'And there's the command for the shop.' Bill pointed to the monitor. 'Everything will be sent to our location within minutes, usually. Sometimes it takes a little longer.'

James looked at the commands, trying to commit them to memory. They'd gone into the store on the computer and ordered a lot of things. Food rations, first aid kits, an extra suit, flashlights and walkie-talkies among other necessary things.

'So...' James hesitated. 'The salary is joint?'

'Yeah. It's a little suspicious, but it is what it is. At least it's pretty good and allows us to buy what we need.'

'But we can't take out the money and leave the shuttle? Go shopping in the city?'

'No. Afraid we're stuck here until our contracts run out.'

'Well, I suppose it could be worse.'

Dakarai called from outside the ship then. 'It's here!'

James spun towards the door. The roar of a rocket and reflected yellow light shone in the puddles outside. He hurried out to the others, waiting a few meters away from the ship, looking up.

The rocket landed with a heavy metallic clunk, followed by a few seconds of silence. Then, lights flashed around the rocket and a happy tune started playing. Quite loud.

'What in the world?' Rebecca laughed.

'Beautiful!' Dakarai danced about in the rain like a lunatic.

James chuckled, watching the spectacle. The music was loud, and a bit off tune.

'What do we do now?' he asked and turned to Bill who walked up beside him.

'Here.' Bill pressed a button on the rocket and compartments on the sides opened, spilling its contents onto the wet concrete.

'Neat!' Dakarai said and grabbed a first air kit and a walkie-talkie. 'We should test these.'

'Good idea, let's,' James agreed.

The brought all their new gear with them to the shuttle, and tested everything. A strange calm and feeling of camaraderie settled over the small crew as they chatted, ate dinner and tested the comms.

After about an hour, Bill stood and looked at the monitor, writing commands.

'What's happening,' James asked and stood. He wanted to learn to handle the computer. If something happened to Bill, they'd be stranded otherwise.

'Routing the ship to a new moon.'

'Not Experimentation?'

'Again? No. It's better to go further away. I think Assurance will do. Weather's stable at the moment.'

James watched the green text on the screen. “220 – Assurance. Conditions: Hilly desert moon with large rocks. Similar to its twin moon, 41-Experimentation, but featuring far more jagged and weathered terrain. Current weather: Fair.”

'Sounds fantastic.'

Dakarai snorted behind him. 'Right. A walk in the park. I'm sure it's got friendly animals too.'

'Of course.' Bill nodded. 'It's more or less the same, but it's less scavenged so there's more scrap of value to be collected.'

'Well, that's something,' James muttered, the knot in his stomach making itself known again. He really didn't want to meet any of the wild creatures on the moons. Especially not those large eyeless dogs. He rubbed his arms, suddenly prickly with goose bumps.

'Let's get it over with. We should rest while we can, and go on a hunt for great scrap tomorrow,' Dakarai said. 'We'll surprise even The Company with our supreme scavenging skills!'

'Sure,' Rebecca said with a smile and patted him on the shoulder. 'But he's right, we should rest while we can. I'm still tired from yesterday and hurting everywhere.'

'Me too,' James agreed and flexed his arms and back. There wasn't a muscle in his body that wasn't aching, smarting, or stinging. 'I'm not even sure I'll survive walking from the ship.'

Dakarai laughed. 'I can run. I feel fine.'

'How? You were hurt on the first day!' Rebecca protested.

Dakarai shrugged. 'I'm resilient like that.' He grinned.

Bill shook his head and climbed up into his bunk as the ship roared and shook, taking off again. The others followed suit.

When the shuttle shuddered to a stop on the new moon, James and the rest of the crew were already ready. This time, James felt safer than before as, not only did he know what to expect, they had brought walkie-talkies, flashlights, and Dakarai even carried a shovel.

“Good for emergencies,” Bill had said.

'Everyone ready?' James asked. The team nodded.

The door thumped open, revealing sandy, dry soil, tall weathered cliffs, and bright sunlight. They stepped out and looked around.

'Where's the facility?' Rebecca asked, turning around in circles.

'Should to the north,' Bill said.

'I don't see any,' James replied. 'Let's go up that hill and have a look.'

They set off at a good pace.

Almost like they knew what they were doing, James thought. Perhaps it wasn't too bad after all. They had just had a bad start, was all.

He studied their surroundings as they climbed the steep incline, appreciating the clearer weather here on Assurance. Windblown sand created small clouds here and there, but he could see far over the rocky landscape. James spotted something among the rocks and half-dead vegetation, moving near the shuttle. Looked like some big animals, but smaller than the dogs, hopping around. He made a mental note to be extra careful on the way back.

Some weird four-winged birds flew up as they approached the top, making Rebecca gasp. Dakarai laughed and pointed after them. Looking back,

'See anything?' James asked and looked ahead again.

'There!' Dakarai pointed. Something metallic gleamed between two hills. 'What's that?'

'Let's have a look. The sooner we get there, the better,' Bill said.

Moments later, they saw what it was. A large heavy goods vehicle sat propped up like a bridge between two taller hills. It didn't look safe, James concluded and searched for a different way to get down from where they were. That's when he spotted the building.

'Guys, I see it. It's down there, to the left.'

Stolen story; please report.

'Yess!' Dakarai said and set off at a high pace towards the vehicle-bridge.

'Dak! Maybe not climb on that death trap?' James shouted. But Dakarai had already reached it and waved off James' warning with a hand before lithely climbing up on the old thing.

'He's got to be mad,' he muttered.

'Yeah, for real,' Rebecca agreed. 'But I wonder how that thing got up there in the first place.'

'That's strange for sure,' James agreed, that twist in his stomach making itself known again. How had it gotten up there? It didn't make sense to make a bridge intentionally with a vehicle like that.

James' walkie-talkie hissed with static, then Dakarai's voice came through: 'I see some large pipes ahead. They appear to go left.'

James pushed the button 'That's where I saw the facility from here. Come back so we can get down there, over.'

'Eyy, but I think it might be easier to get down over here. I'm going.'

'Dakarai?' James waited a few seconds but got no reply. 'Dak?'

Bill shook his head and walked over to the edge of the cliff. 'I think we can get down here.'

'All right, let's go.' James glanced towards the bridge, wondering if Dak was alright, but followed the others.

The cliff face was pretty steep but traversable, and they all got down without any problems. In the shadowy canyon between the hills, birds squawked and few up, startling James. Walking a a few minutes took them within sight of the facility's steel grey walls. High up on a cliff, with a tall ladder leading up.

'Again!' Rebecca, groaned. 'I hate ladders.'

'Yeah, why do they keep building so high up?' James asked, looking to Bill for answers.

'Who knows. Could be that the dogs can't get up that way?'

James shuddered. 'Right.'

As they approached the ladder, a shadowy figure leaned out from the top. 'Eyy, you made it.'

'What the hell, Dak! You just left us earlier. That's not okay!' Rebecca yelled and shook a fist in his direction.

Dakarai laughed, and waved. Then he disappeared again.

'Come on.' Bill started climbing up the ladder. 'Time isn't gonna wait.'

James grabbed the rungs and pulled at them. They didn't budge. 'Feels sturdy,' he said to Rebecca and climbed.

Soon, they had all entered the old building. Lamps brightened the entrance, and a large fan spun lazily in the ceiling, humming. Three doorways waited to be explored. One was shut, and no light came through the small glass insert. The other two had lights glowing here and there, making them much more welcoming.

'Should we split up?' James asked. 'Since we've got the walkies.'

Bill nodded. 'I think that's a good idea. We can cover more ground quicker.'

'What if we encounter... something?' Rebecca whispered.

'If it's obviously dangerous, get away from it, then contact us. If you don't know, be quiet, keep an eye on it, and contact us,' Bill snapped. 'Let's go, James.'

'Uh... sure.' He followed Bill through the centre door. Dakarai and Rebecca vanished through the other lit doorway, talking softly.

'Will they be okay?' James dared ask after a few minutes.

Bill shrugged. 'If they're not dumb.'

The facility wasn't as run down as the one they'd been in at Experimentation. But it felt very much the same to James. Long corridors, sometimes fully dark sections, dust, many empty rooms, though there were more machinery here and the corridors were wider.

As James and Bill moved through a darker section, the comms sparked. James pulled it out and listened.

'We didn't find anything here but a dead end. Checked all the rooms. Gonna check out the dark corridor instead,' Dak's voice came though.

'Okay, be careful. We'll continue here. There are rooms we haven't checked yet.'

'Alrighty!' The comms hissed and went silent.

James sighed, and looked ahead. Bill's orange hazmat suit glowed in the beam from his flashlight. Everything else was dark, grey, and dull.

'I think we should split up,' Bill said then.

'What? Are you m-'

'This corridor splits up. You go left, I go right. If you find anything, use the walkie.' He gave James a pat on the shoulder and walked off.

'What the...?' James stood rooted to the ground, his heartbeats thumping in his ears.

Had Bill gone mad? Why split up?

Sweating, he looked left. A light flickered a few meters away and black doorways loomed open. He swallowed and forced his numb legs to move again. He pressed the button on the comms, hesitated, then let it go again. Bill would hear him complain. Fuck.

The corridor turned out to be empty, but he found some cords and metal sheets in one room. He grabbed them and started moving back to the entrance. It was easier to place everything in a pile by the door, like Dakarai had suggested last time.

On the way out, he noticed something by the door. He stopped to study it. An arm? A metal arm with remains of a red jacket around it. The hand had a round hole in it, like from a large doll meant to be holding something. Odd. Was it worth something? He pulled out the scanner and checked. Nothing.

Deciding it was nothing, he left it and walked back to the entrance. Everything was quiet. Too quiet. He pulled out the comms again. 'Bill?'

For a few seconds, nothing happened, and he almost thought things had gone to shit. Then Bills voice answered, 'Yes?'

'You okay? I found some things. Left them at the entrance. Over.'

'Alright. I'll be there shortly. Got stuff here too.'

Did nobody know to end their transmissions with “over”?

James sighed, and looked towards the dark corridor. He shined his flashlight at it. Empty. He waited for a little while, then decided to check it out as well. Maybe that one went further than the rest?

He passed by some empty rooms, a staircase, and then found a large open area with lots of pipes and several corridors leading out from it. What a maze. Anyone could get lost here.

'I'm going in to the dark corridor,' he said into the comms. 'I'll take only right turns from the large area with the pipes. Over.' He thought it best to stick to a fail safe plan to avoid getting lost.

'I'll take things back to the ship,' Bill answered.

'Okay. Watch out. I saw something move around the ship when we were on the hill. Over.'

'Alright, thanks.'

James licked his lips and continued down the corridor. Something squeaked, echoing faintly against the concrete walls.

'Oh no...'

He ran the flashlight all over the place, but saw nothing. Maybe it had been far enough away to be safe. He kept walking. Soon he'd picked up more metal scrap, cords, and what looked like an empty shotgun shell. It had no worth according to the scanner. But he put it in a pouch anyway. Maybe it meant he could find a real weapon. That'd feel incredibly reassuring. However, the fact that someone had needed one, was less assuring. Always turning right, he eventually found himself back to the large pipe-room again.

He peered down the next corridor when the comms sparked.

'I'm back at the ship.'

'Alright. I'll keep looking here. This place is big. Over.'

'Sure.'

Something scuttled behind him and with a strangled yelp, he spun around.

One of the big, grey hoarding bugs watched him with large red eyes. It raised it front legs.

'Oh no, you don't,' James whispered. 'Stay away. Shoo!' He raised his voice and waved a hand at the bug, hoping it wouldn't attack like last time.

To his surprise, the bug skittered away, vanishing into the dark. James breathed a deep sigh of relief. Then he kept exploring the facility. Hoping to find something more interesting soon.

After looting though a few more rooms, he stopped. How long had it been since he'd heard from Dakarai and Rebecca? Maybe they were just busy? But it seemed strange.

He raised the comms and pressed the button. 'Dak? Rebecca?'

No answer.

'Bill?'

'Yes. I hear you. I can see them on the ship's scanner. They're quite far away from you. They appear to have turned off their walkie.'

'Should I go and check on them? Over.'

'Might. There's a loot bug near you.'

'Yeah, I saw it. Warn me if there's something else, okay? Over.'

'Will do.'

He felt marginally safer knowing Bill watched over him from the ship. And knowing Dak and Rebecca was alive. But why were they acting weird? Maybe they'd turned it off by mistake? He could imagine Dak doing that.

Feeling better, he walked boldly down the next corridor.

The comms sparked again. Only static came though.

James listened for a while, then pressed the button. 'Hello?'