Some planets were bleak, austere tableaus of the cold lifelessness of space; others were brimming with impossible arrays of plants, forests, grasslands peopled with animals ranging from the nearly familiar to the exotically bizarre. The planets themselves were variously frigid, toxic, or radioactive- nowhere did he find a landscape that wasn’t killing him. The only variation was the pace of the violence done by the environments.
He realized early on that the life support systems on his ship and his suit could be replenished by elements harvested by a peculiar mining laser. The beam would disintegrate most objects up to a certain size into a distillation of a certain element, which he then variously stored or used to build or refuel various systems and constructions. So began a search from planet to planet for very particular elements, so that he could construct more complex structures.
As he explored one planet surface, surveying both from the air and short expeditions on foot, he came across an abandoned facility set in an open valley. There were odd purple flowers in clusters around it, and upon entering he found strange green organic algae pod slime in lumps and clusters in the interior, mostly in the corners. Displays and furniture were smashed and ruined, but sparks and smoke were still emitting from frayed wires and blackened vents. Whatever happened here, hadn’t been very long ago.
He explored the rest of the small facility cautiously, expecting some terrible creature to leap from around every corner, but found nothing but more piles of stringy pod slime, some of it going floor to ceiling and looking decidedly ominous. There was one display that still worked, set in the middle of the room (the pod slime was all gathered on the walls and corners). After a few exploratory taps on alien buttons, a hologram screen hummed to life.
It took some interpreting, but finally he realized he was looking at a distress beacon- and the signal wasn’t far off at all; and it seemed to be an active call for help. Loading the data into his own navigation system, he made his way out of the facility.
Just outside, he saw the purple flowers again, and wondered what element they might provide; many of the plants he found supplied vital oxygen, sodium, and of course carbon.
No sooner had his beam touched the first flower, then he noticed that in his haste he’d missed some vital visual cues as well as readout on his personal display- egg sacs, not flowers.
A fraction of a second later, and quite possibly the most horrific creatures he could imagine sprung directly of the dirt on all sides. With the reaction time that had saved him time and time again, he lunged into the open entry way and spun about, laser raised, thinking his only chance is to defend this narrow corridor rather than he be trapped in the open.
The creatures ran with unsettling speed, but something was wrong; they hadn’t seen him enter the building, or couldn’t detect him somehow. Certainly they were enraged that he had disturbed the eggs; clearly their intent was murderous- but despite long painful minutes of them running back and forth, none of them checked inside to find him, and soon the air outside was still and silent save for the intermittent crackling of wires behind him.
Eventually risking approaching the entry, a scan of the area outside showed no life forms. Somehow, he had escaped.
Giving the eggs a very wide berth, he quickly made his way back to the spacecraft and wasted no time throwing the appropriate levers and punching the appropriate buttons to lift off into the atmosphere. Shaking, shaking, shaking for the whole ride back to his outpost.