'Sacmis' (formerly 'Alien Abduction')

Chapter 43: Abandoned

Kate leaned in against the rock wall, her eyes glued to the oxygen display. It had dropped another few increments.

The storm still tore at her exposed back but was there now a slight lessening of its force? Or had she just got used to it? She looked up. Her field of view was filled by swirling red sand but it was now also flecked with small patches of mauve. Her heart leaped as she realised that the mauve patches were the Martian sky. Yes! The storm really was beginning to ebb and it was getting lighter by the second. Daring to turn around and face outwards from the rock face, she caught glimpses of the distant mountains. She could now also see some distance in front of her. But looking to her right she let out a cry of dismay: less than a few metres away lay Matias, unmoving, face upwards in the sand, his body half buried. She tried to rush towards him and almost fell down herself, as soft sand clung to her boots. She moved more cautiously, carefully lifting each boot free of the sand, moving one step at a time. 

Suddenly, the storm was gone, vanished as if it had never happened, the only evidence that it had ever happened were the streams of red sand that ran down the rock face like water. She reached Matias and knelt by his body. His helmet visor was partially fogged but she could see that his eyes were closed.

“Matias, Matias, it’s me, Kate, wake up,” she shouted. "Kate to the ship, are you there?"

But there was no response from either. She pulled at his arms and managed to raise him into a half seated position, his body sagging limply forward, his head rolling to one side. It was then she spotted the cause: the back pack containing his suit’s oxygen supply was ripped and she could see a bright gash in the metal of one of the two cylinders visible beneath.

Oh, God, no! she said to herself. What do I do?

She quickly realised there was only one thing she could do: get oxygen to him as quickly as possible. And that meant getting him to the shuttle. 

Quickly, she burrowed her arms through the soft sand under his legs and back and pulled upwards. For a second, nothing happened as the sand clung greedily to him. Then suddenly his body came free and she was surprised to discover she could lift him. Of course, she realised, he weighs less than half his weight on Mars. And, she reminded herself, I’m not short of muscle myself.

She staggered to her feet with Matias hanging limply across her arms and began to walk, heading for the low point of the outcrop. After several metres, the rock face was lower than head-height and she could see the plain beyond and - there  - in the middle of it, was the shuttle. It looked undamaged, but it was impossible to tell for sure from a distance. 

Kate started to walk towards it. Carrying the weight of Matias, there could be none of the bounding jumps she’d taken on their outward journey, but she made fair progress, managing to achieve a near-normal walking pace - something that would have been impossible on Earth, where she doubted she could have carried him more than a few metres. Nevertheless, the effort was considerable and she was soon sweating inside the suit and panting from the effort.

At least I won't need to work out today, she said to herself.

For what seemed an age, the shuttle appeared to grow no larger, but at last she was barely 100 metres away. She picked up her pace as much as she dared, anxious to cover the remaining distance as quickly as possible. There was still no sound or movement from Matias. Moments later, she almost fell into the shadow at the rear of the shuttle, laying Matias down on the sand. His eyes were still closed.

She remembered that Matias had closed the entry ramp by pressing a small control panel on the left wrist of his suit. She quickly found it and was confronted by six identical buttons, each marked by an alien symbol. Which one to choose? Hoping that even the wrong one wouldn't have disastrous consequences, she started to press them in turn, glancing up as she did so at the hatch.