Hello again, Story Club members. I'm Ivy, your ghostly host with the most and keeper of the strangest, spookiest tales on Earth. Today is another Ivy's chilling tale. This creepy crawly tale story club members might make your skin crawl. It's one I call planet of the ants. The ship's alarm

blared. My mom, who was the pilot, told me to check my scopes. Even at 11 years old, I'd become

quite the star navigator. I grew up learning the galaxies in my crib. My father, the science

officer, peered at his scopes as well.

We'd just come out of a long hypersleep, which is what you do when you travel vast distances

in space. My family, the Crusoe's, were part of an exploratory program to find other

habitable planets in the galaxy, as well as other life forms, and possibly planetary bodies that

might have rare minerals and gems.

The alarm, my father said, was a distress signal, and it was coming from a planet that was close to us.

It wouldn't require much fuel to set down our tiny starship, which was about 40 meters long, and check out what the distress signal was about.

Our ship was small for efficient space travel, but it still met our needs. I loved it,

honestly. I trained my entire life for this voyage, and I was so excited I felt like I could burst.

My mother said she'd land near the source of the signal. By contract with the Space Association,

we had to check out any other parties that might be in trouble. After all, we might be in the same boat,

or spaceship, someday. Our ship entered the planet's orbit. It was a dim planetanoid on the outer

rings of Nibbolung past the shoulder of Orion. If there was a distress beacon, it meant that

somebody was likely stranded. As we entered the atmosphere, the ship rocked and jolted,

the effect of the dwarf planet's gravity.

Locking onto our signal, our ship landed nearby.

The planet was barren with a hostile atmosphere.

We'd have to suit up to go out exploring.

My father and I would go searching for the distressed party, while my mom would monitor the mission from the ship.

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