My boots met the soft ground with a delicate crunch. Gravity was different here, lighter. And despite my weight and the lead in the soles of my shoes, I left little in the way of tracks.

Sand, the colour of ripe oranges—a fruit found only on old Earth—coated the planet like a peel rough skin. Dark craters pockmarked the flat landscape, a thousand dark eyes staring at the blush pink sky. Two blazing suns met their longing glares. One burned hot, whilst the other burned cold. The twin stars kept the planet in perfect balance—never wavering... The year spent in one endless mediocre season.

There were no reports of floral on Unant. No hills or mountains, and the console threaded into the sleeve of my spacesuit remained blank, indicating no bodies of water above the ground.

Above ground...

Below, however, was a mystery.

In the pocket of my suit, I could feel Ta quivering. She wanted to get out, to explore. But Unant was an unknown planet, a new discovery. For all we knew, even the sand beneath me saw a squishy little Blodom like Ta as a tasty meal.

No. Her adventure would have to wait—squirming as she was, impatient as she was—until I knew for sure it was safe.

Lightly, I patted the fidgeting lump. “Settle, Ta,” I said, white breath fogging my visor. She couldn't hear me, not yet (the Federation had only paired us less than a month ago, and a telepathic connection took time), but I knew Ta would be able to feel the vibrations of my voice and hopefully translate the wave modulations into a somewhat soothing balm. “Your time will come.”

A moment later, I smiled as my pocket settled.

To explore fully, I would have to run extra tests—ground samples, pH and oxygen levels, and I had a drone in my pod to... To send below.

There were no sounds on Unant—neither whistling wind, nor the thrum of a distant civilisation.

Silence.

Heavy and thick. A pounding void against the glass of my helmet. It was strange, eerie... Wrong.

The federation expressed the quiet of Unant would hold a profound feeling of tranquillity and that the calm would be a relief from the smothering bandage called society.

“A perfect assignment for you,” they’d said.

And although I wouldn't scrub away the label of ‘hermit’ from beside my name, I couldn't help but feel this degree of emptiness wasn't stable for a lone human.

Ta twitched, and the corner of my lips tugged. “Fine,” My voice didn't echo, a dull thud against my ears. “A semi-lone human and their Blodom. Happy?”

My suit pocket pulsed, leaping like a beating heart, and in my chest, my own heart skipped. Had she heard me? Perhaps our connection was strengthening.

High on that thought, I began to turn around, ready to survey the extent of my surroundings. But due to the slight change in weight distribution, my balance tilted and...

...I floundered, pirouetting like a drunk ballerina.

My left foot orbited my right, and my arms pinwheeled. Stumbling, I caught my body in an awkward crouch, the face of my helmet inches from the planet's surface.

Slow spurts of orange dust waltzed about my ankles, their slow, elegant dance giving the specs a longer opportunity to gloat at my clumsiness.

How humiliating.

Glad I ‘was’ alone, I straightened quickly and wobbled back to my pod, grabbing the drone and a drill from just inside the door.

I stooped over one of the craters.

Metal groaned as I drilled through the centre of the hole. Cracks fissured from the incision, spreading out like the pattern of a spiderweb.

I lowered the drone down, and for a moment, the screen remained dark.

Void.

Then, very faintly, just... a singular green dot, blinking on the cusp of the radar's reach.

Something was down there.

BOOM!

The planet trembled. A deep pulse of power burst like a balloon. Fractures of rock split by the drill lept from the ground. I braced my legs, locking my knees, and the lump in my pocket twitched—Ta had felt it too.

BOOM!

On the screen, more green blimps began to circle the original. Tens... No, hundreds... No. Thousands!

My stomach swooped, and I brought a hand to a wriggling Ta. “Thousands,” I gasped.

BOOM!

Beneath, the planet was alive.

And Ta and I were most likely dead.

“That’s not good,” I said, my voice dueting with another.