The shuttle shuddered as it broke through the atmosphere, a streak of silver against the swirling violet clouds. You gripped the harness across your chest, pulse quickening, while Beck pressed her face to the window, eyes wide with awe. Joe sat between you both, his usual calmness hiding under the tightness of his jaw.

“Landing sequence stable,” the AI pilot intoned. “Welcome to Erevos-9. Atmospheric conditions: breathable. Terrain: uncharted.”

The moment the hatch hissed open, the air flooded in—crisp, sharp, carrying a faint metallic tang. The three of you stepped out together, boots crunching against soil that shimmered faintly under the alien sun. Mountains in the distance glowed with bands of blue crystal, and trees unlike anything on Earth reached up like frozen lightning bolts.

“Holy…” Beck whispered. “We’re the first humans to set foot here.”

“That’s the point of a research team,” Joe replied, but you caught the way his lips twitched, resisting a smile.

The three of you had been paired for years—explorers, cataloguers, the first line of humanity’s new frontier. Together, you’d already charted oceans on Asteria-3 and mapped caverns on Pheron-12. But this place felt different. Older. Watching.

Your scanners picked up faint energy pulses beneath the surface, unlike any mineral signature you’d logged before. Beck was already kneeling in the dirt, analyzing the glowing soil, while Joe swept the perimeter, hand resting near his holstered sidearm.

Hours passed, filled with wonder and notes. But just as the alien sun dipped lower, turning the sky a dark indigo, the ground trembled.

“Seismic activity?” you asked, steadying yourself.

“No,” Joe said flatly, pointing toward the horizon. “Movement.”

From the crystalline ridges, shapes emerged—lithe and translucent, shifting like living glass. They didn’t attack, not immediately. They only watched. Dozens of them, their bodies refracting the fading light into rainbows that danced across the ground.

Beck’s voice was hushed, reverent. “They’re alive.”

You knew protocol: observe, don’t engage. But one of the beings moved closer, tilting its head as though studying you the way you studied it. And for a moment, your scanner spiked—the same energy signature from earlier pulsing inside the creature’s chest.

Joe stepped forward, protective, ready for danger. Beck took a half-step closer, hand outstretched, filled with fascination. And you stood between them, torn between caution and wonder, knowing whatever choice you made next might define humanity’s first contact with this world.