Chapter 03: The Attraction of Gravity
Astrid stared out at the barren landscape before her, her boots light against the surface of Veritas-IV. The deep crack they’d arrived at earlier had revealed an array of strange readings, indicating some kind of tectonic activity beneath the surface. It was an anomaly no one had predicted, and yet, here it was—an enigma that demanded answers.
She adjusted her visor, tapping at the interface on the side of her helmet. Data began streaming in, readings of gravitational waves and seismic activity, each more bizarre than the last. She’d been in enough strange places in her time to know when things were truly unpredictable, and this was definitely one of those times.
“Are you seeing this?” Leo’s voice crackled over her comm, pulling her from her thoughts.
“Yeah, I see it,” she responded, scanning the rocky horizon. “This isn’t normal. Whatever’s happening beneath the surface, it’s not just low gravity. It feels… unstable.”
There was a moment of silence on the comm, then Leo’s voice again, tinged with urgency. “We need to be careful. These fluctuations could get worse. Let’s move the equipment closer to the fault line—it might give us a clearer picture.”
Astrid felt a mix of apprehension and curiosity stir in her chest. Part of her wanted to say no, wanted to walk away before something went wrong, but the other part—her thirst for answers, for discovery—urged her forward. She glanced at Leo, who was already adjusting his pack and prepping his equipment, the look on his face one of quiet determination.
“Alright,” she said, pushing off from the ground and floating toward him. “But we keep the communications open. If things go sideways, we need a backup plan.”
Leo nodded without looking up, his attention focused on the small device in his hand, a gravimeter that would help them track the changes in gravity. His expression was serious, and for a moment, Astrid wondered just how much danger they were really in. It was clear that Leo was determined to get the data they needed, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t just about science to him. There was something else behind his actions—something that made her feel like she was following him down a path she didn’t entirely understand.
They worked in silence for the next few minutes, moving closer to the fault line, their bodies floating just above the surface. The landscape around them seemed almost surreal, with jagged rock formations protruding from the dusty ground and strange shadows stretching out behind them. In the low gravity, every movement felt exaggerated, as if time itself was bending around them. It was easy to lose track of where they were, easy to lose yourself in the quiet beauty of it all.
When they reached their new location, Leo set down his equipment carefully and began calibrating the gravimeter. Astrid, meanwhile, pulled out her own scanner, trying to get a sense of the gravitational flux in the area. It wasn’t just the moon’s low gravity that was affecting them—it was something deeper, something beneath the surface that was causing these erratic shifts.
“This is weird,” she muttered, glancing at the readouts. “It’s like the gravity’s not just fluctuating in intensity. It’s… shifting. Oscillating between different levels.”
Leo looked over at her, his eyes narrowing behind his visor. “That’s exactly what I’m seeing. It’s almost as if the entire moon is… breathing.”
The words hung in the air between them for a moment, and for the first time since they’d arrived, Astrid felt a chill run down her spine. The moon, breathing? It was a bizarre thought, one she couldn’t quite wrap her mind around. Still, the data was clear—there was something deeply unusual happening here, something they needed to understand before it got worse.
A sudden rumble beneath their feet jolted her out of her thoughts. The ground shuddered, a deep vibration rippling through the air. It was a tremor—nothing catastrophic, but unsettling enough to make her heart race. She glanced over at Leo, who was staring intently at his screen, his brow furrowed in concentration.
“That’s not normal,” he muttered under his breath, tapping at his tablet. “There’s definitely something active down there.”
Before she could respond, another tremor shook the ground, this time stronger, more pronounced. The air around them seemed to hum, the low-frequency sound vibrating in her chest.
“Get back to the ship,” Leo ordered, his voice sharper now. “This isn’t just a seismic event. Something’s triggering these fluctuations.”
Astrid nodded, her instincts kicking in. She didn’t need to be told twice. With one last glance at the rocky expanse around them, she pushed off from the surface and began floating back toward the airlock, Leo right behind her. Her mind raced with possibilities. A tectonic shift? A fault line that had never been mapped? Or something far worse? Something that they were on the verge of discovering—and maybe too late.
They didn’t make it far. The next tremor hit with such force that it knocked them both off course. Astrid found herself floating sideways, her body drifting toward a jagged rock formation that loomed menacingly in the distance. She reached out instinctively, her gloved hand brushing the surface of the rock to steady herself. The low gravity made everything feel like it was in slow motion, but it also meant she had little control over her movements.
She could hear Leo’s voice in her comm, his tone tinged with panic. “Astrid! Get back here!”
But before she could respond, the ground beneath them seemed to collapse, pulling them both down into a newly formed chasm. Astrid’s stomach lurched as she felt herself falling, her body weightless for a brief moment before she crashed into the walls of the newly formed crevasse.
Her helmet hit the rock with a jarring thud, and for a moment, everything went black.
When she came to, she was lying on the ground, the sharp edges of the rock digging into her suit. Her comm was buzzing with static, and it took her a moment to remember where she was. The low gravity made her head spin, but as her vision cleared, she realized she was still alive.
Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Leo lying nearby, his body sprawled awkwardly on the ground. He wasn’t moving.
“Astrid? Astrid!” His voice crackled through her comm, weak but there. “You alright?”
She pushed herself up, her gloved hands scrabbling against the rocky surface as she floated toward him. “Leo! You okay?”
He groaned as he sat up, looking a little dazed but otherwise unharmed. “I think I’ve had better days.”
She let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. “You scared me there for a second.”
He gave her a half-smile, the kind that made her heart flutter for reasons she wasn’t ready to admit. “You and me both.”
The chasm they’d fallen into was deep, its walls too sheer to climb. But as the gravity fluctuations continued around them, Astrid realized they were in more danger than they’d thought. Whatever was happening on Veritas-IV was far from over, and they were trapped in the heart of it.
They had no choice now but to face whatever the moon had in store for them together.
Astrid glanced at Leo, feeling the weight of their situation settle between them. Neither of them had expected to end up here—stranded in a dangerous crevasse, surrounded by an unstable environment. And yet, here they were, relying on each other for survival.
As the tremors continued to shake the ground, she knew they had no way out but forward.
And maybe—just maybe—whatever happened next, they’d face it together.
