Lost
by Kalpana Mudambi (age 11)
A January 2024 Monthly Story Challenge Winner
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Prologue
Of course, back in the 2220s, it was still possible to get lost on earth, the evergreen planet. Now that we’ve hit the 3000 mark, it is almost impossible to find your way back to your home ship, especially the light, agile Star Cruise.
Humans evacuated Earth years ago, so the climate wouldn’t get any worse than we already made it. Obviously our trash was all pressed and tightly squeezed to make one tiny metal square, so small it could fit in the palm of your hand! That square was dropped off in the sun.
Before I was aboard the Star Cruise, I was from a bigger, bulkier ship called Galaxy Chaser. There were some malfunctions so we climbed aboard the Star Cruise. I absolutely loved it, with rooms for many passengers and a remote to set to antigravity. The first time I felt it, my stomach lurched, and I felt like I was going to throw up.
One day, a few other explorers and I decided to take a walk around a goldilocks (habitable) planet when the starship malfunctioned, marooning us in space.
“Help!!” I screamed, waving my arms in the air. Nothing happened. Me and the other explorers looked at each other with some confusion, frustration, distrust, and mostly panic. We swam? Spacewalked? Over to the planet.
Poking out were some sort of strangely shaped hills, which I thought seemed very odd. Other than that, the place was just like the pictures I had of Earth!
The serene quietness was almost too much to bear! I took off my space suit and took a breath- my first of clean, real air. Animals grazed on the grass, and when I focused I could hear birds chirping from a forest in front of me. I looked around and saw my companions do the same.
Suddenly, a deep rumbling was heard and the small hills opened up- to reveal my friends from Galaxy Chaser!
“Wait,” I said, “Are you from the Galaxy Chaser?”
“You came back?” My friends said, their eyes filling with tears, “ I knew you would save us!”
“Save you?” I asked, confused, “Why?”
“We’re stuck here,” They replied, “Once you come in, you can’t go out,”
“Why?” I asked, perplexed…
“The gravity,” the Galaxy Chaser’s explorers said.
Soon, we were inside the hill-houses, silently munching some bread with some type of herbs in it.
“Hey,” I said, “Do you still have your ship?”
“Yeah,” replied the Galaxy Chaser’s explorers, “Obviously!”
Suddenly, I remembered something I thought I forgot… My previous explorer’s names!
“Y-you’re Emily,” I said, pointing to one of the Galaxy Chaser’s navigators, then in turn pointing at the others and saying their names, “And you’re Luke and Lucy and…”
Soon after, we went to visit the Galaxy Chaser.
It was still intact and still had the emergency call button. Alarms blared, and lights flashed. A projected screen appeared, showing the Star Cruise’s emergency room.
“Huh?” One of the projected people said groggily.
My parents appeared on the screen. “You’re alive?” They said, “Where are you?”
“We’re on the planet that you can’t escape from… I think it was named Lost?” Emily says.
“Right! You almost cannot escape!”
“Almost?” I say.
“Yes, you can escape only when the moon is right in front of you! That will happen in about five minutes!” My parents said, “We’ll be hovering over Lost’s atmosphere, ok? Get ready to launch!”
Emily ended the call and clicked a button. The hills rumbled and everything was transformed into the biggest spaceship I had ever seen-an updated Galaxy Chaser!
“10, 9, 8, … 3, 2, 1, LIFT!” I said.
The power diverted to the hover blasters and the rocket pushed off faster than I thought it would.
“W-w-w-what i-i-is g-g-going o-o-o-onnn??” My friend from Star Cruise asked.
“Well, we’re going to go very fast,” Emily said, “The moon only stays above the planet for a few minutes, but it stays on the other side for years!”
We zoomed over the planet to my waiting parents, rejoicing from our amazing escape, knowing we’ll remember this adventure for a long time to come.