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A Curious Blue Dot

© Chris Silva

Solar wings reflect the distant sun's rays with a soft golden gleam. The adept checks his coordinates and enters a small change; slightly worried. He's interested in the planet and would like to run some tests. But Command doesn't like changes.

Fighting back his nervousness, he double checks, feeling the turn as the auto-grav unit compensates. The planet is blue and white with a thick atmosphere. Its distance from its sun is just right and it looks lush and beautiful. The adept is excited by his find and is awed as his ship swings closer; the planet is truly wondrous. His scan indicates diverse non-sentient life. Adjusting his visor, the adept scans deeper, lush forests and huge oceans all full of life.

The HUD in the visor blinks. Its Command querying his change. He has to act quickly. Grabbing the probe he turns the top to insure the contents are in tact. Pushing the small activation button the adept re-inserts the probe's top and places it in the ejector. The visor projects a soft light on the adept's thin hairless head as his scanner follows the probe to its landing point. Success!

The adept answers Command: A nav error already corrected, back on track. He pulls off the visor and smiles thinking of all the data he'll receive from the probe. He feels a sharp pain where he holds the headset and notices the cut on his long thin finger and the blood dripping from it. His thoughts go back to the probe and his smile changes to a frown of fear.

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Christopher Scott Silva
currently lives with his wife and two sons in Germany. Chris is Editor and Moderator for two of the most popular internet sites for writers on the web. He enjoys writing science fiction, horror and fantasy, and his atmospheric style and clever prose pulls the reader instantly into his fantastical realms. His recently re-published tale, 'Lurking', released this Easter in paperback, 'The Library's Best of 2008' ( ISBN-10: 0982243413), and his popular serial in 'Forgotten Worlds' magazine, 'Another Day On The Job' (in print -UK) were well received by critics. Chris can be found beating on his MacBook in Frankfurt, or anywhere there's a warm cup of good coffee and fast wireless internet access.