Tabula Rasa

I paused and lifted up the pen. "The chances of anyone ever reading this..." I thought, tempted to scrunch it up. I didn't want to think too hard about the odds, so I carried on adding some details about my intentions and provisions and signed off. Looking around the cabin for an obvious spot, it ended up propped against the control panel. If my plan worked, I could come back and collect the note. If it didn't, at least they would know that I tried. I grabbed my rucksack and headed out the door before I could change my mind. --- The radio crackled with the response from the ship, "Roger that. Be advised, we are having difficulty scanning the area due to the atmospheric conditions. Keep your eyes peeled and radio in when you find something. Over and out." A brief sound of static then silence - just the slow clanking of the engine cooling. The three of them stepped away from the lander and proceeded on the bearings projected onto their vision, towards the downed ship. --- After some time I realised that the planet was almost stationary with no planetary rotation - the sun always hanging in the same spot in the sky. If I was going to get a signal back home I would have to travel a few clicks to the east, or get my transponder much higher. By my calculations that would take at least a few days of travel, though it is almost impossible to predict over such an unknown landscape. Luckily it was in the habitable belt, so I didn't have to rely on oxygen tanks. Whether I would be able to find food was a different matter. I tried to remember some of my training from the academy - keep moving, stay out of direct sunlight and never trust the wildlife. The second part was easy, thick vegetation seemed to cover most of the planet, or at least the parts he had seen, and blocked out most of the light. They reminded me of plants from Earth, but somehow they seemed more... alive. Leaves appeared to shift in my direction as I passed, as though they were regarding me. So far the going had not been difficult. I was following what seemed like a natural path through the forest, an animal track perhaps? I had not seen any sign of animals though - not a single note of birdsong or the signs of anything scratching in the undergrowth. The only sound accompanying my footsteps was the gentle rustle of leaves in the canopy. I trudged for days in the the ubiquitous twilight that characterised this thick forest. --- They entered into the tree line, using machetes to hack a path through. Dense vegetation blocked their path in every direction, bleeding a thick white sap at every cut. Soon, they were covered with it, coated in the sticky memories of their massacre. It took them hours to make a few metres of progress but their stim packs meant they could work for many more without rest. They relentlessly and mechanically hacked and sliced their way through the looping vines and fibrous stalks, thrusting themselves deep into the forest towards the wreck. --- I finally reached a spot where I could set up the signalling device, a small hill, relatively sparse of trees. I had no idea how long I had been walking, the ever present half light under the canopy meant there was no real sense of time. I turned on the transponder and the flashing red light let me know it was working. I stared up into the sky and wondered if anyone would hear my signal and come to my aid. I doubted it. I turned and started the walk back to my crashed ship. The going back was much harder than the journey here. By now I was running low on food and having to trepidatiously supplement my diet with the fruit of the trees I passed. The biochem analyser I had with me could give me some confidence of what wouldn't kill me, but it must have been damaged in the crash, indicating animal DNA present in the fruits. The path that was straight and clear on the way to the hill was now meandering and with branches reaching out across the path. The ground covered with roots and vines which snagged and pulled at my feet. After a few hours I was exhausted, and I rested my pack against a tree and slept. --- At 0830 the team reached the downed ship. While the forest had reclaimed the crash site, evidence of the scar was still there. At the centre, the ship, covered with creepers and vines. They tried radioing back to the dropship, but thick cloud blocked their signals. They sliced through the vines covering the doorway and entered. They had received the distress signal three days ago. --- I awoke, unable to move. My legs, my arms, my body ensnared in thick roots and vines. I could feel them slowly, deliberately tighten against my struggling form. My vision was obscured by the vegetation wrapping my head, face and neck. Rough bark against skin. With one eye I could just make out the small blot of light which was the sky, glimpsed through the canopy. It shrank as I was drawn deeper into the slowly writhing mass of roots. My body felt weak and I could not scream. --- They found the note on the dashboard and formulated a plan, they would follow the intended route I had laid out. They do not know I am not dead. In fact, I have never been more alive. I am part of something greater now. I feel the bite of their blade across my limbs as they carry on their journey. They will soon know. They will join me. Join us. They too will become part of the God tree.