The Barren Satellite

Horror and Fear

Emptiness. That was all Penn saw when he opened the ration box. The emergency light in the room flickered slightly, threatening to give out at any moment. Penn stared at the emptiness of what was supposed to be his saving grace for a few more minutes, the only thing in the box being discarded nutrient bar wrappers, crinkled and torn up from when his hungry comrades had opened them during the time when the base was still in normal operation. In desperation, he picked up one of the wrappers with trembling hands, hoping to find at least some crumbs left over, only to find nothing. His furred hands went to his head, clutching at the large ears and fur there. "No... no..." He said quietly, the volume of his voice barely above that of a whisper. He pulled at his own fur further, ripping out a sizeable chunk of it without realising it. He held the chunk of fur in his hands, looking down at it. It was light brown, with streaks of dried blood occasionally visible throughout its rough, unkempt texture. He froze for a few moments, simply observing this torn chunk of keratinous matter in his right hand. Letting go of the rough chunk, his arms fell to his sides, as the full realisation of the fact that he truly had nothing left to feed himself with kicked in. He had kept the ration box as an emergency measure unless he couldn't find food in any other parts of the base, which he did not, and now, he had opened the box only to find it completely empty.

He looked up to the flickering emergency light in the middle of the room, powered by a large, industrial battery that only had a few more days to go before it also gave out, since it not only had to sustain that light, but also the airlock and life support systems of the room. The room in question was one of the bays where Protonics Armour Systems Moon explorers could suit up and leave out to explore the dusty surface of the satellite. Penn chose it specifically for that purpose; it had easy access to the outside, plenty of medical supplies for returning explorers who happened to be injured, was interconnected with the rest of the facility (or what remained of it), and was relatively well-protected against solar radiation, a protection that the Moon, due to its lack of atmosphere, could not provide. The room also had independent climatization and life support systems, allowing Penn to not freeze to death and to keep breathing, an advanced ventilation system occasionally replacing the air in the room, supplying it with oxygen from a large tank connected to the room, which Penn refilled using air units from spacesuits, of which there were quite a few, thankfully.

Penn looked back down to himself. His dishevelled form stood at about 5'8, and he wore an old Protonics Armor Systems uniform from about 2043, which was, well, what he wore and what was issued when the fusion reactor of the base had exploded. It was obviously dirty due to a lack of washing, and even torn in a few places. The PAS insignia had somewhat faded, the old shield-like logo a faint reminder of what PAS used to be. Additionally, a smaller engineer corps logo was woven onto the side right under the insignia, a sombre reminder of who he used to be on the base. Rough, unkempt light brown/beige fur covered Penn from head to toe, occasionally splattered with blood from wounds that Penn suffered during his many expeditions either inside or outside of the base. The nanites on his visor had lost colour because of solar radiation hitting him on his expeditions to the outside, turning a silver-ish colour while the LEDs on that same visor took on a black colour. The metallic parts on his chest, thighs, and upper arms, characteristic of older protogen models, were corroded and torn in some places, the fur showing through any faults in the structural integrity of those parts. Rough metal patchwork was visible in places where Penn had tried to fix himself up, kept in place with rivets, screws, and other ways to keep stray metal sheets in place. He kept his ears down low to his head, either in a state of permanent fear or other negative emotion. His build was skinny, and he looked malnourished, likely as a result of not having eaten... anything these past two weeks, or that's what he had apparently counted since his last meal.