Chapter 1: The Landing

When Xavier woke up he was orbiting a bluish, brownish planet. Xavier sat up, took a deep breath and aimed his ship down into the outer atmosphere. The ship’s speed increased as it started to reduce altitude. The ships window became clouded by the heat from the atmospheric friction. After a few minutes of heat turbulence were enough to scare anyone. Everyone except Xavier, he felt at ease. He found that strange, why this would help calm him down he didn’t know. AS the horizon of the planet started to materialize through the clouds Xavier’s heart sank.

The planet was in ruin. He was gliding over one of the planets major cities. From what he saw everything metal was either rusted or corroded beyond use. Buildings were leaning, some had collapsed. The entire city looked like a jungle of red and brown. It was a bleak, uninhabitable looking scene. Xavier knew that at the rate he was descending this area was to be his new home. He braced himself; the first thing he hit was one of the cities’ skyscraper’s thirtieth floors. The impact threw Xavier against his safety harness. The ship slowed drastically It’s belly started dragging the ground before it left the building when it hit the opposite wall it slowed even more. He hit the tenth floor of the next building; the impact stopped his small craft and cracked one of his ribs.

Xavier sat in the cockpit seat grimacing in pain talking quick shallow breaths. He felt it; it was on his right side, low. He wanted to sit for a minute but remembered what Copeland said, “After you land you’re stuck, and the ship self destructs.” He knew that he had to get moving. He groped for the release on his safety harness; he found the release and pulled. The harness unfastened at his chest allowing him to get up. As he sat up the pain in his ribs shot through his chest, when that happened his panic came back. His breath quickened and adrenaline started pumping through his veins. He reached for the ship’s door latch. The panicked man’s hand found the handle and pulled, the pain exploded in his side. He fell to the cold floor in pain. He couldn’t get out on his own and only had a few minutes at best to live. AS his world started to darken he tried to remember anything about his past. There was nothing. He was going to die a man whose whole life was pain. He gave up and prepared himself for death.

Then he heard it, a scraping sound of metal on stone. It sounded fast, when it was right outside by the sound it stopped there was a sound of clicking then a whoosh as the cockpit depressurized. When the door opened the light from outside surrounded Xavier’s savior creating a silhouette of the person. This put a spark of hope in Xavier before the darkness and pain overcame him. He was then embraced by unconsciousness.

Prologue

The small craft floated through the blackness of space. The ship’s single occupant sat at the helm with a throbbing head ache and a sick stomach.

He was five-foot nine, he had a slim but firm build. His eyes were an abnormal green tint, bright, and his head was covered with white hair. It was long and straight. The ship’s occupant’s name was: Xavier Crik.

As his head and stomach settled he started noticing where he was. It was a small cramped cockpit, of an old decommissioned escape pod, if he remembered right. The ship must have been at least twenty years-old. The controls were old-some of the readouts were still gauges. On further inspection only auto-pilot could be used and even that had only a few locked-in coordinates. Xavier sat back to let his situation sink into his mind. He’s in a small craft, with limited destinations, and limited fuel and that was all. Nothing else, no memories at all, only emptiness, why? Xavier’s neck started to bead with sweat with panic closing in around him. He thought back groping for anything and still got nothing. He raked his brain for the slightest hint of his past there was nothing. His pulse was rising. He took slow breathes to calm himself. Once calm he glanced around his floating prison again. This time he noticed a small screen mounted in the top right corner of the craft. It was new, installed in the past year; Xavier reached for it to see if it came on. The screen came on, of its own volition when his hand was a foot away.

The man’s face he saw brought memories pounding back into his head with enough force to bring his head ache back. The face was wrinkled, and darkened by age. His eyes were sunken into dark hollows. His hairline had receded leaving a bald scalp exposed. The face brought Xavier a name: James Copeland. He was the Vice-president of one of the biggest security Corporations. Xavier couldn’t remember which. He was also the man who proposed using Post-apocalyptic planets as prisons. This was to be the first step to a utopian society. Every prisoner was exiled to one of these prison planets. Not long after this passed first offenders of almost any kind were exiled.

“Mr. Crik”, Copland began. “Do you know why you’re here?”

Xavier didn’t at first but he realized why when he heard Copland. His panic started mixing with anger. He was on his way to a prison planet.

“I can only assume that I did something wrong,” Xavier’s anger was starting to show in his voice.

“Yes, that is the case in this instance, only I was looking for something more specific.”

“Well, no, smart-ass I can’t remember anything.”

“Now, now, Mr. Crik there’s no need to get angry.”

“No Need!” Xavier burst out, “I have no memory; my entire life history is a cramped cockpit!”

“That’s temporary. You’ll remember, soon enough. It’s just a side effect your treatment.”

“What treatment?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

“So, now what do I do?”

“Well you’ve been given a ship with a small burst of fuel; you’re within range of several planets with livable environments now the choice is yours all you can do now is aim towards one and then fire. After you land you’re stuck, and the ship self destructs. That is all.”

“Wait!” Xavier shouted but it was too late the screen was blank.

Xavier’s mind was racing, it hurt his thoughts were so clouded his pulse and panics were both rising. What had he done why had he done it what was he going to do his breathing was out of control. He pushed the launch button the force knocked the rest of the air from his lungs and he passed out.