Writing competition 134 - A place in space - PLANET H51
PLANET H51
![aplaceinspace.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmRUs1tb5xEGkJLQG7n4FNTiM7JXct6kXbWa5iB3352x5e/aplaceinspace.jpg)
Image by @xpilar
The space base on the planet H51 was not as large as they expected.
Anita and her crew left their spaceship and set off towards the base on foot. It was not possible to use any means of transport at that point, due to the uneven terrain and a viscous substance that prevented the vehicles from passing.
Anita was the first woman captain on an interstellar mission. She was proud of her record, but also eager to complete her mission successfully. After ten minutes of arduous walking, in bulky suits and sticky ground, they were halfway between their spaceship and the base.
Anita looked back, she could see the lights of the spaceship even if the darkness and mist began to hide it. There were still two members of her crew on board, ready to leave if something went wrong, or at least that was the procedure, because without supplies, the spaceship would not have made far and would not have been able to reach any planet. However, no light signal came from the base. Before landing she had been told that they preferred to save energy and that they would turn on a signal only after their landing to help them with their walk. Yet still no light could be seen.
When they finally arrived at the entrance the door was closed and a light came on on the left side of the base. Anita was annoyed. So they would have had to go around the base and walk another 5 minutes with great difficulty, if they had turned on the light first they would have saved them that walk. Why didn't they open the main entrance as required by procedure?
She decided to go see with two of her crew, leaving the others at the main entrance. On the left side of the spacesuit, only she had a special weapon designed for the atmosphere of the planet H51, but which could not function inside where the Earth's atmosphere was reproduced. Anita touched it with an automatic gesture, as if to check that it was still there.
![space-8188616_640.png](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmfR1HwVb9DDJE8FpcB7dCp16wsnddmFq8Lj2sZ1BuBxbX/space-8188616_640.png)
When she finally reached her destination, Anita relaxed and the base crew welcomed her and her team with great joy.
“I'm Jack Logan, the base commander” The older man said.
“Can we open the entrance for the rest of the crew?” Anita asked impatiently.
“How many are there?”- replied the commander.
“There are 12 at the entrance, two are waiting on the ship, we have to start bringing supplies and batteries to leave again” - Anita said impatiently.
“You see captain, we have to change plans, we have all the supplies, but if we give them to you we can't leave because an asteroid hit us and our ship is destroyed. The problem is that there are 10 of us and your ship can only carry 15 of us, so only five of you will be able to come"
Anita was confused and while she tried to understand the others pulled out their weapons and held them at gunpoint.
“Captain” – the commander told her – “we can take you with the two officers present here, plus the two who are already on the ship, but we will have to leave your crew here when you enter”
“So they will die!” Anita said
“They will die anyway because they will not have supplies, we will take it” - said the commander.
“Commander, open the entrance immediately or I will make the ship leave without me and without any of you, my crew on board and in front of the entrance hears everything we say” - the commander had not realized that Anita was in continuous contact with others via a device on the suit.
Anita thought about the weapon that she had but that she couldn't use inside.
Anita's crew followed orders and headed back to the ship. Due to the planet's atmosphere, traditional weapons were useless outside so they had a few minutes' head start and no one would be able to reach them. However, they knew that without supplies they wouldn't get very far. They no longer heard Anita, probably the commander had destroyed her device.
Once they arrived at the ship they took some tools to force the entrance door, they were not sure if the supplies were there, but they had to equip themselves to enter and try to save their captain. When they went back and managed to enter the base from the main entrance they found about twenty corpses and made a chilling discovery: one of the bodies was that of Commander Jack Logan! The man holding Anita hostage was an impostor!
Meanwhile Anita and the two officers gave up and decided to go outside to start loading supplies. Once outside, when traditional weapons were useless, Anita used her weapon and threatened the commander. He did not give up and she was forced to shoot and kill him. The others then surrendered.
Anita headed to the main entrance from which a now came reassuring light. When she got there she was happy to find his team there. She discovered the body of the real Commander Logan and helped the others load all the supplies onto the ship. She had to leave the 10 survivors of the base who had taken her hostage, but unfortunately there was no room for any more people.
Anita brought her crew home and was awarded a medal.
However, for the rest of her life she anguishedly wondered what she would have done in place of the unfortunate crew left without supplies on the planet H51.
THE END.
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