Haunted Planet – Ailynn Collins

Dust swirled off the ground, and in seconds the footprints disappeared. Evie tried to gently brush away the top layer of dust, but the prints had been smudged. The footprints didn’t look like footprints anymore. They looked like blotches in the dirt. Evie sighed and pulled out her TAB. She started uploading the holo- images she’d taken to the device. Then something darted in the corner of her vision.

She turned just as a shadow scuttled across the ground and disappeared behind a pile of rocks. She didn’t get a good look, but it had to be some kind of animal. The fresh footprints proved it! “There you are!” Evie whispered. Her heart skipped a beat as she touched the new six-toed prints. “I knew you existed.” She ran after the creature toward the pile of rocks.

She tried to dig her hands into the tiny space it had disappeared into, but her gloves were too thick. She managed to pull away a few rocks, but most of them were firmly stuck to each other or the ground. Evie grunted in frustration. She was so close to getting proof of an actual, living creature. She couldn’t give up now. She walked around the mound of rocks.

On the other side, she noticed a slightly larger opening. It was completely black, as if it led somewhere deep underground. She bent down and peered inside, but she saw nothing. She tried to squeeze through, but her helmet was too big. “This is ridiculous!” Evie exclaimed. She sat on the ground and tried to come up with a plan.

This planet was the most Earth-like one they had ever found. Everyone on the Wanderer said so. That was why there was so much excitement on board. Evie pulled out her TAB. “Analyze the air,” she told it. In seconds, her TAB replied, “Air is within acceptable limits for humans.” The air was breathable. But Evie knew the rules. Never remove your helmet without the captain’s approval. She stared at the footprints and the rocks again. Maybe she was imagining things. “No,” she told herself. “What I saw was real.”

She looked around to see if Emery had come looking for her. But he was nowhere to be seen. She turned back to the hole in the rocks. Suddenly a sharp scratching sound echoed in the dark. Something was definitely moving inside. Evie picked up her TAB and checked the air again.

The words AIR BREATHABLE flashed across the screen. Finally, she unclipped the locks on her helmet and pulled it off. Evie took a deep breath. The air smelled funny, like Emery after his workouts. But she didn’t feel dizzy or sick. The TAB had been right. The air was safe.

So, Evie slipped out of her Spaceskin and carefully placed it on the ground. The heat from the sun warmed her bare arms and legs. She’d never felt that before.

When I look at the night sky, I wonder—does scary stuff happen up there just as it does here on Earth? Sounds can’t travel through outer space because there’s no air. So if frightened people were out there, we’d never even hear their screams. I wonder . . .

In Haunted Planet, a crew of humans is traveling through space, looking for a new home. And they think the planet named AX-351 might be it. But when twins Evie and Emery visit the alien world, they discover weird, deadly plants that will do anything to survive. Anything. And then they see the ghosts. OceanofPDF.com 1 “Emery, there’s life down there!”

Evie Linn said. She waved her twin brother over to her side. “Tell me these aren’t animal tracks.” Evie was squinting at a hologram floating above the computer panel. The 3-D image showed the surface of the new planet below them. The crew of their ship, the Wanderer, had been studying this strange, new world named AX-351. Scientists had been gathering info on it for the last twenty star-days. Now, they were ready to go to the surface in small groups called away teams. “They’re not animal tracks,” Emery said robotically.

He kept his eyes glued to his computer station. “You didn’t even look,” Evie said with a huff. Emery glanced up long enough to scowl at his sister. “Stop bugging me,” he said. “You know I’m preparing to be on that first away team. I need to be the first crew member to catalog ten alien plant species.

I have to win the internship.” Evie rolled her eyes. Of course she knew. Winning the year-long internship with the ship’s chief botanist had been Emery’s dream since he was six. Evie crossed the small space that was the living room section of their home quarters. She had her TAB portable computer in her hand. She stuck it between her brother’s face and his computer station. “Look!” she demanded. She swished her hand over the image, zooming in.

“There! See how those holes in the ground repeat and make a pattern? They have to be animal tracks.” Annoyed, Emery stood up and faced his twin.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 3dbe6425260c44a7
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 8,989,075 bytes (8.573 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781496579041, 9781496579089, 9781496590305
• Pages: 86
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 59.19 minutes
• Total Words: 11,837
• Total Characters: 66,095
• Average Words per Page: 137.64
• Average Characters per Page: 768.55

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