Silent Echoes on a Strange Moon
Location: India, Year: 2224
Cosmos Research & Development Authority of India (CRDAI) had become a powerhouse in space exploration, launching the most ambitious project in the history of mankind—a mission to colonise the Moon. At the helm of this mission was Captain Rajan Deshmukh, a 35-year-old astronaut from Pune. His team, consisting of six brilliant scientists and engineers, were to land on the Moon and build the first Indian lunar outpost. It was a dream come true for Rajan, who had spent his entire career training for this moment. However, dreams have a way of twisting into nightmares.
The Crash
Pragya spacecraft was supposed to land smoothly on the Mare Serenitatis, a vast, flat lunar plain. But something went horribly wrong. A glitch in the onboard system caused the landing module to malfunction. Alarms blared as Rajan struggled to regain control, but the spacecraft veered off course, crashing violently on the Moon’s surface. The Pragya’s wreckage had once been a serene and desolate landscape, but it now stood in stark contrast to the Moon’s pristine beauty.
When Rajan regained consciousness, he was alone.
The dust had settled inside the module, but outside, nothing seemed familiar. The pale light filtering through the viewport wasn’t the cold, white hue of the Moon. It was a sickly, greenish glow. His body was aching from the crash, and his helmet’s visor was cracked, but somehow, the atmosphere readings were regular. That shouldn’t have been possible. The Moon didn’t have an atmosphere, let alone breathable air.
Struggling to sit up, he checked the life support system. It was functional, but only just. His crew and his friends were gone—there were no signs of life on the monitor. Only his vital signs blinked weakly on the console. Rajan’s heart sink.
“What happened?” he muttered, more to himself than anything else.
He crawled towards the broken window and looked out, expecting to see the barren, grey landscape of the Moon. But what he saw sent a chill down his spine.
He found himself in a place that was not the Moon at all.
The New World
The landscape outside was alien—nothing like what he had trained for. The ground was covered in a strange, pulsating green moss, stretching as far as the eye could see. Tall, jagged rock formations jutted out from the surface like teeth, and in the distance, towering structures—organic in nature—seemed to breathe in unison, emitting the eerie glow that bathed the land.
“How… how is this possible?” Rajan whispered, still in shock.
His hands shook as he checked the spacecraft’s navigation system. The coordinates needed to make more sense. The Moon was nowhere in sight, and the star charts showed an unfamiliar section of space. Somehow, they had crossed into another part of the galaxy—another planet entirely. But how? The journey to the Moon was supposed to take three days, not warp across the universe.
Fear gnawed at Rajan’s mind, but training kicked in. He couldn’t lose himself to panic. First things first: figure out where he was. He dressed, checked his oxygen levels, and grabbed the emergency toolkit. With a final deep breath, he stepped outside the wrecked module.
The air was dense, heavier than Earth’s. A faint, metallic taste clung to his tongue as he walked. The landscape hummed with an unnatural energy, and with every step he took, the green moss rippled as if it were alive. He was in dire need of answers.
Strange Encounters
As Rajan explored further, he found the ruins of what appeared to be an ancient civilisation. The structures, made of material that looked like bone but felt like stone, were intricately carved with strange symbols. Something or someone had lived here long ago.
Suddenly, a high-pitched screech pierced the air. Rajan spun around, his heart pounding in his chest. Emerging from the shadows of one of the towering structures was a creature like nothing he had ever seen. It was tall, with multiple limbs, its translucent skin glowing in the green light. It had no visible eyes but seemed to sense his presence. Its movements were graceful yet unsettling, as if it were studying Rajan.
Rajan backed away slowly, his hand reaching for his only weapon—a primary plasma cutter meant for repairs.
The creature tilted its head, emitting a series of clicking sounds. It didn’t seem hostile—at least, not yet. Rajan kept his distance but followed its movements closely. Suddenly, it shot one of its limbs into the ground, and the Earth beneath Rajan trembled. The moss pulsed violently as if responding to the creature’s command, intensifying the fear in Rajan’s heart.
Before he could react, the ground beneath him gave way. He fell, sliding down into a deep, dark tunnel, with the creature’s screech echoing behind him.
The Cavern
Rajan landed with a thud in a vast underground cave. The air was stifling, and the walls glistened with the same strange moss, but this time it was interwoven with crystalline formations. The glow here was even brighter, almost blinding. He staggered to his feet, his body aching from the fall.
Looking around, he saw something that stopped him in his tracks—more creatures, dozens of them, all huddled together in the far corner of the cavern. But these ones weren’t moving. They were cocooned in thick, green tendrils as if trapped in hibernation.
And then he saw it.
In the cavern’s centre, a massive structure towered above everything else. It was spherical, pulsating with energy, and surrounded by what looked like a control panel. It was an alien machine—alive yet mechanical. And it was humming as if it were waiting for something.
Rajan’s breath caught in his throat. This was no ordinary planet. He was standing on a biomechanical ecosystem, an alive planet, and the creatures he had encountered were part of its system. The machine in the centre was the key to everything. If he could figure out how it worked, he might have a chance to return home.
The Revelation
He approached the machine cautiously, eyes scanning the symbols etched into the control panel. They were similar to the ones he had seen outside but more complex. His training in advanced languages and cryptography kicked in as he tried to decipher them.
Hours passed, or maybe days—time had lost all meaning in this strange place. Rajan’s fingers trembled as he worked the controls. Each symbol seemed to unlock a new function and understanding of the planet. It wasn’t just alive—it was sentient. The creatures were part of its defence mechanism, protecting the core machine controlling the planet’s fabric.
Suddenly, the machine whirred to life. The ground trembled, and the glowing tendrils that cocooned the creatures began to recede. The creatures woke up one by one, their translucent bodies shimmering in the green light.
But something was wrong. The machine activated a failsafe, and the ecosystem started breaking down. The moss on the ground began to wither, the crystalline formations shattered, and the creatures—once peaceful—became agitated, their screeches filling the cavern.
Rajan’s heart raced. He had made a terrible mistake.
The Escape
He sprinted back towards the tunnel, but the creatures were faster. They swarmed around him, their limbs flailing, trying to stop him. Rajan fought them off with the plasma cutter, but there were too many. When he thought it was over, a loud rumble shook the cavern.
The ground split open, and a massive wave of energy surged from the core machine, sending the creatures flying. Rajan took the opportunity to climb back up the tunnel, his body screaming in pain from the effort. He reached the surface just as the entire landscape began to crumble.
Everything was disintegrating, turning into dust—the structures, the moss, the creatures.
Rajan ran back to the wrecked module. He had one chance—a distress beacon. If anyone were out there, maybe they would hear it. He activated the beacon and collapsed inside the module, his body too weak to move.
Rajan closed his eyes as the planet around him disintegrated, wondering if anyone would ever find him. Maybe he was destined to die in this strange, dying world, alone and forgotten.
But just as darkness began to take over, a faint signal blinked on the console—a response to his distress beacon.
Help was on the way.
The Aftermath.
When Rajan awoke once more, white light, sterile walls, and the distinct hum of medical equipment were all around him. He had been rescued, yet it didn’t feel like salvation.
CRDAI’s scientists and doctors greeted him with awe, their faces filled with disbelief as they explained what had happened. Rajan had been found barely alive, alone, in a spacecraft that wasn’t supposed to leave Earth’s orbit, let alone reach another star system. His descriptions of the bio-mechanical world were treated with scepticism—there was no proof.
Weeks passed, and as he sat by the window of his hospital room, gazing at the setting sun over the Mumbai skyline, a question gnawed at his mind:
Had he truly escaped?
Or had the planet let him go?
As the shadows lengthened one evening, Rajan received a visitor—a scientist from CRDAI’s top-secret division. He handed Rajan a file with a single phrase written on its cover:
‘Classified: Silent Worlds Project.’
The man spoke in hushed tones as if the air around them was being watched.
“We’ve been receiving strange signals,” he said, “from places we haven’t explored. Places that match your description.”
Rajan felt a chill creep down his spine. He didn’t want to believe it. He tried to move on, to forget. But deep down, he knew the truth.
The planet hadn’t died. It was waiting.
And it wasn’t done with him yet.
—————-The End—————-
