The SS Della, having been flung at incomprehensible speeds from Koppai’s lunar colony of Ouhai, was set on its path to a newly discovered planet. The distant sphere, tentatively named PNF-404, held a treasure trove of edible matter; the prefect solution to the overpopulation crisis gripping Koppai and its surrounding colonies. The SPERO’s one and only crew member, D, was an unpaid intern who had been forced into taking on the task of securing all the edible matter on PNF-404 before the more qualified (and more funded) crew of the SS Drake could pilfer the planet, taking away all possibility of an independent Ouhai. D, who had been looking for another name to suit his journey, took one look at the unassuming vessel, knowing that it was to be his home for the next 279,000 light years, began to cry. He was about to be sent away from his family, his friends, everyone he knew, all for the slim chance to free his homeland from the peaceful yoke of the nearby planet.
“It’s for the good of our nation”, they preach. “You’ll return home with a triumph!”
With this, D knew that returning home in failure was not an option. His only choices were to succeed, or be lost on PNF-404 for the rest of his life.
He had hopped into the small spaceship, stains of his sadness still on his face as he somberly waved to the cheering crowd. The fuel ignited, sending a wave of heat that pushed the crowd back, as the roof of the bay screeched open. D felt the SPERO lift off, signaling the end of his life on Ouhai, and the beginning of his new life on PNF-404. He decided to attempt to fully embrace this rebirth, and took the name of the ship that would provide him comfort for 279,000 light years, lengthening “D” to “Dell”. His new namesake escaped the pull of the moon and Koppai, rushing off toward the distant planet at speeds incomprehensible to beings that are not 2 inches tall, slowly building to a critical point where Dell could slot his cosmic drive key into its receptacle, and activate its dual system. The autopilot shimmered on, retracting the manual steering wheel, along over for the quite inexperienced Dell as the nearby stars stretched into lines, decorating the void with their brilliance, giving him their final farewell as he drifted off into a relaxing slumber.
The whole world seemed to be blaring at Dell as his eyes shot open, taking in the chaos of what sounded like every alarm possible screaming at the former intern to save the ship, to avoid the incoming calamity. The engine sputtered out, having suffered some mysterious ailment, sending the small vessel spiraling down toward the planet below. Dell, having little control over his habitat, could only hope that there was something on the ever larger sphere that could slow his descent. As the ship fell closer to the planet, everything within the chamber began to be shaken loose, the cosmic drive key dropped out of its slot, his provisions fell from their shelf and shattered on the opposite wall, and his only keepsake of his former life, a teddy bear, threatened to fly out of the hatch and into the void. Dell scrambled to put his suit on, preparing for a toxic atmosphere. He was fidgeting with the fastenings of his helmet when the hatch suddenly flipped open, the poisonous, oxygen rush air of the distant planet rushing in. Experiencing the worst ending to a nap in history, Dell managed to close the seal on his helmet a mere fraction of a second before his demise, yet in his desperation let go of his grip on the ship, resulting in the intrepid intern shooting out the hatch and joining his ship in hurtling toward PNF-404. Unfortunately for Dell, the traditional Koppaite engineered suit still had its forced sleep mode enabled, so despite only being awake for less than five minutes, he was lulled to sleep once again- not nearly as peacefully however.
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Relieved of his duties for a time, the intern-turned-explorer, along with his ship, fell for what seemed like days. As the world turned beneath them, it became apparent that they were destined to crash on a verdant green landscape. The closer they got, the more detailed the area became; colors began to dot the ground below, a sea of oranges and reds painting a beautiful, organic picture that was a backdrop of the catastrophe of the SS Della. Had he been awake, Dell would have felt a wave of relaxation pass through him, calmly accepting that, were he to die, this was certainly a good place to be laid to rest. Albeit an unfamiliar landscape on an unfamiliar planet, the serenity of the warm rays of this system’s star, and the vibrant colors of the native vegetation pushed a feeling of being a part of this work of art.
The wildlife below scrambled to avoid the falling objects; the seas of grass parting to make way for the results of a thriving ecosystem. The two falling objects, through some merciful twist of fate, landed on a moist patch of ground, doubtlessly saving them from a certain destruction. Dell, having gone through hell and back in the last few minutes, broke through his suit’s forced sleep and wriggled his head out of the mud, shaking the rest off his helmet as he looked up to see the sun rising on a new day. His first day on this distant planet.