polaris

A Story by nikki

1500 word short story i wrote for my academic team but I included the title in the word count juuuust in case so its actually 1499 words lol.

March 15, 2050

Luis woke up in his oxygenated room, the rust-colored landscape of Ross 128 b spanning infinitely from his window. Was this it? Was this really all there was for him and his crew? He sighed. No matter the environment, he had to fulfill his purpose. Mami’s hip wouldn’t fix itself.

He walked over to the central room here--the kitchen--for a hearty, healthy breakfast. Nutri-sludge? Yep, it was Nutri-sludge. Sad, gray, cardboardy… not much to look forward to there. The other two members of the crew sat around the circular table. They looked so colorful, so alive, compared to the sterile white of the… everything else.

Ada was talking to her tablet. Her little space vlog, she called it.

“Hey guys, welcome to Ada’s Adventures! Today, I’ve got something special…” She started drumming on the table for dramatic effect. “...A space rock!” Held up to the camera in a gloved hand was a crumbly-looking stone. Wait, was that one of the specimens? She was hyping it up like it was gold. Luis smiled. Ada’s energy was more infectious than he’d like to admit.

Meanwhile, Willow was seated a few feet away from Ada, holding a little plant like a pet chihuahua. The only difference was that it was less likely to bite a finger off. Hopefully. She glanced over at Ada, her mouth opening like she was going to say something. No words came out.

“Alright,” Luis said, standing up. “You guys know what to do for today, right? Ada, Comms; Willow, Greenhouse. I’ll be in the lab if you need me. Good luck!”

Everyone separated to do their own thing. Luis headed to the lab--just adjacent to the kitchen. Just as sterile-looking, too. Several specimens sat in little boxes next to a microscope on a table. A wall-mounted dispenser with a screen flashed, “Hello, Luis Ramos.” It was just as unsettling as every other time he came here. He raised his hands, and it spat out a pair of disposable gloves. Exactly his size.

After putting them on, he inspected the specimens. They all looked the same, just rocks on rocks on rocks. What was the point of examining all of these? Luis pushed them all under the microscope anyway. Not a single living thing to be found. Not even a tiny wriggling bacterium. Ada was probably up to something way more interesting, he figured. Maybe he’d go check on her.

Comms, Comms… where even was the communications room? A little map would be useful. Of course, he should’ve probably already known this, being the captain and all. Could you blame a 16-year-old for getting a little lost sometimes? Crap, he just walked right past Comms without realizing. After a bit of backtracking, there was Ada, tinkering with whatever techy thing was in front of her. He didn’t think about it too much. The tech stuff was her thing, not his.

“God, this thing’s feisty,” muttered Ada, unaware of Luis just outside. “Woah! When’d you get here?”

“Sorry. Just wanted to see what you were up to, y’know?”

“Right. Ugh, thought this would be like that one game, the one with those little colored astronauts and--”

“Yeah, that old game. So… what’s that?”

“This? That’s the smart grid for the microfusion processor! It’ll help with the hardware.”

Luis nodded and pretended he understood whatever she just said.

How long had she been rambling? At some point, the outpost had shifted into night mode. Come to think of it, he was getting kind of sleepy.

“Hey, Ada, looks like it’s night mode now. I’m gonna crash. Don’t stay up too late, okay?”

“Oh. ‘kay, that’s fair.”

Willow was still off in her greenhouse, probably talking to her plants or something. Luis was too tired to check on her. Maybe later.

Back in his room, Luis lay on his bed. It was just him and his thoughts now. Soon, this would all be over. He’d be back home and Mami would get that surgery and they could afford rent and everything would be okay. So long as this mission was finished.

March 29, 2050

Things weren’t better four weeks in. Everyone had gotten used to the monotony of working in space.

Luis was in the storage room, taking account of each and every item. The food supply… How long would this actually last them? He opened up some graphs on his tablet to check. Oh. Not that long. It’s okay, he thought, I’ll just ration ‘em. No use worrying Ada and Willow.

Speaking of Willow, she’d been even quieter than usual. Part of him didn’t even know that was possible. Might as well check on her.

The lights in the greenhouse made everything pink. Why pink? He had no idea, but it looked cool. Willow knelt over a plant in the corner, brows furrowed.

Luis frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“The plants.” She hesitated. “They’re… they’re dying. But the stats say they’re fine.”

“Lemme see that.”

Willow handed a tablet to him. Luis looked at it. Then he looked at the plants. He wasn’t a professional gardener by any means, but those leaves didn’t look healthy at all.

“Did you double check?” he asked, sharper than intended.

“Um… I um… I quad--quadruple checked.” She barely spat out the words. Three words. How hard could that be? He scolded himself for thinking such a thing.

“What,” Willow stuttered, “What are we going to do?”

“I’ll figure something out.”

“Ah… what do… what do you want me to do?”

“It’s okay. I’ll figure something out.”

Luis walked out before she could say anything else. Why did he say that? Why did he say that!? He didn’t know what to do at all! Why did that stupid mission decide he would be the responsible one? He was just as clueless as everyone else.

…He’d figure something out.

April 12, 2050

“What do you mean we’re low on food!?” Ada slammed her fists on the table. “How long have you been keeping this from us?”

“Not that long!”

“Luis.”
“...Two weeks.”

He exhaled, looking away. Ada was still staring daggers at him. In the corner of his eye, he saw Willow. She looked like her heart had been ripped out. Which was worse: Ada’s fury or Willow’s disappointment? Luis couldn’t tell.

“You can’t always be the savior,” she pleaded. “We’re part of the crew too.”

She was right. Luis hated that she was right. What was he thinking, hiding something important like that?

Ada continued, “Well then, any other secrets we need to know about? Might as well lay all our cards on the table.”

A long pause.

Willow’s soft voice broke the silence.

“I--I only told Luis, but… the plants…” She swallowed. “They’re dying. They’re wilting and yellowing around the edges. I’ve tried--I’ve tried everything. The stats still say they’re okay, but…”

Luis and Willow both looked to Ada. They definitely weren’t the only ones keeping secrets.

She crossed her arms and huffed. “Fine. The thing is, I’m not sure whether my messages

to Earth are sending. Maybe they’re being ignored…?”

What? Ada was the one lifeline to the real world. Luis’s blood turned to ice.

“How long?”
“I don’t know!” Her voice cracked on that last word.

If the messages were being ignored, then--

He didn’t let himself finish that thought. Right now, Willow and Ada needed him. He got up, resting a hand on Ada’s shoulder.

“We’ll try again. We’ll send another message. And this time we’re going home. We don’t need this rocky hellhole, and it doesn’t need us.”

The atmosphere was electric as the three teenagers walked to Comms together. A sense of triumph hung in the air. But even then, a small seed of fear had been sown in everyone--what if the rescue team came too late, or the ship broke down, or…

No. This was their one ticket home. They’d all get home, no matter what it took.

There it was. Communications. Like every other room on the outpost, its walls were colorless and oppressive. Ada stepped forward, legs shaking. Willow had planted herself firmly where she was. Or maybe she was too afraid to move. Ada pressed some unseen button, and a screen in front of her lit up. Someone was on it. Luis couldn’t see that well from where he was standing, but he could have sworn it was the man who recruited them all in the first place.

“Listen to me! We need a rescue ship now. Consider this mission aborted.”

On the return trip, the Polaris hummed as the stars rushed by the windows. Luis examined the extra specimens he took with him under a spare microscope in the makeshift lab. Huh. There was life on that planet after all.

They’d all be going home. They’d all get the big payout and everything would be great. Still, he couldn’t shake off the feeling of dread sitting heavy on his shoulders. The screen overhead flashed, “Assets in recovery”. Assets. They were just assets.

© 2026 nikki

Author's Note

sorry about the story being rushed around the end. actually, because of the strict word count limit, i was 63 words over when i finished the first draft. i spent an hour cuttinggggg ugh