Twilight

It wasn’t a friendly planet for humans.
There was red sand as far as the eye could see and the sky was filled with gray and black clouds formed by the volcanoes, always on the verge of erupting. The air was toxic, if any human tried to inhale it, they would die in a matter of seconds. There was little life to be seen. A few lizards and small insects is all that could survive there. It also had a higher surface gravity than Earth, without their Star-Fly suits, they wouldn’t even be able to move.

Emma took a bit of sand and let it fall between her fingers. The sensors in the suit made her feel the sand even though she wasn’t touching it directly. She looked around only to find Nyco laying down on the sand, making a snow angel, or better said, a sand angel.
He was having so much fun.

-This planet is amazing, Em. It 's beautiful. A real shame we can’t take our suits off and feel it.

-Well, you could take it off, but that would end the Experience pretty quickly. And we have 24 hours so let’s not waste it-, she explained.

-What 's it called?

-It was only discovered a few months ago, so it still has a very boring name. Y.R54.

-Yeah… Quite boring. I would call it… Dragon Breath!

-... Nerd.

-Hey, it’s a good name. The poisonous gas… it’s all red like fire… It’s perfect-, Nyco justified himself.

-Not convinced-, she teased.

-Well. What would you call it?

-Mmmmm. Twilight. You know, because in the mornings on Earth you sometimes see the sky in a light red color-, she explained. She saw Nyco open his eyes in amazement but quickly looked away.

-Meh. Mine is better-, he lied.

-Of course it is. You tell yourself that-, she laughed.

A small light yellow lizard jumped over Nyco. He tried running after it but could not catch it, even with the suit, the gravity was too strong.

-Damn, he got away.

-Well it’s good that it got away. It says here that Just two whips from his tail and your suit would break.

-Hey, no spoilers!-, he complained.

The teenager loved exploring new planets. The thrill of not knowing what he would find made his heart race in excitement. He was born to fly into the stars and explore different worlds.

Only one person could make him reach those levels of happiness. And she was there with him. So to Nyco, this was the perfect plan.

Emma looked at his face as he went running after a small flying insect. His joyful face made her smile. “He feels so comfortable in the unknown. I hope this is enough… I hope this stops his need of going offworld. I don’t want to lose him like I lost mom…”, she thought, as grief took the smile off her face. She forced herself to be in the moment for Nyco’s sake.

After two hours of walking, their knees started getting weak, it was not easy walking on the sand with the suit on. Unfortunately for them, the suit’s flying option didn’t work on that planet. The gravity and weight of the suit were too high for it to take off.
Emma took a mental note to tell her dad that they should put a vehicle at the beginning of the Experience.

 After a long and hard walk, on the top of an enormous dune, they found two metal plates.

-Don’t tell me this is what I think it is-, said Nyco excitedly.

-It is-, she confirmed. Nyco rushed to get his, it looked like a surfboard but with the edges bent upwards in order to protect them from the sand as they used it. -My dad thought that it would be a fun DLC. The original Planet-Gazers didn’t actually use them in their exploration party, but it will probably sell well.

-I’m sure it will. Come on, I’ll race you to the bottom.

-It’s a 15km dive to the bottom. Are you sure?

-100%-, he replied.

-Ok. Get into position-. They both got into the surfboard and got down on their hands and knees. -Last one there has to invite the other to dinner-. She yelled while throwing herself over the edge of the dune.

She instantly regretted the decision, the slope was so great they were going at around 150km an hour. The design of the board deviated all the sand from hitting their faces, a good decision since getting hit in the face with sand at that speed could damage the suit. Emma heard the screams of pure joy from Nyco above the loud noise of the sand breaking on her board. They were 3 minutes in when Emma saw Nyco get on his two feet. “That fool is going to end up hurting himself,” she feared. She tried telling him to get down but there was no use, he was having too much of a great time to pay attention to her. A small deviation on the dune structure made Nyco’s board shoot him out when they were almost at the bottom.

He rolled down in the sand like a snowball until he reached the bottom and got himself buried in the sand. Emma jumped off the board as soon as she came down and started looking for him. After a few minutes, she found him and got him out of the sand. He was laughing. The worried girl checked if he was ok and saw his right arm bent backwards.

-Oh God, Nyco, are you ok?

-Hahaha, that was awesome!!

-Your arm is broken! Does it hurt?

-I'm ok. You know they level down the pain receptors here. It would normally hurt more.

-Ok... Let me think, let me think...-, Emma panicked. -There isn't an option to leave the Experience since my dad wants you to take it seriously but... maybe I can send him a message and see if there is a secret option or something. I don't know if you can actually contact the real world from inside but let me check the options-, she suggested.

-What? No! I don't want to leave-, he complained. -Just put it back into place.

-The suit is also bent, it may be difficult.

-Mmmm, if you step on my arm with your leg and pull it, it shouldn’t be a problem.

-I don’t want to do this… It’s disgusting!

-Come on! You know it’s not my real arm. I don’t want to get out, please-, he begged.

-Ugh, ok. Just stop putting puppy eyes-. she asked. Emma laid Nyco down on the floor and put her leg on top of his arm. -Are you ready?

-Yes, just pull it.

-Ok, one… two…crack!!

Emma knew she failed her task as soon as she saw the arm. It was more twisted than before.

-Sorry-, she apologized. -I’ve never corrected an arm before-.

-It’s… ok… ufff. It hurts a little more now. Aren’t there any pain killers here?

-I think the suit has an option.

-Let me see. Suit functions… Medicine… Ah, here-. He selected the option just by looking at it and sending the corresponding brain waves of acceptance. He felt a needle inject a cold liquid in his arm.

-Ah… much better.

-It doesn’t hurt anymore?-, she asked.

-Nope. Pretty useful. Try putting my arm into place again-, Nyco said.

Emma did as he wanted and pulled the arm. This time actually putting it into place.

-There, I think it’s done-, Emma indicated. -But you won’t be able to move it due to the realism of the 5-S.

-Well, it is what it is... Ok, where to next?

-You really want to continue?

-Of course. I still need to find the reason this planet was considered dangerous. It seems pretty chill to me.

-Apart from the fact that one little crack in the suit will kill you?-, she wondered.

-That’s child's play

That answer upsetted her a little bit. The objective was for him to have fun but to also fear the unknown planets. She decided she will give him a little scare.

-Ok, follow me-, she ordered.

They walked for a few minutes and got near a large sand esplanade.

-Well, here it is. The most dangerous part of the planet.

-What? but there’s nothing here-, he said.

-Oh yes there is-. Emma pushed Nyco in the back and made him fall into the big esplanade.

-Ey, that’s rude. Wait. What? What is this?-, he panicked.

-That’s a 10 km radius of quicksand-, she explained as he started getting engulfed into the sand. He tried getting himself free but he couldn't because the gravity was too strong and made the sand extremely heavy. He asked for her help to get him out but she didn’t. She just waved him goodbye as his face disappeared into the red sand. Nyco was completely buried in the sands of Twilight in just 4 seconds.