ultramafic
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The alien landscape seemed to stretch on forever. An endless plain under a pale yellow-blue sky. A few distant mountains broke up the horizon, but otherwise there was little to disrupt the view of the landscape. Even though it was day, a few stars twinkled weakly in the sky, opposite the great sun that lit the distant planet. There was no moon to be seen, although there were two of them in orbit. And as far as the eye could see, there was only one living being standing upon the planet.
Major Julian Verlian stood there, almost unmoving. His space suit made him feel confined, even in the wide-open area. His landing craft stood in solemn silence behind him, waiting to take him back to the ship whenever he needed to leave. He looked around the alien planet, the first human to set foot on a world other than Earth. As he did, words came to him. He spoke them into the comms line in his helmet.
“Well, god damn it.”
“Uh, care to repeat that Jules?” Said the voice on the other end. One of the ship’s crew, Kevin Reynolds. A god man. Well, mostly. At least he was a good stellar navigator.
“God damn it.” Julian said again.
“What’s going on down there, Major?” Kevin asked.
“Rocks, that’s what’s happening. There’s nothing but god damned rocks down here. I mean it. There’s no plants, no animals. Not even water. Just rocks. This has got to be the most boring alien planet in the universe.”
“Oh come on, Jules.” Another voice this time. The ship’s lead biologist, Heather Greene, said. “It can’t be that bad. Besides, it’s not like there’s a lot of others to compare it to.”
“Oh, trust me. It’s that bad. Well, I guess Jack’ll be happy at any rate.”
The man in question, Jack Douglas, came on the comms. “Did I hear someone calling my name?”
“The major says he’s got a lot of rocks for you to play with.” Kevin said.
“Nothing but, Jack.” Julian said.
The geologist sounded almost giddy. “Really? Can you send me a sample?”
“Yeah, hang on.”
Julian went through the laborious process of bending down in the space suit. Then came the equally tricky task of unhooking one of the specialized sample tubes from his belt. Filling it was easy. All he had to do was run it along the ground. Pebbles and dirt filled it readily. He capped it, then plugged the tube into the analyzer built into his suit’s backpack. He heard it buzz and beep for several minutes.
“Huh, interesting. And do all the rocks you see look like these?”
“Just about.”
“Interesting. These aren’t so much rocks as they are lumps of metal. Mostly iron and magnesium. Not a lot of the silicate minerals we see in Earth rocks.”
“Okay, so they’re lumps of metal instead of rocks. Doesn’t make them more interesting to see.” Julian said.
“Permission to disagree?”
“Not like I can stop you.”
“Well, in that case, I firmly disagree. An entire world with stones like these is fascinating. What processes could have gone into making them? How long did it take to form? So many questions. I can’t wait to get my hands on them in person.”
“I’ll make sure to gift wrap a few of the bigger ones.” Julian said, rolling his eyes. He could hear the other members of the crew trying to stifle their chuckles.
“So, what’re you going to do, Major?” Kevin asked. “You going to look around a little more, or are you coming right back up?”
Julian shrugged. “Might as well look around for a little while. I’ve only been here for a few minutes. Maybe I’ll get lucky and see…something else. I’ll stay out for another half hour, pick up a few rocks and then head back.”
All the crew members gave their acknowledgement. With that, Julian chose a random direction and started walking. He was not hopeful that he would actually find something, but he at least had to try.
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If you're wondering, ultrabasic refers to the kind of rocks found on this planet. Or at least, the ones in the story. Not very interesting, but it's what I had to work with.
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