Two
The first thing she registered was pain.
Her neck and back ached. Her legs were cramping. Even her teeth hurt. She tried to gather her thoughts.
Okay. Let’s look at the upside. Pain is good. Pain means you’re alive.
The second thing she registered was warmth. Heat was beating down onto her face and body. She tried to moisten her lips but her tongue seemed to be stuck to the roof of her mouth. A breeze wafted across her, as dry and hot as a Sahara wind.
An unwelcome conclusion filtered its way into her brain. There was no way she was back on the Idaho. Clearly there’d been a snafu. The pod had taken her someplace else.
At least you’re breathing . Hooyah.
She opened her eyes.
A ridiculously blue sky filled her vision, so bright she had to squint. The reason for the heat became obvious when she saw two blazing discs above her. A twin-sol planet. But more importantly, a twin-sol planet with a survivable atmosphere.
She turned her head, wincing as she tried to take in her surroundings. The remains of the escape pod lay a few meters away, its hatch wide open. Must have busted loose on impact and thrown her out.
The pod was supposed to stay intact so it could provide shelter until the rescue party came calling but Kara could see it was dented and smashed. She groaned in frustration. The pilots had been telling Central Command for months that the new pods weren’t robust enough. Did they listen? Did they fuck.
It dawned on her why her legs and back were aching so much. She’d obviously bounced a few times when she was thrown out and had come to rest in roughly the shape of a pretzel. Her body was twisted awkwardly, her limbs folded beneath her. Grimacing in pain, she straightened herself out and took stock.
One ankle was sprained and her ribs were hellishly sore, but as far as she could tell, she hadn’t suffered any major injuries. Nothing painkillers couldn’t handle, anyway. It must be her lucky day.
She sat up gingerly and looked round. She’d landed in what looked like parched scrubland – a vast expanse of sandy ground punctuated with patches of straggly vegetation. She tried to check the time but the chronometer on her wrist was smashed beyond repair.
Judging by the position of the suns, she estimated it was around midday. She raised an arm to shield her eyes from the glare. In the distance was a smudge of green, just visible on the horizon. Perhaps a forest or grassland? Either way it was a good sign. It meant the planet had water.
Beyond the green, a line of hills rose upwards. Not quite tall enough to be called ‘mountains’, but enough to provide a bracingly steep hike.
It wasn’t too dissimilar to Earth. She could have been in Arizona or Kenya. Except for one thing.
The colors.
They were all unnaturally vivid, as if someone had pointed a remote control at the world and turned them up to the highest setting. The sand wasn’t just dark yellow, it was a throbbingly intense terracotta orange . The sky was sapphire and cobalt, the clouds porcelain and ivory.
It wasn’t unusual to find planets where light had different wave-lengths compared to Earth. But nine times out of ten colors appeared duller and more monotone, not more… well, more real .
She held up a hand in front of her face. Her normally mid-brown skin was now a golden amber. She pulled a strand of hair from her ponytail and squinted at it. Instead of black, it shone deep purple.
She grinned. Gold skin and indigo hair. Cool.
It also explained why the heat wasn’t more brutal than it was. Whatever atmospheric condition was causing the color filter, it was also acting as a shield against the twin suns. Otherwise this place would be an unsurvivable barren rock.
But it was still hot, and her dry mouth reminded her she was thirsty. Stumbling to her feet, she shrugged off her flight jacket and went to investigate the remains of her escape pod.
It was pretty banged up but it looked like it had managed to stay in one piece until the final landing. She’d only been thrown a short distance. The fact that she’d been unconscious had helped – she must have flopped like a rag-doll, saving herself from serious injury.
The survival backpack was still strapped to the inside wall and was thankfully intact. Kara ripped open one of the water containers and gulped down half its contents before making herself stop. Better conserve it. No telling how long before the Idaho finds me.
She checked the supply of rations. Enough food and water for seven days. Ten if she was careful. Hopefully she wouldn’t need all of it.
She found the med kit at the bottom of the bag and rooted through it, searching for painkillers. There was a box of morphine injections and a packet of paracetamol. She hesitated, then swallowed down a couple of pills. She’d have preferred something more potent but she needed her wits about her.
The front pocket contained water purification tablets in case she found a natural water-source, and two small vacuum-packed bags containing grey SDF T-shirts. No other clothing. Clearly the survival department thought trousers and underwear were unnecessary luxuries.
She stuffed her flight jacket into the bag with everything else, then groped under the seat until she found the emergency beacon.
“Gotcha!”
It didn’t look like much, resembling a fat little walkie-talkie. But it was her way off this planet. All she had to do was find a high spot and switch it on.
It might take a few days but eventually the Idaho would receive the encoded location signal. Sooner, if Koenig was actively looking for her.
He probably thinks you’re dead. Your Merlin went kaboom, remember?
She shook off the thought. The cap was like a bloody terrier. Even if he thought she was a goner, he’d want confirmation. And as soon as he realized the wreckage didn’t include the escape pod, he’d know she was alive.
He’d definitely look for her then. He wouldn’t want to pass up the chance to yell at her for disobeying orders.
She zipped the beacon inside the bag and scrambled out of the pod. A heat shimmer rose from the sand and she wondered if she ought to stay put till morning. She was itching to get going but she didn’t want to be caught in the open when darkness came. Who knew what kind of creatures lived here?
She touched her holster for reassurance. Her Sig Sauer RX500 pulse blaster nestled against her hip, ready and loaded with enough juice to take down a charging rhino from half a kilometer away. Not that rhinos were likely to exist on this planet. Then again, who knew?
She shielded her eyes and scanned the area, trying to see if there was anywhere she could shelter overnight. Something caught her gaze and she squinted. A small copse of spindly trees rising out of the desert, a few miles from her position.
That would do. If she got a move on, she could probably reach it by dusk. It looked like a reasonable place to rest until first light.
From there, she estimated it would take another day to reach the larger woodland beyond and a further one to reach the hills. After that it was just a question of climbing high enough for the beacon to operate.
Her foot kicked against something and she looked down. The Hawaiian doll grinned up at her.
“I see you made it too, huh? I guess us girls ought to stick together.”
She stuffed Gloria into her waistband and strode into the rapidly gathering dusk.