Pilgrimage

[Chrysalis]

Led by instinct and drawn by the faint blueish lights like a moth to the flame, Hussaini descended the ship with a crawl. He took his time, knowing that even a slight mishap could mean a certain death in this foreign, hostile environment. As the ship descended, with the auxiliary thrusters burning almost on full capacity, Hussaini seized the opportunity to start up his ship's instruments and see if he could get any helpful readings of the surface.

As the instruments ran and the computer compiled the data, he looked out the cockpit towards the surface, to the place where he last saw the blinking lights. He strained to make them out again, to catch a glimpse, but to no avail - they were simply not there anymore. The computer beeped several times, the analysis now complete, he rushed to open the interface hoping that the sensitive instruments picked something up. It displayed no anomalies, no out of the ordinary energy signatures, nothing. A simple mirage, he thought, lightning playing tricks on his eyes. He was good at conjuring up convenient rationalizations at a moment's notice.

He sighed and looked at the rest of the data. Surface features, atmospheric pressure, and composition. The surface was mostly flat and barren, with the occasional rock outcroppings and cracks, the air, though not breathable, was of a suitable if not slightly under the average atmospheric pressure. He sighed again, this time in relief, now knowing he wouldn't need a thick atmospheric suit if he wanted to explore the surroundings - the pilot suit would do, with a full helmet, of course.

"Warning: Auxilliary thruster fuel reserves are low. Please land as soon as possible." - The ship AI announced, and started repeating on a loop. Conveniently, it also brought up the image of a suitable landing spot, and marked a waypoint on the holographic cockpit interface.

Hussaini tapped a button to disable the AI's voice, and took the steering stick into his hands, turning the ship slowly towards the waypoint, then engaging the main engines, albeit at a low power. Getting closer to the landing spot, he could make out a visual of the location, a distinctively flat area, even flatter than the rest of the landscape - and surrounded by jagged structures protruding from the ground, artificial by all accounts. He had heard of such discoveries on this Planet in the past, but it never occurred to him he would personally investigate them.

Now hovering over the landing spot, he killed the engines completely and started the final descent, maneuvering with thrusters. The landing was mostly smooth, the ship kicking up dust as it extended landing gear and touched down. Hussaini took a deep breath, the realization of how foolish this whole escapade was, only now fully dawning on him. This sort of irrational, thrill-seeking behavior will kill him one day, he thought, but he got this far, no point in going back without at least looking around.

He disengaged the belt security lock and got up from the pilot's seat, making his way towards the cargo hold. The pilot suit was already suitable for exposure to light-to-medium hazards, though he needed a full helmet with a breather if he were to survive. Locating it finally, he put it on and applied the locks, the mechanism automatically connecting with the rest of the suit. He cracked his neck left and right and stretched a bit, then entered the small airlock chamber, closing the door behind him.

He straightened up and assumed a confident stance, almost as if an entourage was about to greet him on the other side, then quickly disengaged the locks, opening the outer doors. A small gust of wind whooshed as the pressure equalized and the door slid to the side. He looked around and to the distance, the landscape, though barren, had a subtle but palpable beauty that was accentuated by the faint light filtering the through the purple haze.

He took a step forward, his leg kicking dust up as it landed, then another step, fully out of the ship. The door slid closed behind him.