Water? We had a tank full since the engine converted it into rocket fuel, but it had taken me most of yesterday to hammer a crack through the casing. I had to crawl through a venting pipe to reach the tank, since I was the smallest of those willing to help. Now it dripped slowly into a bucket. No way to stop it from leaking empty. It would take days, but we had a finite supply.
I crouched next to Leah with a cup Jerry had made out of some ship part and offered her a drink. With her sprained ankle, she had trouble moving through the tunnel to the tank and the bucket of trickling water.
She pouted before taking a sip. “What I’d do for a cup of coffee.”
“Me too.” My shoulder was better. Tammy told me not to baby it, to keep moving so it wouldn’t stiffen. I’d given my sling to Brittany, the investor’s representative—her arm looked broken, and she needed it more than I did.
My gaze traveled to Darren and Angie, who were speaking in hushed tones by the captain’s console. I didn’t like seeing them together. It was my shoulder Angie cried on whenever he screwed around with her heart and my shoulder wasn’t strong enough to support my younger sister at the moment.
I straightened, leaving Leah with the cup, and sauntered in their direction, stepping over the captain’s sprawled legs. She still hadn’t regained consciousness and hope for her survival dwindled every minute.
“It’s too dangerous,” Angie said. She stared at the slide show on the vid screen as it altered camera sources in a loop. So far, all we’d seen was dirt and plants. No signs of animal life. That was pretty good.
“I don’t have any other choice. We can’t stay in here indefinitely.” Darren scrolled through some of the ship’s scanners. “The readings confirm that the planet is sort of habitable. The air isn’t exactly the same as Earth but we can breathe it and without further hands-on testing, we won’t discover if we can eat any of the planet life.”
“I assumed that the air was breathable since we’re not dead yet.” My sister met my questioning look as she spoke. How had she guessed that? “The crash didn’t help hull integrity. I’m sure we’re leaking atmos in and out of the ship.”
That hadn’t occurred to me. I’d been trying to make it to the next hour and through the next problem, not looking very far ahead. Rescue wasn’t possible. Not unless they knew where to find us. We needed a plan, a long-term one. “Do we have communications up yet?”
Jerry and Darren had been jury-rigging the consoles to the emergency power. Wires crisscrossed most of the bridge. An occasional spark startled everyone. I did what I could, but I flew ships. I didn’t fix them.
Darren shook his head. “The console works. It’s not an electrical problem. I suspect the array is damaged but none of the cameras are aimed in that direction.”
The others on the bridge gathered closer, listening.
Brittany had finally stopped crying yesterday. Now, she cradled her arm in the sling as she moved. “So how do we call for help?”
“We don’t.” Leah, the communication officer, stayed on the ground where I’d left her with her cup of water. “Not without an array.”
“How far are we from home?” Cancy, the assistant, hovered behind her boss.
I shrugged. “Too far.” Did it matter if we were two light years away or two hundred? Without calling for help, none would arrive. I glanced over Darren’s shoulder at what he was reading. “Everything is Earth-like. Gravity a little less and oxygen concentration a tad higher so we can assume its carbon based life outside.”
Darren stopped scrolling through the readings. “But we can’t leave the ship.”
“Why the hell not?” I didn’t really want to leave the ship. I’d grown up surrounded by metal. My whole life was canned air and asteroid water. I had no desire to get dirt on my shoes, but I’d like to know why I couldn’t.
“The radiation levels are too high for us. We could survive a few days without an environmental suit, but then our organs would shut down.”
“How well are we protected in the ship?” I glanced at the interior walls of the ship, knowing there were layers of insulation and exterior shell protecting us. But some radiations could travel through alloy like it didn’t exist.
Worried looks passed between the others. Brittany and Cancy clutched hands.
Darren hung his head and shook it before looking around the room. “Look, I don’t have all the answers. This isn’t a science ship and without the proper equipment, I can’t give you the answers you want. From mine and Jerry’s inspection, it appears that the belly of the ship is crushed under us. We can’t access the back to do repairs.” Darren’s expression grew somber. “We need to scout outside. We need to make a visual inspection of the exterior of the ship. Maybe fix whatever is causing the array to not communicate with the console. Find our bearings, look for food and water.”
“Most of us are injured,” I glanced at the crew. Some of us had taken our situation with grim determination, and—my gaze traveled to the investor—some of us had fallen apart. “I can go.” My shoulder worked—it just hurt. I could ignore pain. I couldn’t ignore feeling helpless.
“You?” he sputtered. “You have one working arm.” He gave me a weary smile. “I’m going.”
Jerry stepped forward. “I know this ship better than you, inside and out. I’ll make a better damage report and have a better idea of how to fix them.”
“No doubt.” Darren clapped Jerry on the shoulder. “That’s why I need you safe inside so you can make those repairs. First time out will be me.”
We were all tired, smelly, and scared. I think until now, most of us had been living in denial land, hoping against all odds that this was a nightmare and we were just waiting to wake.
“How many environmental suits do we have?” I asked.
“Two.” Jerry answered for Darren. “They’re meant for repair crews in the less protected parts of the ship engine. Class III gear, airtight but not meant for vacuum or for leaving the confines of a ship. They’re more of a precaution than anything else, since most of these engines don’t give off radiation. I don’t know if they’ll do you any good out there.”
“It’s better than nothing.” Darren wasn’t my favorite human being for personal reasons, but as a commander, he’d really shone the last twenty-four hours trying to care for this crew.
“Two pairs of eyes are better than one.” Who knew what lay beyond the foliage? I’d gotten a good glimpse of the planet’s size before hitting its atmosphere. This world was huge in comparison to Earth.
“I agree,” added Angie. “Wendy’s too hurt but I’m not.” Her eye wasn’t swollen shut anymore, but the bruising covered most of her face.
“This isn’t a democracy, Private.” He pulled out the suit. “But you could help me gear up.” He eyed me. “Major, could you help Leah to the comm console? There’s an earpiece that goes with the helmet and I’d like to test it.”
“Yes, sir.” I saluted him, my sarcasm clear in my voice.
Pulling rank when I was trying to help? I turned my back on him and Angie before I gave them each a piece of my mind. Him for taking unnecessary risks, trying to play hero for my sister, and her for falling for it. I should have left her on Saturn station with our mom instead of pulling strings to have her assigned. We’d gotten away with it because we had different dads, so our last names weren’t the same.
Leah was already trying to stand on her one good foot. The other she kept off the floor. She settled her arm around my shoulder and I helped her hop across the bridge to her post.
From the corner of my eye, I watched Darren pull on the suit. Angie set his helmet on his head. He looked like a tinfoil man. The material was thin and light.
“Careful, that suit looks delicate,” I said.
He gave me a thumbs-up with his gloved hand. “Testing.” His voice came over the speakers on the console and sounded tinny.
“Roger that,” Leah responded.
“This material is durable, Wendy.” Darren moved to
the airlock.
“Jerry, can you manually track him with the video feeds?” I approached the vid screen. My gut felt hollow with fear.
Look at all that empty space outside.
Technically, I understood how gravity worked and that Darren wouldn’t float away. I stared at the violet sky. So vast. So distant. So empty. Not like my cozy ceiling. In a station or a ship, we controlled the environment. No rain, no hurricanes or lightning. Out there, anything was possible.
I shuddered. Maybe Darren was right to leave me behind. I wouldn’t have been much help outside. I most likely would have frozen at the airlock.
“I can track him to a certain extent. The connection to move the camera must be fried between here and there. They haven’t been responding, but I can flip feeds easily so we can catch glimpses of his progress.” Jerry sat next to Leah and changed the vid screen to the one closest to the airlock.
“Tell Darren we’ll try to watch him on the screen,” I ordered Leah. She relayed my message.
The airlock cycle was fast since the environment outside almost matched our own. Angie returned to my side. Our shoulders brushed. She hugged herself and chewed her bottom lip.
I opened my mouth.
“Don’t say it,” she whispered. “When I want to hear your opinion, I’ll ask.”
I snapped my jaw closed. My sister could do better than an alpha jerk who thought he walked on water. She deserved a man who thought she walked on water.
“The airlock is a few feet off the ground. I can jump down easy enough. Climbing back in might require some effort.” Darren’s form came into view on the screen. He stared at the sky. “There’s two suns. Might explain the extra radiation.” Then he faced the ship. “Shit.”
I glanced at Angie, who returned my worried look. She took my hand in a tight grasp and I hid my flinch as it was my hurt arm.
“The backend of the ship is missing.” He sighed, long and sad. “I see smoke in the distance in the mountains. That might be where the other half crashed.”
I rubbed the back of my neck where a knot of tension had been growing since yesterday. So much for flying this ship again. It hadn’t been a realistic hope but straws were all I had to grasp. “Ask him about the communication array.”
He moved along the ship. Jerry flipped through the cameras to keep him in view to the best of its abilities, but the ship was huge, even broken in half. We lost Darren a few times, waiting for him to appear in range again. “The array is smashed.”
“How badly?” asked Jerry through Leah.
“Like a piñata. It took me a moment to figure out I’d been staring at it the whole time.” Darren stood there, assessing the ship in silence after that.
“Commander?” Leah verbally nudged him. “Maybe you should come back inside.”
He nodded and made his way toward the airlock.
Jerry rolled through the feeds again.
“Wait! Go back to the last one.” I thought I saw something move in the leaves. I pointed at the screen.
The picture rolled back. Darren wasn’t in it. Something else was and it had big, sharp teeth.
“Oh shit.” I rushed Leah and grabbed her mic. “Darren, you’re not alone.” I sounded out of breath.
“What?” His voice rose with concern.
“There’s a big animal out there. I think it’s between you and the airlock.” I twisted around toward the vid and the alien creature.
“What do you mean you think?” He shouted loud enough to feedback into the speakers.
“I don’t know where this camera is placed.” I gave Jerry a questioning look and he shrugged. The captain had always controlled the vid screen. “I only have foliage and wreckage to go by.”
It grew difficult to breathe as I watched the creature crouch low on all four muscled legs. Orange fur covered its body. It looked like a cross between a tiger and a fox. Long pointed ears folded back over its head.
“I think it heard you. Hide,” I whispered in the mic, fear strangling my voice. My body froze in place. I heard Jerry rise to his feet behind me and the girls in the back of the bridge whisper in panicked tones.
Angie hovered in front of the vid screen. “Maybe he should run.”
In that suit? “No, he has to climb back into the airlock. That thing looks like it’s born to leap.” And eat people. I swallowed with a throat gone dry.
We could hear Darren’s heavy breathing over the speakers, but he still was out of view. “What’s it doing now?”
I took comfort that Darren couldn’t see it. That meant they were farther apart than I thought, right? “Still crouching. It hasn’t moved yet.”
The thing’s ears perked up and its tail swayed slowly as it raised its hindquarters like a sprint runner preparing to take off.
“Hide, Darren. Hide good.” Oh, shit. What should I tell him? The monster had spotted Darren. Maybe Darren should run? Maybe into the jungle full of other possible predators? Ones that hunted this thing? “Damn it, Jerry. Find him on the vid. I need to know what the fuck is going on.”
The chief engineer returned to his seat and the screen began a fast rotation of pictures. “I can’t find him.”
“He’s hiding, idiots.” Tammy moved from her spot at the back of the bridge and shoved Jerry’s hands away. She started a slower process of searching for Darren.
“There,” cried Angie. She pointed to a small dent in the ground that went under the ship. “I saw something move under there.”
The alien predator stalked into the camera’s range, sniffing around that hole. We watched in silence. No one moved. We were still as statues, as if the creature would hear us and change prey.
Darren screamed via the speakers. The creature’s huge body blocked the view and we couldn’t see clearly what was happening.
As one, we all jumped. Angie clamped her hands over her ears. Tears streamed along her cheeks. “No, no, no.” She chanted.
Suddenly on the vid screen, Darren scrambled past the animal and sprinted toward the camera.
I couldn’t watch. Instead, I raced across the bridge and the tunnel that led to the airlock. Someone had to help him.
A strong hand grabbed my arm and spun me around.
Jerry pulled me kissing close. “You’ll be killed as well.”
Even though it went against everything I believed, I didn’t move. I was terrified. I wasn’t a soldier like Darren. If he couldn’t defend himself, I had no chance.
It was too easy to walk away from the airlock.
Angie sat on the floor, back to the view screen, hugging her knees.
The creature pounced, and landed on our commander. His screams echoed within the confines of the bridge.
Leah hung her head and switched the speakers off. Next to her, Tammy reached for the vid screen.
“No,” I ordered.
“Don’t watch,” Jerry whispered.
I looked though. Someone should. Someone should bear witness to Darren’s sacrifice. I wanted to scream, but Angie beat me to it. I dug my nails into my palms and gazed at the pale faces trapped in the ship with me. They were in shock, eyes averted. Tammy wore a look of horror as she gathered Angie from the floor and led her away from the vid screen. The medic tossed me an angry glare filled with blame.
The seeds of guilt, which had been dormant since the crash, sprouted. I was the pilot. I had crashed the ship. Everyone was trapped here because I hadn’t been able to avoid the gravity well of this planet.
The creature picked up Darren’s lifeless body in its mouth and carried him into the jungle.
My dry eyes ached but I still couldn’t blink. I watched until it was gone from view.
“Major?” Leah asked.
It took me a moment to realize she was addressing me. “What?” Ever since the crash, I saw no point in continuing with military protocol. I’d gotten used to everyone calling me Wendy.
“Can I shut off the viewer now?”
I nodded and turned my back to it, facing the crew gath
ering at the back of the bridge.
Tammy rose from Angie’s side and met my stare. “Now what?”
Chapter Three
Was I the leader now?
Everyone waited for my response.
Crap. Somebody had to do it.
I considered our options for a moment. It didn’t take long for me to come to a conclusion. We didn’t have a whole lot of choices. If we stayed in the ship, we died. If we left the ship, we died. What took so long was finding my courage. I owned some. Becoming a test pilot for space ships required balls of brass, but we weren’t talking about space walks. This was about a planet and a human-eating alien.
I set my hands on my hips and took a deep, slow breath. “We start with killing that thing.”
Tammy’s eyebrows rose high on her forehead.
“With what?” Jerry tossed his hands in the air. “Are you hiding a laser-guided bazooka?”
“I have something better. The thrusters were still functioning when we crashed. Can you reroute the power so we could ignite the starboard one by the airlock?” It didn’t take much energy from the reserve. The thrusters’ power came from fuel, not from electricity. It just needed the power to run the igniter from the bridge.
“Sure, but I don’t see you flying us off this rock with half a ship.” Jerry scratched his chin.
“Not for flying.” I drew closer to him, Tammy and Leah. They seemed the only ones interested in my plan. “We’re going to turn that thing into ash.”
“I doubt this thing will go near fire,” Tammy replied.
“We won’t turn it on until its standing under the thruster.” This was the stupidest plan. I just couldn’t think of anything else that would work.
“How do you plan to lure it there?” Leah frowned. I think she suspected my answer.
“Live bait.” I pointed to my chest. “Me.”
“There’s a flaw in this plan,” Leah countered.
Tammy snorted. “Yeah, you’re going to die along with that thing.”
“Not if we time it right.” I went back to the vid screen controls and brought up the camera view I wanted. “See, this camera is pointing right at the thruster. You’ll have both visual and audio cues. I’d appreciate it if you’d wait until I got out of the way before you turned on the thrusters.”
Venturi, Complete Serial Parts 1-4: Alien SciFi Romance (Crashlander) Page 2