“Two twos.” Iris said as she placed two of the snow survival themed cards onto the growing pile in the centre of the circular table in the recreation room.
“One three.” Newt muttered as he rubbed his hand on the back of his neck. Newt looked at his cards so long before speaking; he could have been reading the information printed on the face of the card. Lark was unconvinced anyone had ever read any of the information on the cards. There was so much information, and most of it could be found online with a simple question posed to an AI.
Phoenix looked down at his hand, squinting his eyes. “Bull shit!” he shouted overdramatically, pointing an accusing finger at Newt.
Newt picked up the stack of cards in the centre of the table with an embarrassed look. He tried to fan his cards, but there were too many for him to hold. Many of the cards fell to the floor. His face flushed red as he scrambled to pick up the fallen cards.
Lark laughed as they helped to pick up some of Newt's fallen cards. “You are such a bad liar, Newt. Have you even won this game?”
“Be nice to little Newt, he can’t help if he’s shit at this game. Also, four jacks.” Penny said in a playful tone. Lark noticed that Penny put down five cards instead of four, but they loved that lie enough not to say anything. Lark used it all the time to get rid of cards.
“You can’t call Newt little, he’s fourteen years older than you. You can call him an annoying shit, a motherfucker, a dick, but not little. One queen.” Alex contributed. Lark noticed that he looked out the window fleetingly, a sure sign he was lying. Lark also knew that Newt had all four queens, so would let him have the honour of calling Alex out.
Penny looked at Alex as she looped her arm around Newt's neck, almost in a chokehold. “Don’t listen, little Newt. He’s just a hater.”
Newt ducked out from under Penny’s arm and said to Alex and Penny, “I’m the most senior scientist here. I’ve been on more missions than you and Alex combined. I can fend for myself. Also, bullshit Alex. I have all four queens.”
Alex picked up the deck with a murderous look at Newt. “My apologies, Dr. Pollock. Would you like me to clean your shoes with my spit as an apology since you are so senior?” Alex teased Newt.
Lark cut in before things could get out of hand. “Just play the game and stop making fun of Newt, even if he deserves it. Three sixes.” Lark really put down two sixes and one five, but no one called them on it. Lark knew no one would. One six was with Newt, and the other was with Penny.
With as much sarcasm as Newt could manage, he said, “Thanks, Lark.” Newt picked up his hand again. He attempted to organise his cards, but they kept falling. Alex, Phoenix, and Penny laughed. Iris looked at Newt with a small amount of pity. She was the second most senior scientist on the base, so she felt some sympathy towards Newt. She also wasn’t great at cards.
This was normal for games ‘night’, - there was no night on Volta since it was a tidally locked planet; the scientist on Volta ran on the twenty-five days of Kunyumba, the capital planet of the Nyenyezi empire – Newt was a terrible liar, so would always lose, and everyone (except Iris) would take the micky out of him. Lark was concerningly good at lying and often won, they had spent years learning how to keep track of where cards went. It was Alex’s life goal to beat Lark one day. Lark was dead set on never letting that happen.
The personal AI carrier on Larks figure buzzed. Lark checked the time, then set their three cards down on the table. “I’ll be back in a minute. I just need to do the daily report to the moon base.”
Lark began to walk out of the recreation room. Without even looking back, they said, "Alex, don’t even think about looking at my cards. Penny, I give you full permission to slap him if he tries.”
“Yes captain.” Penny replied with a laugh and salute. She then slapped Alex across the face.
Alex clutched his cheek. “Hey! What was that for? I haven’t even touched their cards.”
“You were thinking about it.” Penny laughed.
Lark left the recreation room and walked down the short, brightly lit corridor to the control room. Lark sat down in front of their display, connecting Callaid, their personal AI. “Callaid, connect to Volta Moon base direct audio communication.”
“Unable to fulfil request.” Lark’s personal AI said in a cool toneless voice.
“Why?”
“Connection to Volta moon base disconnected or unavailable.”
“What does that mean, Callaid?” Lark's voice took on a more panicked tone.
“Something has happened to the Volta moon base communication system, leading to the inability to communicate with them in any way.”
“Do you know what happened?”
“No information is available to me, but there is one unread text file from the Volta moon base. Would you like to read it?”
“Yes.”
A file appeared on the screen. It read:
12th September 2314, 18:33 (Volta Science Base time)
From: Message from Audrey Ness, Communication Officer on Volta Moon Base
To: Lark Evans, Commander of the Volta Science Expedition.
We have been attacked by an Ishan fleet. I believe they intercepted the last information package that was sent by you. At the time of sending, it is not looking good for us. If you get no more transmissions from Volta moon base, send a message through the Mawu communication mariner to the Anapeza fleet. We are hoping for the best but expecting the worst. Best of luck, Commander Evans.
“Fuck! Callaid, have there been any more transmissions from the Moon Base?” Lark yelled.
Callaid replied calmly. “No other information has been sent from the moon base.”
“Is there any indication of what happened?”
“The spectrometer is picking up an unusual amount of gamma rays, which suggest the use of nuclear weaponry. This assumption is also backed up by the information in the message from Audrey Ness: Ishan fleets often use nuclear power.”
Not only had they lost contact with the moon base, the moon base was also their connection to the Anapeza fleet.
Lark ran back into the recreation room. The volta crew looked at them in surprise. Lark wasn’t one to get panicked easily. “Something has happened to the Moon base. They were attacked by an Ishan fleet. I think they were nuked!” Lark cried to the assembled crew. Their panic was mirrored by the crew.
Phoenix stood up sudenly, letting his chair clatter to the floor. “What the fuck!”
“Phoenix, Iris. Try to see if you can see what happened to the moon. The moon should be visible at this time. I’m going to try to get through to the Anapeza fleet through Mawu communication Mariner.” Lark commanded.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Is there anything you want us to do, commander?” Newt asked.
Lark began to leave the recreation room. “Figure out what communication options we have. I want to know how screwed we are.”
Lark hurried back to the control room, glancing out every window they passed to see if the moon was visible.
When they got back to the control room, they reconnected Callaid to the display by placing their personal AI carrier on the scanner. “Callaid create a communication route to Mawu communication Mariner.”
“Connecting… connected.” Larks AI replied.
A reading from Mawu communication Mariner came up on Lark’s screen. It was old, clunky technology, designed for text-only long-range communication. The Mawu communication Mariner was practically a floating lump of metal in space that could convey messages. A central lump of metal that could convey messages to lots of places in the Nyenyezi empire, but still just a lump of metal drifting in space. Lark was pretty sure it was technology from the twenty second century.
A question appeared on Lark's screen. Mawu communication Mariner was asking for the access password. Lark quickly typed it in quickly. The sequence of numbers and letters had been drilled Lark during training. A new question replaced the last one.
Where should this communication link be connected?
Lark typed in, Amayi ship of the Anapeza fleet.
Connecting…
Connected.
The Mawu communication Mariner took five minutes to connect to the Amayi ship direct text communication system.
Please enter a message (maximum 200 characters)
Lark wrote:
This is Commander Evans from Volta Science Base. We have lost contact with Volta Moon Base. I believe they were hit by a nuke from an Ishan fleet. I await instructions and information.
Sending…
Sent.
Time delay meant Lark had to wait for minutes to receive a reply. They spent most of the time waiting, rereading the message from Audrey Ness, and looking out the window. On the tenth reread of the last message from the moon base, Lark gave up and began to stare out the window to see if they could see the moon from this angle. They couldn’t
After twenty minutes, a reply appeared on Lark’s screen.
We are aware of the Volta Moon Base situation. The Anapeza fleet is on its way to take care of the Ishan fleet. We will reach you in about 222 days. Continue scientific experiments as normal.
Lark reread the message three times, sure they had misread it. Continue as normal. How were they meant to continue as normal when the moon base had been shot down and they were stuck on a frozen wasteland with limited supplies until the Anapeza fleet reached them? Lark thought to themself.
Lark put their head in their hands and began to laugh at the pure obscenity of the situation they had found themselves in. It was either Lark laughed or cried. This was all so much to take in for them. Lark had been on three other exoplanet science expeditions; none had ever gone as wrong as this one. Mostly the moon stayed in contact with them.
Shaking their head, Lark began to start planning the bases next moves. The Anapeza fleet wasn’t going to be able to help them, they would have to help themselves. Lark started by creating a countdown clock for two hundred and twenty-two days. Next, Lark sent a diplomatic reply to the Anapeza fleet.
We will await your arrival and will continue our scientific schedule as usual. I will send you information on our supplies soon.
Once the message was sent, Lark began to leave the control room to talk to their crew. Lark didn’t disconnect their personal AI and gave it one command before leaving, “Run a full diagnostic on the food supply we have on base and tell me how long everything will last. Figure out if we can make it last until the Anapeza fleet gets here.”
“Running full diagnostic on bases food supply now,” Callaid replied.
Lark rushed into the recreation room. All six members of the crew were now assembled. “Phoenix, Iris, what did you see?” Lark asked as they fiddled with the hem of their white shirt.
“A lot of destruction. Think you were right, it was hit by a nuke,” Phoenix said.
Lark cursed silently. "Newt, did you guys find any alternative communication options?”
Newt looked hesitantly at Alex and Penny before speaking. “Our only option is the Mawu communication Mariner. All the backup satellites have been taken out, and obviously the moon base is out of the question. That nuke would have whipped out everything on it.”
“Did you get through to the Anapeza fleet?” Iris asked.
“Yes. We have a way to reach the Anapeza fleet, but they won’t be able to get to us for about seven months.” Lark slumped down into a seat as they said it.
“Seven months!” Penny cried. “We were resupplied over three months ago; one supply is only meant to last six months. Will our supplies last that long?”
Lark their head in their hands. “I don’t know. I’m getting my AI to run a diagnostic on that now. We’ll know soon how fucked we are.”
“So even if the Ishan fleet decides not to nuke us as well, there is still a chance we die of starvation?” Phoenix asked, sounding pissed.
Lark looked at the crew, their face darkening. “Yes. We are going to have to figure out how to make our food last until the Anapeza fleet arrives. I’ll wait to see what my AI says is plausible, all I know is we will be rationing.”
Alex looked most shocked at that news. “No! I love my food!”
“Stop being a dumbass, Alex,” Iris said as she hit Alex on the back of the head.
Lark got it together and stood up. “I’m going to see if Callaid has finished the diagnostic.”
Lark left the recreation room. When they were out of sight of the crew, Lark leant against the wall and let silent tears fall. Lark had known a lot of people on the moonbase; the whole crew had. Lark now had to figure out how to survive this situation. They were stuck on a tiny exoplanet sitting just on the edge of the habitable zone for m-dwarfs, so the temperature rarely got above negative ten degrees Celsius.
Even though Lark just wanted to cry then go to sleep, there was work to do. Six people were under Lark's control, and if they broke down now, the whole crew would struggle. Lark let themselves have a few more seconds to let out all the pent-up emotions before whipping away the tears and pushing off the wall. Lark walked back into the bright control room and sat down in the black swivel chair.
“Is the diagnostic complete, Callaid?”
“It is complete. Would you like it to be shown on your screen?”
Lark rubbed their eyes, “Yes.”
The diagnostic appeared on Lark's screen. It read:
Breakfast meal packs: 548
Lunch meal packs: 541
Dinner meal packs: 540
With three meals per day per person (3,000 calories) food will last three months.
With two meals per day per person (2,000 calories) food will last three months and sixteen days.
With one meal per day per person (1,000 calories) food will last nine months, but malnutrition will occur in three months.
(All calculated with emergency food supply.)
Lark finished reading with a groan. They truly were fucked.
“Callaid, how long would our food last if we ate 1,200 a day?" That was the minimum number of calories a person could eat while still being able to function.
Callaid replied almost immediately. “The food would last you six months and twenty days.”
“That’ll work. The last ten days we can eat the emergency food supply. It will suck, but it will work.” Lark said to themself.
Lark pulled up the Mawu communication Mariner interface and typed a message to the Anapeza fleet.
We have just enough food to last us until your ETA, but it includes only eating half the calories we should. Is there anyway you can get a supply ship to us sooner?
Once the message was sent, Lark left the control room and went to break the news to their crew. Alex was not going to be happy about the rationing.
Lark sat down at the recreation room’s round table. Iris had her head in her hands, her brown hair falling in curtains around her face. Penny had her arm around Iris in a comforting gesture. Penny tapped her fingers on the table in an impatient gesture. Phoenix was absent mindedly fiddling with his safety pin necklace. Newt had two fingers resting on his neck; when Lark had asked why he did that, he said it clamed him to feel his own pulse under his fingers. It reminded him that he was alive and could survive whatever was happening. Alex had made fun of him for sounding cheesy, but Lark understood where he was coming from. Being to hear or feel a heartbeat had a certain calming quality to it.
Alex was trying to make a card tower with the abandoned cards. Alex looked unconcerned by the whole situation, but Lark knew better. His leg was jiggling up and down, and his eyes kept darting around the room. He was just as stressed as the rest of them.
Lark picked at their nails. “We have enough food to last us until the Anapeza fleet arrives.”
Penny perked up. “That’s great. I didn’t know they sent us that much food in each resupply.”
Iris looked down at their hands. “They don’t. We are going to have to cut what we normally eat in half to make it last.”
Alex looked horrified at the news. “Half! That’s only about one thousand five hundred calories. I can survive off that.”
Lark flinched at Alex’s outburst. They wouldn’t normally react in that way, but today had been very stressful for Lark. They felt on the cusp of a panic attack. “I know it sucks. But it’s our only option. I will be cutting down on the amount of field work we do so we burn fewer calories, but that’s the best we can do.”
“Is there anything we can grow to make more food?” Newt asked.
“They didn’t give us any fresh ingredients, and the PH of the soil is way too high to be able to grow anything we eat anyway." Lark said.
“We could see if there are any plants that are edible to people here on Volta. That was going to be one of our experiments later in the expedition, so we have all the supplies to test.” Phoenix said. He was the botanist for the mission and had been looking forward to finding edible plants on Volta since the start of the mission.
That gave Lark some amount of hope. Volta was a heavily forested planet despite the cold climate. If they could find edible plants here, it would save them a lot of hungry days. “I nearly forgot about that. We’ll get started on that soon, but for now we will still eat half rations just in case.”