4

4

When Spencer woke he wasn’t in a bed this time.  He was lying next to Grace in the Auditorium.  Spencer got up and looked around.

The kitchen was in the auditorium and so were some of the beds from the sleeping quarters.  He leaned over towards Grace and shook her shoulder to wake her.  She opened her eyes and gasped looked side to side then turned to Spencer

“What happened?” Grace asked him.

Spencer told her how they were returning from the engine room and how she blacked out.  He told her how he carried her back to the cockpit but the attack was too much and the ship went down.

Grace gave him a friendly hug and thanked him.  Spencer then thought about Jensen and had to see if he was okay.  He noticed a small opening in the side of the hull and saw a black rocky ground outside.  He crawled through the opening and Grace followed him through.  Outside the sky was a dark green but there were no suns or stars in sight.

The sight was astonishing The sky was a bright neon green although a little transparent and you could see the faint twinkle of stars behind the sky.  Around them were hundreds of mountains across the horizon each tipped with lava.  The ground was a dark ebony with many small holes in the ground as though it had rained down pebbles.

Spencer saw a camp about a hundred or so feet away.  He looked at the sky again and then asked Grace

“How can there be light here?” Spencer asked.

“Look” said Grace pointing towards mountains surrounding them, “Those are volcanos and there are so many of them produce enough magma that it keeps the planet lit.”

“Wow” said Spencer “That’s crazy.”

Grace chuckled and then grabbed his arm and she and Spencer began to walk towards the camp.  At the camp Spencer saw Arthur and he didn’t look happy at all.

“You okay” Spencer asked Arthur.

Arthur turned to see who was talking to him and when he saw Spencer his expression softened and he began to speak “Unfortunately we have crashed” Arthur said pointing to the wrecked spacecraft behind the camp.  “As you can see we actually landed somewhere though.  This planet has oxygen.”

“Great” Said Spencer “Are we staying here.”

“Look around” said Arthur as far as our scanners can pick up their is an atmosphere but no food or water to support life.”

“Well what are we going to do” Asked Spencer in anger “Just wait here on this rock for our supplies to run out and our lives to end!”

“Calm down!” shouted Arthur “We are going to attempt to build a smaller spacecraft out of what remains.  With it we will try to send a few people out and continue the journey.”

Spencer took in Arthur’s words and then realized he was actually quite tired.  His eyes felt heavy and he almost fell over.  Arthur grabbed him and helped walk him to a tent where he lay down and slept.

Spencer woke with a start.  He had a dream where he would be running from the ships that had attacked the Alpha One and they would chase him off a cliff where he would fall, and fall, and continue to fall until he was about to hit the bottom where he woke.

Spencer looked outside and saw that the sky looked the same color as it had when he first looked at it in the morning.

He saw some fresh clothes at the foot of his bed.  Spencer put the clothes on and then went outside.  Outside he saw Jensen drinking a cup of water.  Spencer walked across the camp and over to him.

“Hey” Said Spencer

“Hey” Jensen replied and then he was silent once again.  Spencer new something must have been wrong with his friend so he had to ask “Are you okay Jensen?”

Jensen was quiet for a second and then responded “We’re screwed.  We were attacked by some who knows what alien crazies and then we crash landed here to die.  I just wonder what sort of alien who we haven’t even met yet would want to kill us.”

“I know what you mean” said Spencer  “but I have to ask, did anyone die in the crash?”

“Three people” replied Jensen.

“Anyone we know?” asked Spencer.

“Not any of our friends” said Jensen “but the girl who served us our first day we went into space was buried a few hours ago.”

“Huh” said Spencer sadly.  He was beginning to get sick of the bad mood Jensen was radiating so he tried changing the subject. “Let’s get some food” Spencer said to Jensen “I’m starving.” He smiled at Jensen and then dragged him towards the area where people were eating.

Just as Spencer and Jensen had sat down to eat they were joined by Colby and Lily

“Hey” said Colby “Haven’t seen you guys in a while.  Have you looked at this planet? It is crazy!  How are you guys doing.”

Jensen and Spencer couldn’t help but laugh at Colby’s rambling as they bumped knuckles.

Spencer looked around and then asked “Where’s Grace?”

“Said she wasn’t feeling’ well.” Said Colby “She was coughing this morning.”

“That’s odd” Said Spencer and he wondered what the cause could be.  Maybe it has something to do with the smoke, Spencer thought.  He’d have to check on her later.

After they had finished eating Spencer excused himself and went to check on Grace.  He followed some signs to a large tent which must have housed the medical supply as well as Grace. He walked in and saw Grace lying on one of the beds.  Grace looked up to see him and whispered in a hoarse voice “Hey”

“Hey” Spencer replied “I came to check on you.  How are you  doing?”

“Hanging in their” Grace said with a smile.

Grace began to fall back asleep and Spencer sat next to her and waited for her to fall asleep.  As soon as she did he got up and walked out of the tent.

As the days went on they grew long and boring.  Spencer and his friends mostly sat around eating sleeping and twiddling their thumbs.  Eventually Grace was feeling better and joined them in their long boring days.  Life continued this way for about a week until one day the ground shook.