Dear
Reader
Robinson
and Crusoe, The Blue Lagoon, Castaway — I’d read the books and seen the movies.
Never thought I’d have my own story to tell, and anyway, you’d think an
astronaut would be prepared for such an eventuality, wouldn’t you? We’re
trained over months, years, in fact.
We’re picked especially for our strong
mental state. But we’re human just like you. We have emotions just like
you. We have fears just like you. The only difference is we learn to control
them.
There
were just three of us. Bodie, Matt and myself, Jenny, and we were all on our
way to the first manned mission outside the solar system. To a planet that was
similar to Earth in size and makeup.
We flew
in our respective spacepods, leaving Taurus, the mother ship, in orbit around
Eden, and took our first steps on the planet that had been untouched by humans.
Our mission was to embed probes at various pre-marked sites, and collect samples
such as rocks, plants, water, you know the mundane, astronauty things before
heading back.
But, how
can I explain? No training can prepare you for the momentous feelings we were
feeling. A sky with two suns, a perpetual twilight with eight moons, a wondrous
alien terrain. It was surreal.
On our
way to insert the probes, we found an alien spaceship; deserves its own
sentence really: We found an alien spaceship. It was easy to tell it
had been there a long time because vegetation had started to grow over it and
some of it was covered completely. There was an unspoken agreement between
us when we abandoned our duties to explore it further.
That’s
when it all went wrong. We’d let our human emotions take over. A fatal error.
I found a
gap in the side of the spacecraft that was big enough for me to crawl through.
Bodie was lacklustre in disallowing it, I think he wanted to find out what it
was like inside just as much as me. I found bodies. Countless alien
bodies. Most were decapitated. But one, one, was very much alive.
It was a
bit of a blank after that. I was dragged back outside, and I remember my throat
being constricted and lights dancing behind my eyes. Then I woke to Bodie and
Matt not being there and I was on my own.
Alone on
an unknown planet.
The alien
and my so-called colleagues had gone. I guessed the alien had killed them and
had travelled back to Taurus in one of the buggies. Taurus would have killed it
instantly, so its attempt to flee ended then and there.
I was
alone. Completely alone.
Read my
full story in Eden.
But before you go — can I just say please don’t judge me.
You’d do
the same.
Jenny
THE MISSION
Interplanetary exploration from 2236 Earth to the newly discovered planet, Eden. The animal life on Eden is on the brink of evolution and humankind wants a first-hand seat.
THEN THINGS GO FROM BAD
The space explorers are separated and Jenny, the only female of the group, is on her own.
TO WORSE
Fly, from the planet Itor, is the lone survivor of his crashed spacecraft. He's been on Eden for years. He's watching Jenny--and sees the others leave without her.
TO YOU'LL DO ANYTHING TO KEEP YOURSELF ALIVE
Fly has food, shelter and weaponry against hostile animals. All that Jenny needs. It's buried deep in the human psyche to do anything to keep yourself alive, but does that includes sleeping with the enemy?
THE CONCLUSION
Don't judge until you've read her story. You'd probably do the same.
Considering this book had only four characters, two of them mainly featured, WOW!!!!! I've read this book multiple times it's so engaging.
The planet Eden was vividly and atmospherically described, the characters were well developed and the plot, although simple, had me hooked.
What an incredibly original and beautiful journey this was! Louise Wise has created a world that was vivid and engaging in so very many ways that I was captivated from the get go. Sci-fi is not my usual genre, but I really enjoyed Eden.
I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this book. It is both good sci-fi about survival on an alien world, and a good romance novel where the romance is with a scary and dangerous alien man.
I read through this book twice because I loved it so much! It's an interesting look at prejudice and overcoming it. It's also a great sci-fi love story!
one of the best i've read, absolutely awesome story. going to read it again. Amazon keeps asking for a review, but then wants to tell me how many words i should use to review it.
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