It was starting to get dark outside as the purple sky slowly turned black.
"Woah, look at the sky. It looks like it's changing colors," Kane said, staring out the window.
"Don't look outside. We're almost done. Let's just quickly finish the interior, get the exterior done, and leave this place as fast as possible," Ronald said, avoiding looking outside.
Kane smirked, amused at how scared Ronald seemed, but he continued working, occasionally stealing glances at the transforming sky.
Finally, Ronald finished fixing the interior and was stepping outside to check the ship. "Hey, Kane! Why are you just standing there like that? We still need to fix the outside!" he shouted as Kane kept staring at the sky.
"Yeah, sorry! I'm coming," Kane said hurriedly, following after Ronald.
Meanwhile, Liana and Arik were finishing up their cleaning. "Look at the floor it's spotless!" Arik said, stretching.
"Yup, we definitely did a good job. Now all that's left is rearranging the cabinets, and we're all set," Liana said.
"Wait, we still have work left? Oh my God! And why do we need to arrange the cabinets? It's not like the ship won't fly if it's not clean," Arik complained, annoyed.
"Well, I told you to rest, but you wanted to help, so no complaining," Liana said, laughing.
With a tired face, Arik joined Liana, and together they began organizing the cabinet area. It wasn't anything exciting, but after some time, they finally cleaned and arranged all the cabinets.
"Okay, now we're done," Liana said, exhaling.
"Finally! I thought I was gonna die," Arik said, shaking his head.
"It wasn't even that bad, and you had a beautiful girl like me helping you. How did you even get bored?" Liana teased.
"Well, your company certainly made it less boring, but it was still boring," Arik admitted, a bit embarrassed.
"Glad I could make cleaning less boring for you," Liana said, running her hand through her hair, looking at Adam to see his reaction.
"I'll just go check what Kane and Ronald are up to," Arik said, quickly heading outside, Liana was little annoyed by how he didn't get flustered.
Outside, Ronald and Kane were shaking hands and looked pretty happy. Arik quickly made his way over to them.
"You two look happy. Did something happen?" Arik asked, joining them.
"Well, we fell from God knows where, and despite colliding into something, I thought the engine would be in pretty bad shape. But it's completely fine!" Ronald said, happily hugging Arik in excitement.
"Only the left wing suffered damage, and we fixed it pretty quickly. So we're ready to leave," Ronald added, almost crying from happiness.
Arik couldn't believe how lucky they were. He stood there, surprised. "Get ready, dude. We're about to leave this strange planet," Kane said, lightly tapping his back.
[Thank God we're leaving quickly. This place was giving me the creeps,] Arik thought, hugging Ronald back. [He can be rude sometimes, but I know he isn't bad at heart.]
Finally, Ronald pulled back, looking a bit embarrassed. "Sorry, I just got carried away..." he mumbled.
Arik smiled, and the three of them put their arms around each other's shoulders as they headed inside.
"Wow, you all seem really happy. Let me guess, the ship didn't take too much damage, and we're gonna leave soon?" Liana said, noticing their cheerful expressions.
"The ship is ready to leave!" they all shouted together.
Liana covered her ears because of how loud they were, but once she realized they were about to leave, she started screaming with them too.
"Liana, start the ship right away. I'm already tired of looking at this purple sky," Ronald said, taking a seat at the control panel to monitor everything.
"Yeah, sure," Liana replied, making her way to the controls and starting the engine.
[It's really happening, we're actually leaving. I thought we'd have to spend our entire lives here,] Arik thought, preparing himself.
"Want some chips?" Kane asked, standing beside Arik.
"Nah, I don't really like chips... Wait, why the hell are you eating stuff from the cabinet? Those are for emergencies!" Arik snapped, finally noticing.
Kane just turned away, peacefully enjoying his chips
Arik just sighed, but didn't say anything.
"What's the status?" Liana asked, preparing for launch.
"All set. We're in the clear," Ronald said, giving her a thumbs up.
With a loud boom, the ship launched into the sky, gaining altitude every second. "Everyone, take your seats! We're switching to full speed," Ronald said.
Arik and Kane quickly took their seats and buckled up. As the ship reached its maximum speed, they could feel themselves being pulled back.
"Navigation isn't working. That means we're pretty far from both Earth and Mars, though I kind of expected this," Ronald said, looking concerned.
"Let's just get off this planet first. Then we might be able to figure out where the hell we are," Liana said, unfazed.
They continued ascending at full speed for a couple of minutes but still hadn't left the atmosphere.
"How big is this planet? We could've escaped Earth's atmosphere like 20 times by now!" Ronald shouted, tapping his foot in frustration.
As they kept going, the clouds grew darker. Suddenly, Arik spotted a light coming from the right.
"Look to the right! I think I see a light!" Arik shouted, pointing in that direction. Liana stayed focused on the ship, but Ronald and Kane looked where Arik was pointing.
Ronald squinted, trying to see clearly. Kane gave up, unable to see anything, and went back to eating his chips.
"Wait a second, I think I see a ship—" Ronald was interrupted by Liana shouting, "Don't say anything stupid. How could a ship be out here?"
But both Arik and Ronald started screaming when they noticed a small ship approaching. Liana quickly steered to avoid a collision, barely managing to dodge it as the other ship sank below the dark clouds, disappearing from view.
"Shut the hell up! It was not a ship, and nobody says anything about it ," Liana said, trying to calm her own nerves after what they'd seen.
[Damn, I was right. There are other intelligent life forms here. Does that mean they'll be able to track us if I leave because of this system?] Arik thought, nervously biting his nails as he speculated various theories.
Suddenly, the blue screen popped up again in front of him.
[Attempting to leave—reinforcing the planet's gravitational field.]
[What the hell does that mean? Should I tell the others? But they can't see this screen, they'd think I'm insane,] Arik thought, panicking, but before he could say anything, red light began flickering inside the ship.
"Everyone, we're falling! The gravity just suddenly got stronger. I'll try to soften the fall, but be prepared!" Liana shouted, sweat forming on her forehead.
[Not again. It's my responsibility to get everyone back safely,] Liana thought, trying to slow their fall.
"We're gonna hit the ground, Liana!" Ronald said, looking outside as the ground came into view.
[I have to do something quickly, but what can I do] Arik thought, glancing around. Kane had passed out, accidentally choking on his chips in the commotion.
As the ground came closer, everyone began praying. [Don't die, don't die, don't die,] Arik thought, closing his eyes.
Ronald kept his gaze fixed outside, unable to look away. Just then, he noticed slimes emerging from the forest, gathering right below where the ship was about to crash.
[What's happening?] he thought as the slimes began to collect, forming a cushion for the ship.