It might actually be a reason to hope

The object spotted looked more and more like a solar system with an enormous, slowly pulsating star in the center. The frequency of the pulses was so low that Ace in his extremely weak and malnourished state didn't have the energy to notice it. The white giant had almost a dozen planets orbiting it at in different orbits. With that amount of planets it wouldn't be completely impossible to find a hospitable one, although very unlikely.

The details provided by the scans became clearer as the pod closed in on the solar system. Most planets were guaranteed to not sustain life due to either their proximity or distance to the star. There were a few exceptions though, the largest showed promise as the scanner revealed an equally distributed temperature across the planet which meant it had an atmosphere. Considering the planet's distance to sun it should be a temperature appropriate for life to prosper as well.

This discovery would have made Ace jump around out of joy if it weren't for his severely weakened body and the limited space of the escape pod. If that large planet actually held life, it was possible for him to survive until he was rescued. With anticipation taking over his mind Ace lost focus and his body and hunger he worked so hard to control and suppress immediately made their displeasure known. Keeling over in pain, Ace hurriedly took a few pain-killers and a pack of liquid nutrients to swallow it down with. He made sure to only take a little bit since his stomach couldn't process that much in it's current state.

Getting back on his feet and calming down, Ace began assessing the situation in a rational manner. To begin with, although a lot of the necessary requirements were fullfilled for the planet to hold life, it didn't mean it actually did. Even if it did contain life doesn't mean it's suitable for human life. A poisonous atmosphere can be solved with the AC to a certain degree, but there is still a problem with food. Next is the type of life that would live on the planet, it could be anything from man-eating plants with predatorial instincts to intelligent species with less than friendly intentions toward extraterrestrial invaders. There might even be lifeforms outside the range of human understanding like the dragons of legends or non-carbon based lifeforms.

Accepting the gravity of his current situation Ace decided to approach the planet prepared for anything but hoping for the best. His actions in the next few hours or days could be the deciding factor of whether he lives, dies or is turned into a lab rat.

First things first, reaching the planet.

Ace quickly got in range to send a message toward the planet. He sent a peace- and aid seeking message in every available language, written and spoken (by the machine's AI). Not knowing whether to hope for an answer or not Ace quickly approached the planet.

There was one thing related to the situation on the planet that Ace had originally hoped would solve itself as he got closer. Although the pod's equipment could scan the planet, it couldn't pierce through the atmosphere. The display only said it was due to interference, usually it could obtain the reason for not being able to do so. If it had been electromagnetic waves or some other type of energy the device would have been able to pinpoint it. This either meant that the hypothetical civilization had a way of hiding how they kept their planet from being spied on or that the planet itself was emitting an energy previously unknow to mankind, and that this energy was capable of blocking the scans of an escape pod belonging to an explorative vessel, made for discovering and uncovering the secrets of space.

The first option made Ace slightly hopeful, because then there would probably be technology advanced enough to experiment on him without hurting him and if he met well-intentioned people he could maybe even find a way home.

The other option on the other hand made it close to impossible when it came to predicting the climate and what kind of life would thrive on the surface.

As Ace was anxiously waiting for a response the planet came in sight so Ace could look at it with the window's zoom function properly and the first thing he noticed was how colorful the planet's atmosphere seemed to be, almost glowing with the different colors of the rainbow. Although he hoped it was part of the technology that blocked his scanners, with the absence of any satellites or other space-junk floating around it looked more like it was due to the mysterious energy the planet would be emitting.

Still, since he had rations left Ace decided to wait for a response in orbit before jumping to any conclusions. He only had enough rations for a few days now that he was keeping himself and his body in an active state. Giving his eventual hosts 24 hours to respond Ace kept a forced, hopeful smile on his face the first few hours that slowly changed into looks of dejection and hopelessness, finally when the time was up he had a completely blank expression.

Spending a few moments to gather his thoughts and determination, Ace pondered on how to descend safely. An escape pod used for on-ship emergencies, while usable in landings, wasn't the optimal choice when it came to landing on planets of this size. Ace even had difficulty understanding how a planet of solid mass this big came to be in the first place. The immense gravity would create an incredible pull towards the surface, which would be hard to counteract with the pod's own comparatively weak gravity generator. The gravity would also increase the density of the air and thus putting extreme tension on the parachute and the cords holding it. Although the air resistance and friction will also be pretty high it shouldn't pose that much of a problem.

Having prepared what he needed after landing, safely or crashing, Ace began the descent. Taking a safe approach by slowly decreasing the range of the orbit he was circling the planet in, the colorful glow from the planet seemed to diminish. With the radiance disappearing the surface of the planet was gradually getting visible.

"What is this...? Utopia?

"No way..."

Were the words that Ace unknowingly let out upon seeing the green and blue areas covering the planet. Feeling that he might have actually struck the lottery with this, the previous feelings of doubt and hopelessness were replaced with joy. If things actually were as they appeared and the green and blue areas are forest and water Ace's chances of survival just shot through the roof. Getting even closer, this observation was indeed correct. One thing that deviated slightly from Ace's expectations were the size of things. Although his perspective from an escape pod high up in the air might make things look different it wouldn't explain the scene of a single mountain completely blocking out the horizon even when he was far away. He even had to divert his route because of it. Not to mention the trees that looked like tablelegs if the ones he had seen during other circumstances were toothpicks.

The increasing gravity and pressure made the pod tremble as it closed in on the ground. As only entering the atmosphere caused the pod to shake a bit much Ace feared that he and the pod might get totalled if he tried to land in a dense forest or a mountainous area. Thus Ace began looking for a suitable spot to land in. An extended piece of flat land close to flowing water would be optimal and considering the size of the planet and it's different biomes there certainly should be places like that, with the problem being if he could find one of them before he had to land. Thankfully the scanners could help him now that he was inside the film of energy covering the planet.

Finally finding and deciding upon a spot located next to the ocean, Ace aimed for a beach that followed the coastline far enough for him to make a landing without crashing into a tree. The air resistance made the pod's outer shell heat up enough for even Ace to get sweaty, with the increased pressure he knew it was going to be a rough landing.