Zevortro

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As he looked at the root of the tree, he frowned. They were still covered in dirt, even a day later. There was something wrong with that, but he couldn’t figure out what. He hadn’t been around plants that much, and he knew nothing about this island. But the flying worms might be the apex predator to other insect species. If that was true, then that meant that some of them had to be plant eaters. If a swarm of them ate the trees, they would be done in a hour at best. But why were the other trees still around then? All in all, the more he learned about this place the more questions that he got.

Zevortro looked up from up as he heard cheering from near the crater. Sharing a look with Bryke, they both nodded. They couldn’t learn anything more from these trees. Then if they couldn’t, then the best thing to do was go see what was going on.

“So, think they made it to the bottom of that thing?” Bryke asked as they left.

Zevortro nodded thoughtfully. “Probably. But then again, what else could it be?”

As he walked over, Zevortro took one last look at the two fallen trees. Despite what he felt, there was a better way to spend his time. And that was making sure that they are all safe.

As they reached the rest, they saw Terra looking down, in what he thought was anger. Grabbing Bryke’s shoulder, he gestured to Terra when Bryke looked up. His friend nodded and they walked along the edge of the group, until they reached Terra.

“So who found the end?” Bryke asked.

“It was Jones! They’ve been able to dig down six feet in twenty minutes! They were amazing!” A deckhand said in excitement.

Zevortro whipped his head to gaze at Terra, feeling complete shock. Now that he was looking at her, he could see the way her that she was angry. He guessed that she had something against Jones, but what? Then he remembered that Jones was the only survivor of the foraging party that went out. It was possible that she thought that he had left the others to die? Or that he had done something?

Still, this was good. Finding how deep it went, they were able to finally break in. The first thing to do was make the space they had to work with larger. And that meant that they all needed to do some work.

“So Terra. We couldn’t find anything about the two trees. Whatever destroyed them, we can’t find it this way,” Bryke said softly.

Terra turned to look at them, and then blinked as she remembered what they had been doing. “Oh. Well, just observing from inside the shield was a stretch. I’ll have someone destroy the trees later. Maybe we can have a fire pit tonight after we clear away the grass or something.”

“Yeah. But we’ll start making that pit wider, this way we’ll be able to cut a door. It’ll take some time, but hey. What can you do?” Zevortro said as he looked at Terra.

Terra looked down at a blanket by her feet and then he nodded. “Sounds like that’s the best thing we can do right now. I’ll find three more people, then you can get to work.”

“Why three……. Wait. Does that have something to do with that blanket?” Zevortro asked as he looked down. All he got in return was a smirk form Terra, as if she had a great secret.

Five minutes later, as he pushed the shovelful of dirt upwards, he looked at the blanket in amazement. “That is something I never thought I’d ever see.”

“Nice, isn’t it? I remembered a bit about early asteroid mining. How they used tractor beams to catch blasted chunks from asteroids. I figured if machine could catch them at range, why not grab them closer?” Terra said with a laugh.

The sounds of movement caused them to look up and see Jones climb up, blinking as he saw them. “So you’re using the other blanket for that? Guess we’re going that way only.”

“What are you doing now Jones?” Terra asked, anger in her voice.

He shrugged and looked at her. “Well, the way I see it. We know how far down the plates go, so let’s see how wide it is! And you’re making it easier to cut into it then?”

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Zevortro looked at him, a scowl on his face. The more he thought about it, Zevortro didn’t know enough how Jones had survived his escape. There was something that he was hiding, and everything Zevortro was told him it was important. But for now, all he could do was leave him alone, and watch.

“You all go and do that, make sure that you do it right. Stop after three feet,” Terra said with a hard edge.

Jones nodded and went to help the other diggers up, and Zevortro watched him for a moment. The fact that he hadn’t seen the way that Terra thought about Jones was something was a failure n his part. He must have been still paralyzed when Jones gave his account. The only thing that he could do was keep watching, and if he had to, strike hard and fast.

“So they got this done in twenty minutes? Bet it’ll take half as long for us!” Bryke said with a confident tone in his voice.

Zevortro only laughed and shook his head, his friend’s joy causing him to get to work harder.

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Duncan

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As he looked around the office, he moved his leg a bit. He was healing fast, almost too fast. He knew his body before a regeneration, and it had never healed this fast before. There was something that he wasn’t seeing, and he knew it too. But what was it? What was different? He sighed. “Probably something that’s so normal, I can’t see it. Still, another day or so and I’ll be ready to fight again.”

A knocking on his door caused him to look up and sigh, back to work. “Come in.”

As soon as Bradford walked in, Duncan had a feeling that he wouldn’t like this. Maybe it was the smile on the man’s face.

“Well, I just helped us out a bit,” Bradford said as he sat down before the desk.

“How?”

Bradford looked at him and shook his head. “Leonator Vos Flortrlis won’t be a problem for us. I was able to convince him it was an accident of turning the shield back on. We just need to make sure that he keeps believing that.”

Duncan looked at him and sighed, nodding. That one had been a problem. He had seen many people like Leonator before, and most of them were problems. Those people had a bad habit of talking loud, so loud that people followed them. Personally, Duncan thought that people only did that because the speaker was so loud.

“That’s good. With everything that’s happening, we don’t need him causing problems,” Duncan said wearily.

“Wait. What happened?” Bradford asked.

Duncan looked up at him, and he stared for a few minutes. As much as Bradford had helped him with Leonator, Bradford was still a problem. But then the man had helped keep the other passengers down and safe. But that was probably just so he could try and take power down the line. But there was a chance that Bradford had noticed that they had to work together to survive. So was it time to take a chance?

He sighed and shook his head. “First off, they were able to cut into the plates. But the language is unlike anything our volunteer ever seen before.”

Bradford looked at him, his mouth dropping open in shock. “First Contact Salvage?! Where are we?”

Duncan nodded. “My thoughts as well. And the route the old girl took? It was something we’ve done multiple times a year! This whole thing is impossible!”

Bradford looked at Duncan, and then he palled in fear. Duncan watched as he swallowed and shook his head. “Well, we’re living it. Then we know it’s not impossible. But what can we do?”

“Plenty,” Duncan said with a smirk. At least this was something that Bradford didn’t know. And that was something that was very good for them. “The team is digging down, we found the edge of the plates in front of the capsule at least. So we’re planning on cutting into it and finding out what’s there soon.”

“Good! The sooner we know that we won’t die the better! So how deep was it?” Bradford asked.

“Six feet past the plates. And there’s a good bit of land between the crater and us. And they’re using a few tricks to dig faster,” Duncan said with a smirk. He looked at Bradford as the man tried and failed to figure out what he meant, but that was fine. Let him have a few cards that he could play against Bradford.

“My. For an observation area, that seems small. I mean we did decided that was what it was?” Bradford asked with a strange glint in his eyes.

“Personally, I wonder if that is even on its right side. I mean. I’ve seen and heard of worse crash landings. Even after the war,” Duncan said with a hard look at Bradford. The man looked back, and then he nodded.

“True, true. But we need to know what’s down there. That’s not even a question. Unless we can find out what’s around us,” Bradford admitted with a slight glare.

Duncan looked at him, blinked and then he looked upwards. A frown formed on his face as he realized there was a much safer answer to everything that they had missed. It would give them time to fix all the problems and not put themselves in bigger danger.

He looked up at Bradford and got up from his chair. “Thank you Mr. Bradford. You’ve just solved something that might make this that much safer. Have a good day.”

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Terra.

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As Zevortro and Bryke worked, Terra kept an eye on them and Jones. So far, the two of them had been able to dig down three feet, and they were making good time. All they needed to do was keep at it, and they might be able to cut into it tomorrow. She looked around and nodded at Jessie as he patrolled the shield

Looking around the clearing, she saw that everything was going smoothly. She couldn’t believe that they hadn’t been attacked today. From the way the flying worms and the insect things, she had expected something.

“Terra!” Duncan bellowed from behind her.

She looked up as Duncan climbed over the crater’s edge and walk towards her.

“Wait there Duncan!” Terra called out as she walked over and looked at the null gravity generator.

As soon as Terra reached Duncan, she saw him looking at the new pit Zevortro and Bryke were making. “Good progress. That’s something that you ordered?”

“Their idea. So what is it?” Terra asked and Duncan looked at her.

“Bradford made an observation, we don’t need to go into that thing. We need to make sure that we’re safe. So once you’ve done with that pit, I want you to find out what’s to our sides,” Duncan said bluntly.

Terra looked at Duncan, and then she looked around at the clearing. Then her mind remembered a few of the older space ship models she had seen. And one style of design was what took up her mind. “Oh Nova! These aren’t the thrusters!”

“What is it Terra!?” Duncan demanded as he heard the terror in her voice.

“I figured it out! If I’m right, then the thrusters are right below the capsule! That over there!?” Terra said with fear in her voice. “That’s the covering to direct thrust! That has to be what it is!”

Duncan looked form her to the ground.

She saw the minute that Duncan realized what she had, and as he looked up at her. She saw a strange mix of fear and thoughtfulness in his gaze. He swallowed and nodded.

“Still do what I said, but get a few more of those things that cut into it. I want everything to our side to be destroyed,” Duncan ordered.