The Flytrap Planet
Or, how to deal with pesky civilizations
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Another one left the airlock, the second one this month. Most would go quietly when the colony was sleeping or during the middle of a workday when everyone was busy. Not this one. We could hear her yelling at whoever was trying to stop her.
A group of us watched through the glass of the observation deck as the second seal of the airlock closed behind her. She seemed to be holding her breath as she emerged into the naked atmosphere. She grunted and inhaled. Her body relaxed. She closed her eyes, taking deeper and deeper breaths. She smiled and stretched out her arms, expanding her whole body outward as if trying to embrace the universe. She went limp and collapsed into a heap on the pavers below us, dead.
I arrived with a group of researchers on this planet ten months ago. The atmosphere is remarkably Earth-like. On paper, it is almost identical. But floating about in this almost perfect atmosphere are an array of alien organic compounds that induce what has been termed “toxic euphoric shock”. Luckily, these compounds can be pulled out with very basic filtration. A standard exosuit makes travel about the planet on foot safe. That ability, however, does not prevent the extreme cabin fever that sets in around the one year mark. I have been taking biweekly exosuit walks ever since our arrival, and even then, the thought of wind on my face and sun on my skin always seems to be lurking in my mind.
One of the maintenance bots picks up the body. We go back to work. We’ll be studying her body in the lab after we process the other one that left the airlock two weeks prior.
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