Nick drew picture after picture, but nothing triggered a response from Petra. It would be so awesome if she could just dig all this out herself. There's probably a way to do it, and I just haven't figured it out.
Sometimes Nick took a break and paged through the photos on his phone. He was glad he had that much from home. He'd never been one to take tons of pictures, at least compared to his friends, but his saved photos might be the only way he would ever see a green leaf again.
He even listened to a few of his saved messages. “BEEP. Hey, Nick, it's Brian. I'm outside O'Reilly's, man, where the fuck are you? I need moral support before Cathy gets here. Don't let me screw this up, dude. I'm counting on you.”
“BEEP. Hello, Nicholas, this is Dr. Feinbaum's office reminding you of an appointment...”
“BEEP. Hi, Nick, it's Mandy. Sorry to hear you're under the weather. Don't worry, you'll be invited to the next one. Take care of yourself. If you need help, medicine or something, call me or 'Ness. All right? Hang in there. Bye.”
Nick carefully closed his messages folder, not wanting to risk accidentally deleting anything. Every little thing he had from Earth was irreplaceable now. It was a grim feeling.
Finally, the Death Star set. He had survived his second day on BigBall. Nick carefully checked that it was safe, then emerged next to what was left of the Ford. He immediately trotted downhill a ways and relieved himself. I am going to need toilet paper badly. Not even leaves to use. Then again, even if there were, I wouldn't dare let them near my junk without knowing that they wouldn't burn them with acid or anything. Well, I'm not eating much, so maybe I've got another day to figure something out.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Nick was tired of inactivity. He headed uphill and pushed himself to hurry, determined to get a good look around if he could manage it. He was huffing and puffing before long, but kept at it. He had Petra with him and actually hit Discharging to release the oxygen now that he was in the open. He took a few good lungfuls that helped to energize him for a bit.
He had to hurry because he needed to get a good vantage point before the light faded. He tried to keep an eye on the sky and land around him, and an eye on his footing as well. This mostly meant quick glimpses around as he primarily focused on where his feet were landing. Every so often he would pause and use Charging to get Petra to eat a rock, just in case there were more elements or whatever available on the surface. Finally, he got as high as he could in the time he had, turned and sat down on a rock outcropping, looking at everything.
Hills. Almost nothing but hills as far as he could see. The only direction that didn't have hills was southwest. It looked like a smooth patch of horizon was visible in that direction. The hills opened up into some sort of plain, maybe. It was partly ringed by hills, though, which made him think it looked more like a bay or a big lake, or even an ocean.
Only there wasn't any water.
Nick stared, picturing that flat valley filled with water, and then imagining the rays of the Death Star boiling it all away. He felt a chill that had nothing to do with the breeze that was picking up.
Was I dropped on a dying world?