From 188 Contes à régler
The space explorers, seasoned over many years, had not only gained unshakeable experience but also an innate sense of caution when approaching an unknown world.
At first glance, and then after the usual remote investigations, planet P. 347 closely resembled Earth. A true distant sister planet with the difference that there was no trace of cities or even villages. Apart from that, the same vast expanses of oceans, the same lush greenery, the same mountain ranges, the same air composition, and the same temperature.
The spacecraft landed without problems in a western-like landscape, on rocky ground almost as level as a landing strip.
They had faced dozens of unforeseen challenges, both tangible and invisible to the naked eye, both fleeting and lingering, but the one awaiting them on P. 347 was unique in its kind. It was for this reason that it proved fatal.
They had barely touched the ground of this planet when they saw and felt themselves changing - mentally, and physically especially. Each passing second aged them. So blatantly, one second on this world would devour a year of their lives.
As they knew how to calculate quickly and well, they reacted in the same way, rushing inside the rocket and getting busy with the emergency departure maneuvers. But there were some mishaps that, unfortunately, were not part of the plan. A mere minute passed like this, just one minute. The youngest of the navigators was now approaching eighty years old, the others had already died of old age. More seconds ticked by, but in vain. Only an old man over one hundred and thirty years old could have launched the rocket away from this tomb. There was none.