Arrival

The first thing he felt was the heat of the sun's rays on his face. Jed opened his eyes, and closed them immediately. He rolled over and faced the ground before opening them again. Sandy brown soil stared at him.

"Castia," he said, quickly standing up. His body was sleek with sweat under the white space suit.

All around him was a vast desert, with a cliff that could be seen in a distance. There was nothing but sand and shrubs for miles.

His colleagues were lying nearby in all various positions, some almost obscene. They all looked like they'd been tossed off a plane.

"Guys," Jed said as he started removing the hot suit. After a few minutes of struggling and spilling different curse words, he finally got rid of it. The suit disintegrated as soon as it landed on the ground.

Seo Jin was the first to stir among the others, blinking when she saw him. Then she ignored him and looked around, seeming as underwhelmed as Jed felt. They had seen footage from the planet before and most of it was older. Not much was known about the planet, but they knew part of it was occupied by humans.

Two centuries ago, a spaceship had left earth for Castia and never returned. By then the planet was vacant. The humans from the ship cut off connection from the ship, and some days later, there was a fire at the international space station. It took space travel several years back, given that not everything was backed up.

Theirs was going to be the first team to explore the planet since the disaster. Apparently, satellites and android seemed to stop working when they got close to the human settlements so it was hard to observe the planet from earth. That was why five young people had been sent by Multiversal Exploration to collect information they needed to colonise the planet. All the five were between 18 and 25 years.

"I'm so hungry," said a whiny voice. Jed rolled his eyes and turned to look at David who was now looking through his backpack. "Ah! Not even a snack!"

"Is that really the most important thing right now?" Seo Jin asked as she took off her space suit.

David stood up. "I'm going to look for something to eat."

"We can't eat anything until the system tells us it's alright," Jed reminded him. "Have you forgotten the lessons?"

David sighed. "I will not wait for the system. Who knows how long it will take to boot up? Look over there, those berries look edible."

"Doesn't mean they can't be poisonous," Seo Jin added.

"Hey beautiful," Miles said, a smile curving his lips. He sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Call me beautiful one more time and I'll make you regret it. I'm not like those silly girls who fell for your words. Can you imagine some actually believed you loved them?"

Miles's smile didn't falter. "You want to challenge me? I'll take it. We'll see if you won't be begging for some of this in a week's time."

Seo Jin rolled her eyes. "You wish!"

Their banter made Jed feel sad. He couldn't help but think of Serena. He hated that they didn't let him consummate a relationship he'd wanted since he first saw Serena.

"What are we waiting for?"

The three turned to look at the person speaking. Andres was standing behind them with a scowl on his face

"We were waiting for you, sleepy head." Seo Jin told him.

"Okay, let's get moving." He looked around. "Where's the other one?"

"We have to wait for the system to boot up," Jed reminded Andres.

"Let's keep moving. The system will find us somewhere. We can't just sit here idly."

"We just arrived. We need to rest up."

A minute later, the three were arguing with Andres who they thought was being unreasonable.

Suddenly, they heard a scream coming from some shrubs about 200 metres away.

"David!" Jed said and started running towards the direction David had taken. The others went after him. They found David hunched over some purple berries, vomiting his guts out.

"Ew!" Seo Jin said after seeing David's huge pile of vomit.

"I think those berries are poisonous," David said before falling over, missing the substance by inches. Jed went over and pulled his body away.

"Yes!" Seo Jin suddenly exclaimed. Jed knew what was coming before it happened. He clutched his head as sharp pain tore through his head. During the trial after the installation of the chip, the system had given him a blinding headache. He heard a ding and went to sit down.

[Chip 002 Activated! Welcome to pla-

"Turn off individual system," Jed said, shutting the voice in his head down. He immediately felt better. "Since there's no one around, let's use the General System."

The rest agreed without complaining. David stood up and they all brought their hands together, creating a surge of current in their heads. A holographic box appeared in front of them. Ding!

[General System Activated! Welcome to Castia]

"Where exactly are we?" Miles asked, staring at the system.

[Hosts are in Lincan desert. The nearest town is 30 kilometres away and can be reached by foot in about two days.]

"Are purple berries poisonous?" David asked, clutching his stomach.

[Scanning. Yes, purple berries are poisonous. Edible fruits in Castia include red berries, Castian mango, muck fruit, black melon, and lemons. Every other fruit is either poisonous or unknown. More details will be acquired upon interactions with the locals.]

"Will be the purple berries kill me?" David asked.

[Step forward]

David did as told. [Scanning] the system emitted blue lasers that moved all over David's body. Poisonous berries created minor wounds in Host 004's body. No serious complication observed. Since most of the berries have been ejected from the body, the risk of infection is very low]

"Can we stop dilly dallying?" Andres asked, frown lines appearing on his forehead. Seo Jin turned to the system.

"How do we get to the nearest town?"

[Go east]

"And?"

[System shutting down] Suddenly, the box disappeared.

"What a useless system," Miles remarked.

"Let's go," Andres said.

"Let's get moving or Andres will have a heart attack."

Jed picked up his bag and began following Andres to the east. Behind him was Seo Jin, followed by Miles and David respectively. The group was silent, each person lost in their thoughts. Jed's heart ached as he thought about Serena. His blood boiled in anger when he remembered how he had ruthlessly got torn away from his woman.

"Red berries!" David shrieked as they reached the base of a small hill.

"Those are not red," Seo Jin said. "They're maroon."

"Maroon is a shade of red," David argued.

Andres went and sat on a large stone. "Stop arguing you all have brain chips. Just ask."

David was no longer listening. He had picked a bundle of berries and was chewing through them already. Seo Jin went and slapped them off his hand. The system said they're poisonous. What the hell is wrong with you? We're all hungry but we don't go around eating whatever we come across. Andres ignored the incident and started climbing the cliff, pulling out his binoculars. Jed sighed and went closer to David.

"Try to throw up," he told the guy. David was now sweating profusely, inserting a finger in his throat. He bent over and Seo Jin turned away.

"You're going to die soon if you keep going like this," Seo Jin said, shaking her head.

"Can we not speak about death?" Jed asked. Suddenly, David fell down.

"Dear lord," Seo Jin said, face palming.