Sunday - October 19th, 2121:

  Intense pain flared, and my consciousness flickered as I gasped for air and struggled to lift myself off the cold ground beneath me. My glove grabbed a handful of soil, and I pushed myself into a seated position, head lolling as my awareness returned. I reached toward my head to caress my aching skull, but my hand caressed only the dome of my helmet instead. A pained, raspy groan escaped my voice projection box as I craned my body side to side to scan the environment.

  All around me, overgrown bio-luminescent fungi towered, stretching high into the sky beyond what my vision could see. Long, thin, fleshy tendrils hung from the cap, moving eerily in the wind. It was something I had never seen before. Beautiful, but the lifelike sway proved to be scarily close for comfort. I slumped while seated, and then it hit me. I jolted up and frantically looked around, and then I saw the sky with its obscured wisps of greyish tendrils swirling beyond the reach of the fungi.

  But where was the metallic giant—where was Orion?

  Orion's descent protocol was activated. There's no mistake about it. So, why then?

  I turned to the SmartScreen embedded into my wrist, and there, I saw it: Sunday.

  But that was impossible.

  My mind raced, and the droning buzz I hadn't heard in so long returned with an anxious hunger that pierced into my skull. What the hell was going on? My crew, friends, and the Orion itself. Where did they all go, and what the hell happened to Earth?

  In my confused and frustrated state, I howled, "Dammit!" My voice scraped like steel against gravel as it escaped the projection box, but worse was the sudden eruption of vitality in the landscape I found myself in.

  Wildlife chittered and yowled, surrounding me within moments. Even worse were the fungi whose tendrils snapped with life, seemingly conscious as they searched for the outburst that awoke them. My mind blanked, and I froze as the tendrils stretched and crept up the ground around me. The bestial noises only intensified, causing my breaths to still, and then a quaking roared as the fungi began moving away from me.

  Then, before the fungi could leave the area, a snarling creature lunged at one of them. It bit into the stalk with its fierce maw, gripping tightly at the midsection of the towering fungus. It snapped and shook, causing the fungus to howl as pale blue liquid squirted from the wounds.

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  I couldn't believe the suddenness of the attack. Or the creature's alien form, draped in thick, long fur and thorny vines wrapped around its limbs and torso. The front of its fur spread apart, revealing the toothy maw, and from it, a thick, brown tongue slithered out, lopping up the fungus juices with indulgent purrs escaping its chest.

  My legs buckled under the weight of the creature's presence and the spacesuit that adorned my body. But I knew. Instinctively, I felt it. If I moved, it would be all over me before I could take two steps.

  Once the creature finished slurping up the juices, its gaze moved across the area, briefly passing by me, before it turned away and vanished into the darkness.

  'Is this seriously Earth?' I thought naively as my legs gave out, and I sat back down on the firm soil below.

  I racked my mind in a pitiful attempt to rid myself of the fog obscuring my memories. The spacewalk started everything. Pillars of light jutted from Earth, and Orion's descent protocol started. Then, what happened? There was a lot of light, and I think Orion transported me inside.

  Pain flared, and I curled up with my helmet pressed against the ground. I had to calm down. I lifted my torso and breathed calmly, my hand moving toward my scanner. The button next to my visor clicked, and the robotic voice engaged.

  [Environmental Scan Engaged]

  [Analyzing. . .]

  [Unidentified Materials Found - Anomaly Located - Hazard! Hazard!]

  The robotic voice blared into my comms without a single shred of sympathy for my already aching head.

  It also only made matters worse because can this even be Earth? Terraforming can't possibly change so much within a few days. The scanner had all of humanity's known matter embedded into its database. There wasn't a conceivable chance that it couldn't identify matter from Earth.

  The rest of the warning wasn't a pleasant sign either, but I struggled to think too much of it when everything already seemed hazardous enough.

  "Engage Orion Proximity Protocol," I commanded with a click on the SmartScreen.

  [Proximity Scan Engaged]

  [Analyzing Signals. . .]

  [Orion Signal Link Established]

  [Adjusting For Errors]

  [Head Northbound. Approx. 5KM]

  I jumped up and pumped my fist. I wasn't going crazy just yet. Orion is nearby! Granted, nearby was relative, and five kilometers was arduous considering the estranged wildlife, but it was hope nonetheless.

  'Just wait, Cat, old man, Captain. I'm coming to find you guys.'

  I patted off the dust off my suit and hiked myself up northbound. 'Just wait, be safe out there, my friends. I will find you.' Whatever's left of them, at least.