Prologue:

Humanity has been reaching for the stars for centuries, desperately thrashing our arms about in hope of grasping the key. This time has come and gone, for we are now connoisseurs of interstellar travel. 453 years succeeding the first man to enter the boundless void of space marked the start of a new project that will span the time of 8 years. A manned research vessel will be annually sent to examine our original solar system. Each craft will be assigned a certain planet, where the sole purpose of its sojourn is to gather intelligence that has faded from our minds over the years. This was the information given out to the public, but many fear the goal of these missions are different than the one we were informed of. Not only has technology severely advanced, but we have unlocked parts of our brains that were previously unusable on Earth. The crew of Octonav II has concluded their brief research, and the casual journey back home to Novadom begins.

2132 Hours      | |      Location: Inside Octonav II Ship      | |      Planet: Unknown

I had never had an anxiety attack like that before. Prior to impact, seconds were stretched into minutes. Our ship was tumbling through the atmosphere, heading towards the surface of the planet at supersonic speeds. Memories flashed by, one immediately leading to another. Through the rushing stream of memories, I could only pick a few out; the news of my uncle’s death in fourth grade, getting my first pet dog a few years after, the first time I had shot a rifle with my father, high school graduation; and then my parents informing me of the truth. My entire life I was raised as an only child. That was not the case. In fact, I had a brother five years my senior. He went to a boarding school his entire life and eventually worked for NASA right after college, therefore, I never saw him. My parents never talked about it him, it was almost like my brother was never alive. Ever since my parents educated me on his death, I kept telling myself it wasn’t true. I thought I could still feel a connection between the two of us. Occasionally, I would dream of journeying to a strange planet and saving him, but I knew doing such a thing was far out of my arms’ reach.

2205 Hours      | |      Location: Outside Octonav II Ship      | |      Planet: Unknown

The sun was just rising as we exited our ship. The entire crew was dumbfounded, for none of us had ever seen nor researched a planet with this landscape. Throughout my entire life on Novadom, I was never shown images of this planet. Some type of scrap metal was scattered about in the tall grass that appeared to reach my waist. The crash site was surrounded by soaring mountains, creating a barrier around us. There were no signs of current life besides the grasses and occasional trees far off in the distance. Various ruins and structures of what we believed to be past life were among the trash littered, undulating hills. An enormous rock formation secluded the wreck from the rest of this strange world. This was an entirely new place for them, but for me, everything was slowly coming together. I began to recognize this exact landscape, it was the same place from my dreams.

Lucas: “I brought a couple empty test tubes. I’m going off towards that rock formation to collect some samples. We could use it to figure out what planet we’re on.”
Henry: “Fine. Don’t be too long.”

2236 Hours      | |      Location: 200 Yards Away From Octonav II Ship
Planet: Unknown

I reached into my thigh pocket and grabbed the test tubes. These were not what I wanted. I carelessly threw them to the ground, shattering some and cracking others. I was far enough from the crew to remove the pistol concealed in my thigh pocket. I made sure it was loaded and made my way towards the towering boulders ahead of me. Yes, this was certainly the rock. Walking there, I struggled to pry the helmet from my space suit. I had absolutely no doubts about whether this air was safe to breathe or not. The alien air invaded my lungs, quickly reaching my blood stream. The only way for the crew to keep an eye on my location at this point was the tracker in my helmet. There was no point in trying to remove the tracker which was linked with the entire crew, for the helmet was sealed with many protective layers. After carefully placing my helmet next to the rock to make it look like I would still be there, I focused on the approaching landscape. It was exactly the same from my dreams, exactly. I was here.

2248 Hours      | |      Location: 250 Yards Away From Octonav II Ship
Planet: Unknown

As I made my way around the rock that stood in my path, the ravine from my dreams became visible. My head started to spin and I was engulfed in dizziness. I knew my brother was trying to contact me. Our telepathic communication had been going on for a while, ever since I was informed of my brother’s death. Later I came to the conclusion that this also influenced my dreams. My brother would give me directions, and each night, step by step, I followed the path he instructed me to walk. I was repeating my dreams, only this time they were real.
The vast basin of the ravine was barren, a dirt wasteland. Built into the far side of the ravine was what looked to be a functioning structure. The jet black metal stood out against the dark brown soil of this world. Two tinted window panes were flush with the exterior walls of the bunker. I was unable to determine how far back into the side of the ravine this building went. As I attempted to approach the strange structure, an opening appeared towards the right of the center window. Before I was able to get a glimpse of the interior of the building through the opening door, a group of figures swiftly exited. The door slammed shut after the last member of the group exited the structure. None of them paused after leaving the safety of their home, instead they kept walking directly towards me. It was clear all of them were heavily armed. There was no need to raise my pistol, for I knew who they were. I knew exactly what was happening and what was going to happen. Now only fifteen yards ahead of me, the group slowed their pace. They stopped ten feet in front of me, just like they had in my dream. The member of the group leading them towards me took a few steps forwards.

Lucas: “Aaron?”
Aaron: “Lucas! You made it!”
Lucas: “Yes, but we have to make this quick. The crew of the ship I crashed here with could arrive any second.”
Aaron: “Alright. Why don’t we get you inside and talk there?”
Henry: “I think talking here is just fine.”

The sound of Henry’s voice sent chills throughout every nerve in my body. Turning around, it was clear the entire crew was standing at the top of the ravine. This was not part of my dream. Had I done something wrong to change it? They hastily slid down the same side of the ravine as I had. It was obvious Henry was holding my helmet I had left by the rock.

Aaron: “Who are you?”
Henry: “Lucas hasn’t told you already? We’re the crew he abandoned to look for you. Now, we’re only here for The Grail. You must be Aaron.”
Aaron: “Indeed.”
Jamie: “We should get going, we don’t want to be off schedule too much.”
Henry: “True, but I think our friend Lucas here deserves some explaining. First off, we knew what you were doing all along. We knew exactly why you came on this mission, for your brother of course. You couldn’t hide that little map of yours for the whole journey. It’s pretty hard to keep secrets from the only people you’ve been around for a full year. It’s also really easy to find out people’s secrets after spending a year with them. Anyway, the whole purpose of these missions back to our original solar system was never to collect data from other planets. You think we would waste time collecting useless data from planets nobody cares about anymore? These missions were created for the sole purpose of collecting ancient relics from this world. Octonav I was sent for the Ark of the Covenant, and we’re here for the Holy Grail. Your brother here stayed in constant contact with you, which we needed. Without your dreams and map, there would have been no way of meeting up with your brother so we could retrieve The Grail and return home. We then allowed you to crash the ship because we figured you knew what you were doing. Disabling the fuel tank sensors and draining all of the fuel is a task that is quite hard to pull off without anyone finding out. When you went off to meet with Aaron, we figured it would be best to just show up while you were here. Following the map, we found you all here. And now, here we are.”

I immediately turned to face my brother. I gave him a death stare, gazing right into his eyes. So many emotions filled my brain, betrayal, anger, regret, invasion, just to name a few. It felt like a witch had every negative emotion in a bottle and was brewing the perfect death potion in her cauldron within my head.

Aaron: “This place is in the center of a warzone. Our enemy is most likely already aware of our location due to the powering up of the rocket. We need to do this fast. I will meet you at the launch pad in two minutes.”

They continued into the bunker. I was left behind in a cramped room while the rest went out to the launchpad in the center of the featureless wasteland on the opposite side of the ravine.

Calvin: “Hand over The Grail and let’s get out of here. The longer we wait the more off schedule we’ll be. We can’t rise any suspicions amongst the public. Everyone will be waiting there for our return.”

I could see the woman handing over the box to Calvin. Before it even reached Calvin’s arms, it was already too late. Three fighter jets soared across the horizon. In a blink, several missiles were streaming towards the rocket. In another blink, the missiles made contact with the fuel cells of the rocket, creating an artificial sun for a split second. The explosion did not reach the room I was in, but the aftershock shattered the window inwards. I payed no attention to the hundreds of pieces of broken glass deeply lodged in my skin. I was no longer in control of my trembling body which dropped to its knees. Instead of acknowledging the pain, the only thing I was able to acknowledge was all of their deaths. Aaron, Henry, Calvin, Steven, Jamie, Aaron’s loyal men and women, all of which have been laid to rest on the forgotten planet of Earth. And here I am, a dead man, stranded.