Starsnatcher - Trapped In An Alien World [COMPLETE]

Chapter 5.2

Cobbles of sandstone lay in a vast sea of gravel. It was an endless wasteland with the occasional castle of chocolate-colored rock gazing over it.

As the view from space showed, this strip of desert was small. It belonged to a so-called rain shadow desert. Mountains blocked moisture from oceans, meaning that there was no rain here whilst jungles grew just a few hundred miles further south.

My bones felt like made of lead. At least the Seizers remembered giving me an airbag-like seat. I rested behind the windshield with enough space to extend my legs. The Seizers stood in the car's rear. That appeared counterintuitive since they were driving, but only because I'm so used to the presence of steering wheels. The arrangement was win-win, as the rear meant more space for them and the front meant no eye contact for me.

Underneath my seat, the car's engines roared as if they belonged to a machine from a more ancient age. How different it was from the trips on Shadowmoon. The cars and trains there were so silent, so smooth, so efficient.

Now, we were driving on uncharted terrain.

In a way, everyone in our car was in the same boat.

When I entered Shadowmoon, I was a fish out of the water while the Seizers were in their element. If "out of the water" could be compared to "at the water's shore", Crick and Helix were frogs on Shadowmoon. Now, however, the fish and the two frogs had been placed in the desert.

Okay, maybe I stretched the analogy a bit.

It was far from perfect. I mean, me going to Shadowmoon was the result of an alien abduction. Us going to Eden was more the result of careful planning and mapping.

Both Shadowmoon and Eden liked their deserts though.

My transparent helmet tinted darker, responding to the scorching Sun.

A tiny spot below the Sun glinted through my dark field of vision. It was barely large enough for a human eye's resolution. The F-star was really far away.

Why was I even staring out of the window?

We had a computer on our windscreen showing far more interesting things.

Crick had sent out insect-sized robot drones carrying cameras. Most of them got killed, as Eden's thick atmosphere was prone to storms, but we still got footage.

As seen from space, most of Eden's plants were red, presumably due to the K-star's light. The treetops resembled a field of roses.

The screen switched to show the mountains. A rain of molten debris loomed over the oblivious landscape. Its falling rocks hung on trails of dust and ember that reached into the firmament.

"Is this ... from the ship that rammed the ocean?" I asked.

"Indeed," Crick answered. "Fortunately, the mountains shield the desert from the megatsunamis. The long-term effects of the impact on the planet are difficult to evaluate."

Well, that was reassuring to hear!

The screen switched yet again.

We still peeked at a mountain, but something told me it wasn't part of the mountain range near the continent's shore. This one had rainforests growing over it.

What was more interesting was what they had highlighted in light-blue: A river flowing down into the woods. It was long and straight, without any of the meandering curves one would have expected from a naturally occurring river.

"This is a channel," Crick transmitted. "If it is artificially made, which we strongly suspect, it presents evidence, but not proof, of sapient activity."