Fire. Fire everywhere. Adlai stared at the burning ship, Averi and Shawna standing beside him. The ship rested uneasily on the soil, a metal colossus burning alive. Some of the pods had been ejected, some into the deep ravine on the horizon, others into jagged rock. Most failed however, and were currently burning, the inhabitants blissfully unaware of their coming demise. The stasis fluid dripped off Adlai’s slightly charred uniform, almost immediately absorbed by the dry earth. Averi sat down heavily, a cloud of dust rising around her. Her green eyes reflected the fire, and what had happened earlier.
Their pod had been ejected into a dried up riverbed, and had been cushioned by the spongy, dry soil. Adlai was relatively unscathed from the fall, his suspension in fluid protecting him from the impact. Shawna was the same. Averi’s chamber malfunctioned however, and she was dumped out, leaving a solid bruise on her shoulder, and a good dent on her prosthetic leg. Once they had landed safely, the other chambers opened, dumping Adlai and Shawna out. Adlai remembered the feeling, like being birthed again. Minus the coughing up of the stasis fluid.
Shawna stared blankly at the ship. “What do we do?”
Adlai didn’t respond, his nightmares quite literally being confirmed. At least they were safe. He knew logically, they should go back to the ship. Safety and supplies awaited them there. Right now however, he was pushing down feelings of despair. He wasn’t going to die. No one was going to die. He felt someone tugging at his arm.
Averi looked up at him, her hand gripping his wrist. “ What do we do, Adlai?”
He collected himself, pushing his thoughts into order. “ We’ll go back to our pod, they have some survival gear there, remember?”
Were they really going to die there? No. He wouldn’t let it happen. Keep going, beckoned a new, stronger voice. Keep going. Adlai walked towards the pod, Shawna behind him. He climbed in again, the stasis fluid up to his waist. They were under the third stasis chamber. Or was it the second?
Adlai pulled on one of the drawers, the stasis fluid keeping it shut. “Open goddamnit! OPEN!”
Shawna waded in behind him, and grabbed onto the handle with him. “Calm down. Deep breaths. Sit back on your heels. Push your hip back, keep your chest straight. Alright, on the count of three we’ll lift together. One, two, three!”
They both heaved, and the drawer opened with a pop, the stasis fluid filling the vacuum caused. He reached in, pulling out a case and a book. They both walked out, Shawna holding the book, and Adlai holding the case. The stasis fluid slipped off the case and the book, drying up in the heat. Averi looked up at them coming. Her eyes were dull, and it hurt to see. He had promised himself before never to let her feel despair again.
Adlai grabbed her shoulders. “Hey, hey! We’re going to be fine! There are going to be other survivors! We have the science station too, and we have supplies here. We’re going to be fine, I promise you. Okay?”
Averi nodded, getting back up. Adlai handed her the case. “Look through this, and me and Shawna are going to the mothership. We’ll see if we can find the other survivors.”
Some niggling thought told Adlai he was wrong however, that there was going to be no one else. By this point, as the sun began to set, the ship’s burning had slowed, an acrid black tower of smoke rose from above it. He and Shawna set off towards it, a couple hundred feet away from the pod. Adlai hadn’t remembered how large the ship was, almost 3 times the size of the barracks. Its hull was almost completely through the crust, exposing what looked like glowing plants to the setting sun. He cautiously stepped away from the rim of the exposed cavern. Now was not the time to get a broken ankle.
Shawna sniffed. “Wonder what lives down there. Nothing good probably.”
Adlai smiled slightly. “I can tell you didn’t study. Most of our food lives under there.”
“Looks pretty damn creepy down there. If there’s one thing I know it’s not to go down weird, dark holes, with glowing alien plants.”
“Fair point.”
The two continued, dodging holes bored by shrapnel, until they reached a section of the ship they could climb into. Adlai climbed in. A warm red light covered his face, flashing once every few seconds. These ships were almost completely automated, similar to the technology used in Averi’s prosthetic. Piloted by an advanced, but not sentient A.I, they would take their pilots to their destinations, unaffected by the passage of time. Something must’ve happened to the A.I. however for a crash like this to happen. Adlai pushed that thought away. No use contemplating what happened. The ship clearly would not fly again. He walked through the corridors, the angle increasing with each step.
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Shawna called to him from the hole they had crawled through. “Anything?”
“Nope.”
“I’ll check down here.”
“That’s going to be in the caves though. Didn’t you say you wouldn’t go down there?”
“Desperate times beanpole. Wish me luck!”
Shawna descended into the darkness, lit up by red light. Three flashes later, she was gone.
Adlai started to feel anxiety developing in his stomach. “Shawna?”
No response.
“Shawna? Shawna!”
“I’m here! Holy shit, you’re annoying.”
“Sorry, I just couldn’t-”
“Whatever, it’s fine. Nothing down here, it’s all burnt. Wait, I see something, I think. I bet I could reach it. I just need to- FUCK!”
Adlai slid down the corridor, all thoughts vacated from his mind. He saw Shawna hanging off the torn hull of the ship, over a deep dark chasm.
“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck-” Shawna cursed rapidly.
Adlai reached down. “Grab on!”
With a grunt, Adlai heaved Shawna over the edge. The two lay flat on their backs breathing deeply.
“Thanks beanpole.”
Adlai nodded breathlessly. He turned his head to the right to see what Shawna had been reaching for. A radio, miraculously undamaged. He got up, and looked for something to drag it off the shelf it was resting on. The rent torn in the ship lay directly below the radio, and he was not eager to test his luck. Adlai pulled at a bit of piping sticking out of the ship’s wall. No use. He sat back down, racking his brain. Maybe Averi had something?
“Come on, let’s go back.”
Shawna nodded in agreement. “Don’t want to risk that again.”
They trudged up the angled hallway. Adlai turned back around and saw what looked like a blue orb where they were. He shook his head. Probably some weird alien. They stepped out into a rapidly cooling night. Shawna and him dodged the holes, and walked back to where Averi was. She sat on the ground, organizing the contents of the case. A hatchet with a pick on one end, a collapsible pot, salt, a knife, 15 MRE’s, a compact rainmaker, flint and steel, a reflective blanket, and two gallons of water.
Adlai squatted down next to the supplies. “This might last us…three, maybe four days. We need to go below ground for water.”
The other two stared at him.
Adlai continued. “We’ll go ahead and check some more pods tonight, but we are gonna have to go below ground. We’re just going to lose too much water. For now, stay in the shade. Sleep during the day, like they told us.”
Shawna looked down at him, a bit of fear showing in her eyes. “The aliens are there though. We’re really going to go through the caves?”
Averi interjected, her eyes burning with animalistic desperation, and Adlai was reminded of her escape. “I’d rather die fighting than dry up in this desert.”
Adlai stood up, stretching his back. “Well, it’s two to one. I’d rather not die, but I wouldn’t want to dry up either.” `He snapped his fingers, remembering something. “The research station is below ground, isn’t it? I think it is. We need that radio.”
Shawna chuckled. “Me and beanpole here didn’t have much luck getting it. I nearly fell into the caves trying to get it.”
Averi glared angrily at her. “Good riddance.”
Shawna was in her face in an instant. “What did you say to me, you little shit?”
Averi got up, her eyes burning. “Good. Riddance.”
Before the situation could escalate, Adlai got between them. “Hey, hey guys! I don’t want to deal with this again. Averi, we talked about this.”
He gave a pleading look to Shawna, and the other girl rolled her eyes, and walked away. Crisis averted. That was until he saw a fin rising from the surface, heading straight for them.