Mankind

The ship bursts through the sky with an explosion of lightning. Sho takes the controls, finally able to steer as alarms blare.
“Shit!” He says, clenching his teeth. “This is gonna be a bumpy ride!”
“I’m engaging downward thrusters to reduce speed!” Marta twists around in her seat, frantically pressing buttons on the console behind her. The ship struggles but Sho isn’t just any ordinary pilot.
He yanks the controls to the side, they start spinning slightly as they lower to the ground. “I’m setting us down in that clearing, Marta. All hands on deck!” The screen in front of him flashes red as it scans the ground and surrounding area.
“Roger!” She clicks something near her side of the controls. “Landing thrusters active!”
“This is it everyone!” Sho cracks a smile. He knows he’s more than capable of landing this ship, he’s not even breaking a sweat. The trees around the clearing bend and crack from the thrusters, and in just a few seconds, the ship is down safely.
“Systems nominal, Captain.” Marta takes a deep breath. “Nice flying.”
He gives her a wink then turns to everyone behind him. “Alright, we’ve officially landed in God knows where. We can unbuckle. Cosima, what are we dealing with here?”
Cosima, nerdy science officer, with long curls that could make just about anyone jealous. She brings up holographic images on the table in the center of the bridge. They gather around to study it.
“Oxygen and gravity are similar to Earth. Breathable air. I’ll have to send the probes out to get more information.”
“Think your dad is here?” Sho turns to Rylee.
She nods slightly. “I’m sure about it. That thing spit us out here…it probably did the same with him.”
“Why don’t we take some time to assess the situation, then head out in the morning?”
She pats him playfully on the back. “After all of this, I need a minute to recuperate anyway.”
The quietness of night comes and darkness falls over the ship. Rylee tosses and turns, unable to drift off to sleep. Is it because she just recently got out of hypersleep? or is something pulling at her mind? Whatever it is, she can’t seem to shake it.
As she stares up at the ceiling, a bright yellow light begins to flash and a mechanical voice rings throughout the ship, “Contagion alert, contagion alert.”
Rylee shoots up from her bed. She grabs the holo-cuff and snugs it on her ear before activating the globular hologram. She flies through multiple functions and stops as soon as she reaches the ship cameras. There it is, the main corridor. There’s a creature, a humanoid being, pale skin, no clothing. Its teeth are deep in the neck of…Marta!
Rylee takes a deep breath, she slides her fingers across the holographic screen, bringing up a picture of Sho. She presses, then his voice comes to life. “What’s going on?” He asks.
“There’s something on the ship. It-it got Marta.” There’s a pause before a deep sigh from Sho.
“What do we do?”
“Lockdown the area, then quarantine protocol. It’ll sterilize the room.”
There’s a pause on Sho’s end, then his voice comes through but it’s almost a whisper, as quiet as a mouse. “That means Marta…”
“She’s already dead, Sho. You’re the only one that has the clearance to initiate lockdown.” The room suddenly goes dark and an alarm blares throughout the ship.
Rylee switches back to the cameras. Marta’s body slowly slides down the wall, leaving a path of blood behind. The creature runs back and forth but it’s trapped, sealed in by two bulkhead doors. Flames engulf the room, not once, not even twice, but three waves of flames before slowly being doused by thick white smoke. Left behind are two charred bodies.
“That did it.” Rylee says. But there’s no answer on the other line, just silence. The call ends. “I’m sorry, Sho.” She whispers to herself.
Morning comes and with that, the end of the lockdown and the cleanup of the dead. No one can wrap their heads around the loss of Marta and the strange invasion of a mutated humanoid creature. It’s all too much to take in. They’ve just landed and already someone is dead.
The lunch room is silent, just the sound of clinking silverware and the thud of cups being sat down on the table.
After lunch, Rylee takes refuge in the gym. She jogs on the treadmill, sweat beading down her cheeks and her face bright red. The door opens and in walks Sho.
“So no one is going to talk about what happened?” He sighs.
“What’s there to talk about?” Rylee steps off the device and wipes her forehead with a towel. “It happened. There’s nothing that can change that now.”
“I just wish…” He takes a deep breath.
“That you didn’t come?”
“I’m not saying that, Rylee.”
“Look. If we want to venture outside, we need to find out what that thing was. Cosima is running scans on the body right now.”
“It’s still on the ship?” Sho asks with a grimace.
“Yes, it is. Sho, we need to be ready to fight, to protect ourselves and this ship.”

Elsewhere, a young woman walks down a hall with a hurried pace. She’s dressed quite nice, almost as if she was in a royal household in early 1900’s England. Her thick wavy brown hair is pinned up but is slowly starting to fall down with her quick steps. She opens two doors leading into a library where Eric and the woman sit, enjoying afternoon tea.
“Mother,” She says, her voice is calming and gentle, the type of voice that could make a child easily drift off to sleep with a bedtime story. “I’ve gotten word that the ship has been attacked.”
“Oh my.” The woman says. She and Eric both leap from their seats. “Eric, I think we need to send an escort for them. I can’t bear not knowing if they’re okay.”
“I do agree, Athena. I thought I would let them settle in a few more days but it does seem dire now. Yes, we’ll send an escort.”
Outside the castle a group of people come together, they’re outfitted with weapons and await the orders of Athena and Eric.
The front door swings open. Kya, Athena’s daughter walks out into the gravel. She takes a deep breath of the cool air and watches as the group make their way up the long driveway.
“I can’t believe that’s her. Eric never gave up hope and now she’s finally here.” A man says, he’s not much older than her, maybe twenty-four or twenty-five. He’s handsome, blonde hair slicked back. He’s Kya’s brother, Quency.
“I just hope they’re okay, and the escort can get to them quickly. They’ve not had much time to adjust to a new planet. It’s such a shame.”
“They’ll have time when they’re here, and they’ll be safer here than out there in the wilds.”
She looks at him and sighs, slightly shaking her head with disbelief. “Will they though? With a civil war on the brink.”
“We just have to hope that won’t happen.”

“It’s not exactly human.” Cosima says as she pulls up a scan of the creature. Outside the ship, gray clouds hang overhead and a downpour of rain echoes across the metal.
“I can tell that much.” Rylee crosses her arms. She leans in to look at the monitor closer.
“It’s a mutation. What type, I’m not sure. But its teeth are razor sharp, fingernails like claws, and the scans indicate that it’s blind. So it probably heard the ship landing.”
Rylee’s holo-cuff begins to buzz slightly then the hologram opens up around her. It’s a proximity alarm, armed men are slowly making their way up to the ship. Sho gives her a look, he has the same alarm.
The group stop just as they reach the Crestelia, then another steps forward. He’s tall, short brown hair, and carries a small scar slashed across his left eyebrow. He stands straight, arms behind his back.
“Do not be alarmed.” His voice booms. “We were sent to escort you back to Highclere.” There’s no reply from the crew inside. “We were sent by Eric Mullens. The father of a girl called Rylee.”
Rylee and Sho look at each other in astonishment, in disbelief. She’s so shocked she can’t even form a sentence.
“Rylee…” Sho grabs her shoulders and shakes her.
“Wha-I…Should we go out there?” She closes her holo-cuff, cutting off the camera feed.
Sho nods. “Yes, I think we should.”
The airlock opens with a hiss and the crew pour out into the new world, taking their first breaths outside of the ship. The wind blows gently and the familiar smell of lilacs fill the air around them.
The man introduces himself as Tomas, he’s not as intimidating as his voice makes him out to be. “I know this is a shock.” He looks around. “But this area is not safe currently. We need to get you all back to Highclere and quickly.”
“Tomas, what are those things?” Rylee asks, straight into the questions.
“They’re nothing to be too worried about. Creatures native to this area.. How long before the ship can take off?”
Sho thinks for a few seconds, “Shouldn’t be too long!. I have to get everything up and running. Our entrance wasn’t exactly simple.”
“Okay. We’ll stand guard. We have word from scouts that there’s a group of them heading this way.”
“A group? Great, more than one.” Rylee sighs, she wants to know what exactly these things are. Creatures native to the area? But they look human, not animal? So many questions for being here for such a short time and already they’re being attacked. Her father sent an escort, and how did he even know she’d be coming? There are too many questions running through her mind and she can’t get her thoughts to straighten out in her head.
“You must go back onto the ship, Rylee.” Tomas urges her but she doesn’t want to. She stays put.
“I know how to fight, I was in the Military, I fought in the Battle of Mars.”
He shakes his head. The Battle of Mars? That means absolutely nothing to him but he can’t seem to shake her, she’s staying put. Tomas groans, “Fine. If you’re going to be out here, stay out of the way!”
In the distance, down in the forest, the trees shake and sway with the marching of what seems like a fairly large group. Rylee’s stomach turns with anticipation, or is it fear? She watches as the birds hurry from their branches to take refuge in the sky.
Then, as the first creature makes contact, a bolt of water shoots from Tomas’ hands. It speeds like a bullet, ripping into its flesh and knocking it to the ground. Rylee gasps. She’s dumbfounded, how did he do that? Another of the men jumps into the air, picking up small stones and kicks them. One by one the monsters fall to the grassy hillside, their bodies lifeless and riddled with wounds from the escort. All she can do is watch.
It’s an endless onslaught of creatures, and everything is being thrown; blasts of water, balls of fire, sharp stones, and forceful gusts of wind. The sound of hooves against the dirt appear behind them and riding atop a horse is Kya.
“Lady Kya!” Tomas calls out. “You shouldn’t be here!”
She slides down from the horse, “Relax, Tomas. I’m here to help.”
“You should be at the castle!” He smacks a creature away with a whip of water.
She turns to Rylee. “Hi, I’m Kya. Your father is my mother’s husband.”
“Wait, what?” Rylee looks at her, blank expression across her face. Did she really just say that? Her father came here and got remarried while her and her mother suffered without him? How is that even fair? It isn’t! She can feel the rage build up in her body. As soon as she sees him, she’s going to give him an earful.
“Move aside, Tomas!” Kya turns back to the battle. She extends her arms in front of her and takes a deep breath. The grass beneath them slowly loses its lushess green color and turns brown, the trees around them wither away and break into splinters. Quickly, she throws her hands up, the water drained from the ground beneath them and the trees around them form into a large wave she sends directly for the monsters. They collapse underneath. They try to come up for air but they can’t, Kya has complete control over the water and then it turns to ice.
“The ship is ready!” Sho calls out. “Everyone on!”
“Can we all fit?” Kya asks, worried about the horse.
Rylee nods. “We can all fit in the cargo bay.” As they head inside, she taps Kya on the shoulder and asks, “What was all that out there? With the water and other stuff? Do you guys have superpowers?”
Kya laughs. “I’ll explain it when we get to the castle. I don’t usually do that move, it kills the plantlife. You must have a lot of questions…”
“I actually do. I have tons. Starting with my dad. I can’t believe he remarried.”
Kya sighs. “I wasn’t too keen on him and my mother together but he’s grown on me and he’s good for her, and the Kingdom I think.” The ship slowly lifts into the air as the cargo bay door slides shut.
Time to meet him, for the first time ever.