The spaceship landed with a silent bump on the strange and conspicuous planet, Yznia. The cockpit slowly opened with a whirr as Captain Devin Johnston stepped out with a wisp of curiosity.
Little does he know what lies ahead of him.
It was only a week ago that pilot Devin Howard Johnston got his assignment. One night, around midnight, he was having the best time of his life at a friend’s party, until he suddenly got a phone call from his boss at NASA, Mr. Geraldson. “Hey, man, I’m a tad bit busy dancing my feet off, so call me back at a more convenient time, okay?” he said. “Not in your life. You have been selected for a very important mission. Get over here or if you refuse you’re not gonna be able to step foot in this facility again. Do you hear me?” replied Mr. Geraldson forcefully. Devin, still pumped with adrenaline from dancing, drove over to the NASA conference room. “As I told you,” Mr. Geraldson said, “you’ve been selected from a vast number of pilots for this mission. We have been examining what we believe is another galaxy, The Clockwork Galaxy, and it seems one planet of it is sustainable for human life. We need someone to go over there and examine it more closely. Are you up for it?”
It’s rather evident what his choice was.
Devin steps onto the purplish-grey, dusty ground, trying to regain his balance from the unique gravity of Yznia. He looks around to observe his surroundings. The sky has beautiful hues of pink and cyan and green, with five moons visible behind the aura of colors. Hardly looks like a planet to live on. Then again, he’s only lived on Earth his entire life. He squints at the horizon and sees what appears to be a small mountain range. He travels toward the mountain range, seeming to be extremely noticeable in contrast to the flat horizon.
Small, destroyed, spherical buildings cover the walls of the mountain range, covered in dust and rubble. “Obviously not naturally occurring,” he commented to himself. There are some human sized footprints along the side of the range, but he just glances at them uninterestingly. Looking down the center of the valley, a temple is noticeable. He decides to examine that. As he walks inside he notices intricate and unique designs carved on the stone walls, possibly explaining a history of some race. Out of the corner of his eye, a ray of light points down at a pedestal with a sparkling jewel sitting atop it.
One problem with Devin is his large curiosity.
He slowly approaches the gem and, Indiana Jones-style, snatches the Jewel. He glances at it in his palm. Suddenly, it begins to emit a slight glow. He blinks. As he looks around, he does not see the hieroglyphs that were on the wall previously, but light blue sky all around. Large Roman numerals can be made out, one through twelve. They spin around rapidly, and suddenly disappear and he is found yet again in the temple. He glances behind him, and notices that there are no footprints behind him. “odd…” he comments. He hears the distant sound of jet engines and runs in fear. He sees an eerie figure approaching him and hides in a crevasse not far from his location. Shortening his breaths, he attempts to remain unnoticeable. The shadowy figure glances at his footprints, but passes on to the temple near the center. Devin runs off to where he left the spaceship, and glances at the controls inside it. A loud noise is heard what appears to sound like a sandstorm. His curiosity takes over, and he runs back to the temple, to find nothing except footprints leading up to and away from the altar.
He now understands why this planet is part of the clockwork galaxy.