New Land
It’s been more than ten hours since little Jessica lost contact with her family. She missed them dearly. They were meant to go on a two-hour track to find water so that they could create atmosphere in their pod for the next three Earth months. She was getting worried. She missed her little brother Timmy who insisted that he tag along. One of the suns was setting for the day fast and the second one will rise in six hours. She prayed that they were ok. Jessica knew that her dad was tough and wouldn’t let anything happen to the family, but still she was very worried. Earth was far from where they were and it would take a long time for any help to arrive. She felt totally helpless. Still, Jessica had to do something. She sat down at the comms device and started a new video message for Earth. It would take two Earth weeks for the message to reach the base in Antarctica. She needed to do something right now. she turned on the last location of her family before they went blank on the screen.
Her parents taught her to use the military grade drone and she was quite good at operating it. Jessica turned it on and it made a low humming sound with its cameras going berserk scanning the room. She put on the helmet that controls the drone and carefully took the controls. It felt as though she was the drone. She made it rise slowly and it made its way to the exit bay. Jessica then opened the hatch to outside. As the door opened, chunks of ice and snow poured in, some of it hitting the drone. She took it outside and quickly closed the hatch.
Jessica moved her head back and forth and looked around though the drone. She went high up and scanned the surroundings. She could see the rocket which was still in one piece, their only ride home. Jessica then followed the trail of her family’s path. The visibility was low, and she switched to infrared. Everything seemed to be dead as indicated on her vision with different shades of blue. The drone was tough, it was cutting through all this snow and ice like it was nothing. She was only a kilometre from her family’s last location. She hoped to God that they were ok. The drone was armed, and she switched the safety off. Her parents raised her to be ready for anything at any moment.
She descended onto the ground. She finally picked up on some signs of life. Suddenly, there were three spots of red and orange on her vision. Thank God, she thought! They were ok. She went closer to take a better look. She switched to regular vision. Her family were taking cover under a giant tree. Little Timmy was holding onto their mother tightly. Her dad looked into the drone with a glad expression. The expression turned to horror as he looked pass the drone. Jessica concentrated and got ready to fire. She took a deep breath and turned quickly to fire the weapon at whatever was threatening her family. It was fast and strong. She lost all controls of the drone as it laid on its side as the vision went black. The last thing she heard was a loud, nasty growl and her dad opening fire on the monster.