Jeff's Podcast {Voices in the Story light}

Descent into Alien Darkness: Discovering the Unnamed Planet

• jeff Cooke • Season 1 • Episode 2

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A ghostly orb hangs in the void, half-shrouded in shadow with no name, no designation, and no recorded signals. Yet beneath its silence lies purpose and ancient awareness.

Captain Lena Marek and the crew of the Osiris Dawn approach this mystery with standard protocols—EVA suits, thermal shielding, pulse rifles—unaware they're heading into something that defies standard classification. The descent through electric blue mist brings the first warning: a momentary system failure accompanied by a strange pressure in their skulls, like something trying to communicate directly into their minds. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Voss carries his own dread about "the man in the pod" who hasn't spoken but somehow feels awake and watching.

Upon landing, scanners detect a subterranean structure with an active power source. Captain Marek leads a small team to investigate, discovering a cave entrance with walls marked by bioluminescent symbols—possibly a language or warning. As they venture deeper, the atmosphere grows heavier with tension. Reese's scanner detects bizarre life readings that phase between solid and non-solid states, seemingly integrated with the cave itself. When a heartbeat-like thrum begins resonating from the stone and whispers echo through the darkness, the true nature of their predicament emerges.

The cave-in that blocks their retreat isn't an accident. As Captain Marek realizes, they haven't discovered this planet by chance—they've been deliberately summoned. Something ancient is stirring from slumber, and the crew of the Osiris Dawn are not explorers but guests at an awakening. Will they find another way out, or are they merely following the path that was prepared for them all along?

Join us for this chilling journey where cosmic horror meets science fiction, and discover how humanity fares when confronted with intelligence so alien it defies comprehension. What awaits in the depths? Listen now to find out.

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Chapter 2. Landing Day. The unnamed planet loomed ahead, a ghostly orb, half-cloaked. In shadow, its surface, a tapestry of ash-gray plains and deep ravines. It had no name, no designation, no recorded signal traffic. But there it was, rotating silently beneath a pale blue sun. Captain Lena Marek stood on the bridge, arms crossed, her jaw set Prep for descent. She ordered Standard surface protocols, eva suits, thermal shielding, pulse rifles. Lieutenant Voss, still shaken from the previous night, didn't mention the man in the pod. He hadn't spoken since. But somehow Voss felt watched as though something inside that man wasn't quite asleep anymore.

Speaker 1:

The Osiris dawn broke through the atmosphere with little resistance, descending into a haze of electric blue mist. The clouds clung to the hull like static and for a moment, just a moment, all instruments blinked red. The ship stabilized, systems returned to green, but everyone on board had felt it, a deep pressure in their skulls, like a voice they couldn't quite hear was trying to push through. The crew touched down on a jagged plain surrounded by towering cliffs and twisted rock formations. A few hundred meters out, scanners picked up a large subterranean structure, a cave entrance partially concealed by overgrown roots and fragmented stone. Looks like an old tectonic fissure, mira Kale reported. But there's heat down there, a power source, faint but real Team one. You're with me, lena said. Reese, voss, kale, everyone else, stay on board, lock all doors. This planet's too quiet.

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They disembarked, boots crunching over alien dust. The air was thick with static. Sparks of ionized particles flickered through the mist like fireflies. Something about the silence, it wasn't natural, it was forced, as if the entire planet were holding its breath. The cave entrance yawned before them like the mouth of some slumbering beast, wide ancient. The stone was smooth in places, unnaturally so, like something had carved through it long ago. Keep your lights low, lena whispered, and watch for movement. They descended slowly, their lights cutting narrow cones through the black. The walls were marked with symbols, sharp-edged, almost insect-like in design, pulsing faintly with bioluminescence. It's some kind of language, kale muttered Presentient, maybe, or a warning.

Speaker 1:

Farther in, the air grew warmer. Reese checked his scanner Ma'am, I'm getting life readings, not human, not animal. They're moving, but they don't make sense. Lena turned Define, don't make sense. They're everywhere, but they're not solid. They phase in and out of the environment like they're part of the cave itself. Then they heard it A low, echoing thrum like a heartbeat from within the stone. Then a whisper, then another, too quiet to decipher, but layered, dense, not random. Suddenly, the tunnel behind them caved in stone, crashing down in a deafening roar. Reese shouted backtrack's gone. Lena didn't hesitate Move forward, we find another way out. But even as they moved deeper, lena knew they hadn't just landed on the planet, they'd been invited, and the cave was beginning to wake.