From the Officer Training Manual: Danger abounds in space! Should you encounter an emergency, this handy step-by-step guide will ensure you and your crew survive. 

Step 1: Remove yourself from immediate danger and check your medical condition. 

Jonas opened his eyes beneath a pale green sky filled with plumes of black smoke. He sat up and winced. There was a brief twinge of pain in his left side. He waited for it to pass, then looked around to get his bearings. He was on a beach, surrounded by metal wreckage. Some kind of tank sat nearby covered in bright red warning symbols. Bluish smoke was spewing from a puncture in the tank’s nozzle. Jonas stood and rolled the smoking tank away with his foot. Pain flared in his left side again as he kicked sand towards it. Probably nothing to worry about, thought Jonas as the pain receded. 

 Kemalia opened her eyes beneath a ceiling of flames and black smoke. She tried to push herself up and cried out at the pain in her left arm. She was still in the engine control room. It had crumpled on impact and there were several electric fires raging around her. She looked for an exit. The door had mostly collapsed but there was a sliver of light from a misshapen opening at its base. If she didn’t move fast she would asphyxiate from the smoke. 

She crawled on her hands and knees towards the exit. She tried to let her left arm hang naturally without putting weight on it, but still felt the occasionally spark of pain as she moved. It was a difficult but short distance to the door. As she crawled she could hear the terrifyingly sharp crackle of electricity behind her. 

Within moments she was pushing herself out of the disfigured opening at the base of the door. She was careful to avoid the jagged edges. Once she was out of what used to be the engine control room she trotted a short distance away and collapsed in the sand. Every part of her wanted to lay in the sand and not move, but she pushed through her exhaustion and gave herself a short medical examination. Aside from a few small cuts and bruises, her only significant injury was a dislocated shoulder. 

Step 2: Observe your surroundings and assess your situation.

Jonas was standing on the long white beach of a gray-blue sea. Small waves rolled towards the beach and lapped the sand gently. He saw a flock of large leathery things flying in the distance, dive-bombing the water for food. Behind him was the edge of a tropical jungle. There was wreckage strewn all along the beach, a lot of debris but not nearly enough for a whole ship. Jonas thought to himself, where is the Foundation?

Kemalia looked up at the Foundation—or what remained of it—floating huge and obvious in the upper atmosphere. It looked similar to the moon on a clear bright day, visible but faint, as though it was being viewed through a silk screen. The ship was in rough shape. The entire lower left leg was missing, along with several other pieces. Its broken edges were shredded like frayed cord. A cloud of debris glinted around it, shimmering like glitter.

Well, it’s not the worst situation ever, thought Jonas. I’m on a beautiful beach. The water looks nice. The sky is pretty, and there’s a jungle behind me just begging for a romp. Perhaps I’ll find some food or water.

The situation is pretty grim, thought Kemalia. I’m stranded on alien beach, with no food or potable water. That ocean might be highly acidic. The air I’m breathing might be toxic. There’s a jungle at the edge of the beach, probably filled with dangerous flora and fauna. 

Step 3: Seek out and assist other survivors.

Jonas cupped his hands around his mouth. “Hello?!” he shouted. He looked around to his left and saw nothing but sand, metal, and smoke.

“Helloooo?!” he shouted again. He looked to his right and saw more of the same. No motion. No one running toward the sound of his voice. The wreckage stretched out pretty far in that direction. He thought about walking along the beach, but his head hurt a little and he felt pretty tired. A few moments later he was snoring softly in the warm sand.

Nearly an hour later, Kemalia had searched most of the beach. She had found only dead bodies, all crewmen she had known. In fact all of the engine control room crew were accounted for in the macabre manner

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She had almost given up on the search when she saw a white shape lying prone on the beach. Another body. She thought to herself, I can’t handle seeing another dead friend. I just can’t! Then the body rolled over onto its back. They were alive, whoever it was!

As she approached, she recognized Jonas lying on his back. He had stripped out of his exosuit, down to his lab coat. She gasped and ran to him. 

“Professor!” No response.

She lay her fingers across his left clavicle. In her species a strong blood vessel ran there, but of course in Jonas, she felt nothing. She put her ear just above his nose and mouth, and felt his breath, slow and steady. 

She had to act fast to save his life. She straightened her right arm (her dislocated left arm was useless or she would have used both) and rested her fist on the professor’s abdomen, just below his ribcage. Then she reared up and dropped all of her weight through her stiffened arm, right into his stomach.

“Hlegh!!!” Jonas’s eyes popped open and he groaned. “What the hell?!” he exclaimed, clutching his stomach.

“You were unconscious! Are you okay?” asked Kemalia.

“I was taking a nap!”

“I couldn’t feel your ventral pulse so I assumed your primary heart had stopped.”

“Primary heart? I’ve only got the one.”

Her brow furrowed, “Only one?” then she covered her mouth with her hand, “Of course! Oh my! I’m so sorry, professor! How could I forget our anatomy is different?! Will you be okay? Did I damage anything?”

Jonas sat up and winced, clutching his left side, “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

“Professor, please lie down and let me inspect you for injuries,” she said firmly.

“Hm . . . okay. It’s been a while since a pretty girl wanted to look me over,” he said as he lay back down in the sand.

“Oh, professor!” She exclaimed. “This is no time for jokes. You could have a serious injury! Please be still while I give you a medical check!”

One brief medical check later, Kemalia sat back on her heels and helped the professor up to a sitting position.

“What’s the word, doc?” said Jonas. Kemalia shook her head.

“I’m not a doctor, professor,” she said.

“What’s a doctorprofessor?” She stared at him, mildly perturbed. “Bad joke. Sorry,” he said.

She sighed. “You have a mild concussion and a fractured rib. The rib is in place, just cracked, so don’t do anything excessively physical and it should heal on its own.”

He noticed then that her left arm was dangling limply at her side.

“What happened to your arm?” he asked.

“Dislocated and I don’t think I can fix it by myself. Do you mind?” she asked. 

He nodded and without warning took her left wrist in his right hand, braced her chest with his left hand, and yanked. Her shoulder slipped back into its socket and she yelped in pain.

“Oh, professor . . . thank you.”

“Of course, Kimmy.” He put a hand on her non-injured shoulder and their eyes met. She’s even prettier than I first noticed, he thought. Despite being a different species, she looked like any human girl might, with soft features and eyes as green as emeralds. Her tight bun had come loose in the chaos and a few locks hung freely about her face. “I’m glad there’s another survivor, even if it’s just the two of us,” he said.

She held his gaze for a moment with an indecipherable expression before she looking away. “Is it really just us, you think?” she said.

“Hm, perhaps.” said Jonas. “So, what now?” he wondered aloud.

Step 4: Find help. If help is not available find shelter.

The professor stroked his stubbly chin. “If anyone else survived the crash then they’re probably not in much better shape than we are. Perhaps we should find the Foundation. Hm, if we only knew where it was...”

Kemalia pointed up at the sky just behind Jonas’s head, where the Foundation floated in orbit. 

“A-ha! Found it! Good work, Kimmy,” said Jonas. “It’s not going to do us much good up there, though. Right . . . perhaps we should find shelter and . . . hunker down for the night.” He tried to establish eye contact as he spoke, but Kemalia was looking forlornly at the Foundation.

“Good idea, professor. We can work out how to contact the Foundation if anyone’s still up there. And we should keep searching for survivors. It looks like more sections of the ship- Oh, my! Professor! Look!”

Jonas turned around to see a living nightmare emerge from the waves behind them. At first glance, it resembled an alligator with a turtle shell, but it was several times as large. Its snout was long, wide, and full of jagged teeth. Its eyes were black and bulbous. Its blue-gray skin was leathery and scaled. It crawled toward them on stout legs ending in long, webbed claws. The beast was at least ten-meters long from head to tail.

Kemalia shrieked. The sea monster made a rapid clicking sound from deep in its throat, then it lunged toward them.

“Run! To the jungle!” shouted Jonas. 

He sprinted for the trees without waiting for Kemalia. She ran after him with the sea monster hot on her heels.