Sam & Penny Short-Stories *English*

JOURNEY INTO THE FUTURE - Back in the Past

>Penny's POV<

A blue light shone from beneath the rubble well to my left, immediately drawing my attention to a spot near Ellie. We had been looking for Sam for one hour now and had not yet found any trace. Worry about him consumed me and at the same time prevented me from thinking too much, but I was still in danger of losing my nerve at any moment, especially since I had pulled his burnt radio out of the rubble.

"Hey, come here. There's something here. I...I hear something. No, something's moving here. I need help. Help me dig," Ellie called out excitedly as we all ran over and just a few seconds later, she sank to her knees around the spot where Ellie had already started using her hands to clear away the stones she was throwing behind her.

We followed suit and it wasn't long before I came across a hand. His hand. I freed it from the rubble, then his arm, but I only got as far as his elbow when I hit the concrete slab that the others had now reached, hiding the body underneath.

"Okay, expose the plate all around," I ordered our team before reaching for the radio. "Tom, we need Wallaby 2 here."

"Roger that, Penny," he answered me promptly while I checked Sam's pulse on his wrist. I breathed a sigh of relief when I found it - strong and regular. It at least meant that the cavity under the plate was large enough not to have crushed him.

"Helen, be ready to give Sam the best possible care," I radioed to Helen, who had been helping us search for Sam with Lizzie for an hour, but I couldn't see her anywhere anymore when I closed my eyes for a moment from Sam's hand, which I now grabbed and would never let go of.

"I'm on it, Penny," she replied, and a moment later I saw her walking out from between Jupiter and Venus, holding her first aid kit in one hand and one end of the stretcher in the other End Lizzie carried with her.

I asked Elvis to get additional straps from Phoenix. We had now brought in every vehicle that could help us with the search or clearing the rubble, but in this case we would never be able to get close enough to Phoenix quickly. Our only hope now was Wallaby2.

We didn't have to wait long for Tom either. Just a few minutes later he was there and lowered the winch. Elvis and Ellie hooked the straps that they had already attached to corners that seemed stable. I moved away a little so I could see everything. As long as Sam was out of action, I had to lead the team and I had the responsibility - apart from the fact that I wanted nothing more than to finally get Sam out of there safely.

Elvis signaled to me that everything was okay and I signaled to Tom to pull in the winch. The plate slowly rose and when it hovered far enough above the rubble, I waved Tom in my direction.

"Sam is unhurt." I silently thanked Helen as she transmitted this message. She, as one of my oldest friends here, knew how I felt about Sam - just as I knew that she had made that radio message just for me because I couldn't be with him to see for myself.

Meanwhile, Arnold helped me unhook the straps when Tom lowered the plate again and just a moment later took the straps out of my hand before smiling and nodding in the direction where Elllie, Elvis, Lizzie and Helen were busy with Sam. I followed his silent gesture and spotted Sam, somewhat wobbly, climbing over the rubble, supported by Elvis and Helen.

"Sam." I couldn't help but call out his name in relief, as well as wipe the smile from my face that surely revealed all too clearly how worried I had really been about him, all of which now fell away and was replaced by pure joy and relief. I tried not to run, preserving some remaining pride as I walked toward him. He looked up and even though he looked tired and a little confused, a smile now appeared on his face as he examined me as if he wanted to discover something about me that wasn't there. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Is everything okay?" I asked him worriedly as he took my hands in his and I searched his body for injuries with my eyes. I was pretty much expecting everything when Sam looked at my hands during my cursory examination and my heart beat faster when I felt his fingers brush against my ring fingers - for whatever reason he was doing that - but I was not expecting what he actually did then: He pulled me towards him and I felt one of his hands on my back as his other hand was already on my cheek. Christ, he was so close to me that I could feel his breath on my face. Don't faint now, Morris! I reminded myself.