The probe was coming back today! They had been waiting for this day for seventy years, or at least all their lives. The first ever piece of land from another solar system.
The planet was Proxima B, and it was the closest exoplanet to our solar system. The probe had landed, picked up substance from the ground and taken off to return to earth with samples.
It landed in the pacific ocean as planned, and George and Matthews were on a ship to pick it up. They found it quickly, everything was planned to the most minor detail. They got the probe onto the ship, and got it underneath to the hermetic laboratory where it was going to be opened.
The sample of sand and rocks was there, inside a glass container with gloves. The mission had been a success! They were jumping up and down in cheerful, childish joy. This was amazing. They wanted to start the analysis straight away, and got onto separating the different kinds of stone and sand. They saw a pile of greenish mud. Organic material? George couldn’t believe his own eyes, and Matthews had to support himself on the shelf. This was… Unbelievable. The scans of the planet were all the same, no organic material found.
Could it have come from earth, carried all the way? Or were there really organic material on Proxima B? It didn’t look like anything they had ever seen. The colour was shiny, almost metallic, with a soft, humid texture.
George put his hands into the gloves attached to the hole in the glass walls and poked it. Something moved inside. He was staring. His head was spinning. Extraterrestrial life? Was he the first human ever to see extraterrestrial life?
Oh-my-god-oh-my-god-oh-my-god was all he was capable of saying. The blob moved a bit more. A small head came out. Four eyes. Green. It looked like some kind of snail, but with strange, three fingered arms sticking out in front. None of them spoke. They were too amazed.
We’re going to be the two most famous scientists in the world! The creature would have their names. Maybe even extraterrestrial life as a whole would be named after them. This could be greatest moment in the history of mankind.
A strange sound came from the creature. It got louder, the tone higher and higher. The two men had to cover their ears. The glass walls cracked. Glass fell to the ground. George and Matthews looked at each other then back on the alien. This was not good.
The creature got bigger, like if it was getting filled with air. It exploded. A green liquid covered the scientists. Horrible smell filled the room.
What the f… started George in disgust. He stopped. Looked at his arms. Horror. Pain. His arms were rotting. His chest. Everything. He looked at Matthews. He had no face. They both died screaming.
From that day on rotting alive from extraterrestrial liquid would be called the georgemattheus-effect.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/25/12631216/proxima-centauri-planet-looking-for-life-oxygen-aliens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_life
Reblogged this on Fictionspawn Monsters and commented:
I wrote this story last year when I heard about the discovery of an earth like planet circling the star closest to our solar system, Proxima Centauri. It will probably be possible to send probes there in a few generations. I’ve edited it a little before reblogging.
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Lol. Don’t mess with stuff you know nothing about, seems like a good moral for this story.
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Haha, there’s a sting in the twist at the end.
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Quite a painful one 😀
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the georgemattheus-effect bit was very smart! Lol!
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Thank you! I often try to put in a surprise at the end 🙂
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