Liam W

Chapter 1: The year 2152

Sweat poured down Ismael’s face. The heat was unbearable. A huge meteor had crashed into the sun, moving it much closer to earth. You could see fire erupting in the sky. Soon, it would incinerate every single thing on the planet.

“5, 4…” the voice boomed.

The evacuation ships were ready to launch, smoke speweing out of them. Only 10 million people could be transferred to the new planet scientists had discovered, all astronauts immediately accepted. Ismael was part of the E.M.P.O, Earth’s Meteor Protection Organisation, so he was accepted without hesitation.

“3, 2, 1…”

A huge explosion echoed throughout the area, fire and smoke flying everywhere. The ship was propelled into the air, sending it hurtling into the unknown.

The ship was a white-grey, with bright red stripes running across the side of it, fitted with soft, comfortable leather seats. Sitting in these seats were three people. There was Ismael, a scared, little 18 year old astronaut; Alex, a confident young man also part of the E.M.P.O and Aaron, a man with a cocky attitude. He could find something wrong with everything.

“I’m so hot. We’d better get to the planet soon. These conditions suck,” Aaron yelled in anger.

That was the only audio on the ship and unfortunately the only source of entertainment.

“Activating hyperspace in, er, 10 seconds,” Alex told the crew. Suddenly, a huge force knocked the ship out of course.

Ismael looked out the window. A huge meteor had crashed into the ship causing to spin out of control. And that’s when he saw his dead mum. Her shining eyes, her faint smile. He could even hear her, “Be brave, Ismael. You will prevail.” He could see his whole life flashing before his eyes.

“We’re headed in the wrong direction!” Alex screamed. But it was too late, the ship was already zooming forward, to a new planet, on a terrifying new journey.

Chapter 2: Into The Unknown

Everything was blurred. He could hear people, but couldn't work out who.

“Wake up!”

A cry of worry. He closed his eyes, his attempts to move useless.

“Aagh!” Ismael gasped.

“Finally, you’re awake! We’ve been waiting since, um, FOREVER!”

He sighed. Aaron. He saw another moment if his life. A bad one.

“Hey, nerd face!” He could still remember. He was shoved onto the brick wall, punched, beaten up. Bullies. The one moment that changed his life. The moment that made him who he was now.

Aaron and Alex heaved Ismael up with a grunt. He turned around, and couldn’t believe what he saw. Their ship. It was ruined. He decided not to look at the horrible sight. “Uh, maybe we should find shelter. It’s getting cold now,” Ismael stammered.

So the three astronauts trudged through the vast, snowy landscape. Huge icy spikes towered around them. Snow blocked their vision, limiting how far they could see. Ismael almost thought he was freezing to death. He felt goosebumps sprout on his body everywhere. Mountains looked like they had erupted from the ground, ice clawing at them. He looked back and couldn’t see any footprints. They had been wiped out by the howling wind. Then came the noise. It was like a mechanical noise, a whirring, a short rustle out of nowhere. The astronauts stopped moving, and just for that nano-second, you could hear their hearts beating.

Out of the blizzard appeared a blue light. Even with barely any visibility, you could still see it. It was coming closer and closer by the second. Someone, something, was watching them.

Chapter 3: The Alien

“What is that?” Ismael whispered.

“I don’t know,” Alex replied.

As the creature came, the astronauts started to see what it was. But the first word that came to everyone’s mind was the same: Alien.

The astronauts exchanged quick and curious glances. No one had seen anything like it before. Its skin was darker than space, with black scales everywhere. It was like all the colour had been sucked out of it. On its limbs were huge spikes running down its skin like the icy mountains of the planet. From its hands, talons as sharp as daggers sprouted from its fingers. The head of it had a huge horn, one you would probably find on some kind of mutated bull. Spikes looked like they had erupted from its dragon-like spine. It was a creature from the unknown, from the very edges of space itself.

It turned its head into a position that showed it was confused, that it had never seen such a creature before. The astronauts were having the exact same thoughts. Suddenly, another one appeared. And another and another and another, each the same pitch black colour and with the same razor spikes on its limbs.

“We come in peace, can’t you see that! Are you blin-”

“Shut up Aaron!”

Ismael just stood there, right in the middle of the argument. He could feel a tingling in his stomach, snakes in his arms, needles in his legs, all telling him that something bad was going to happen.

Chapter 4: Managing the Peace

It was ghost-quiet as the alien laid down its hand onto the blue sphere. It pulsed like a heart, glowed, then sparked a piece of advanced machinery as a large door came to life. The astronauts were thrown onto the cold ground of a huge building, filled with other aliens. Staircases grew from the very bottom, leading to large steel rooms. The hallway they were in was brimming with cutting-edge technology, almost like technology was a virus. The walls, floors and roofs were made of some kind of stone, with masterfully crafted zig-zag patterns into the sides.

“Peace?” the alien questioned.

The astronauts looked at each other.

“Peace? How do they know our language?” Aaron said.

“Peace?” The alien repeated.

“Peace.” Alex replied, nodding his head at the same time, hoping the aliens understood.

He looked at the others. Aaron looked at him, but Ismael just sat there like he was paralysed. The aliens murmured amongst each other, which then turned into a shout, but when the leader at the front of the pack rose his hand, there was silence. You could even break the noise level with a teaspoon. The leader stared at them, like he was trying to imply something. It was only then, the astronauts knew they had peace.

Chapter 5: War

“Aaargh!” Ismael screamed in terror.

He felt like he was been bullied again. It was coming closer and closer. He could see it, been slammed on the wall, bruised by fists and feet.

“Ismael, they're our friends. We have a peace treaty, you know that! Are you dumb!” Aaron yelled at him.

Ismael couldn’t stand it anymore. The alien stumbling towards him, Aaron barking at him, it was too much. He squeezed the trigger, listened to the gunshot and the thud of an alien body on the fall onto the floor.

“You doofus! Why-... Grrr!”

Aaron knew this only meant one word:

War.

The astronauts ran for their lives; the aliens right behind them. The aliens had the edge though, they were used to the rough terrain. Ismael had ruined it. He had killed an alien, even though he knew they had a peace treaty. “Look, over there!” Alex yelled to the others. They dived into a freezing cold mountain of snow. Ice and snow filled their mouths and noses.

“I’m going to kill you if the aliens don’t, Ismael,” Aaron shouted through the icy snow.

“It wasn’t his fault,” Alex said, even though he knew it was.

“I know you know it is.”

That did it. Alex had had enough of Aaron. “I’m trying to spare his feelings, Aaron! Show some humanity! He’s a human being as well you know!” Alex yelled, fueled by rage and anger.

Aaron suddenly fell silent. “I just…”

“No! Shut up!”

As soon as they knew the aliens had passed, they jumped out of the snow. “Look!” Ismael pointed at a small, crudely made stone building, ice growing around it, nearly covering all of it. If you looked at it from far away, you would think was an ice cube. They trudged slowly through the snow towards the building, pulled some loose bricks away and crawled inside and gasped at the sight. No one had expected it. The unlikely key to success.

Chapter 6: Escape

“It’s an emergency transmitter, a working one! Another astronaut must have dropped it,” Alex whispered.

Guarding it was one of the aliens, a huge one with muscle bulging everywhere, its four eyes checking for intruders. Ismael pulled out a gun and handed it to Alex.

“Here, yo-you shoot it,” he said shakily.

Alex shot the alien and it fell to the hard, cold floor and snatched the transmitter.

“Quick, the other aliens must have heard that. We have to hurry!” he told them.

Suddenly, small, short aliens, no smaller than flies, appeared out of nowhere and scurried towards the terrified astronauts.

“Go! Go! Go!” Alex screamed in fear.

They sprinted out of the building as fast as they could, fear pumping their legs harder than ever, aliens exploding out of the building. Mountains of aliens were chasing them. Alex pushed the activation button on the transmitter as hard as he could. Lasers started zooming past them, and Ismael took a glance back and saw a handful of aliens with guns behind them. The transmitter beeped, and displayed a radar with a red dot on it. Suddenly, the roar of a rocket filled the cold air.

“Look, a ship!” Aaron cheered.

A huge space ship with sharp, helicopter blades on the sides keeping it in the air was in the sky. The astronauts flailed their arms around madly, trying to get the ship to notice. Alex shared a worried look with them.

“What’s wrong?” Ismael asked.

“The ship can’t land on this rough terrain!” Alex replied.

“Copy me!” He sunk his fingernails into his spacesuit and air rushed out.

He was propelled into the air and looked like an untied balloon flying randomly. He wove his arm around and directed himself to the ship. His boots touched the shiny steel floor of the ship and he landed with success.

“Ismael!” Aaron yelled.

A blood-red laser was heading at him, ready to kill. He dived at him, a changed man. It was almost as if time had stopped when the laser hit him, but Aaron was ready to sacrifice himself. Ismael gasped at the sight. He had never expected this to happen. But it shouldn't have happened. Tears formed in Ismael’s eyes, and he plunged his nails into his suit and erupted from the ground. He screamed in fear, for his dead friend, for everything in his life.

Epilogue: New Earth

I walk around the planet. It almost identical to Earth, but different in a good way. It’s kind of like a ‘New Earth’.

“Hey, Ismael!” I hear someone call to me.

I turn my head to see Alex. A memory of Aaron flashes through my mind and I try to ignore it, but I can’t. My head is filled with regret as I remember the death of Aaron and how the only reason he died was because of me, and my mind is shut off from the world. My only thoughts are of Aaron, and if I wasn’t who I am, he could be standing with me right now. But he isn’t.