before and..." He trailed, peering at the yellow-tinted horizon, "I mean, I guess that's new, but..."
"Yep, I get what you mean. I kinda expected something a bit more... alien-y." The woman agreed.
"I thought there'd be UFO's, aliens, skyscrapers and shit!" Tom chimed in, tomato sauce smeared on his chin, "Alien overlords or robots or cyborgs... I don't know, I just wanna see the stuff in comic books come to life!"
As he spoke, he waved his utensil around like a sword, slopping tomato sauce everywhere.
The captain and Emmet could only groan in frustration. "I'll send him out to the swamp with no supplies after Bronco comes back. Agreed?" Deedee bargained with her other crewmate. "Agreed." He stated.
The three then gazed out the window for hours on end, having nothing better to do. They suspensefully watched their small green friend push towards the mountain in the distance, before he seemed to dissapear into a mist of sand. Then, they relished the beauty of the strange, desert-like world. The sun - or, as Emmet corrected them - star, began to fade away behindthe thick golden clouds.
The sight was peaceful while it lasted, until the shuttle decided to puke up even more useless papers for them to read.
They all groaned in unison, Emmet being the one to snatch it up and skim it over. He then proceeded to scoff and crumple it into a ball. "ASTRO says it's getting late, you fed Baby before he left didn't you?"
The captain's eyes went wide once she realized what she had forgotten. "...Did you?" Ellis asked again, concerned.
"We only have two cans left. I didn't even think about it-" The young woman admitted, shamefully. "Welp, he's dead." Tom said, leaning back in his chair, "Emmet, you're next when the expedition module magically reappears~~~"
"No, we just have to wait. A few days without food can't kill him..."
The black man looked out to the purplish sky once more, "...I hope..."
...
Baby studied the starless, dark crimson sky. The cliffs of sand dunes towered over him like skyscrapers. His heart was pounding mercilessly in his chest, his dull green eyes darting in every direction. He could only track the sound of his footsteps crunching into the sand and the breaths he took through his mask.
He finally found the cave, nearly five miles away from the shuttle. It had been at least three hours since he had left the ship. His stomach was already burning and his eyes were growing heavy. Two days, he reminded himself. Two days until they think you're dead.
The man's eye caught a glimpse of an emerald green glow behind a few hills. He paused, thinking it was just his imagination until he saw it again. Chemicals... He realized. Then, he remembered what the captain had told him,
"You're strong... maybe not the brightest...but you can do it. We're counting on you."
Had she meant it? Did she really believe in him? He wondered anxiously. Or was she just like his parents... a villian pretending to be a hero behind a mask... A faker. That might be why she failed her speech. Maybe she only sent him out just to get rid of him. So he wouldn't find out... But despite his paranoid thoughts, he couldn't tell.
He sighed wearily, glancing back and forth between the cave and the swamp. They only had two cans of soup when he left. He couldn't let them down. They were all the family he had now.
Without a second thought, he dragged himself towards the latter. Unaware of the radioactive mess that awaited him.
Note: Let me know what you think as a review, guys. I love getting feedback!
I'll make sure to continue this soon, it was really cool to write.