Eli pinged my slate with a document of the rules and an ultimatum that if I didn’t listen to them or abide by them then he was going to dump me on Atlantis to live out the rest of my days.

Entering, observing, and staying on Atlantis:

1. Conform to the Civilisation age that Atlantis is currently in.

2. Minimal contact and/or interference with Civilisation on Atlantis.

3. Visitors are not to introduce foreign ideologies to Atlantis.

4. Visitors are not to alter/create/collude events for personal or commercial gain, or for power grabs.

The list continued for what seemed hundreds upon hundreds of points down to the most minute detail.

“Woah wait a second. What ‘age’ is Atlantis currently in to have all these rules?” I asked.

“Eh around the late…ish Medieval Period I would say,” claimed Eli.

He had a smile stretched across his face. It was hidden by his luscious beard he decided to grow out but it was an obvious happy topic for him. Like a milestone for a child’s growth but his baby was a planet.

“You’ve essentially started from scratch. Why?”

“Well Alex,” he said rather sternly.

“Every transporter had orders to do the same but it seems like two of the eight decided to do their own thing didn’t they.”

Eli cleared his throat and seemed slightly offended by the question but continued.

“More specifically as to why Atlantis was set up this particular way… research mainly.”

He tapped his legs, lost in deep thought for a moment.

“Anyway,” he sighed, “we’re approaching our descent target. Time to get prepped.”

Why does he seem like he’s hiding something?

“How the hell do you enter and exit the planet without anyone noticing?” I asked.

“We enter during the night and exit during the day. Some people will see us operate, but, who’s going to believe them?”

“So you’ve gone from conspiracy nut to conspirator?”

He let out a husky chuckle at the remark.

“The latter makes me just as much as the former.”

The ship itself wasn’t making the entry into Atlantis instead there were small drop pods made specifically for researchers and the like to drop down to planets in a more stealth like approach.

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The drop pods were cramped with only two people sitting side by side being able to fit into them, and they were not much smaller than a car.

There wasn’t too much crammed into the pod either, basically a kind of rudimentary but high tech piece of metal you could say. It had only one small viewing window in front of us with a control panel sat below it which extended between our seats. The control panel only required manual intervention in the most dire situation reassured Eli. For the most part it was highly automated. All Eli had to do was punch in the coordinates on Atlantis and the research craft and drop pod did the rest.

”So I’m curious. Have you been looking for Alice and Lilly?” Asked Eli.

According to the small countdown clock on the panel we had five minutes before drop. Ergh no way to avoid this conversation.

“Yeah I have.”

Eli shifted in his seat to get a better look at me. Only to pressure me into elaborating though of course.

“God you’re even more annoying now you’re an old man.

“Alice is dead. Lilly is… I have no idea.”

He shifted back in his seat and let out a sigh.

“Sorry to hear that.”

“She lived a full life on Nuvora. Even remarried. Lilly didn’t believe that I was dead and ran away,” I explained.

“If Lilly continues to travel there’s a good chance not much time would have passed between you both.”

The centre panel let out two slow beeps followed by consistent beeps at second intervals as the countdown hit the final ten seconds.

“Thanks.”

I was grateful that Eli remained positive, usually he fell on the more pessimistic side of things. Well he used to at least.

A drop in my stomach timed perfectly with the countdown timer hitting zero. The pod released and we were on our way to the surface.

“Relax, we still have a couple of hours until it gets a little bumpy,” taunted Eli.

This was the third time and second controlled entry to a planets surface since leaving Earth and I was still scared out of my fucking mind.

None of anything felt real or like it should be possible, and over thinking it always helped further my bouts of existential crisis. I’d always put myself into a panic attack thinking that I was already dead and never made off Earth, but then if that was the case it would mean that this was still reality. Crazy space talk that is.

Eli tried to lighten the mood with some small easy chit chat but I mainly remained silent due to my belief of impending crash and death on our descent.

And it only got worse. The pod started shaking from the resistance against its hull getting stronger. We were punching into the atmosphere. A bright glow illuminated through the tiny window. We were coming in hot, literally.

The size of the pod, our entry time, and landing location would more than likely appear as a meteor to any observers on the ground. It was all a well oiled deceptive operation it seemed.

The shaking, burning , and a little fear subsided as we broke further down into the atmosphere and turned into a smooth, less jarring ride.

We began to tumble as we hit air pockets and the winds of Atlantis. The pod started thrusting to adjust itself before it deployed its initial chute, drastically reducing our speed and almost winding me as my harness dug into my chest.

“Nothing makes an old man feel more alive,” cheered Eli.

What a sicko.

“Gotta watch out for that heart, can’t have you dying on me now.”

He laughed and it was obvious he was having the time of his life.

***

“Brace yourself. We’re coming in a bit fast than I would have liked,” announced Eli.

I quickly pulled my harness tighter. My shoulders and chest had already had enough force put on them from entry.

A loud and hard thud shuttered through the pod as we smashed into the ground, followed by the grazing of metal on grass with the occasional clang of rocks being in the way as we were dragged along with the breeze.

Finally we came to a stop and Eli got to work in releasing the pod's hatch door which had been banged up pretty well after our harsh touchdown. After a few bangs and forceful kicks it finally released and let us out.

An earthy, damp smell filled my nostrils as I scanned around. It was dark. Not a source of light anywhere but from Atlantis’ moon.

We were in an open field with shadows of tree lines in the distance scattered around us. As I looked around some more I spotted the most dull orange glow off in the distance.

“I think this is the closest I’ve ever gotten. Next time I’ll get right on the doorstep,” laughed Eli.

“Let’s get going shall we.”