“First of all, let me introduce myself,” the mustachioed man continued. “My name is Edward Trevor, the commandant of this base. This is my deputy, Alex Bush,” he pointed to the man next to him. “You already know Dr. Hill and Dr. Stein. And this is our security chief, Vincent Taney,” he introduced the man just entering the room.

“Sorry for being late, I was busy,” Taney said, taking a seat. “Go on, Ed.”

I didn't like this new person, another camouflaged guy. Slender build. About thirty years old. Dark slicked back hair.

“Now, after all introductions, let's proceed to the matter at hand. I would like to congratulate you on a successful arrival and welcome you to the Terra Nova planet on behalf of all colonists living at this base.”

Saying that my jaw dropped in surprise after his words would fail to describe the true extent of my astonishment. I turned my head and saw that my fellow astronauts felt the same – they looked as if competing for the world's most surprised expression. As befits a commander, Finn was the first to come to his senses.

“It can't be true. Is that some kind of a sick joke? Was the flight canceled?”

We shouted in support of our commander, asking the same questions all at once. Trevor raised his hand for silence.

“Yes, you heard it right. It's hard to believe. But it is true.”

“But how?” Finn asked.

“Your flight was a very long one. Almost two hundred years. A lot of things happened during this time. The most important of them occurred on Earth ten years after you left it. A way to move through the Droescher-Heim space was invented, that is, the ability to puncture conventional space in order to travel faster than light.

We fell silent.

“You had a Pullman-Anderson sub-light drive leveraging the Pullman effect. But puncturing space is instantaneous, all you need is an enormous amount of energy,” he cleared his throat.

I think all of us just sat there for a while – confused, with our jaws dropped.

“You see,” the speaker continued, “a new expedition was arranged and sent to Terra Nova. It reached the planet one hundred and thirty years before you did. Do you understand?”

We kept silent. I finally closed my mouth and heard Boris grunt incredulously next to me.

“The colonists reported that the planet is habitable, but humans can't breathe the local atmosphere. Which means modified atmosphere is required to establish bases here,” he paused.

“But a new problem arose,” Trevor continued. “The planet is inhabited. It is inhabited by an aggressive life form showing vestiges of intelligence. And these creatures have an advantage. It is their home world. These monsters wiped out the colonists from the first expedition. And from the next one too. We are descendants of the third colonization wave. This,” he made a circular motion, “is the third human base on this planet.”

“Were there other expeditions?” Finn asked.

Trevor shook his head and answered, “Communication with Earth is lost. We don't have enough power for a hyperspace puncture. And there have been no ships from Earth in the last fifty years.”

The hall sank into a deathly silence. Everyone was gripped by foreboding thoughts about the fate of their home planet, as well as relatives and friends back there. About humanity as a civilization.

“How many people do you have here?” Lisa asked.

“Twenty-eight,” Trevor replied. “Thirty-three, counting you.”

“Not enough. An almost extinct population,” Leonov commented.

“We know,” Taney looked at him. “And it grows even smaller as we continue to fight the indigenous life forms.”