the beginnings of of complications

Arrangements had been made and McAllister had not seen daylight since the dehydration. "that's the last time I save the ship." but luckily they were able to find the water they needed. but evidently the spite of the crew had not passed and in a gesture of mercy the Duke chose me to be revitalised, on the next paramount mission, because it was dangerous it is the only way the crew would ever grow accustom to me again.

it was sad to admit but despite all the advancements in the human genome we've made the captain still needs to psychologically nutrilise(sp) the situation. petty but true.

Major Ericson was currently on vacation on a dubed safe island just off the coast were as I was 15 miles mainland testing out fruits and viable food resorces in a rural area, it apeared long ago that there was a primitive culture that was here but all seemed to be abandond and over run.

jim, exiled because of hangovers on dutie "sir there seems to be some air born contaminents, but nothing we cant handle."

the high officer, entanced to the conary team because he fell a sleep on the job. "spread out test, anything edible. stay in contat report every half hour."

seven hours later boardom had hit its peak and David had finally circled round.

the sun was begining to set reflecting earily against the trees.

trying to start up a conversation McAllister comenting on the seanery "kind of creepy huh sir?" I said to the supervisore, (the only) high ranking officer.

uninterested in idle conversation the officer asked "any progress on the skematics?"

well it looks all viable though the lack of animal life is a little weird, also the ampli scanners suggest the planets sencients are migrating to this location and towards the coast."

Tony spoke up, he was repromanded for publick nudity in the mess hall. "dude, totaly I could totaly beat these coper aged pucks back to the stone age. there is no need to worry who know it could even be fun."

the main officer "regardless, set the ships to start devowering and get back to the ship the last thing i need to do is fill out a form saying you three got killed by slingshots" the crew smirked, it seemed the outcasts enjoyied eachothers company more then the normal people. I'll have to sit at their table more often.

interupting his thoughts there was some movment in the thicket.

Erickson

The choice of actions displeased me somewhat but the only other option would be to put everyone in the dehydration pods and go there the slow way. They would be arriving in the system in a few minutes. I looked over the troops that were preparing to go.

"Alright so as you may have guessed," I announced. "We suffered heavy damage from the black hole when we emerged from the far side. Most of the crew that survived had to be put into dehydration pods to give the ship enough energy to build and repair damaged systems so we could get to a system with supplies in relatively quick order."

I was pacing through the middle of the group and they all stood at attention, "We are going to land at the south pole to collect the supplies we need since the ship mostly only needs water and sunlight to grow, the sun gives plenty of light we just need to collect some large quantities of water and bring them back up here."

One of the soldiers raised a hand and I motioned for him to speak, "Why don't we just land the ship on the planet?"

"Good question. The reason we aren't landing on the planet is that our lifeform detection sensors are offline, not having been deemed a needed system to make it here. The ship did modify several escape pods to land in close proximity to one another and be able to make it be up to orbit. Though the escape pods might be close there is a possibility that you won't see anyone else until you are back up here and so it's imperative that you complete your mission as quickly as possible and get back up here. This process will take several days at best to fully restore the ship and crew," I paused one more. "Any questions?"

"No sir," They answered in unison.

"Good," I moved over to my pod. "I'll see you men in a few days. Helms down..."

"Huds up," They answered again. Hud was a reference to the heads-up display that the helmet has when it is covering your head and face, it provides you with tactical data of your surrounding, including oxygen levels outside and temperature. It also identifies potential threats and lights them up so you can see them more easily.

They all climbed into their pods except one the pods hadn't sealed yet. He approached slowly, "Permission to speak frankly with you sir."

I let my helmet down and he did also, "Granted."

"Is it true that you really have fathered an alien child?" He asked.

I looked around and saw the other faces imploring as much as his and I shrugged, "It's possible. I never checked up on her. Or any of the others for that matter."

I heard the soldiers snicker and I slapped the soldier on the arm, "Anything else soldier?"

"No sir," He answered.

I nodded, "Good, go get in your pod. It's time to depart. If you want the coms should still work if you really have more questions for me."

The soldiers grinned and I could see their minds working over some of the other rumors I was a part of. I climbed inside my pod and sealed the hatch. I few minutes later I was on my way to a very tedious assignment. Two weeks later we all arrived safely back on the ship and waited while the ship began finishing repairs. We still had no idea what, if anything, lived on the main continents.