Don't Look Back

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. However, Margana did not wish to test this theory as she crouched beneath the lip of a shallow crater and desperately tried to calm her racing thoughts. The situation was bleak. Less than 50 meters in front of her, four heavily armed scouts knelt in the dust studying the scorch marks left by the shuttle that had brought her and a small research party down to the surface of this planet.

Her memory of the afternoon was hazy. She could not remember getting separated from the group or what path she had taken to stray so far from the landing site. Luckily, she had noticed the plume of dust on the horizon and had time to take cover. Even now she felt disoriented and was not sure how long she had spent walking in circles searching for the ship she now realized had long since departed.

She suspected a malfunction of her suit's respiration system was the cause of her altered mental state and suppressed a fresh wave of panic. The suit she wore was ill-fitting and lacked the digital vitals display and integrated communication system of the combat suits worn by the Elites, the foot soldiers of Fusion. She ground her teeth nervously, "What if I don't have enough oxygen to last until the ship returns? I should have never left the ship."

She slowly peeked over the edge of the crater. Another 50 meters beyond the scouts were the vehicles they had arrived in. If she could somehow get to a vehicle she could then... then do what exactly? The planet she was on was supposed to be uninhabited. Perhaps if she could get to a vehicle she could use it to locate the ship they had arrived on and then somehow send a signal to her crew. This was clearly more day dream than plan, but currently the only alternative was waiting to suffocate in this crater.

Margana studied the landscape to her right. The planet was mostly empty, dusty nothing. The only distinguishing features were the craters of varying size that pock marked the surface of the planet. If she could slip from crater to crater she could move around the outside of the site and reach the vehicles from behind, but she would need to move quickly. She was not sure how much longer the scouts would waste surveying the site.

She stole another glance over the lip to locate the edge of the nearest crater. It was about six feet away. Even in her bulky suit it would only take a few seconds to cross from one to the next. A final check confirmed that the two scouts were facing away from her absorbed by their investigation. Margana took a deep breath, thought to herself "on three... one, two," and then hoisted herself up on to the surface.

It was as she crested the edge of the crater that her cloudy mind recalled there had actually been four scouts, and as she dropped over the side she crashed feet first into number three. Reflexively, she kicked off his chest and twisted to pull herself back out of the crater away from him only to find herself face to face with number four who had his weapon pointed squarely at her chest.

While she had been planning her get away, these two had successfully used the craters to flank her and she was now their prisoner. And despite the futility of the gesture, Margana couldn't hold back the scream of terror that escaped her.