Traveling Light – P1

I have a lot of stories to tell but I have to admit that I’ve been having problems ripping them from my mind and putting them into a coherent plot. Now I’m going to try a simple exercise and see if it helps me finish a plain story about a lost astronaut. The story is called Traveling Light.

Mission Log

The unexplained fuel depletion has forced me to land on an uncharted planet. I managed to send a message to Home Base but due to problems with multiple systems in the ship, I cannot be certain that it went through. Almost all power has been drained from the engines and there’s barely enough to run life support.

I will remain with the ship for the next six days and wait for rescue. My supplies will sustain me for now and if the power drain has stopped, I should be able to keep life support for that time.

Mission Log

It has been four days since I landed on this planet. No sign of rescue and all my attempts at communication have failed. I have passed the time researching the planet I landed on but limited power resources have made the investigation difficult.

I have performed low level scans and they show that the atmosphere on this planet is not toxic but it would be difficult for me to breathe. The atmospheric pressure is substantially higher than what I am used to so if I am forced to leave my ship, I will have to keep a breather with me at all times. The temperature is also higher than what is optimal for our species but my uniform should protect me for some time.

There is still a chance that my message reached Home Base but if it did not, there is not much hope of rescue. Whatever force it was that depleted my ship of its power had infected my system long before and when I realized that I could no longer trust my computer, it was already too late.

Author's note: I realize that a true astronaut is a scientist and would probably give scientific numbers about the atmoshpere, power drainage, etc. but I've decided to focus more on the fiction and less on the science in this first exercise.