Astronomicon 1: Inception Point (Finished)

24 - Fuel Module 1

"How much further is it now?" asked Kate.

"We're all too old for the 'Are we there yet?' bit, aren't we?" Chris laughed.

"We're almost eight-tenths of the way around the main mountain," said Melissa. "The mountain off to the left is still blocking our view of the plain ahead for now."

"This valley has been sloping very slightly downwards for a while," said Chris. "If we can cut across between the two smaller mountains, it shouldn't be too much longer before we get back on course."

"Is that it?" asked Lucy, breaking the silence of the last half-an-hour. She pointed at a brighter point on the landscape far ahead.

"Could be," replied Chris, squinting at the indistinct point.

They were still four kilometres away from the fuel module but the vast plain of grey gravel that now stretched before them was mostly featureless beyond occasional areas of gentle ripples, until it reached a low ridge of rounded hills some five to six kilometres ahead.

The direction matched the expected location given by the navicom but it more resembled an area of white powder than the silver cylinder they were looking for.

After trudging towards it for an hour and a half as the state of the module became clearer, Chris came to a dejected halt. The stragglers of the group caught up with him and soon everyone was standing in a line looking at the depressing scene.

"What the hell do we do now, Commander?" asked Fletcher before coughing heavily.

"We can't salvage anything from that," Chris sighed. "Melissa, how long until nightfall?"

The fuel module was smashed beyond recognition with debris scattered hundreds of metres across the gravel. The impact had left an impressive crater in the grey gravel, probably forty metres across and penetrating over two metres down to the solid rock layer beneath. Chris looked at the remains of a landing leg lying a short distance ahead of them. The main shock absorber piston was bent and the entire foot-assembly was smashed away completely. Most of the module looked like it had been chopped up in a giant mincer and then spewed across the gravel.

"Barely three hours," Melissa replied, after retrieving the navicom from her pocket.

"That's not enough time to make it to module three," Chris stated.

"We can't camp here!" replied Kate. "There's no shelter at all."

"I reckon her retro-rockets failed to fire," said Fletcher. "Seems her parachutes deployed but without a long burn from the retros, the chutes would've ripped, leaving her to smash into the ground. We might be able to make something from the chutes. There's one of them over there."

"You think you can make a tent with that?" asked Lucy, making no attempt to hide her disdain.

Fletcher shrugged.

"It would be better than nothing," Chris replied. "But I want to avoid that, if possible."

"It's thirteen kilometres to module 3. We can't make that before the temperature crashes."

"If we kept up a good pace, we could make it," suggested Diego.

"On this terrain?" replied Chris. "We'd kill ourselves to achieve that. I don't see we have any choice. We must head on to Fuel Module 2 instead."

"And how far is that?" asked Kate.

"Just over six kilometres," Melissa replied. "Half the distance."

"I don't think my ankles will take that much more of this gravel," Lucy groaned.

"It's half a kilometre to the hills over there," said Melissa. "If we stick to the lower ground as much as possible, it should be possible to make it in under two hours."

"And we don't know what we're going to find there," Lucy added.

"But we'd get there with an hour's leeway before dark," said Chris.

"If it looks like this one, we're screwed," said Kate.

"At least it can't be any worse than this one," Chris replied. "All the modules we've seen so far have landed in better condition than this one. If we find module two in the same state as this, we won't be any worse off, but if it's in any way better, we benefit."

"So, we just keep walking?" groaned Lucy.

"Let's see if any of the parachutes here are worth gathering first, then grab a drink and get going. We don't have much time to spare," said Chris. "Are you okay, Melissa? You look pale."

"I'm fine," she nodded. "I was just really hoping this was going to be the end of today's hike."

"You should grab a bite to eat. Some more energy might make you feel better," he suggested.

"Nah...I'll wait until we finish for the day, thanks."

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