9 Sam
I was fast asleep, being rocked back and forth by something cold and wet. Slowly, I pried my eyes open to see orange skies above me. Orange, alien skies. And I was soaked to the bone and without a mask.
Everything came back to me in a painful rush of memories from Mr. Hemburg leading me into the woods to the point that he wrestled me for my mask and I fell down that hill. I didn’t know how long I’d been drifting in the river, but it was daytime now. I tried desperately to remember what I read about the moon in my speedy study of it on the ride over. Specifically, the difference in day and night cycles on Phesah compared to Earth. Roughly, a day on Phesah was about eight hours Earth time. But I wasn’t even sure which direction I’d drifted or if I’d stopped drifting before the eclipse faded. I was completely discombobulated.
Pushing myself to my feet, I looked around at my foreign surroundings to find myself standing on an island in the middle of the river’s fork. The island was rocky with nothing but a few dead branches stretching into the water. Glancing at my shoulder where a three-inch tear ripped my suit’s seam open, I thought maybe I’d caught one while I was drifting and it landed me on the island. Which meant that I had a thirty-foot river to cross if I wanted to get to the bank.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to chance it, but then I saw something small and black bobbing against a tuft of purple river grass.
My pack.
I had supplies in there. Not much, but it was better than nothing and it was a good enough incentive to get back in the water. Thankfully, the water wasn’t cold. Cool, yes, but comfortable. It was the current I was afraid of. I clearly couldn’t fight it, but I had no choice.
“Just drift,” I said to myself, rubbing my hands together like I was getting ready to sprint forward. “Just drift diagonally until you get to the other side.”
No sense in waiting. I dove into the water and drifted diagonally as I planned, trying not to panic about the fact that I was alone and lost on an alien moon. Gradually, I made it to the other side of the river and pulled myself toward the bank using drifting vines that were hanging in the water. Once on land again, I had to walk a fair distance to get back to my pack. I fished it out of the water, thankful it was waterproof, and opened it up to find my one canteen of water.
There was no telling what kinds of organisms were in Phesah’s water and despite probably having swallowed a gallon of it when I was in the river, I didn’t want to risk drinking anymore. I took three big gulps and then forced myself to put the water away in case I needed more later. Then I fished around to take note of everything I had at my disposal. I laid everything out on the dryest log I could find to get my bearings.
I had two-thirds of a canteen of water, a torchlight, my datapad, three protein bars, a bag of nuts, a chocolate bar, a very small pouch of first aid supplies with a few bandages and basic antiseptic, all of my sample vials, a tiny shovel, a tiny knife that was useful only to prune leaves for collecting, and a soil probe. I had no additional clothes, nothing to dry off with, and any tracking abilities or environmental readings were lost with my OxyMask.
I was fucked.
“Think, Sam. You might be an idiot, but you’re not stupid,” I said to myself, my voice cracking again to betray my true feelings on the matter.
In truth, I was stupid. I was so stupid I thought I could get into a scientific field on my own. I was so stupid that I didn’t heed the signs when Mr. Hemburg started paying attention to me. And now I was stupid for thinking I could survive by myself on an alien world. Would anyone even come for me or would they declare me a loss? It wasn’t like I was a great gift to human advancement. I had nothing to offer and the time and resources it might take to find me were probably better spent elsewhere.
I stuffed all of my things back in my bag, tears burning my eyes, and closed it up.
“Shut up and do something,” I sniveled.
There was a hill up ahead that led to a sharp cliff. In survival documentaries, they always went for higher ground. From up there, provided the mist wasn’t hoovering too low, I could get a good lay of the land. So, I started to hike. Without my mask, the heavy air was a bit of a chore to breathe and I prayed it wasn’t full of things that would take me out like the devil plant did. Huffing and puffing, I climbed the steep, rocky incline, being careful not to slip on the slick, wet obsidian, and reached a small flat. Standing, I took a slow look around and searched for anything useful.
A foolish hope flashed in my head that I’d see the base camp on the other cliff across from me or maybe the ship, but I didn’t. As far as my eyes could see, there was foggy wilderness. No people. No ship. No camp.
But they were all upriver.
Excitement flickered inside me for a good three seconds before I saw how many arms the river had. It flowed in all directions like an artery with a thousand veins strewn all over the place. I didn’t know which one I’d come from or which direction I went.
I closed my eyes, doing my best not to crumple on the ground and just bawl my eyes out. Then I remembered something the captain said about a base or a compound the valerians had built. He said it wasn’t in use anymore, but old compounds were bound to have some kind of tech. Not that I’d know how to use it, but it was a start. If nothing else, maybe there were supplies.
I rubbed my temples trying to remember what else the captain said. I recalled him pointing in a certain direction. What direction was that?
It was toward the horizon where the red sun was. But the night on Phesah was just an eclipse, so where was Sylos at the time? Glancing further right, I saw Sylos, but had the eclipse just ended, or was it coming up?
“Ok,” I sighed, sitting myself down on the ground.
I searched the ground for the straightest stick I could find and jammed it into a soft bit of soil. The shadow stretched out toward the river so I placed a little pebble at the tip of it.
And then I waited. I waited very impatiently, sitting on the ground and hugging my knees to my chest. As soon as I noticed the shadow had passed the pebble, I deduced that it was getting later and Phesah was rotating further behind Sylos.
Proud of myself, I stood again and took a deep breath, staring at the terrain ahead of me. A small vein of the river was heading that way so I decided to follow it. At least then I’d have something to follow back if I got myself lost.
Once on the bank of the narrower stream, I saw that it, too, branched off into others. They were easy enough to wade across, but I was going to lose my way fast if I didn’t think of another way to navigate. If I had fabric, I could mark trees with bows, but I didn’t have any fabric aside from my suit and I needed it. There was no telling what was in that forest that could cling to my bare skin.
Stepping up to a narrow, leafless tree that seemed abundant on the banks, I poked at its bark. It was spongy and full of water. Picking up a jagged rock, I scraped a line into the spongy bark and saw it peel away, revealing a white second layer. Among all the dark colors, the white stood out like snow on asphalt.
“Sorry, tree,” I said, carving an “X” into its flesh.
I moved on, constantly glancing back to know the X was still visible. Once it got difficult to see, I carved another X into another tree.
I went on like that for an hour or more, marking my way down the river. Out there, by myself, the forest was alive with noises that were both beautiful and terrifying. The water flowing was a sound I could have fallen to sleep to. The constant dripping of dew falling from leaves was just as calming, but every time a twig broke in the distance or a weird bird call echoed through the air, I tensed. I didn’t know the wildlife on Phesah. I didn’t know if it ate meat or how big any of it was. We were meant to be confined to a small base camp for a day, not walking across the moon. I knew far too little to be hiking alone with barely any supplies.
I sped up my pace, slowly acclimating to the climate and the heavy air. I was beyond thankful that, besides the humidity, the atmosphere wasn’t doing anything to make me feel ill. It smelled like greenery and rich soil and occasionally, a floral scent would actually make it quite pleasant.
I lost count of how many Xs I carved into the local trees. I felt like I’d been walking for miles. Maybe I was, but I had no way to tell.
Damn Michael fucking Hemburg. Damn him for his threats and damn him more for taking off my mask. I’d have had much more at my disposal if I had it. Maybe even a way to communicate with the others.
“I could so easily freak out right now,” I said, a quiver in my voice.
Looking up through a space in the clouds, I saw the crown of Sylos peaking over the distant mountains. It would be night soon. As soon as that planet eclipsed the little dwarf star, the moon would be dark and I’d be wandering a bleak wilderness with nothing but a small torch and my wits.
I tried to calculate how much time I had before it was completely useless for me to be traveling, but my sense of time was so skewed so I decided I’d walk until I absolutely couldn’t see. I wanted so badly to cover some distance and hoped that I’d see a building around every tree I passed, but I didn’t. Then, when the eclipse finally shadowed the moon, it was like clockwork. All the ambient noises stopped and it made me stop with it. There were no bugs. No birds. It was like some kind of horror movie. I swallowed hard and tried to see through the thick darkness when I heard a twig snap.
Then a thick branch. Something was walking. Something big and heavy and I didn’t want to know what it was. I spun, looking for someplace to hide, but there were no crevices, tunnels, or even corners for me to crawl into.
Another set of footsteps thumped through the woods. I wanted to deny they were getting closer, but that was foolish thinking. My legs wanted to run, but my brain told me if I moved, whatever was out there would hear me.
But it didn’t matter. It was definitely getting closer.
Thump. Thump. Louder and louder.
Then it stopped. I peered into the dark shadows, my eyes fighting to see. Something was darker than the shadows, but I didn’t want to believe it was anything alive.
Every horror movie I’d ever seen flashed before my eyes. If I ran, I was guaranteed to trip and fall and get eaten alive. A sliver of optimism inside my head told me to turn on my light and confirm that the dark mass in front of me was just a big stone or a bush. I was too timid to turn it on and find out, though. The larger part of my mind was telling me I was about to see a monster.
But I needed to know. And if I did need to run, I needed to see my path. Reaching back, I pulled my torch from the side pocket of my bag and slowly twisted it until the narrow stick started to glow. A circle of dim light surrounded me. Shaking, I raised the torch up so the light extended further into the woods. The moment it crawled forward and hit the tips of a few thin, hairy-looking branches, my biggest fear was made real.
The branches snapped back to avoid the light and suddenly panick gripped me like icey fingers around the back of my neck.
There were no more questions when the heavy footsteps started up again, fast and loud. I spun before the creature even entered fully into the light and I dashed away from it. I didn’t know where I was going, but I was moving faster than I’d ever moved, my heart pounding out of my chest.
It was too dark, even with my light. The way I was running, the light wasn’t steady enough to brighten my way anyway. The clouds were too thick. All I could see was a black mass as big as a small car sprinting in my wake, long limbs working in tandem like some kind of giant spider. I didn’t know if it was going to eat me or just kill me but I didn’t want to find out. I was terrified out of my mind and I only wished it would make me move faster.
Blindly, I ran over uneven ground, stumbling and leaping, but I was so out of breath. The thing was still lumbering clumsily after me, its legs digging into the soft soil and propelling it closer with every stride. Ahead, I saw the remains of daylight glinting off of water and I prayed it wasn’t deep. If I was slowed by swimming, I was finished.
Once I hit the bank, my foot sunk right into a layer of thick mud. The creature lunged behind me just as I popped my leg free and it narrowly missed my body before stumbling to the side. I tripped forward, prepared to dive under the water until I realized it was knee-deep. I waded quickly across to the other side only to find myself blocked in by a rocky cliffside. My torch highlighted a system of roots that climbed the vertical rock face and I immediately leaped up, attempting to use them as a ladder. I abandoned my pack without thinking, tossing it to the side so I didn’t have the excess weight. The torch flew out of my hand the moment I needed my grip to climb, but I didn’t care. Nothing mattered at that point except escape.
I was panting loudly, each exhalation practically a scream as I ascended the cliff face, but almost immediately, the roots under my feet gave and I plummeted down to the ground again.
But I wasn’t dead. Those sharp legs were jabbing at the stone on either side of me, but try as they might, they weren’t hitting me. I twisted around, pressing myself so hard against the wall, I thought I might meld into it. The creature was there, fighting to break through a thick cage of roots between it and me. In the dark, I saw the glowing interior of a round abyss full of teeth and fibrous hairs. It continued to jab at the roots, hungrily seeking me out and throwing splinters of wood at my face with every failed attempt. I screamed and covered my head, drained of ideas and energy. As the creature’s membranous body covered me, I thought it might just eat the whole wall of roots and me with it if I gave it enough time.
I was going to die…
My second time leaving Earth and I was again at the gates to the afterlife trying to cling to the last bits of my sanity.
But then there was a blue flash of light. I saw it even through my closed eyelids. With the flash was a popping sound followed by crackling like embers on dry wood. I looked up and saw the creature sag off the cage of roots before me before turning slowly around. I caught the faintest silhouette of a man between the spaces in the creature’s bony legs and thought for a moment that I was dreaming it.
Another flash and a pop. The creature screeched in anguish before charging toward the stranger. One long limb swept outward and I saw the figure fly across the water with a pained grunt. I saw it clearly that time. The blue veins trailing down his black suit were unmistakable.
It was the captain.
I pulled myself up on shaking legs, using the wall to balance, and watched in horror as the beast turned back toward me and charged. I didn’t even have breath left to scream. I just covered my head and prepared for the worst pain in the hopes that my death was fast.
But then a third flash of light and a crackling pop filled the air and I heard a heavy, wet thump that shook the ground. Prying my eyes open, I saw the big body of the beast sprawled out on the ground, three gaping holes still crackling with the remnants of three fatal UV blasts.
Panning my eyes upward, I saw the captain uplit by my fallen torch standing only ten strides from me, a pistol lowered by his side with the barrel still red-hot and smoking.
Only it wasn’t just some valerian captain at all. Without his helmet, that was made very clear.