The men wouldn't stop referring to the ledge that their ship had landed on as "Aquila's View". It was only now, that 100 was outside for the first time since he woke up, that he could finally see why. The vantage was absolutely wide, covering so much depth it felt almost like he and the ship were on top of the very planet itself. If not for the presence of the mountain ranges that were in the far-off distance, he'd have probably believed that. The suns were relatively lower in the sky now, about one or two hours away from crossing the horizon - if he had to guess - so the ambience was shifting, ever so gradually, towards even redder tones.
"Weird ain't it?"
He was forced to turn to his side, where the intruder of his solitary moment had just joined him, "What?"
She gestured with her head to the brownish grey expanse of land that stretched away from the both of them, "How close to home the whole thing makes you feel, and yet at the same time, so far away."
He flexed his shoulders, returning some feel into them, "To think we'd get used to the feeling by now after our time on Mars."
At that, a small, soft smile lit up the lady's face, "There are some things in this world you just can't outgrow dear Captain."
"Think you're a few light-years off there," he said, "Last I checked, your statement was valid before our ship lifted off."
"Damn... Nah, this old dog ain't getting used to that new trick anytime soon."
One corner of 100's mouth curved upwards, "Took the words right outta my mouth."
The lady took notice of it immediately. The implication wasn't hard to miss, "I wouldn't be too smug if I were you, sir. 94's merely a call away."
He looked down at her, staring her right in the eyes, gaze unflinching. His smirk long gone, "You wouldn't dare."
She stared right back, taking up a more casual, yet still resolute, facial stance. The severity that had taken over his voice didn't move her, "Try me."
Their stare down went on for a few more seconds but it was enough and eventually, 100 folded, "Fine," he said, lazily turning his gaze back to the horizon, "Jesus."
That brought a smile to the lady's face once again and they were both sharing a good laugh about it soon after. Just as easily, a new conversation came between them in the most natural of manners. But a new voice was also quick to follow.
"Enjoying a good moment without me, are you?"
"Speak of the devil," the lady said. 94 couldn't help but smile at the remark.
"There are no devils here, I assure the both of you."
She watched him walk towards them, "No hellish ones, you mean."
He shrugged his shoulders, smirking now, "Never knew any that were heaven-sent but sure, whatever you say."
"We ready to go?"
94 came to stand next to the captain, gaze held forward. The view was breathtaking, "Nah, maybe after five minutes, I also deserve to enjoy the view."
100 allowed himself a small chortle, knowing he wasn't going to stand in the way of the man's decision, "Touché."
ELSEWHERE
"How long do you reckon we have until dusk?"
Andy's eyes rose to the sky, searching, until they finally fell upon a big enough space within the tangle of vines where the two suns were at their most visible. Both of them were a whole lot nearer to the horizon than they had been the last time he checked, meaning a lot of time had gone by since then. He raised his hand towards the bigger ball of light, relaying on the age-old method to make his measurement, "If I had to guess? Probably an hour or two."
Miriam watched him rather curiously, "I've never been good at that."
"Good at what?"
"Using your hands to... Y'know?" She mimicked what he was just from doing with her own hands.
"Oh... you mean telling time this way?"
"Yes, that."
He chuckled a bit, "That's... kinda understandable actually, I guess wrist watches just made it so much easier."
"Right?"
"Yeah."
At that the two of them continued to walk through the quiet swamp, braving another episode of silence that had once again come between them following their lack of conversation. They had been walking for a few hours, seeing no change in their environment, no end to the scenery around them. The novelty of talking had faded some time ago, there just weren't any more topics that were as interesting - not with the current bleakness and exhaustion - so the lull in conversation was now a familiar thing.
Their only companion had proven to be the wind blowing in the backdrop of the sound of their footsteps, and the occasional splashing of water whenever either of them happened to come into contact with the swamp muck. And so, it continued to be like that for a while longer until eventually something decided to happen. They were in a particularly drier section of the swamp, both deep in their heads, coping with the silence. The land was uneven here, and the water reducing.
Neither was ahead of the other and both stuck to an even pace. Trouble struck when Andy went over a particularly rougher area of ground, quarter a meter or so in width. A small trip hazard really that had no serious risk other than that, tripping someone.
Andy went over it easily, only problem was, the footing. The land was hollow and loose underneath due to the presence of all the water. But no one could tell just by looking. It came undone the moment his foot made substantial contact with it and, in barely a second, a mini landslide was taking him behind the wall of vines that was on his side and over an edge he wasn't even aware was present this whole time. He yelped but the rest of it was eaten up by the sound of the rocky debris landing below.
At least the height was forgiving, relatively speaking. The pain, on the other hand, not so much. He awoke to the feeling of something blunt puncturing his left side. The whole planet was spinning, and he was just about getting his bearings when something solid struck the top of his skull following the sound of fervent movement.
"Oh my god, Andy, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"
He groaned, hand going to his head, "Peachy," he said.
He wasn't underneath any heavy rocks and it was easy for him to move his limbs. The few pebbles that had been on top of him cleared themselves as he sat up. The good thing was, nothing had really penetrated his skin, the feeling was just pain from landing too hard.
The bad thing was, wherever he had landed, it reeked. He sneezed but not because of the foul stench. The dust was not completely done clearing. His system didn't appreciate it however, least of all the side of his chest where he fell on.
"Jesus Christ!"
The exclamation made Andy a tad bit concerned, "Did I break something?"
From the edge where she stood, Mirriam had a better view of how lucky he was, "Andy, you might wanna... look around you."
It was when he followed through that he finally understood why Mirriam had said what she had said. Just a few centimeters away from where his feet were was a sight he had never expected to see.
The ground went a bit further down before coming to a stop and finally flattening. The presence of the water and mud was unsurprising, what was surprising were the dozens of tunnels that lined the entire space. Even more disturbing, however, were the bones. They were charred black and half melted, jutting out of a dried, brown substance that seemed to have once been a liquid before time hardened it.
The bone-substance mixture lined the mouths of all the tunnels that were in sight. Back on earth, an area like this would have warranted the presence of all sorts of decomposers (animal/insect/plant and even fungal life that fed on no longer living organic materials, essentially decaying them); Flies, maggots, that sort of thing. But no such thing seemed to exist here. And, outside the general lack of animal life in the area, the forest itself seemed to have been avoiding the tunnels as well, like there was a boundary of some sort. The vines existed perfectly outside of it but never bothered to venture inside. It was like the scent wasn't the only deterrent.
From Andy's perspective and with his career expertise, most of the bones looked a lot like parts of ribcages, others like the remains of some kind of skulls. Though the general build looked like no living animal he was familiar with. Not that it was surprising, knowing how he wasn't on earth anymore.
At least the question had finally been answered, there was animal life here. Whether or not it was still around though, he couldn't say for sure. Not without investigating further everything he was seeing right now.
The discovery was fascinating indeed, unfortunately the same couldn't be said for questions that came with it. What killed these things? And how long ago exactly? Was it another creature? Something that lived within the tunnels? Was it dead too? Or did whatever creatures these were die from purely natural causes? And most importantly, why were their remains here and not anywhere he had been?
Andy's mind was running at full power, one hundred percent mentally stimulated. If it wasn't for the present risks and the absence of any kind of equipment, he would not have hesitated to venture forth and get his answers.
Above him, Mirriam's mind was also racing, but for very, very different reasons. The skin on her face had lost a very significant portion of its colour and her breaths were taking a bit longer to come. She took an uncertain step back, her eyes ever so focused on the corpses, "Those," she said, "Those skulls are the size of elephants."
ELSEWHERE
The aurorae looked gorgeous. Bands upon bands of them stretched into the sky and marked their presence all around to the setting suns. Their blues, greens and pinks went on for as far as the eye could see. Liam stood in awe of the sight. He was tired, yes, but such an experience was a once in a lifetime event. Fatigue and exhaustion be damned. Even on a foreign planet like this, where he knew nothing about the dangers that potentially surrounded him, he was still going to enjoy the view.
At least, he should have enjoyed it, had it not been for the pod that his eyes suddenly set upon, in one of the many clefts that were ever present in this region of the planet. It was closed.
He held his breath and approached it cautiously, unsure why a pod would be closed this many hours after arriving. Then his heart took a leap, and his legs were carrying him towards it in faster strides.
Whoever might have still been inside might not have been able to get their door open!
Memories of him waking up in his own pod filled his mind. The lack of proper lighting, the immeasurable panic and, most importantly, the suffocation. He was only lucky he managed to remember about the hatch in time despite all that pressing on his mind. Here, the thought nearly made him pause. It had been hours since he came to and started walking, so if there was still someone inside the pod and they had been inside for all that time, what were the odds they were still...
Alive?
Objectively speaking, and very much inclusive of what he himself had gone through at the beginning of his day here, no person had any realistic chances of surviving that long. So, even as he carried on approaching the thing, he knew that if someone had been there this entire time, they wouldn't have been alive.
Still, it didn't stop him from continuing. He wanted to see for himself, to confirm with his eyes that, really, he wasn't the only one that landed here in the manner that he had. Because seeing a pod was one thing, but actually laying eyes on the person, even if they were no longer alive, would take a bigger step into putting his mind at ease. Besides, the person being dead was even more the reason why he needed to get to them in the first place. On an alien planet, where he had just as much potential to die and be lost forever, he'd want his own body found by someone and even returned back home. The thought of never being remembered and put to rest properly, of being left to rot on a god-forsaken world without any acknowledgement from any other living human being just didn't fill him with any joy whatsoever.
He approached the pod with even more conviction now. If there really was an inhabitant in the pod, then they needed to be acknowledged. They needed to be remembered and not left to face the coldness of Proxima b alone.
When he finally arrived at the unit, he found that it was a bit more banged up than his own had been despite being just as intact. No damage had gotten to the interior whatsoever. Unfortunately, that meant nothing for the lady who was inside.
He could see a bit of her face through the small triangular glass plate that was inlaid at the head of the door. A small weight came over his heart, but he still brought his hand to the opening mechanism that was on the door's side. The metallic weight of it popped open with a hiss and slid to the side. The sight that was before him was one of great sadness. Yes, he had been prepared for the thought of seeing the person inside dead, but he hadn't imagined her like this. She was so young, about around the same age as his own little brother back home. The color accents on her body suit suggested she was with the medical team, one of their newest recruits no doubt. Meaning this was probably her first time leaving Earth as well.
The Goddamned war!
It broke his heart seeing just how far the effects it had on the common people went. People who had no choice but to get swept away by the hands of its long reaching influence. Like this young girl, whose family was lightyears away, praying for a better tomorrow, unaware of what had befallen their daughter - the one person they had been counting on personally to help make that better tomorrow all the more possible. Hadn't the war been a thing, none of them would have been here, going through all this.
Human selfishness just didn't know any bounds, did it?
""I really can't believe my eyes; there's actually someone else over there!"
That one voice alone brought all of Liam's loathful thoughts to a crushing halt. He didn't recognize it of course, but its presence still took him a lot by surprise, pleasant surprise but surprise, nonetheless. He didn't know what he was expecting to see when he turned exactly but, it most certainly was not the group of three that was currently approaching him.
"I'll be damned. Mr. Louis! Is that really you?!"
The sight brought a disbelieving smile to his chalky, forlorn face. It was Ellisa, one of the senior-most researching members on the botanist team. The youngest in fact, even younger than Liam himself despite outranking him. At least she was humble enough to not let that affect the way she related to him.
"Ellisa, my goodness. I'm not hallucinating, am I?"
Ellisa smiled a sad smile, "I'm sorry Mr. Louis, you're very much not under any intoxications of any kind."
She turned to the two men who had arrived with her, gesturing to the both of them, " Mr. Liam, this is Oswald and Farai from the frontline and medical units. Guys, this is Mr. Liam Louis, one of the most experienced Plant Scientists on the botany team."
"Nice to meet ya."
"Pleasure, sir."
Liam nodded his head in acknowledgement of the pleasantries, "Likewise. Too bad the circumstances aren't any better," He turned to the pod that stuck out behind him this whole time and that forlorn look came over his face again, "We've lost a fellow soul."
The curiosity of the trio brought them closer to it. Their gazes swept the inside of the stasis container, taking in the sight of the figure that lay inside it. Oswald's knees buckled underneath him, "Mariah..." he croaked in a very low whisper that threatened to be swallowed by the persistent wind. Teary rivulets began to roll down his face. They left trails there.
Liam's look became even sadder as he regarded the young man, "I'm sorry."
Ellisa knelt by his side. He buried his face in her shoulder, sobbing into it the material that covered it, "She was my... my stepsister, my little... my little Riah."
She could only hug him in return. What was there to say to someone whom she just knew only mere hours before?
Now, Farai came closer to the two of them and placed his hand on Oswald's shoulder, holding him tenderly, "Nothing is greater than the love we have for those who truly mean deeply to us. Mourn her friend, for she will never walk in this realm with us again but know that she is never truly away from you. For she now exists in another realm, the one in your heart, where your love for her goes deeper than any river in the universe may ever run. Cherish her with your memories and let her eternal warmth remain with you through them."
The man continued to weep, but Farai knew that he had heard his words and that was enough. He left him in Ellisa's company and came to stand next to Liam at the pod, catching another glance at Mariah's forever slumbering body. It had been long since he was moved by the sight of death.
"Those were well spoken words," Liam said to him, "You came up with them on the spot?"
"No," he said in response, watching how corpse's posture showed her struggle, "My mother was an avid reader. She came across them in one of her books and said them to me at my older brother's funeral. Felt like an appropriate time to share em."
Liam gave the younger man a nod. He might not have shown it, but he was moved by the words. They reminded him of a person he once knew, someone who would have appreciated them even more than he did. A shame he couldn't have been here with him to hear them.
He lifted his head, casting his gaze upon the bands of colour that displayed themselves in the sky. On an alien world like this, how long did the rest of them have before they were just like the young girl resting before them? The thought scared him.