Alexis tossed down her spade and stared up at the sky, groaning to herself about the intensity of the sun that afternoon. As soon as the thought left her mind, she gave a mirthless laugh. After nearly two years she was still thinking about the sun. The blazing star above her was the same concept, providing illumination and heat to the tiny planet, but she had left what she considered the true sun, the sun she knew, so far away it was now only a glimmer of a star in the distance on the darkest of nights.
Of course, this star and the second one that followed its path were suns in the most basic of meanings, but when she looked at them, Alexis still felt a tug of homesickness in her chest. Joining the mission to colonize this planet seemed like the perfect way to continue her service as a military medic, and she had been filled with hope when they first arrived. Along with her father, the commander of the mission, and more than thirty other people she set out to settle the planet, one that as of yet still had no name other than the string of numbers and letters that identified it as one of the military's most secretive and well-guarded secret missions.
Nearly two years later, however, only a handful of people remained with Alexis and James. The others were too frightened of the unknown expanses of the planet and too weathered by the extensive work it took just to make a small area inhabitable enough to sustain them as they tried to cultivate and nurture the hot, dry planet into something that may once be the salvation for the overpopulation and pollution of Earth. James told them that in no uncertain terms if there were not strong enough to withstand the challenges that faced them, and courageous enough to remain a beneficial part of the mission, they were to go home.
Within six months, half of the crew that arrived with them were gone. At the end of the first year, a third of those who remained had also heeded James' harsh recommendation and were on a shuttle back to the nearest space station where they would board a ship back to Earth. Just 12 colonists remained, but Alexis refused to give up hope. Even in her moments of longing for the familiarity and comforts of Earth, she was determined to do as she had sworn to do when she joined the mission.
Now as she hacked away at the hard-packed ground in what would hopefully be their next garden, she willed herself to think through all the ways that the mission had been a success even as the prospective colonists left and her loneliness crept higher and higher.
It had taken several months of still sleeping in the original ship for them to build suitable housing for the different members of the mission, but once they were up, Alexis found hers to be nearly as welcoming and comfortable as the one she left on Earth. Two suns meant there was precious little darkness, so she outfitted her home with heavy curtains to block out the light and surround her like a peaceful cocoon when she gave herself the time to actually sleep. The rest featured mostly items built from the sparse but sturdy foliage they found on the planet and a few, treasured items she brought on the ship from home.
James lived in his own, tiny shack at the top of a hill that overlooked the rest of the village the colonists built. Most leaders of his power and influence would have insisted on the grandest and most luxurious of houses possible, but her father was the complete opposite. As the leader, he told them, it was his responsibility to be the strongest, most courageous, and with the greatest perseverance. He was to concern himself with the rest of the crew before himself. So he threw together a small home with just enough space for his basic needs and devoted the rest of his time and energy to keeping the struggling little colony alive.
It was toward that little shack, which James had yet to update or expand at all in all the time they spent on the planet, that Alexis was headed when she heard the explosion. The ground shook with the sound and for a moment she was dazed, trying to figure out where the massive sound came from and what it could have been. She took off running in the direction where she thought it originated and pushed herself up the steep hill that bordered one side of the village.
As she crested the hill, she saw flames shooting up into the sky and a pillar of black smoke darkening the horizon. A few hundred yards away a mass of tangled metal smoked and burned. She felt her heart drop in her chest when she realized that she didn't see or hear anyone around the crash site.
Alexis started running again, pushing herself as fast as she could toward the crash and praying that somehow, she would get to whoever was inside in time. The heat of the fire was intense as she grew closer to the crash and she pulled down the sleeves she had pushed up to her elbows in an effort to protect her skin from the searing flames.
Behind her she could hear James's voice calling to her, but she didn't pause to acknowledge him. She could see where the door to the mangled ship used to be and ducked down to run inside. Tugging the neckline of her shirt up to cover her mouth and nose against the acrid black smoke filling the space, Alexis ran through the inside of the ship looking for any members of the crew. Around her all she could see was the technological carnage of the crash.
Panels hung from the walls, the internal components sparking and hissing. An eerie red glow from the emergency lights cast shifting shadows on the floor and made the twisted metal of the damaged structures look monstrous. Still she pushed forward, following hallways and dipping her head into rooms as she called out for any survivors in hopes they would hear her and call back. Finally, she came to the end of the large main hallway and found a set of heavy black sliding doors.
The doors stood partially open as if someone inside had given a command for them to open but they had failed partway through. She wrapped her fingers around the edge of one of the doors and pulled, trying to force it the rest of the way open, but it wouldn't move. Finally, she stood and directed a hard kick in the center of the door. The impact shook the door, but didn't open it. She kicked again and again, grunting with the exertion, until finally she heard the mechanism in the door give way and was able to push it aside.
Beyond the doors was a compact control cabin. From the size of it Alexis wondered if it was not the main control area, but a panic room designed for emergency control of the ship if the main room was compromised. The large screens on the wall in front of her were all shattered and some were spitting bright sparks onto the floor. She squinted deeper into the darkness and saw that beneath that shower of sparks was the form of a man.