The tent kept her warm enough, but Sarah still woke before sunrise. By the time Nyxant began to move in his own tent, she’d started a fire and had boiled water from one of the survival packs to make tea. The rest of their breakfast would consist of bland nutrition bars, so she hoped that the drink would make up for it.

They had a long day ahead of them.

Her first task after she’d woken up to the pre-morning dark had been to go over every bit of survival gear they’d salvaged from the life boat. And this time it had paid off. She’d found a small solar powered transmitter that should be strong enough to radio Sky Chaser 4 for help. She would have done it already if she’d been able to get a clear signal from the beach.

So she’d fashioned two packs and stuffed them full of food and sundries. As soon as they were done eating, she and Nyxant would be off, walking up the hills, hopefully to their rescue. The days were short here and they’d need to leave soon if they hoped to reach high ground by nightfall.

The sound of a zipper being pulled down drew her attention. She looked over to see Nyxant’s fingers pop out of his tent and prop open the thin, stiff material so that he could climb out.

He grabbed a cleaning towel from the supplies he’d gathered the night before and walked around to the broad side of his tent, where the brightest patch of rising sun gave him the best light.

Sarah had to bite her lip to keep her mouth from dropping open. He looked like he’d just rolled out of a plush bed after a night of wicked pleasure. His dark hair was tousled around his shoulders and face, but not tangled. There was a light sheen of sweat that seemed to make him glow.

How could a man look like that after the day and night they’d just had? Talk about unfair.

She turned back to heating the tea, afraid that she’d be caught staring. She poured hot water into two cups over the broken up leaves. The fragrant, earthy aroma wafted up into her nose and she took a deep breath, sucking it in.

Nyxant finished his washing and sat down on an overturned supply box beside her. She tried not to be disappointed when she saw that he’d put on a shirt. Silently, she handed him the tea and two nutrition bars. They had plenty of food and no reason to ration it just yet.

Nyxant placed the wrapped up nutrition bars in the sand beside him and cupped the tea mug in both of his hands. He stared down at it intently, taking deep breaths. His study was both sensual and contemplative.

"It's just tea,” Sarah said, feeling self-conscious. It wasn’t like she’d made anything special.

Nyxant looked up at her and then back down at the tea, eyes narrowed. He leaned forward, nose nearly touching the liquid, and took a deep breath. She could see the steam hitting his face and leaving a faint layer of dew.

He pulled back, sitting up straight, and reached into his pocket to retrieve a small metal rod no longer than his palm. He stuck it into the dark liquid and swirled it around a few times before pulling it out and casually examining the wet end.

After a moment, his face softened. He wiped the rod on his pants before sticking it back into his pocket. He raised the cup to his lips and drank deeply, ignoring that it was too hot to do any more than sip. “Thank you," he said when he put the cup down.

That had been a test for poison. She’d seen characters do things like that on media shows back home, but never in real life. What kind of person worried about a shipwrecked companion trying to poison them? Sure, she’d had concerns for her safety, but she was a woman alone and he was a gargantuan man.

He had nothing to fear from her. Was life on Oscavia so fraught? She wanted to ask him about his homeworld, but they didn’t have time. She could ask him once they were safe. If they ever made it back.

Sarah picked up the small device that she’d sat on top of the pack at her feet. "I found a transmitter, but the signal is crap down here. I think if we head to higher ground," she said, pointing to the peak visible through the forest, which was at least ten kilometers away, "We might be able to get a message out."

Nyxant put his tea down. "Is the line secure?"

"Of course not." It was a simple transmitter, there was no way to secure the signal. And why would they care about that?

"Hmm." He unwrapped one of his nutrition bars and took a bite, not saying anything else.

"Do you have a better idea?" Sarah wasn’t going to die on this forgotten rock. They only had a small timeframe to hope that Sky Chaser 4 was still within signal range.

Nyxant spoke slowly. "There is one spot on this entire planet that we can be traced to. I don’t see why we should abandon it in some vain hope that a radio will provide our salvation." He picked at his nutrition bar and stared out at the water rather than looking at her.

"So you just want to sit here and wait to be rescued?" He didn’t look like the type. No man who looked as much like a fighter as he did could stand to sit around for long. She wondered again if he’d injured himself in their landing. If he was cautious enough to test tea for poisons, maybe he wouldn’t trust a stranger knowing his injuries.

“I suppose I do.” Then he looked over, the expression on his face possibly meant to placate her. “As you suggested, we might have been victims of a system malfunction.”

He hadn’t changed his mind, she was sure of it. There was more to the story of how he’d gotten here. “Who put you in the life boat?” she asked.

That threw him. "Excuse me?"

She’d had a few hours to unwind and think about what had happened. And some things weren’t making sense. "I thought the alarm meant to go to the life boats, but clearly it didn't. You, though, were put into it by someone. They locked you in. Why?"

His face closed off, as expressionless as a mask. "That is none of your concern."

“I’m not an idiot, okay?” And she didn’t need to be coddled. All Sarah wanted to do was to get off this damned planet and back on her vacation. Though she doubted that she’d have a comfortable moment after being ejected in a possibly faulty escape vessel. Maybe it would be time to disembark for good at the next actual landing point.

But she wasn’t going to get caught up in whatever mess of a life Nyxant had. He could have his secrets and his personal drama. She didn’t want to deal with it.

“I did not mean to imply anything of the sort,” he said, almost sounding apologetic. There was a strange cadence to his voice, formal and stilted. The translators sometimes added a layer of awkwardness, but this was beyond that. He spoke far more carefully than a man in danger should.

But she wasn’t worrying about that now.

Sarah stood and wiped off some of the sand that had somehow gotten on her shirt. She slung one of the packs over her shoulders and secured the straps. “I’m not risking getting left here,” she told him. “If the ship leaves, it could be months—if we’re lucky—before another one wanders through this corner of space. I’m going to signal the ship.” And she’d do it alone if she had to.

Nyxant didn’t have a problem with that. He leaned back on the box, resting his arms behind him, and said, “Best of luck,” with a small smile and a nod of his head.

It wasn’t wise to go alone. She knew it. But the need to move seized her. If they stayed on the beach, they wouldn’t be found. She had no idea why he didn’t want to move. She didn’t buy his story about staying in the one place they could be tracked to. Maybe he was injured, but if he wouldn’t tell her, she couldn’t help him.

She was done debating.

Sarah tossed the second pack that she’d prepared toward Nyxant. It landed at his feet. “In case you decide to join me,” she explained.

Nyxant simply waved her on and said, “Good luck.”

She shook her head and muttered, “Whatever.”

Sarah climbed up the incline of the beach to the edge of the jungle. There was an opening between two trees, but the dense leaves brushed against her, leaving a sticky sap on her jumpsuit. She was thankful her arms were covered. The sap smelled sickly sweet, but there was an undertone of something vinegary and rotten. She breathed through her mouth to try and block out the scent.

There wasn’t a jungle this dense back on Earth. Not one that any human was allowed in, in any case. Greenery and Carbon Recovery Zones were strictly regulated for the health of the planet.

So to see the trees growing high overhead and blotting out the sun was something else. It was barely bright enough to see by the light that filtered through the leaves. Birds chirped and leaves rustled from a faint breeze that she could hear but not feel. Her head tilted up, trying to see through the canopy above her, but it was a solid ceiling of branches and leaves in brilliant hues.

She tripped over a thin vine snaking across the ground and stumbled. It was warning enough that Sarah needed to stop gawking and pay attention to the space in front of her. After walking for several minutes, Sarah’s calves started to ache. She was headed uphill, even though the jungle looked flat for as far as she could see.

There wasn’t a path, but Sarah thought she was headed in the right direction. She paused to give her legs a little rest. Gravity weighed heavy on her. It just wasn’t the same in space, no matter what artificial gravity drives tried to reproduce. She spotted a nice, long, sap free stick and picked it up. It would work as a walking staff.

When she looked back toward the direction she’d been heading, her head spun. Was this the direction that she’d been heading? Every way she looked, the trees appeared the same. She could not tell north from south or east from west. And even if she’d been able to see the sun, she couldn’t guarantee the directions would be the same as they were on Earth.

She should have never gone alone.

Sarah pulled the transmitter out of her bag and flipped it on. For a moment, hope sprung up in her as it scanned for a signal. A blue line glided from one side of the small screen to the other, but after thirty seconds, it flashed three times and then went dark. No signal.

Damn it.

She needed to keep moving. Sarah took a deep breath, the humid air of the jungle filling her lungs. She let her eyes drift shut and tried to center herself as if one small moment of meditation would give her the sense of direction she needed.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Then her arms broke out in gooseflesh.

She was being watched.

It was impossible to know how she knew it, other than by some inborn instinct. She could feel a pair of eyes on her, tracking her every move. Sarah wanted to freeze and dive for cover. She didn’t know what danger Rex held, and she didn’t want to find out.

Instead, she kept moving. The feeling of being watched didn’t dissipate, but she kept her ears and eyes alert for any sign that she was being followed. After several minutes, there was nothing.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something behind her, but Sarah tried to keep it together. As far as she knew, she and Nyxant were the only people on this corner of the planet. Possibly the only people on the planet at all. The only person that could be watching her was him.

Had he followed her?

She almost called out for him, but the words died in her throat. Something wrapped itself around her leg and jerked, sending her flying off her feet and dragging her into the underbrush.

Sarah screamed.