Return to Earth

"The earth had become desolate and all remaining life was forced into space for survival. 500 years later they return to earth and find some humans were left behind and managed to survive underground."


Five hundred years ago, humans destroyed all life on Earth. There was a war that waged for a hundred years in what was called the Middle East. The war spread and soon the whole world became involved. It raged on for ninety years with no end in sight. The Emperor of the Allied Forces finally proposed the only option left. Nuclear war, on a massive scale It would wipe out the world, but he proposed building a new home, in space and monitoring the Earth so we could return once the radiation cleared. The Council of allies argued over the ethics of the decision for another ten years before finally it became clear that it was the only solution that remained. The Allied Forces began to build ships and launched the beginnings of their new space home into orbit around the Earth before finally the day came to push that button. All the ‘important’ humans had been evacuated, leaving the less fortunate to either find their own survival or die.

I have always been fascinated by Earth, my mother would tell me stories that were handed down to her of trees and giant bodies of water. I joined the Re-inhabitation program because of her. We had been sending probes to the Earth for years, testing the air and water for traces of radiation, finally we had a clear reading. I was finally going to Earth after years of studying every scrap of information there was about the planet. Tomorrow would be the day my team and I made history. I smiled to myself as I snapped my fingers to turn off the light.

Excitement and anticipation filled me as I watched our shuttle detach from the main station. Today was the day. I could barely contain myself as I looked around at my crew. I nodded to Captain Jones and he gently increased our speed. We all watched as our home quickly shrank and disappeared. We had done this journey countless times in simulation and knew exactly what to expect. The two mission specialists spoke quietly to each other as the screens surrounding them bleeped and spewed information at them. I thanked my stars that it wasn’t me in their position. Our whole mission was resting on their readouts. I was just the overseer.

‘Commander,’ Captain Jones interrupted my thoughts and I looked over at him. ‘We’ve reach the Earth’s atmosphere.’ I looked at him startles for a moment, it didn’t seem it had been long enough, but as I looked out the window, I confirmed what my captain had said.

‘Prepare for entry into Earth’s atmosphere.’ I spoke authoritatively to my crew who all strapped themselves in.

‘Heat shields activated, Commander,’ Mission specialist Amanda Riley spoke from behind me on my left.

‘Bring her in, Captain!’ I said excitedly. The shuttle began to shudder as we entered the atmosphere and the heat began to increase. It felt like an age passed before Captain Jones spoke

‘Reverse thrusters engaged.’ Captain Jones spoke as we began to slow. The shuttle thumped and bounced as we landed on the surface of the planet.

‘My God, Captain, who taught you how to land a shuttle?’ I said jokingly as I stretch in my seat.

‘Well ma’am, it’s not like landing on the moon!’ He looked at me for confirmation that he wasn’t overstepping. I smiled at him before addressing my team.

‘Alright team, you know what we have to do, Riley and Adams, you’re up. Tell us if we need these bulky suits or not.’ I gave the order to my two specialists who were already tapping away on their computers.

‘Looks good, commander,’ Adams said while Riley nodded her affirmation. I grinned as excitement began to take over again.

‘Alright then, let’s go Riley. Adams, you monitor us from here and Captain, you have this hunk of junk ready to go should be encounter and issues.’

‘Yes, ma’am!’ Were the sharp responses I received as I began to open to door.

After living my whole life in space, the force of gravity seemed immense and I steadied myself as I climbed out of the shuttle. My body jarred as my boots connected with the ground. It was an amazing feeling, knowing that we were the only living things on this planet. I moved aside to allow Riley to exit the shuttle as well before we started off towards a large crater.

It didn’t take us long to reach the crater and we peered down into the mess of what I could only guess were once buildings. As I looked down into the crater, something caught my eye to my right. I spun quickly, almost unbalancing as I did so. There was nothing there as I frowned in the direction I was sure I had seen movement.

‘Commander?’ Riley looked at me with concern. ‘What is it?’

‘Nothing,’ I shook my head as I spoke. ‘Thought I saw something moving. Must have been the wind.’

We began to walk away from the crater and towards the mountains in the east. The land was dusty and dry, consolidating my knowledge that nothing could possibly be alive here. We had been sent down to find suitable places to rebuild our society, we needed to find a water source.

‘Commander?’ Riley had stopped dead beside me, staring into the distance.

‘What is it?’ I said a little frustrated at being disturbed from my thoughts. I turned to look in the direction she was staring. Shock and fear warred within me as I saw a figure growing larger as it approached us.

‘I think, commander, it looks like, well it looks human.’