Mission to Brimstone
A deep space romance exposes the shocking secrets of an alien world
In a shipboard society where puberty is suppressed, two Earth teens discover their sexuality and fall in love. To conceal their feelings, they scheme to go outside the ship to find privacy. They discover that large amphibious plants, the flukes, are intelligent and that they worked with a race of extinct humanoids to create Brimstone’s unique underground civilization. But the plants are hiding something. They don’t want the Earthlings to go home.
She glanced back again. A pale stain against the watery expanse, the ship seemed to disappear in the distance, to fade out of existence, as if it had never been there. They were alone on an alien planet.
Without warning, her breath inside the helmet became so loud it drowned out all other sound. Gibby slumped and the scoop veered wildly, as Saad fought to hang onto her. He steadied the small craft, put it on autopilot and lowered her to the deck with her back against the bulkhead.
She could barely feel him tapping her shoulder, looking concerned behind his faceplate and saying something she could hardly hear. She cupped her hand where her ear would be.
“It’s OK,” he shouted. Her radio seemed tinny to her. “Take it easy. Deeep breeaaath.” He drew it out.
She nodded, panting like she’d just gotten off a treadmill.
Aboard ship, there was always a wall close by or a door just ahead. Life was contained. Out here it was edgeless, indistinct. The sense of space dumbfounded her.
