Orpheus

40

They spent the following hours hastily setting up base; tedious work stretching on for far longer than it should've. By the time they were done, Riley was sore and beaten. Every single one of her joints ached, the skin below her eyes weighed her down; her body was screaming for a long-overdue rest.

Yet her mind raced; so much had happened in the last twenty-four hours, her brain could hardly wrap itself around it. She had known the gravity of the situation, yet only now did she truly feel it; like a hungover recalling the events from the nigh' prior. After a while though, the rest of her body prevailed, and she found herself falling asleep.

She didn't dream that night.

When Riley woke up the next day, it was to the patter of rain; constant splatters in an unsynchronised beat. It took her right back home. She'd almost forgotten she wasn't on Earth, that is until she tried getting up; gravity seemed to be pulling her down with all its might.

'The larger gravity; it's almost crushing.'

The next thing she noticed was the cold; it bit into her skin, hanging around the air escaping her nose and lips. She looked around the base: circular, around 20-30 feet in diameter; an intergalactic igloo. On one end was a small opening for the door, another door a few feet away leading towards the washrooms. Riley's bed; a frame of metal and cloth, stood on a separate side of the circumference. Diametrically opposite to it was Connor's, who'd seemed to have woken up and vanished. 

Huh, that was unexpected.

Riley walked towards the center of the room and looked around: bunch of equipment scattered everywhere; two cryopods recently kept in a corner, next to the incubators. Connor's bed seemed done, and the washrooms seemed unoccupied.

'He must have gone outside to conduct some tests.'

At the center sat a computer on a table; their communications server. Riley plucked out a small earpiece from its placeholder and put it into her ear.

"Connor?" She spoke into it. "Connor, do you hear me?"

"Yes." Came his static reply. "Suit up and come outside."

"Now?"

"Now; we have a problem."

Riley quickly suited up and walked towards the door.

'What could have gone wrong?'

She crossed the first door as it closed behind her. A hiss filled the air as the cabin depressurized, before the outer door opened. The moment it did, Riley was hit by the deluge.

It was dark; dark and windy. The storm howled and screeched at her to return from whence she came. Riley couldn't see five feet in front of her; her fingers fumbled as she activated the flashlight on the side of her helmet. The rain fell down in heavy sheets, as if trying to bury her in her tracks.

"Conner! Connor where are you?" She screamed into the earpiece. Her breath fogged the visor.

"In the Destiny." He replied, emotionless. Riley slowly began trudging her way through the storm, towards what she thought was the gloomy outline of Destiny.

"What is this rain?" She asked, heaving.

"Ammonia."

'Ammonia?'

After an agonizing minute that stretched for an hour, she reached the door of the Destiny and rapped at it.

"Connor! Open the door!"

She could bearly hear the hiss of the door as she stepped out of its way. As soon as it completely opened, she stormed in.

Inside, sirens began blaring. Connor flicked a switch, and then they stopped as quickly as they'd begun. "You slept for nine hours." He spoke from up front. He didn't even bother looking, choosing to stare at the screen on the console instead. "Lucky for you nights last sixty hours here."

'Sixty?!'

"What's the problem?" Riley asked instead.

"Communications," Connor replied. "For some reason, I can't establish communication with the others." He paused for half a second. "Either it's a problem from our end, or theirs; I'm not sure yet, but we may have to consider the prospect of us being the only ones who survived."

Riley let that sink in.

'No, they can't have died, can they?' she thought, even though she knew it was a very real possibility. 'It may just be a communications failure.'

'But if we can't communicate, we truly are alone...'

Her thoughts instantly jumped to Owen.

'What about Owen? Is he even alive? Can he communicate with the others? How is he coping with all of it?'

Riley further pushed those thoughts; she knew there was no point in worrying about questions she couldn't get answered. "How's our planet?" She asked, trying to focus more on their situation. She was hoping good news; Connor just shook his head.

"Not good." He stared at the deluge outside as he spoke. "The gravity is 127% that of Earth's. Calculations indicate days are 60 hours long, night 60 hours long as well. Outside temperatures, measured hourly from the time of our arrival average out at -20° Celsius. Rock composition mainly seems to be that of carbon and silicates. The air is primarily Ammonia and Nitrogen, with only trace amounts of Oxygen." He turned and looked at Riley, shaking his head. "Things aren't looking good."

The deluge outside whooshed in agreement.