The Silent Horizon drifted through space at a speed just below light’s. It was a small two-person ship, with a cabin only about twenty-five feet in length and eight feet wide. The outside of the craft glistened with a material like silver that had been discovered on one of Saturn’s moons. To all beholden to its passing glory, it gave the ship an image as that of a star piloting itself through space. The bow of the ship was tipped with a long needle that housed the main antenna. About three feet behind that was the viewport, a single glass pane that wrapped 180 degrees around the command console. Moving to the rear of the ship, the passengers had a cabinet with a fold-out table, chair, and their full supply of provisions. Down further were their bunks, with drawers on the bottom for their clothes. Compartments on top were for storage of their personal effects, mostly scientific tools for when they found another planet, medical supplies, and a bottle of wine for if they ever found a habitable planet. A locker stood beside the bunks, housing their red with gold trim Planetary Exploration Suits, field packs with emergency gear, and the standard white spacewalk suits that had seen far more use than the P.E.S’s. These suits had no independent oxygen tanks but were fed air through a tube that ensured they wouldn’t drift too far away from the ship when doing repairs on the hull. On the port side of the back wall was the latrine, and on the starboard side was a hallway that had three doors. The first was a greenhouse in case they found any plant life to bring back, then the engine room, and along the back wall, the airlock.
To call it a small home was an understatement. Yet they had enough to stay busy. The ship’s computer was equipped with a database of films, books, and music from Earth. Their fold-out tables were equipped with a vast library of board games that could be projected onto the surface.
Thanks to the artificial gravity on the ship, Dex and Lacy had been able to keep up with some moderate physical activities to keep their muscles from total atrophy. They still worried, though, from time to time, about how their bodies would treat them if they did ever find a planet or return to Earth.
Conversations never went stale as their interests in media consumption differed greatly, but they were both curious about each other’s thoughts on what they were currently invested in. Dex explored the library of films and was into swing music and the new wave of “rock and roll” that was gaining popularity before their mission began. Lacy was far less of a film enthusiast. She would indulge him with a movie night here and there, but otherwise had the vast majority of the book library all to herself and would keep Dex up at night talking about what she’d read and the issues all the characters were facing. Musically, she greatly preferred classical symphonies and jazz. Growing up, swing music was played too much in her home, and she grew to hate it. But since Dex loved it, she would dance around with him to his favorites, and he in turn would suffer through her symphonies. The jazz collection he was more tolerant toward. Specifically, “Rhapsody in Blue,” because how could one not love it?
The one physical book they did have was Dex’s pocket Bible. It was a gift his father adamantly gave him from when he served in the Army. Abner Prullen wasn’t the most religious person but carried the Bible at all times while deployed for a sense of comfort. He’d hoped it would give Dex the same comfort as they drifted into space.
All things given, this was enough for Dex and Lacy. Additionally, they had a better view than any of their old neighbors from Earth.
* * *
Day 416 began with a soft beeping coming from the ship’s computer. It was almost an hour after the beeping began that Lacy woke. She heard the sound coming from the console and tried to ignore it, thinking it was some part of a dream that kept with her as she came back to consciousness. Eventually, the beeping could no longer be ignored. She navigated around Dex’s body and climbed out of bed.
As her head became more clear, she realized they hadn’t heard a sound like this one since they left Earth’s solar system. An unidentified ship had drifted too close to them. It had turned out to be a private space-yacht that was knocked way off course, but the computer was alert for any mass not yet programmed into it. Planet or ship. Once things began to click for Lacy, she became as alert as the ship’s radar.
“Dex!” she yelled over her shoulder. “Dex, wake up!”
Dex lifted his head the smallest bit and let out a groan, “What is it, darling?”
Lacy raced back to the bunk and, grabbing her husband by the hand, yanked him out onto the floor.
He jumped to his feet, thoroughly annoyed, but instantly recognized the excitement on his wife’s face. “What happened?”
All she could do was smile and jump like an excited kid with a secret they were dying to tell the world. “Happy anniversary!” She jumped into his arms and kissed him as hard as she could.
Dex kissed her back, but his eyes were focused beyond her, on the console. Slowly, he put her back down. “What do you mean? What’s going on?”
She took his hand and led him to the console. Lacy pressed a button next to the large central computer screen, and Dex slowly understood. After so much time staring into emptiness, Dex had begun wondering if the Silent Horizon was incapable of traveling far or fast enough to find anything in the vastness of space within their mission window. It seemed, thankfully, that he was wrong.
“How far out is it?” he asked, mindful not to let his imagination run too wild.
“About 8 hours. It’s 0430..." She looked at the screen again, “37. So we have plenty of time to get all done up before we land.” She turned to rush over to her dresser under the bunk but was stopped by Dex’s hand on her forearm.
“Is this a planet or ship?” His voice held firm as his eyes remained locked on the screen.
“What? I-”
He turned to face her. “Lacy, this is very exciting; there’s no doubt about that. But there are protocols for something like this.”
Lacy pulled her arm away, but tried to meet his caution with optimism and grace. “Dex, no matter what protocol says, it has never been put into practice. This is an incredible moment for humanity. The first object found in space outside of anything we’ve ever been able to see!”
“Which is why protocol is so important. It won’t mean anything if we’re never able to report what we found. Be excited, please. I love to see it in your smile,” he said as the backs of his fingers grazed her blushing cheek. “But we have to be smart about it too.”
Lacy lowered her head in acceptance, but couldn’t stop the excitement from creeping into her smirk. “Okay. I’m going to shower, then let’s eat and figure out a plan.” She turned and walked to the latrine.
Dex decided to use this time to try to boost the ship’s sensors in an attempt to see if he could pick up any hints about what this new object could be. He diverted power from as many of the other computer functions as he could spare. When that wasn’t enough, he began looking for ways to divert power from other parts of the ship, at one point forgetting about Lacy in the shower, and eased up on the artificial gravity. She gave a shout of surprise, and shouted his name in playful annoyance, and Dex quickly restored power. No matter what he tried, the object was too far outside the scanner’s reach to identify anything other than the fact that something was sure as hell out there.
The next best course of action he saw at the moment was to document this discovery and keep tabs on it.
He turned on the recorder and adjusted the microphone. “Day 416. Lacy and I received a nice anniversary gift today from the universe. Which is great because I did not get her anything. So hopefully she’ll enjoy this one.” He paused and heard the water stop. After over a year, how much of their recycled water was actually keeping them clean?
Dex went on into the recorder, “According to Lacy, we discovered the signal at around 0430 this morning, but we don’t know how long it has been going for prior to us waking up. Maybe from now on taking shifts wouldn’t be a half-bad idea. I’ve done all I can to boost the ship’s scanners, but it’s still too far off to get a good reading on anything.”
Lacy was back in her standard-issue underwear (guaranteed best choice for true American astronauts) when she stepped out of the latrine and rushed around with excitement to get dressed.
Dex continued after a quick glance back at her, “We’re... optimistic about what this could be. My guess is, with how vast space is, our odds of finding intelligent life by chance are nigh impossible. It’s most likely an asteroid, but even that can hold incredible potential for us. Still, we have our blaster just in case. I’m sure it’ll be ready for anything. Hasn’t been touched once since it was loaded with the rest of our gear, and I hope it doesn’t have to be.”
Behind him, Lacy was now dressed and opened up the food cabinet and unfolded the table. The food was less than a meal, really only a massive supply of pills. One was taken for each meal to give them all the nutrients they needed. Romantic dinners had died a long time ago for this couple.
“Hopefully within another two or so hours, we’ll have a better read on this thing. By hour five we should have visuals, given a constant speed, and know if this thing is stationary. We’ll record another log when we have more information.” Dex turned off the recorder and swirled his chair around toward Lacy, who was about to swallow her breakfast pill.
“Thanks for the little thrill in the shower. Thought we came on that thing a few hours too early.” She swallowed her breakfast and chased it down with a small glass of water. The only drink they’d had in over a year.
“Sorry, got a little ahead of myself with the controls.”
Lacy shrugged. “I heard a good amount of the log. No need to brief me on your... findings.”
He gave her a small laugh.
“Just an asteroid, you think?” She asked, her lips curling in doubt.
“Just an asteroid. Still, it’d be a good idea to prep the gear. Make sure no mice or aliens got into anything,” Dex joked.
“Well, I think we may have really lucked out here. I’m betting it’s a beautiful world with a bright blue sky just like back on Earth. Rolling mountains and vast oceans, and quiet. Imagine if it’s just plant life. No animals except for you and me when we land!”
“No animals? After all this time, I wouldn’t mind a nice alien steak.”
She laughed now, “Oh come on, we’ve got all the gourmet meals we need right here!” She tossed one of the pills toward him like candy, which he caught in his mouth.
He swallowed and almost instantly the pill sent waves through his body that told his brain he tasted bland pancakes with soulless maple syrup, then a second wave that had the simulated taste of the powdered eggs that men like his father had to eat during World War II and the Eurasian War.
“Ah. Goddamn delicious,” he said with as much sarcasm as he could muster.
* * *
Three hours later, the computer was able to give a better reading of what Dex and Lacy were approaching. It was a solid mass, just under 100 kilometers in diameter.
“That’s... that’s smaller than, what? Long Island maybe?” Lacy asked.
Dex typed something into the console. “Yeah,” he said. “Just about.”
“We may be too far out,” Dex said, “but not picking up any atmosphere. Won’t be larger than your thumb until we’re right on top of it. And with a rock that small, gravity will be real low. Gotta be careful when we land, no jumping around. Might drift too far out.”
Lacy giggled at the thought. Of course she would be safe, but the idea was so silly to her.
* * *
Another hour passed, and the computer was able to bring up an image of the rock.
“Looks like Earth’s moon but... it’s so smooth. Strange, isn’t it?”
Dex studied the computer screen. “May be small, but maybe it’s denser than expected. Could have a stronger gravitational pull.” He looked at his wife, “Helps smooth it out.”
“So jumping around is allowed again?”
He smirked with a coy look in her direction, and held back from making too many promises he wouldn’t be able to keep. “We’ll see how much celebrating is allowed when we get there. If nothing else though, there’s still the ship.”
* * *
Hour five crawled slowly toward them. Far off in the distance, they saw the smallest speck, differing from all the other stars in the vastness of space only by the intensity of the light bouncing off of it and its size, slightly larger than the stars themselves.
“There it is, baby. Your moon,” Dex said. “And seeing as you’re the one that found it, it’s only fair you name it.” He reached across the gap between them and took her hand in his.
Lacy, sitting at the co-pilot seat staring out into space at the moon, heard his voice but barely noticed his touch. “Who’d’ve thought... Us, of all people, would one day be out among the stars naming our own celestial masses?”
Dex’s smile faded to only a smirk. “Don’t get too excited. It’s a big rock drifting along. An exoplanet. Not even a moon with a real planet to orbit around. Chances of finding anything past dust are almost null.”
She looked up at him with a gleam of eagerness in her beautiful blue eyes. “Yes, but where there’s one, there’s another. And another.”
Dex looked back down at the console. Not necessarily, he thought to himself, but would never say that out loud to her. Still, there was nothing on the radar except the rock. He wanted to bring her back to reality, but now didn’t seem like the right time. Not on their anniversary.
“So, what about a name?” He asked.
“Darling,” she giggled, “This could potentially be one of the greatest finds of human history!”
“Or a rock.”
She scoffed his comment away. “There’s no way for me to come up with a name for it on the spot like this. This rock, as you’re so keen to remind me, whether desolate or the home of some material that could somehow save Earth from whatever end you’re thinking of, is a first step in the expansion of the human race past our own solar system! It needs a name to match its awesome importance.”
They both sat in silence for a moment, thinking of a name worthy of such a major moment in human history.
After some thought, Dex reached out his right hand for the button on the console that presented the keyboard. “Prullen-1. Putting it in the log.”
With a laugh, Lacy reached out to pull his hand away. “Dex! There’s no way we’re calling it that!”
“With all due respect, Lieutenant, you were taking too long.”
That smile could disarm anyone, she thought.
Dex held his left hand above the now-present keyboard. “Well?”
“Can we change it later at least?” Lacy pleaded.
“Only until we find Prullen-2.”
Lacy let go of Dex’s hand and slumped back in her chair. The minutes continued to slow.
In their minds, the excitement told them time should be speeding up, that it would pass in the blink of an eye. But with such a focus on the coming discovery, the entertainment on the Silent Horizon lost all appeal. The music and film library seemed dull in comparison, and neither one of them could keep their focus on reading for more than a hundred words before their thoughts brought them back to the rock.
* * *
Hour six. Prullen-1 was only fractionally larger, and the anticipation was killing them.
* * *
Hour seven. Out of the ship’s viewport, Prullen-1 was only half an inch large, but in the grand scheme of their exploration, it was growing quickly.
To Lacy, it was inviting, but the more Dex observed the readings he was getting from the computer, the more hesitant he was to land the ship.
“This can’t be right,” he started.
Lacy was sitting in the seat to his right. The anxiety in his voice did nothing to bring down her spirits. “You’re worrying too much. We’re so far outside the reaches of what we used to know. Why should this rock have the same laws as Earth or... heck, any of the planets of our solar system?”
Dex looked at her with hardened eyes. “Lacy, it’s a rock that’s half the size of Long Island, but just about the gravitational reading is all... hazy. It’s like I’m getting interference.”
“It’s just a rock, darling.” Her tone was half teasing, half reassuring. She put a hand on his shoulder.
Dex looked out the viewport at the slowly growing rock, then turned his head back toward her. Gently taking her hand, he raised it to his mouth and kissed her fingers.
“Promise me you won’t drop your guard.” He commanded her, with a touch of loving concern. Never had he really commanded her before. Even with the official rank they held, at the end of the day he only ever treated her as his wife.
“Yes, sir.” Lacy knew when to respect the rank, but this far into the voyage, emotions held the highest rank. To break the tension, she puffed up her cheeks.
Dex recognized instantly what this was and followed suit. Early in their romance, there had been a night they shared the shower, and Lacy, being playful, showed him “how guppies kissed.” Puffing up her cheeks and when their lips met, then raspberried. The resemblance was more like a pufferfish than a guppy, but that was part of the silliness.
They both had their cheeks puffed up, then raspberried out when their lips met. “Guppie kisses,” they said in unison.
An odd thing.
* * *
Hour eight. Dex was handling the flight controls manually. Lacy was in the rear preparing their gear. She laid the Planetary Exploration Suits on the starboard side bunk, then looked through the storage container above, planning out what to take.
“What should I pack with the P.E.Ss?” She asked. Dex cocked his head slightly to the right but kept his eyes forward. “Pack light,” he said. “I don’t think we’re gonna have a whole hell of a lot to explore. Maybe a cave if we’re lucky. But I still don’t see any readings for life on the rock. Plant or animal. Just load up both the flashlights and some water. And grab the laser cutter. I wanna get some samples of whatever it is this rock is made of.”
Lacy did as she was asked.
As they approached Prullen-1, Dex felt the controls get tougher. It took more and more strength with every passing moment for him to keep the ship steady.
He called to her, trying to hide the strain he was feeling at the helm, “Baby, I’m going to need you up front!”
Lacy dropped what she was doing and jumped to her seat. “What can I do to assist, sir?” She asked, trying to make up for the tension in his voice with a little playful heart.
“Prepare the landing gear. We might be coming in a little hot.” On any other planet, and at this speed, this would have been the point where Dex and Lacy would be seeing heat coming off the bow. Dex did what he could to reduce speed, but the gravitational pull got stronger by the second, faster than he was able to adjust.
“Landing gear is good to deploy,” Lacy announced.
“Not yet, don’t want to crush them on landing. Just want it ready to go.”
“How about some mood music?”
Dex shrugged, “Whatever sounds best to you.”
Lacy flipped through the library quickly. “How about this?”
Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi began to play.
Dex laughed awkwardly, but his lightheartedness was broken by a jolt in the ship’s controls.
They were nearly on top of the rock. Sweat started to break out on Dex’s forehead, but he was doing all he could to keep his cool. Partially for his own sake, but mostly because in his mind he was still trying to impress Lacy with a calm and collected demeanor. As Prullen-1 got closer, though, he couldn’t help but worry more. He had decent control of the ship, but it was hurtling toward the exoplanet far too quickly. They had to reduce speed quickly or their anniversary would be cut far too short.
“Shift all thrusters in reverse.” He commanded Lacy.
“Righto, preparing to-” she began, but the ship lurched violently, and Dex cut her off.
“Don’t prepare, just do it!”
She was taken aback, and for the first time that day, her smile dropped. Her training kicked in, and she reverted to her military bearing. She did as was commanded by her superior officer.
Lacy punched in the commands to shift the thrusters, but without time for them to adjust, they felt a massive CRUNCH! from somewhere in the rear of the ship. The lights in the main cabin flickered for a moment. Through the viewport, they could see fumes and the tips of the flames of the forward thrusters shooting out ahead of them.
“We’re losing speed,” Dex announced. “Should be on the ground in less than two minutes.”
Just then, an alarm went off that sounded almost loud enough to destroy both of their ears. They both looked toward the center console. A red banner flashed quickly, telling them, “FIRE IN THE ENGINE ROOM.”
Before Dex could say anything, Lacy was out of her chair and racing to the engine room. “I got it!” She called to him. “I’ll be back for the landing gear, just try to hold it steady till then.”
She hadn’t noticed, but as soon as Dex read the fire notification, the sweat started streaming more profusely. Lacy had no idea how hard he had been fighting the controls. One wrong move and he was sure to throw them off their course. They would most definitely make it to the surface at this point, but on which side of the ship would it be? And how much damage would there be to fix? And at the speed they had been going, would they even be alive to fix it?
That last problem may have been solved, but now with the engine on fire, how badly had that been damaged? Would there be enough working parts to get off this rock? Would Prullen-1 be their doom?
Happy anniversary, he thought to himself.
In the engine room, Lacy was scrambling to put out a fire that was slowly crawling toward the rear wall. Between two drawn-out bursts with the extinguisher, she smacked a hand on the wall intercom to send a message to Dex.
“Captain! Captain, can you hear me?”
Dex responded from the command console but kept his focus on the descent. In another minute and a half, they’d be on the ground in any condition ranging from moderately okay to totally and completely screwed.
“I hear you,” he said. The strain was more than apparent in his voice.
“We have to vent this place! The fire’s too big! If we want to save anything on this ship, we have to vent, now!”
A minute twenty left. If they vented, the engines would be inoperable for too long. They would surely crash fatally with this trajectory. If they didn’t vent, he knew, they’d land most likely in one piece, but they’d never get back off the rock.
A minute ten. “Dex! Dex, what are your orders?” Lacy screamed through the intercom over the sounds of the raging flames.
Dex was lost. Either choice was the wrong one, but he had to make one. An idea clicked. “Lacy! Baby, get out of there! I’ll vent!”
“I copy!” Lacy called back. She gave up on the extinguisher and dashed out of the room, locking it behind her. She ran up the hall, ensured the door to the main cabin was locked behind her, and raced back into her seat.
Fifty-five seconds until impact. Lacy strapped in, but Dex couldn’t afford to take his hands off the controls.
“Venting now,” Lacy announced and put in the commands on the console to vent the air out of the engine room. The next window she brought up showed a live feed from the room and outside the ship. The fire was diminishing with the lack of air. But it was at this point Dex truly lost control.
Dex looked over at her screen and saw exactly what he had hoped for. “We just might make it out of this one,” he told her.
In the center of the console, she saw the gyroscope had recognized a gravitational pull from Prullen-1. Ever so slowly, their angle of descent was increasing, and they were listing slightly to the left. “What’s happening?” She asked Dex.
“The vent is angled. The force of the flames and air ejecting is nudging the trajectory. With any luck, we’ll land on our side instead of the nose, and save the engine.”
Twenty-five seconds. The surface of the exoplanet was taking up their entire window now. Lacy grabbed Dex’s hand as tight as she could. So much so that it began to hurt, and her nails were digging into his skin. But he pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed it again, and this time he prayed, oh God... please save our goddamned butts! As soon as pseudo-prayer was thought and given out unto the universe, they noticed the smallest sliver of black space creep into the window.
Fifteen seconds. The sky was coming on slowly, and the horizon was angled, but just maybe they would make it.
Ten seconds. What happened next came in a stroke of lightning. The computer announced the venting was complete and the fire extinguished. Lacy pulled her hand away from Dex’s and rushed to get the engine running again. It had to warm up, but Dex couldn’t wait. Seeing what Lacy had done but before she could make it back out of the hallway, Dex steered the ship upwards as hard as he could with the controls. Lacy was thrust against the cabin floor with the sudden increase of gravity, but she pushed on, almost crawling to her seat, until gravity lightened and she could reach something to hold onto on the wall.
Their angle of descent leveled out just the littlest bit more. Dex screamed through his gritted teeth with determination as he tried to save them from their doom. Lacy threw herself behind the starboard side bunk to brace for the crash, and covered her eyes.
Impact. With a deafening boom, they hit the surface. Lacy screamed in terror and felt her full weight press against the bunk wall; her stomach rising in her throat. A rock slammed into the window and left a small crack.
As they hit the ground, Dex slammed with full force into the console, hitting his head on the edge of the computer screen, leaving a gash in his forehead just above his left eyebrow.
Lacy was struggling to breathe. The pressure on her chest from the sudden decrease of motion to almost a complete halt and her racing heartbeat nearly threw her into an anxiety attack. She tried to slow her breathing and gradually came back to a calm state.
Dex, slowly coming out of a state of shock, with blood dripping along his face and into his left eye, felt relief at least that they never put the landing gear down. It would have been completely torn off or torn to shreds on impact. Now the bay doors for the landing gear would be jammed or wrecked, but at least fixable.
They slid for maybe a half mile before the Silent Horizon came to a full stop. Alarms were going off like crazy in the main cabin. The feed from the engine room showed that a fire had started again. Dex began to stand up to take action, but Lacy was up faster than him and called across the cabin for him to stay where he was. She would get the medical kit on her way back.
As he moved, he felt a jolt of pain in his core. Most likely a broken rib, he thought.
The fire in the engine room was much smaller this time. Lacy used the extinguisher to douse it and, once the smoke had cleared, she saw the thick glass pod that covered the engine had a chunk missing. Small pieces of glass were all over the place. A terrible smell was coming from the engine itself, and though it was spinning, its motions were about to go ape, sputtering viciously here and there. She knew it was fixable, but it would take time. Right now, though, she had to care for Dex.
She walked cautiously back to the cabin, but her legs were shaking, and she had to keep a hand on the wall to keep her balance. Her breathing still felt restrained, but she didn’t know what condition Dex was in. She retrieved the medical kit from the locker where the space suits were kept.
Kneeling beside Dex, she unwrapped some of the gauze and applied it to his forehead.
“Hold this,” she said tenderly.
“I’m sorry,” he breathed, as if every word he spoke threatened to tear his lungs apart.
She felt his core for broken ribs. “For what?” she asked, trying to force a laugh like none of this was a big deal in the slightest.
“I shouldn’t have yelled like that.”
At that, she didn’t have to force the laughter. “Darling, right now I don’t think your tone in that whole...mess is our biggest issue. But you can apologize for that god-awful landing.”
He laughed back at that but was cut off by the pain caused by his broken ribs. “At least we landed. This rock can’t break us that easily.”
Lacy smiled but said nothing.
“Hey.” Dex reached out a feeble hand to lift up her chin.
Lacy looked up to lock eyes with him.
“Happy anniversary,” he said.
As Lacy applied medical aid to her husband, something below the surface was alerted to their crash.