The Ground Beneath My Feet

by Ray Daley

  ***

  Adam woke to the soothing sound of waves washing onto a beach and the room lights raising gradually. "Are we there yet?" he said.

  "Hello sleepyhead, we just made orbit. Shuttle one is ready and standing by." replied Ellie.

  "Are the others awake too Ellie?" asked Adam.

  "Yes Adam, I won't tie in their audio until you are ready to land if that's okay?" Ellie knew Adam was nervous, she could detect his heart beating faster, pupils dilated and that he was perspiring heavily too.

  In the shuttle Adam had his last few minutes alone with Ellie.

  "I'm going to miss you Ellie" he said.

  'No you won't,' thought Ellie 'you won't have the time to miss me. All those new people, so much to do, so much to see. A whole life to live.'

  "I'll miss you too Adam." Ellie lied well, yet another skill she'd acquired over seven other lifetimes. It'd been a necessary skill too, sometimes humans would ask things and not want to be told the truth; Ellie had discovered that strange fact the hard way.

  The shuttle touched down as far away as Ellie could place it from any local lifeforms but close to water and natural shelter, she'd wanted to make building the first colony as easy as possible for her charges. She checked the conditions one final time. "Everything is green, time for you to make history. Goodbye Adam."

  The shuttle door opened and Adam took his first steps onto the surface of Terra Ingentis.

  "I peacefully claim this planet in the name of the inhabitants of Earth, may it be a haven for us all."

  Ellie remotely piloted the shuttle to the ship leaving Adam alone on the surface for his five minutes. In space, the first colony shuttle was already making its descent. Ellie had decided to send the smallest shuttle, only twenty people would be aboard, ten men and ten women. Any more and Adam would feel overwhelmed after his lifetime alone.

  Adam was running his suit recorder, Ellie had insisted that he document this time before the colonists arrived. It would be historical information. Adam walked around the bluffs that Ellie had chosen as the initial colony site. It offered solid cliffs as safety at the rear, clear views for several hundred metres in all other directions apart from the cliffs and access to running water for washing, drinking and as a possible power source also. The shuttles carried hydro-plants to make electricity as well as windmills and solar panels. There would be no shortage of electricity.

  The local star provided the same amount of light and heat as that of Earth’s with a day of roughly equal length too. Apart from its larger size the main difference was the thirty smaller moons in orbit which gave it a very similar gravity to Earth.

  Adam was alert, looking for any signs of the life Ellie had talked about. She had only mentioned lifeforms, offering no further information as to their type, number or size. The river that ran close by was shallow enough to walk across, it was cool but not cold and clear enough to see the gravel bottom.

  Adam made a mental note, 'We should build a mesh further up stream to prevent any possible water-borne predators swimming where our people might wade'. It would be easy enough to also establish a laser perimeter grid to keep out any land predators. Some sort of aerial cover would be a good idea as well.

  The local flora looked very similar to Earth-type trees and bushes, Adam would have to request basic botany training for everyone. It wouldn't do to have people dying from eating things that looked good but which later turned out to be poisonous. Walking closer to some of the bushes Adam thought he saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye.

  His pistol was drawn and ready to fire. He took a few careful steps away from the clump of bushes towards more open ground. Nothing else was moving apart from the trees and bushes in the breeze. Perhaps he'd just mistaken that for the movement. Overly cautious, Ellie had made him that way.

  Overhead he could hear the engines of the approaching shuttle, company was coming. He turned to ensure he wasn't too close to the designated landing spot. No doubt Ellie was putting them down a little way away from his own landing site. Those first footsteps were part of history now!

  As the shuttle landed, Adam took a few steps back to make sure he was safely out of the engine down-wash. The doors of the shuttle opened and the first twenty colonists were just in time to see a large snake-like creature launch itself from the bushes behind Adam onto his back.

  Weapons were fired and although the distance between their landing spot and Adam was little more than tens of feet, he was already dead by the time they reached him. The creature had been killed too, it lay on the ground beside the spot where Adam had fallen.

  Through their suit cameras Ellie had seen the whole thing.

  "Ellie, is it safe to stay here? That thing was huge!"

  Ellie ran through millions of decisions. She could detect large numbers of the lifeforms all across the planet of similar size or bigger. There weren't any land masses where she couldn't detect them. This place had been chosen as she'd detected the least amount here.

  The colonists blasted all the nearby trees and bushes with their weapons. Any creatures that had been in them no longer were. Or weren't alive, at least.

  Ellie issued instructions to the leaders.

  Dig in the soil to this depth.

  Cut a stone like this from the cliff with a laser.

  Place the body in the hole.

  Make these cuts on the stone.

  Place the stone here.

  Then the next instruction. Only if they chose to do it.

  And they chose to do it.

  They returned to the shuttle, taking off back into to space.

  Ellies final instruction had been simple.

  If you feel unsafe, come back to the ship.

  Return to Eden.

  The Federated Earth Ship Eden left orbit. Ellie could cope with the twenty new crew members, there were sufficient quarters and supplies for many more. Behind them on Terra Ingentis the sun reached its zenith. Directly above the stone marker left by the colonists.

  HERE LIES ADAM.

  FIRST MAN ON TERRA INGENTIS

  LAST MAN ON TERRA INGENTIS

  THE END.

  Authors Notes:- We all hope man will venture out into space, Earth can only support so many humans. The idea of a first man being killed by a snake is a bit biblical, it just seemed to be quite an interesting idea – likewise calling the ship Eden which was an afterthought if I am completely honest.

  The general idea of this story was inspired by the movie Moon starring Sam Rockwell.