Christopher Toa had worked hard to get where he was. With PhD in Geology, and a Masters in Biology, as well as training in various other fields, he was a scientist through and through. He had lead several expedition groups in studying the various life that existed in the solar system. He was a keen surveyor, always knowing what type of terrain would work for life. So he was often the first call when someone needed consultation before travelling to one of the uncolonized planetary bodies in the solar system. He had even spent 2 years in the underground caverns of Ceres to get it prepared for a waystation for people travelling to the outer solar system.<br/><br/>Needless to say, he was ready for this. When he was personally asked to take part in a mission to colonize the new earth-like planet that had been discovered, Christopher knew he wanted to be a part of it--he knew he was done with earth, and the solar system. Perhaps “grass was always greener on the other side,” was an appropriate idiom for this, but right now, he wanted the other side even if the grass looked brown and bleak. Of course, he still needed to pass a few tests and psychological exams, but he wasn’t worried.<br/><br/>He walked into the hallway, where he was supposed to see the doctor, and only one other was there--a young woman. In fact she seemed almost too young. Christopher was often considered a young achiever, having made the top 30 under 30 in the Science Andromeda blog for 3 years in a row, and he often turned heads at events when he displayed his intelligence amongst the other scientists, normally averaging about fifty years old. So to see such a young crew member stunned him for a moment. However as he walked in and took his seat a few chairs away from her, he realized it did make sense. If they were going to set up a colony far far away, they may as well send the brightest, and youngest, to get things going. There would less chance of medical problems, and more decades to get things set up and built.<br/><br/>He realized he didn’t know her name--and in fact he didn’t know any of the crew members. He contemplated asking, but she seemed buried in whatever she was studying. There would be plenty of time for introductions later on after all. So instead he followed suit, and pulled out his datapad.<br/><br/>He did receive a lot of information about the new planet though, currently named LX-1227 (though he doubted that would be it’s official name after it gets colonized--it didn’t exactly roll off the tongue). He looked at the datapad which had a rough map of the planet. He studied what he could of the landing site as he wanted to know the landmarks like the back of his hands. The planet was far away, so they didn’t have a lot of information, but they knew it was primed for life. It seemed tame for a planet, without much volcanic activity, plenty of water and breathable air. However there weren’t any immediate signs of life. In all the photos and video, there wasn’t even any plant life. Christopher found this curious, as life always finds a way in even the harshest of conditions, from the deep darkest oceans of Europa, to the lava tubes of Venus. And LX-1227 was not harsh by any means. Clearly, it would need a lot of studying, one of the many things he was excited about.<br/><br/>After a bit of studying, he put his datapad away in his sling bag and sat there, waiting to see if anyone else would arrive...