The USS Nova

After exploring an alien planet full of life, a space explorer examines the fascinating specimens he recovered and researches how they function. Filling his ship's greenhouse to the brim with discoveries, his mission is now complete. He begins routine checks to ensure everything on his spaceship, the USS. Nova is in order before taking the launch back to Earth and bringing the specimens back with him for further research. Everything looks ready to go, but when he gets to the engine room, the spaceman realizes he is not the only one aboard. Some twisted alien creature has managed to make its way onto the ship! The panicked explorer rushes back to the lab and through the ship, heart beating out of his chest, needing to escape swiftly. But with the otherworldly creature already on board, can he, in good conscience, take off and risk bringing the alien back to Earth with him? Or would he perish on the journey home anyway? There's no time to think about the best course of action. Acting only on instinct to save his life, he decides to go to the pilot's seat and take off- running into the alien again in the hallway. It's a miracle that he hadn't been attacked, but he is not one to give up; our hero takes the other hallway and runs to the cockpit to initiate the takeoff sequence. After thinking that he could be in the clear, the spaceman hears a creak on the floor behind him. Then another. His certain doom is slowly approaching, with nowhere to run. With a last look out to this foreign planet's colorful and somewhat inviting surface, he looks up... and faces his end.