Paradise

Excerpt:
“Hey Mary, come up here, you have to see this,” Gregory said. Within moments Mary entered the cockpit. “Paradise,” Gregory said as he pointed to the small planet.
“Wow, its beautiful, captain.”
“That it is.” Gregory was happy to see the small planet. It had been a long journey here from Earth. He and his small crew comprising of his copilot Frank Evans, the ships doctor Ronald Muller, the geologist Brian King and his assistant Mary Myers were sent out to explore new planets for mining possibilities. It was by pure luck they found this one, some of the traders at the local outpost talked about this small planet, which was simply named Paradise. What puzzled Gregory was the warning the traders gave about no man should ever set foot on this planet. This planet had life on it; the last little planet they explored was quite barren, so Gregory was willing to take a chance. After all he heard that women ruled on this planet, the chances were good that they were less likely to have a hostile welcome.
Ten long years they have been out here. Gregory smiled at Mary, hell she was only eighteen when they started out on this journey. She was beautiful without even trying. Her shoulder-length brown hair looked so soft and it framed her sweet face nicely. He had trouble taking his eyes off her lush full lips. How he wanted to kiss those lips. But, he was the captain of this mission and he learned long ago not to mix business with pleasure. Besides, he was quite a bit older than Mary was anyways. She was the youngest member of his crew; the other three were in their early forties, while Gregory was pushing fifty.
Mary sat down in her assigned chair as they prepared for landing. She couldn’t wait to have solid ground under her feet. Brian talked her into going on this mission— she would devote fifteen years of her life to it. This planet was the last one, Gregory promised then they would head home to Earth and report their findings. Mining precious metals off of distant planets was quite a lucrative business on Earth. Most of the precious metals that used to be found on Earth have been depleted. So, investing the time and money into space exploration was well worth the wait. Once the mining ships returned to Earth with their payloads the investors saw huge returns on their money. So much so, they could trade their shares of this cargo before the ships even returned home. Finding the precious metals was the difficult part, so small groups such as this one were set out ahead of the mining crews. The whole process took years, but it was worth it.
“Bet you can’t wait to go dig in the dirt down there, huh kiddo,” Brian said.
“Me, what about you, you look like an eager puppy,” Mary replied. She started laughing when he did an impersonation of a puppy dog.
“I will just be glad to get this over with and go home. I want my paycheck so I can start my own practice back home,” Ronald said as he tightened his safety belt.
“Oh I hear you. A tropical island with beautiful women everywhere I look, not to say that your beauty isn’t inspiring, Mary,” Frank added.
“Gee, thanks. I know what you mean though.” Mary’s hand gripped the armrest of her chair when she felt the ship jerk.
“This little planet has a strong gravity pull. It’s going to be a bit bumpy people so hold on tight,” Gregory said as his eyes scanned the instruments.
Mary could tell something was wrong just by looking at Gregory, though he kept his cool quite nicely. She quickly looked over at Frank. The look that he and Gregory exchanged between each other confirmed Mary’s suspicions.
The ship bounced and lurched as they entered the atmosphere of the planet. A loud whistling noise followed by a bang caused the ship to start to spin.
“Everyone hold on!!” Gregory said as he fought to regain control of the ship.
Mary closed her eyes. Was this it, were they all going to die on this strange planet? The ship violently rolled, bucked and shook. Mary opened her eyes and she saw the ground rushing up at them. Oh my God, they were going to die here!