A Fragile New World

With engines humming at warp speed and maximum forward thrust, the alien creature piloting the craft approached the strange planet. Cautiously the creature circled several times before hovering motionless above one section of the orb. He scrutinized the surface of this new world that recently popped up on his screen before making his decision to land.

The blue streaks on its surface likely indicated the presence of water — hopefully similar to the H2O of his home planet. And the green would normally indicate large areas of vegetation, perhaps even forests. Was there life on this planet? Was it hostile or friendly? Things to be considered before any attempt to explore.

And what were those pink swirls all about? Unusually coloured foliage, like the orange of autumn leaves on Earth? Poisonous gasses? Had some noxious substance under the surface leached into the atmosphere? Was this new world another like Planet Earth, where the inhabitants routinely produced weird colours of clouds over its surface?

Actually, the planet seemed to have no atmosphere — unless its air was crystal clear. Te creature saw no sign of habitation to alarm him. Time to touch down and explore the place. Wings extended, landing gear lowered, he brought his craft down for a graceful landing.

The moment the weight of his craft came to rest on the surface, which seemed to be composed of some unique substance, there was this huge

The force of the explosion sent the tiny craft tumbling back into space. It took serious effort on the creature’s part to right his craft and steer it into a level course again. Having more than satisfied his curiosity — and there being nothing left of the strange planet to explore — the creature continued his journey into space.

He made this note in his mental logbook:
Important data for future reference: mosquitoes unable to land on soap bubbles.
😉

I can’t resist squeezing in a haiku to complete my tale:

silver-blue flash
and a planet appears
child’s play

Writing prompts that inspired my tale:

Fandango’s one-word challenge: SUBSTANCE
Ragtag daily prompt word: BLUE
Word of the Day Photo challenge: CLOSE UP