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"Well, Corvo?" Philomena said. "Push the button."

Her face, shielded by her helmet's faceplate, was only a foot away from Blaze's. He saw her mouth move, but her voice came from the speaker inside his suit instead of her lips. Normally, that wouldn't bother him, but the frontier outside made it seem more unsettling. He felt an urge to tug at the lapels of his jacket, straighten them, smooth them out. But he was stuffed into the cramped airlock, which didn't have much elbow room at the best of times, with the two women. Also, he'd taken his jacket off and put it in a locker, so it was a moot point anyway. His urge was doomed to go unfulfilled.

I ain't scared, he thought. I can take on whatever the universe throws at me.

When he turned to the control panel, the lack of maneuvering room made his suit jostle against the others'. The soft bits scraped and the hard bits clanged. The women shoved themselves against the far side to try and get away, but with the tight confines, they could only move a few inches. Through the mic, he heard Philomena grumble to herself, but she kept her mouth clamped shut — for once.

Right before he hit the button, he had a horrific vision of a monster lunging out of the darkness and ramming its head into the airlock. Eating a snack right out of the tin. His finger hovered in front of the control panel, unmoving.

Time to saddle up and ride!

Blaze hit the button. The air hissed as it cycled out of the airlock. He stared at Philomena, who was shoved against the opposite wall, and she stared right back at him. She kept her face stern and rigid, but as the air got sucked out, her eyes widened at him ever-so-slightly. Her head bowed, Luci stared at the floor. She was so short, at that angle Blaze couldn't see her face through the faceplate. But every so often, her mumbling made it through the noise gate on his helmet. It sounded like she was … singing a song in Japanese?

Anime nerds, he thought.

All the air had been sucked out. A heavy mechanical thump came through the fuselage as the door unlocked and started to slide out of the way. The landing lights spilled illumination into the cramped airlock, but beyond the pitifully-small perimeter they made on the ground, it was complete darkness.

Snorting hard, to expel his hesitation, he gripped the doorframe and leaned out. The horrific image of something rushing out of the dark still haunted him, but he shoved it aside. He craned his head around, taking in the sights. The crater wall was right in front of the ship's nose. The landing lights struggled to reveal anything about it. It was dim shades of gray, barely visible in the shadow. Outside the splash of light the ship shone on the ground, the wall dissolved into the steep black filling the crater.

"Anything?" Philomena asked, her voice rising impatiently.

"Coast looks clear," he replied.

"Go on down, then."

He started threading a cable through the bar at the top of the doorway and anchoring it to the handhold.

"Sure thing," he boasted. "Of course, first one to step outside gets to name the planet, don't you know?"

Her eyes lit up and her nostrils flared like a charging bull. She said, "Wait, Ramirex."

"Hai?!"

"You go down first … and name the planet after me."

"H-Hai?!"

He finished securing the cable. "Actually, I already did an EVA at the top of the crater. So I guess I get to name it anyway."

"That doesn't count!" Philomena snapped. "It doesn't count unless it's at the bottom of the crater!"

"Says who?"

"Me, your boss! Ramirex, tell him that doesn't count!"

"Hai?!"

Gripping the cable, he prepared to step off the edge of the airlock. Seeing the fluster on Philomena's face gave him a boost of … not courage, exactly. But it eased his fear a little.

"I think I'll name it … Blaze's Trail?" he said.

Smiling, he hopped over the threshold. His hand trailed along the rope and slowed his descent. He didn't look up at Philomena. Let her watch me brave the unknown, he thought. His boots struck the ground. The shock of the impact traveled up through his body, but he tensed himself and absorbed it. Letting go of the cable, he spun around and scanned the darkness beyond the ring of light.

Nothing launched itself at him … yet.

He briskly strolled forward, but the severely limited vision his helmet allowed made his hair stand on end. He felt confined by it, boxed in and about to be ambushed. His feet settled uneasily on the rocky land. Using his wrist control, he activated his helmet's headlamps. They snapped on, piercing the darkness on either side of his face. The light splashed down on the ground, but in every other direction the black swallowed it up. When he edged beyond the perimeter of the landing lights, the beams probed the shadows and brightened a small circle of the dimly-lit crater wall. He inched up to the sheer cliff, sensing the massive height towering far over his head.

Here's hoping there's not gonna be an avalanche, he thought.

He reached out, touched the wall, and trailed his hand along it. Felt solid enough. Turning back to the ship, he looked at the airlock. A red-pink spacesuit leaned out to follow his progress, while the olive green one was probably huddling out of sight.

"Nothing's eaten me so far," he said, shrugging.

"Is there any good news?" Philomena replied.

"Ha ha. Gets funnier every time you say it."

"Ramirex, you're next," Philomena said. "Go on down there and … make sure Corvo does his job. I'll supervise from up here."

"Ehh …"

"Go on, go."

A tiny olive-green figure crept to the edge of the airlock door. After waffling on the threshold, Luci leaned out, grabbed the cable and stepped over the drop-off. She hugged her lifeline tightly, sliding down like she had her arms and legs wrapped around a metal pole. As she held on for dear life, her head darted from side to side. She sailed to the bottom, but even after her feet touched down, she kept hugging the cable tightly and refused to let go. Above, a figure in a red-pink spacesuit carefully leaned its upper body out of the airlock and peered down at her.

"You coming down, or what?" Blaze asked her.

She angled her faceplate towards him. Her voice crossed the airless distance instantly and sounded inside his helmet.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"I can supervise just fine from up here," she said.

"And, uh, what are you going to do if I refuse to work? Chuck rocks at me?"

Philomena barked, "'Refuse to work'? What are you, some kind of unionizer?"

"No. I'm just a guy who thinks we'll cover more ground with three people instead of two."

"I'll come out when it's safe."

"When's that going to be? Point Pleasant?"

"I pay you to work so that I don't have to, Corvo. That includes dying for me, too."

"You don't pay me anything. We work for a cut of the profits."

"And my amazing business skills are what make a profit, so … get to work."

Shaking his head inside the helmet, Blaze strode back to the ship. If her name wasn't on the business loan, she'd be right out the airlock, he thought. He turned off his headlamps as he reentered the sphere of light. Ahead, Luci still hugged the dangling cable like she'd fall to her death if she let go. He clapped his hand on her shoulder, making her jump and yelp. But as she looked up at him, her blinking eyes and quivering lip visible through her faceplate, she relaxed just the tiniest bit.

"Let's go, Luce. Looks like it's just you and me."

With a gulp, she let go of the rope and stood up like she was about to be marched to her execution.

Blaze leaned back and stared up at the airlock above. "I'll say, this here planet — Blaze's Trail — is looking mighty fine today!"

"We're not naming it that!" Philomena snapped. "Ramirex, tell him we're not naming it that! She's supervising you for me, so you have to listen to her."

Through chattering teeth, Luci said, "N-N-Not …"

Blaze turned on his heel and strode back towards the edge of the light.

"Time to get to work … here on Blaze's Trail," he announced.

He turned his headlamps back on. The beams of light shot forward and illuminated the crater wall. Smiling to himself, he waited to see what the obnoxious harpy would do next. The noise gate kept most of her seething grumbling from being audible, but every once in a while they got so loud the sound slipped through and hissed in his ear.

"Ramirex, get out of the way. I'm coming down. I trusted you to put my foot down for me, and you failed, big time!"

Luci muttered, "I … I can …"

Blaze turned back and watched the woman in the pink space suit slide down the cable. She hit to the bottom and nearly fell over. Bending her legs, she crouched to recover her balance from the unwieldy descent, then popped back up and regained her footing. She grabbed Luci and dragged her stiffened body away from the ship. Staggering along beside Philomena's whirlwind pace, her legs stuck rigidly out and didn't bend in the slightest. The two women stomped away from the ship's light and joined Blaze at the edge of the darkness.

"We're calling it 'Phye-topia', got it?" she barked.

He rolled his eyes, but he didn't argue.

Shoulder to shoulder, the three of them walked to the massive crack in the crater wall. Their headlamps probed the darkness, but did not get very far before they faded into the darkness. The opening arched high over their heads, lost in the shadows. There was something eerie about it, and yet alluring too.

"Is it just me," Blaze asked, "or does this seem kind of …?"

The two women beside him stared at the vaulted slit that opened into an infinite tunnel.

"'Kind of' what?" Philomena said, her voice sharp.

He thought, Hmm, maybe not the right person to ask.

Then, her voice softening and growing uneasy, she said, "I wish we could mine some … some massive, throbbing stone pillars fifty feet tall, or something."

Definitely not the right person to ask.

But Luci stepped forward with her head tilted all the way back. She still looked a little shaken, but the shakes seemed to be dying down.

"I kind of get what you mean," she said. "It's creepy, but also kind of alluring. You just wanna … stick your hand inside and see what you find, am I right? Heh heh."

"Weirdos," Philomena said.

Luci asked, "So … d-d-do we go inside, or …?"

The three of them stared at the bottomless hole carved into the crater wall. Its darkness hiding who knew what. Blaze tensed himself up to move if one of the others moved first, but judging from the way their bodies were canted forward, they were waiting for somebody else to move first as well.

Dropping his voice into a gravelly tone, Blaze said, "Say, why don't we, uh, mosey around out here first?"

"S-Sure," Luci said.

"Good idea, Corvo," Philomena said haughtily. "Let's look around out here first—"

"Qué fue eso?!"

Luci's shriek got Blaze's heart pumping. Her head and upper body swung around so she could look behind them, sweeping her lights across empty space. The darkness ate them up, revealing nothing. She made herself taller and shifted her weight like she was getting ready to run. Her hands hovered at her sides, rigid fingers flexing. Philomena sidled up to Blaze's side, her head twisting erratically as she too searched for danger. He yanked his pistol out of its holster, raised it straight up until it was at eye level, and then thrust his arm out. At that point, he realized he realized he wasn't holding his pistol — which was hanging in the ship's locker room — but the handheld spectroscope instead. Still, his instincts needed something firm and reassuring in his palm, so he waved the spectroscope around just the same. Pointing it at the encroaching darkness that loomed all around them. It was their enemy, and it was waiting for a chance to descend on them and snuff their bright lives out.

"What is it?" he asked. As the words went through his throat, they passed the pumping arteries in his neck. "Luci, what happened?!"

"Th-There's something out here," she said. "Ay caray, I saw it!"

"Where?!"

"I … I don't know!"

Their headlamps swept the darkness, but they didn't stumble on anything lurking out there. The adrenaline drained from Blaze's body. His hand sagged to the ground, dropping the not-pistol.

"I swear, I saw something!" Luci said.

"Like what?"

"A-A shadow!"

"There's shadows all over the place, you idiot!" Philomena shouted, her cheeks glowing bright red like her hair.

As the woman at Blaze's side berated the tiny Asilean, Luci's face cracked like somebody had smashed it with a sledgehammer. Lines cut over her anguished face. A choked gasp got stuck in her throat.

"I … I saw it …"

Blaze holstered the spectroscope again and took a deep breath. The air bounced off his faceplate and brushed through his hair. It felt so cramped inside this damned suit, he just wanted to tear it off and run free. He knew it was crazy, that there was no air on the rogue planet, but his instincts were like wild horses, and they wouldn't listen to common sense.

"It was nothing," he said.

Luci moaned. "But—"

"It was nothing," he said again, talking to himself as much as he was talking to Luci.

"Yeah, Ramirex!" Philomena added. "Don't spook us like that!"

The 'boss' stood right next to Blaze, her space suit brushing against his. He turned away from her, but something felt odd. Clunkier than usual. Like he was being weighed down by something. He glanced down at his arm — the opposite arm from the one he had drawn his not-pistol with. The arm that was right next to Philomena.

"What's this?" he asked.

She turned her helmet towards his and blinked at him through the faceplate.

"Huh?" she asked.

He raised his wrist to her eye level, showing her that her hand was locked around his wrist tighter than a docking clamp. She stared at the sight like it was an alien artifact. Then, scowling, she ripped her hand away from his and pulled it back behind her body, leaning away to put some distance between them.

"I was just getting ready to throw you into danger so I could run for safety."

Although she was flustered, her voice sounded totally sincere.

Blaze stepped away from the women and stared at the dim crater wall. I'm not scared, he thought. Badass space cowboys don't get scared. He took a moment to collect himself. To adopt his badass gunslinger swagger. He had to be bold. Stride across the frontier without hesitation. For the women. Sure, one of them might be a lesbian and the other one had a cry so shrill it could shatter glass, but … it was just practice. Braving this rogue planet, acting like a cocksure cowboy for the benefit of their watchful eyes, it'd all help him build his rep and steel his nerves. Just think about that, and … and get to it.

"Let's ride," he said, his voice low.

He strode forward, angling himself at the crater wall beside the cave. From the light of their headlamps, he knew the women were following in his wake — although Luci's kept sweeping around to look back behind them. Pulling his spectroscope out, Blaze stepped up to the sheer stone wall and got ready to fire it …

Luci stood two feet next to him, her own spectroscope in hand. He glanced sideways at her, and she, flinching with every blink, faced him in return.

"You know," he said, "we'd cover more ground if we spread out."

Her gulp was so loud it passed the noise gate and sounded in his ear.

"Is … is that so?" she asked.

"That's right," Philomena said.

She stood behind them, not lifting a finger. Though she had her own spectroscope, it was still holstered. It would probably stay holstered, until it was time for her to swoop in at the last minute and check his work.

"Ramirex, you go over there." She pointed past the cave, at the cliff face on the other side. Into the pitch-black darkness. "I'll stay with Blaze, since he needs to protect me. With his life, if necessary."

She just loves reminding people what their job is, doesn't she? Like we're going to forget if she doesn't bring it up ten times per minute.

Luci stammered, "But … But …"

"Get going, Ramirex!"

"Happy trails," Blaze said. "If you need me, give a holler. I'll come running, guns blazing."

"After you get me to safety," Philomena added sharply.

Exiled, Luci trudged into the darkness. Her arms dangled and her head sagged. Though she carried her own light with her, it shrank into a tiny dot in the steep darkness. They were at the very edge of the starship's light, but if they continued along the cliff face, they would quickly be swallowed by the absolute darkness.

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