Astrophysical (completed)

Chapter 13

When Cassie came to, her head was throbbing and there was a soft beeping noise surrounding her. She opened her eyes to see lights flashing. There were also toggle switches, buttons, and a lever. Then it came back to her; the events that led up to this point.

She remembered leaving in this escape pod, running away from the Sovereign Space Station and her friends. The images on the computer screen showing Ceyona Hollands' death and Ash's picture as her murderer also came back to her and she shut her eyes tightly, trying to black them out. She didn't want to think about it right now. First, she needed to find out where she was and what she needed to do next.

Above her was the door to the escape pod. Luckily, it hadn't landed opposite, or she might not have been able to get out. Cassie reached for the giant lever to the metal door and tried to lift it, although it was heavy. It was a struggle and as she continued to try and open it, she became aware of how sore she was. Whenever she impacted, she must have gotten thrown about a bit. But she concentrated on pushing open the door and finally, she heard the latch unlock, the air pressure seals lifting, and then it slid open slowly. Greeting her were bright rays of sunlight and she temporarily shielded her eyes as she climbed out of the pod.

The sunlight wasn't too bright and eventually, Cassie's eyes adjusted to the scenery around her. She was surrounded by plains of just wild grass. There was nothing along the horizon line on any of the four sides and no other vegetation that she could see. Her pod was black on the outside and among the yellow and gold strands of the long grass, it contrasted with the scenery. Around it, some of the pieces had flattened or burned and there was a small amount of dirt piled around the pod as it had made quite a dent in the ground when it landed.

She looked up and saw nothing, but a bright yellow sun surrounded by three moons. Two of the moons were quite large and appeared to be bigger than the sun. The third was minuscule in comparison but hovering just above one of the others. Cassie again looked around and sighed. She wondered where she was and where anyone on the planet was.

It was warm so before anything else, she stripped out of her Sovereign suit, watching it fall to the ground, and once again appeared in her normal ship attire. This consisted of a pair of dark green cargo pants, boots, a thin black tank top, and a tan button-up shirt. She felt better and began to stretch out her limbs, noticing the muscles all over her body were tight and very sore. She came across a couple of bruises along her arms and right above the centre of her chest, noting there would be more once she got rid of her clothing. But although she was tired, she knew she had to start making headway on finding food and water.

Quickly bundling up the suit, just in case she might need it later, she held it under her arm and began heading off in direction of one of the horizons.

The journey was long and since she was already very sore, she didn't move quickly and began to grow very tired. However, she remembered from stories back on Earth that the first thing one should do when they become stranded is to find a water source otherwise one could dehydrate and die. While her body wanted her to stop and rest, she pushed on. The sun stayed high in the sky for an exceptionally long time, but after a couple more hours it began to descend and turn a bright orange colour. This also reflected off the two larger moons which turned brighter shades of red. Cassie paused every now again as it set to soak in its radiance. It made her sunsets back home boring in comparison as it cast bright colours across the sky. The only downside to it though, was that it meant it would be getting dark soon and as the shadows crept across this plain, things were about to get a lot more interesting.

Cassie's heartbeat picked up a bit as it grew darker and while she hadn't seen any sign of life, she at least was grateful to see trees off in the distance, half an hour away. This was comforting although she had to admit that the darkness sinking in made her very anxious and she clutched her sides as she carried on.