Stuck...

"Stuck..." by Lapis L. Lazuli

--Timeframe: 3218
--Stage: Andromeda Galaxy, Planet Alpha

Four astronauts—Graham Young, Celeste Wong, Jennifer Cross, and Michael Forrest—blast off to Planet Alpha, a last-ditch shot at saving a bloated, broken Earth choking on 32 billion souls. Tech’s slick, hope’s thin, and Michael’s the odd man out: a quiet, brooding pessimist/realist who’d rather sleep than play hero. They’re hunting a new home, but when their ship vanishes, leaving nothing but a hole in the ground behind, and buzzsaw traps start snapping, Alpha turns into a spatial meat grinder. Graham’s charisma can’t save him, Celeste’s grit hits a wall, and Jennifer’s just trying to keep herself together while Michael’s calm cracks into something... else.

"Stuck..." kicks off a sprawling lore asking “What is Humanity?”—not with grand answers, but with a cold, hard look at the wreckage. Is it the evil that festers, the good that fades, or the mess in between? This ain’t a fairy tale; it’s a bloody warning.