Central Command had lost contact with Settler Five on a mission to Verona 1 shortly after its arrival at the planet. Settler Five was to survey the planet, determine if it was a viable location for a Terran colony, and scout suitable settlement sites. The sit-reps had been nominal as the ship entered orbit and completed the initial scans. Reports did not identify any indigenous intelligent species, signs of technology, or structures that would invoke the quarantine protocol, and there were no inimical life forms or conditions noted during Settler’s scans. The team received the go-ahead to land and begin on-site explorations.
Then silence. Telemetry and intelligence from the ship’s AI indicated it was fully functional and on task to complete the automated scans. Just no word from the landing party. After several days without contact, Central Command dispatched the Valiant.
My patrol ship, with myself and a crew of ten on board, arrived at Verona 1 two days later and settled into a station-keeping orbit two kilometers off the starboard side of Settler Five. Our scans detected no damage or malfunction. Our AI queried the ship and received the same answer from the AI as Central Command: per protocol, the first officer and security chief remained on board while the captain and science officer led the landing party. However, when the onboard officers lost contact, they left the AI in control and took the second shuttle down to the planet to investigate—a clear breach of protocol. By now, the Settler’s crew had been on the planet and out of contact for the better part of a week.
Our orbital scans located the two shuttles, but not the crew.
Not my first rodeo, but I was at a loss. If we took a shuttle down, we could likely end up with the same problem as Settler’s crew. But I couldn’t gather any further details from orbit.
“Lieutenant Kelly, recommendations.” She usually had those out of the box ideas any captain in the fleet appreciates. So, I was hoping.
“Lieutenant Kelly, recommendations.” She usually had those out of the box ideas any captain in the fleet appreciates. I was hoping.
“Captain, I really don’t see any alternative but to land and see if we can find the crew.”
I started to object …
“But,” she raised a hand to forestall my comment. “The records indicate they went down without suits. Maybe something in the atmosphere their scans failed to detect? I suggest we send a small squad, fully suited, in an evacuation shuttle equipped with an isolation pod, down to the shuttles.”
“See, Spock, that’s why I hired you.” That old TV reference always drew a smile, her being a fan and all. “Okay, Kelly. Take Leslie and Howard with you … and take DiCaprio, he’s due for a landing duty assignment.”
The evacuation shuttle, modified to carry the isolation pod, landed on Verona 1 an hour later. Both shuttles were on standby, but fully functional.
“Comms, put the landing party’s helmet cams on the viewscreen.”
Kelly’s voice came over the speakers. “Captain, are you seeing this? This is amazing. The flowers. They’re like gigantic roses. I wonder what they smell like. Can you imagine?”
“Kelly—don’t you dare take your helmet off. This was your plan. Stick to it.”
“No worries, Captain. Just speculating. But the scanning unit indicates large quantities of volatile organic compounds. I’ll see if we can gather a specimen.”
Kelly’s helmet cam broadcast her collecting a sample of the air.
“This is fascinating. The organic matter measures in parts per thousand. High concentration, but all-natural. The orbital scans would never have picked them up. And the scanner indicates a high narcotic component. A whiff of this would intoxicate anyone.”
“Understood. See if you can find the crew. Maybe they were overcome by the volatiles. And be careful. You’ll need to void the atmosphere in the shuttle. We don’t want that stuff on board Valiant.”
The bridge team watched as the landing party made its way through the flowers, scanning for Settler’s crew.
“Oh my god, Captain. We found them. They’ve been consumed by the flowers.”
“I see that, Kelly. Can you free them?”
“I don’t know. It looks like the roses, if that’s what you can call them, have inserted tendrils into their bodies. Only their heads are exposed. They seem to be sleeping.”
“Or drugged. But alive?”
“Yes, Captain. They’re alive, but barely. What do you want me to do?”
“We’re not equipped to handle this on Valiant. We need to get them home to Central Command. Any suggestions?”
“We could load them onto Settler Five and send them home under AI control. Risky, but as you cautioned, I wouldn’t want to expose our crew to this stuff.”
“Okay, make it happen.”
Over the next twelve hours, Valiant’screw rotated down to the planet and, under Kelly’s direction, severed the flowers and loaded them onto Settler Five and into its med-bay. We did our best to provide fluids and nutrients but thought it best to leave them in their stupor. When everyone was loaded, we launched Settler on a return course.
After dropping a network of monitoring probes on the planet and setting a quarantine buoy, we followed the Settler crew home.
Central Command is planning a return expedition. The planet may still be viable as a settlement site if the flowers are a local species.
But trust me, I’ll be a little wary of roses in the future, no matter how sweet they smell.