You are in a large, brightly lit room with a very high ceiling. There are hollowed-out spherical holes in the walls and ceiling. You peer out of one: you are in an observation chamber at the equator of a spherical space station. People in space suits are sitting in the seats, watching this new world and taking notes.
Suddenly, you are jolted forward, and a soft scraping sound fills your ears as the space station slowly decelerates. When you look out the window, you only see a dark planet with a few bright features — no sign of any of the other planets. As the station continues to slow, you pass through the upper atmosphere, and the burning hot air roils around the observation chamber.
You have survived entry!
As you descend toward the surface of the planet, the window begins to expand, and you start to make out the surface beneath: it's covered in lava. You tap your buddy on the shoulder, and point outside. "I guess 'don't land on the red planet' is out." As the space station continues toward the rocky surface, you bury yourselves deeper in your chairs. Soon, you begin to see the rocks beneath you, and the burning hot lava recedes without a trace. The space station continues its descent, and you finally land.
A female voice says, "Welcome to the colony on the fourth planet. Every precaution has been taken to protect you during your stay on this colony, and we'll do our best to make you feel comfortable. First, let's introduce you to our planet. Our planet has a molten core, surrounded by a crust made out of iron salts and silicate rocks. It's about the size of Mercury's orbit, and has one moon, which orbits it at around a second. We've only been here three years, but its a good place to start — and I'm glad one of us got to live through this tragedy. My name is Crystal Northrup, and you have 13 days to live.
For those of you who are new, you will now be identified as an inhabitant of the colony. You have three days to adjust to your new environment, and five days to prepare for the next step.
The planet is inhabited by protozoa and algae, which can sense light, and breathe nitrogen gas. You will learn about them in the next class, where you can also test your strength and speed. You will need them, because you will be hunting or killing them for food and breathable air. After this lesson, the next class is about combat training.
You will be issued a uniform that will protect you while you're on planet. No vegetation exists here, so you will not need any. You will also be issued a weapon, an infrared flashlight, and a wrist computer. The wrist computer will help you collect samples, and track progress in hunting, collecting, and other activities. Over the next two days, you will be periodically taken to your assigned buildings for further tests of agility, strength, speed, intelligence, and memory. Good luck!"
You spend your days examining the planet, and searching for food. It's tough at first, but you get the hang of it. The tasks are different every day, and you never know how you did. After three days, you are taken to your rooms, and given a 12 puzzle. You search for the right pieces for hours, until you finally solve it:
You decide to explore, and find a body of water. You step into the water, and see another building. You walk into a strangely familiar room. Its a classroom. Everyone in the classroom, including the teacher, is frozen in time.
As you leave the classroom, a door opens to your right, leading to a hallway. As you follow the hallway, windows on each side show you images of the first four planets.
You are done exploring, now that you solved the puzzle. You continue on with your trip to the third planet.
You stop at a checkpoint, and see a man and a woman waiting by the door. They both look scarily similar, with black hair, strange markings, and a large bow and arrow and sword on their backs. They smile when they see you approaching, and say, "Welcome to the colony. We've been expecting you."
They are not people, but tree creatures that resemble great sequoias which branch out from the middle of their bodies to form legs. They lead you to a large building. Inside, you see a different kind of scarily similar people. That is, they are very scarily similar, but they are well rounded, and very different from the tree-people. They have hair in various shades of blond and brunette, and shoulders and chests and heads that are shaped otherwise than on the tree-people. One of the men says, "Hiya, citizen, I'm Leon Halvorsen, and that's my wife, Anthea. You are a first generation C-Class citizen. We will spend the next six years helping you become an A-Class. So far, you're like a new student, but you're going to have to be promoted sometime. That will end our training period.
"We'll be escorting you to your building, where you'll establish a house, during the six years. It's optional. If you want to stay in temporary housing, you have the option to avoid living in a House. But we'll make sure you don't starve or freeze to death, or get lost in the barren wasteland between your current colony and your new colony. During the six years, we'll also help you earn a living. You'll be tasked with hunting for food and oxygen, and maintaining a roof over your heads.
"You're about to begin your first day of training. We'll take you to Building 7. It's about 300 meters from Building 1. It will be open the rest of the day, and the rest of the week. You have six years to learn this building, and get accustomed to it. So take your time. See you later!"
The Training Building is very large, and is laid out like the Solar System. The sun in the middle glows bright, and the outer walls are pitch black, with only dim light coming from them, as the windows on the other buildings. You can see the planets and their moons and stars from the windows, as well as a view of the sun and its internal workings. You can also see the anatomy of the space station from the windows. You stare into the abyss as you walk into the building, and three years pass.