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Under the Bridge

Page 3

by George Mikhailov


  At the end of the bridge that Rodhir and I were standing on, I see a small black streak crack across the edges. Almost immediately, standing on the transporter rover becomes impossible, and the shaking ground throws us off the rover and onto the rough bridge. I kneel, and sway from side to side as the hard but brittle bridge starts to crack. I could feel the intense vibration of the bridge, but everything being soundless makes it even more terrifying. The middle of the rocky bridge is sliding down with little resistance, down to the bottom of the lunar fissure. Instincts took over, and we both start hopping to the beginning of the bridge, with Rodhir significantly ahead of me. I could not focus on where to look, and my foot snags on a rough patch of rock, sending me to land on my face shield. I could see Rodhir was able to use his liftpack once he got to the edge of the bridge, landing safely onto the stable surface. Of course, the liftpack! Before I could activate the liftpack using the controls on the underside of my wrist, the bridge starts to break apart completely, like glass under pressure. I could not hold on to the surface of the bridge, and tumble down to the depths below.

  ***

  The fall itself wasn’t so bad; it was all that came falling on top of me that hurt. I landed on my liftpack; I hope it still works. A block of the bridge rolled onto me after impact with the ground, and pinned me down. I can move my arms, but I cannot get anywhere with this boulder crushing my left leg, even in this gravity. After some much needed cursing, I realized Rodhir was able to survive unscathed. His personal transport rover was in pieces a few meters away from me.

  “Rodhir,” I groan through my radio. “I think my leg is broken. A piece of the bridge has me pinned down, and I cannot get out. Can you get me out of this mess?”

  “I hear you clearly. What the hell just happened? I’m looking down below, it’s a deep fissure man. If I use my liftpack to descend, I don’t think I’ll have enough to get back up. Fuck. After my stunt there, I’m at 61% fuel,” he replied.

  “Yeah, it is a long way down; I can tell you that from experience. Listen, I might be able to get out of this using a burst from my liftpack, but I will need to be extracted from this place. Go back to the landing, get some machinery or additional liftpack fuel, and get me the hell out of here!”

  “Understood, on my way back now.”

  I’m trying to radio Zaria, or anyone else for that matter. No luck. Rodhir had no such luck either. I still have access to the liftpack controls, so let us see if a small thrust can… Oh bloody dirdun, curse the three hells! If there was any doubt whether my leg was broken, it is gone now. The small thrust wasn’t enough to get me out, but it did send jolts of pain rolling over my leg. I am going to need a large burst. All of my fuel, all in one go…

  ***

  After a long bout of screaming, I realize I am a few meters out, and my leg isn’t trapped by the bridge piece anymore. This is truly an abyss. There is some light peeking in at the top, but in less than an hour, I bet it will recede and turn this fissure into a pitch-dark nothingness. I activate the auto-injection for painkillers, and slip into a small light daze.

  After some time, it’s a surprise to be able to receive a radio signal from Rodhir, but the darkness is already starting to envelop everything around me.

  “Hey Danbir, I plowed through the dust and I’m at our Pod now, using the MPCS. It’s truly a disaster here, man. They’re all gone. All the other Pods were wiped out, seems like a comet or asteroid hit near the main landing site. Our Pod, well it’s far enough that it was spared, with some minor damage on the outer hull due to debris. I don’t think anyone made it. I’ve tried using the MPCS to reach out to everyone else, no one has responded. This mission’s over, we need to get out of here.”

  I can feel my soul shatter. It was starting to get truly dark in the fissure, and this news just made everything around me many shades darker.

  “They took all the Sero from our landing Pod away, after your incident. We have no Sero to be able to get back home. The reserves are gone. There are no other surviving Pods. We can’t refine any more, there’s no refinery in this Pod and all the others are gone. It’s all gone man. It’s all fucking gone,” he said.

  “Listen, Rodhir,” I said. I started to remember the incident, “there is a half-vial of Sero behind a removable panel, and it’s behind your photo. I didn’t want anyone to know. I knew they wouldn’t let me touch any Sero reserves after that, and so I needed to be certain I had some, just in case, just for me. If you could get me out of here, we could share it. We only need it for the empty cryoarcane preserver. We could land on any planet in roughly a twenty-five light-year radius with the few hundreds of years of lifespan extension that we will get with dreaming. Of course, we wouldn’t be able to go to Selsteil, there’s just not enough Sero.” I held my tongue, but in truth, there would be enough for only one of us.

  “Behind it?” replied Rodhir, “I’m looking at my photo now.”

  “Do you see it, Rodhir? Did you find it?” I asked, a short moment later. “Rodhir, are you there?” I keep asking. Perhaps a problem with the MPCS?

  Another silent hour had gone by. My personal heater would be running out soon, and with how things are going, I would only have a few more hours in here. Overhead, through the slice of the open top of the fissure, I see a large moving star, moving slowly across the darkness. It cannot be a star... It’s the Pod. That hits me hard. Harder than being hit by a thousand broken bridges. Rodhir was leaving this moon without me.

  There is nothing left. Not a single Pod left. No backup Construct. No Sero. Slowly, I start to jump with my good leg, hopping through the darkness. I could see almost nothing; my right hand traced the wall of the wide crevasse for support. I look up at the celestial array of stars overhead, and whisper to myself:

  “And so my journey ends; may the gods guide my path.”

 

 

 


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