Mirror Earth

'Are you Sure?' doubted Erika.

'Hey Asha, Scan one more time to confirm your predictions.' suggested Arthur to Asha, an Artificial Intelligence specially developed to help astronauts for Space Missions. 

'Let me do that, Arthur,' said Asha in a voice that was bereft of any indication that it was a lifeless voice. The machine tone was absent from the voice of Asha.

The beeping voice echoed inside that hollowed spacecraft that recently landed on the surface of an unknown planet. The spaceship had four crew members and the latest tech to ensure the survival of all crew members. 

Arthur was the commander. Erika was a pilot & Aron was a mission-specialist. Accompanying them was Max, the payload specialist. The space agency selected all four to survey this particular planet. 

Earth has recently rejuvenated, thanks to an Indian Bioengineer, who discovered a way of bioengineering algae to consume unwanted carbon dioxide and convert it into Hydrogen. But, the space agency wanted their options open in case of any emergency. The secret reason behind this was to maintain the continuous flow of funding. 

Previously, the threat of Climate Change helped this Space Agency to rack trillions of dollars in funds. Every billionaire was eager to help humanity. They expressed their noble intention through their checkbooks. 

But, that algae made sure that the Mother Earth is suitable to sustain humanity. The algae stopped the funding to a larger extend. Thus, this Space Agency came up with a plan to send humans to the unknown. 

These missions will maintain the importance of space explorations. And if they find such a suitable place like the Earth, then it would be a glorious discovery for humans to thrive at someplace other than the Earth. 

So, to uplift the fallen importance of the Space Exploration and also to find a new home, Arthur, Erika, Max & Aron along with Asha were chosen to carry out this mission. 

They landed on that planet after a journey of three years from mother earth. The initial diagnostic by Asha was not so optimistic. Thus Erika insisted on checking one more time. 

They were hoping something good. But the hopes were shattered by the results predicted by Asha. 

"There is no trace of oxygen in the atmosphere. The atmospheric pressure is not withstandable. We won't be able to survive more than five minutes outside this spaceship with the current temperature of the surface. The only good thing is that our spaceship can leave this planet without any damage.'

The high hope of humankind dissipated with that prediction. Everyone on board was projecting the next step in accordance with their intelligence and strength. 

Risk-takers were eager to wait for some days for any change in the external conditions.

While intelligent souls on board, those who valued surviving more than anything, were eager to live this planet in search of a new one. It was up to Arthur to take the next decision that would immediately impact the four humans on board and indirectly impact the billions of humans on the planet Earth. 

Arthur was more of a risk-taker and thus everyone knew what was coming.

'A Week based on the rotation of its moon. We will observe the change in atmosphere and will proceed further based on that observation,' said Arthur after observing the predictions of Asha.

'What does the prediction say?' asked Aron, the curious soul who valued surviving more than risk-taking. He was 'the brake' in that group of four. 

'36% changes of atmospheric changes occurring after the moon complete its rotation around this planet' cleared Arthur.

'And there may be a chance that those changes might be dangerous,' Erika doubted.

'Yes, we are to see to that. So proceed with your assigned task and prepare for any situation.' ordered Arthur.

Everyone engaged themselves in their respective task. That kept the worry at bay and helped to pass those crucial days. 

Four days passed by and Asha was not able to find any crucial changes in the atmospheric condition that can increase their chances of survival. 

Asha decreased that 36% to about 21.6%. The prediction drowned the willpower of those astronauts. They were not sure about staying for three more days on that surface. All the decision was taken by Arthur but this time he would make the decision based on the vote. He made it clear during the lunch that they were going to vote for it at night.

Everyone assembled in the Mid-Deck and the voting was about to begin. Being four, a tie-breaker became a necessity. Asha was elected as a tie-breaker with a 3-1 vote. That was not going to be an issue, as the vote count remained the same and it was decided by three to stay. Needless to stay who voted for leaving immediately. 

Erika, Max, and Arthur were getting ready to sleep inside their sleep bay. The gravitational force was the only thing on this planet that was useful to them. Aron was given the night duty. He and Asha were responsible for the safety of all. 

It was just an hour and the spaceship suddenly tilted to one side as someone took away one of the four legs. It was done in silence and the darkness of the night was not able to detect anything. 

But Asha scanned the entire area. The results alerted Aron who could not grasp what he saw. The screen was showing three creatures with the help of their heat-signatures. Before Aron could send the SOS signal back to mother earth, the electricity went off completely. The back-up generator kicked-in but only to be cut-off within few minutes.

All of them were on the flight deck, socking in the current events in a tilted spaceship. 

'Are you all right?' Arthur asked Aron.

'There is something huge outside. They broke the back leg on the ship and that is why the entire ship is in the tilted position.' Aron said in one breath. 

'The oxygen level is depleting and the back-up generator is also gone. Erika check on those generators. Aron, you take a seat and calm yourself. Max, you help Erika.' said Arthur in a calm and composed voice.

'If you have listened to what I said, we would have been safe but no one listened to me." Aron said.

'It is not the time and place for if and buts. Let us get moving. If Aron is right about what he saw, then we must hurry up before they decide to act some more.' Arthur said.

After some minutes, Erika and Max returned with a puzzled face.

'All the back-up generators are fine. But there is some signal that is blocking the flow of electric current. I altered the wire but the same issue happened. It is like someone is blocking the current from a remote distance." said Erika.

'Are you sure?'

'Yes, Arthur. We checked it together,' clarified Max.

'Okay, we must then wait fo....'

Before Arthur could complete his sentence, the entire ship began gliding down. It was a free fall that was becoming more dangerous with passing time. Everyone on board acted swiftly and strapped themselves to their chair and got ready for the impact. 

To their surprise, the freefall ended with a splash. The Spaceship nose-dived in the fluid below and then buoyed up to remain afloat. All of them were unable to grasp what was happening. But as soon as they regain the balance, the side window of the spaceship cracked. The fluid came rushing in. All of them unbuckled themselves from the chair.

To their relied, the fluid turned out to be drinkable water as Aron was about to say something when some water entered his mouth. He was still breathing without any problem. They were surprised at their present condition because Asha had predicted unhabitable conditions and yet they were breathing with ease without the help of any spacesuit. 

The upper hatch opened itself and a hand came in. 

'Hold this hand, Aron,' said a human voice.

'Who are you.'

'Grab this and allow us to save you all. We somehow share the same DNA,' answered the voice.

Before Aron could ask anything, that hand grabbed him by the collar and pulled him out. Next was Erika, Max, and then Arthur. 

The boat that was next to the spaceship took in all the four and that other guy.

'You see we have many visitors on this planet. Our founding father cautioned us about overpopulation. So, whenever a ship comes, we wrap that in our specially customized deceiving bubble that helps us stay hidden by feeding wrong information to the AI onboard. Some leave this planet in hours but some stay for a day or two. Everyone leaves after a couple of days. 

You all stayed for more than four days and the bubble was not designed to operate for more than four days. So, we had to sabotage your communication device.' said that human-alien

'But you could have just said so. The free fall would have killed us all.' Max said

'We were there to fix the battery but it exploded and took the rear leg of your ship. You glided and thank god you didn't get injured.'

'Who are 'We'? and Do you believe in God?' asked Erika

'Look above.' said that Human and all the four couldn't believe what they saw. Two human-like shapes were flying right above them. 

'We are they and me. And yes we believe in God. For he is who guided us to this new home.'

'When did your founding father arrive here?' asked Arthur

'About 270 years ago. This is Mirro Earth. We have established civilizations over here. And let me ask you one thing. Were you able to send SOS back home?'

'No, we were busy trying to save ourselves,' said Aron.

'Good.' and by saying that the human-alien started flying upwards away from the boat. He dropped a grenade in the boat from the above and before anybody from the four of them can realize a thing, they were blown to pieces.

'No, why did you do this?' Aron shouted at the top of his voice in his sleep. 

Once again a bad dream and with that shouting, he woke up. This nightmare was haunting Aron and in between those nightmares, he sometimes finds reality hidden in plain sight. People called it sixth-sense but whatever it was, it sure made sure that Aron gets less sleep. It was the night before the launch. 

They were just hours away from the launch from the planet Earth to a planet three years away. The planet had the potential for human survival but all the spaceship that entered the atmosphere of that planet refuted the claim. This was the last hope for this Space Agency as the Algae was already eating into their fundings.