Challanges

by Mr. David R. Dorrycott

Chapter One

A New World

Lieutenant Sunjia Keedasdau floated silently, her suited body turning slowly in the vacuum environment of the burnt out wreckage that had once been her ship's bridge. Silently she gazed out the shattered canopy, studying a blue-green planet far below. Unable to stop wondering about the aliens there. She knew that within minutes she would have to enter the last surviving life pod, leaving behind this dead link with her world forever. Yet it was very hard to do so. Wistfully she slid a gloved hand across her stations shattered controls. Flakes of carbon ash floated up, surrounding her armored glove. Almost she cried out for her lost life, for the undetected meteoroid had done quite a job on the control section of the small survey craft. Yes, she decided, a very good job. If she hadn't been visiting in Sick-Bay then she too would be dead. Along with the rest of the crew.

Pulling herself to Lieutenant Derreks navigation station, careful not to disturb the sheet shrouded body still strapped to its seat she ever so carefully she tapped a cracked button, bringing up her navigational settings on the flickering screen. Following Service regulations she had tried to set the ship to skim the planet's outer atmosphere, then swing out against the orbital velocity of this system. Regulations decreed her course to result in a quick spiral into the systems sun, insuring total destruction of the ship. At the same time this maneuver would allow any survivors a chance to land safety on a alien, perhaps deadly world. She had noted the primitive probes as they passed the fourth planet, and service law demanded that under no circumstances should her craft be allowed to fall into the paws of any high technology race. Especially those already making their first steps into space. With luck their escape would look like part of a meteoroid breaking off the larger body as it skimmed the atmosphere. Without luck. Without luck they would most likely be shot out of the sky before they ever realized it.

Passing through the flame scarred bulkhead behind her she drifted back to the secondary pod holding Sick-Bay and its related services. One of which was its own set of airlocks. Passing through the well used lock she waited until pressure returned to normal, then pulled herself back to the remaining landing craft. Artificial gravity was a power hungry luxury this size craft had only for exceptionally special cases. Although this counted as such, most of the delicate, energy drinking units that generated such had been vaporized by the beachball sized mass of nickel-iron as it slashed apart the ship. Life support had become an iffy thing, she and the only other survivor had been forced to sleep in their suits last night. Reaching the final hatch Sunjia quickly tossed off her spacesuit, moving carefully as she entered the heavily overpacked lander.

Major Chealith Elemion was the only other surviving member of the ships complement, as well as being the ship's medical officer. She was a member of the Alliances rodentia race, a race more inclined to detail than Sunjia’s feline race. Chealith smiled up at her companion from one of the two remaining acceleration couches. When Sunjia nodded to her she sighed slightly, then winked playfully at her sole companion before slipping back into sleep.

Although technically Chealith out ranked her and had more experience, she wasn't Command rated. So every ounce of the missions responsibilities now fell on the shoulders of the younger, much less experienced Lieutenant. This had worried the petite medical officer at first, until she noticed how the other had dug in and started getting things done. Wither she liked the job or not. Nor had her feline companion been afraid to ask and take advice.

Sunjia turned to her station, again checking the fuel loads and cargo balances. She wished they had been able to top the crafts fuel up before departure. It had been under preventative maintence, with drained tanks when the meteoroids had located them. But the transfer pumps were dead and the Scouts main fuel tank had ruptured into space. Still, by careful work they had managed to recover a few thousand pounds of mercury from the ships docking engines. More from the frozen metal floating around the ship. Not much for a eighteen hundred foot long mothership, more than enough to allow the smaller hundred foot craft a few minutes of powered flight. Just enough to get them down safely if she was very careful. Before settling into the pilots couch she checked to insure the hatch was sealed tightly, giving it an extra jerk with her good arm.

Without their crewmate's weight and by ripping out the extra acceleration couches and related beds they had been able to pack several thousand pounds of extra supplies into the small ship. 'Goddess knows what these barbarians eat or drink' the cat thought, pulling the last buckle painfully tight against her hips. They weren't even sure that they could survive outside their small craft, so they had packed everything possible into every crevice. Chealith had been adamant about carrying as much food and medical supplies as possible. Too few worlds supported biospheres that weren't instant death to one, or both of their species. Even fewer worlds were survivable by both races. Chealith’s race had blue, copper based blood. So very different from the feline's iron based blood. Those differences had almost insured peaceful co-existence between the two races, as worlds one race could barely survive upon were Eden's for the other. Sunjia smiled inwardly, for once she wished one of the Homulin's had been aboard. A silicon based lifeform, they would love this systems second planet. It being almost a twin of their homeworld except for the near non-existant rotation. She just hoped that targeting their survey craft for mountains was a good idea. What little they had been able to understand of the planets broadcasts had determined which continent to aim for. With the planets massive gravity their choices had been very limited. Simply fighting to survive meant selecting the best possible location.

Glancing at her now sleeping partner the feline settled down. Reaching up with her good arm she switched off the interior lights, thanking her Goddess it was her right arm that had been shattered when she was thrown into the bulkhead, not her left. Relaxing into her own acceleration couch she let exhaustion take over. Months of suited work had repaired most of the tiny landers damage, some old, most due to being bounced around in its small hanger as gasses vented and engines misfired. Their work had left both women worn out, exhausted.

While they slept their shattered survey ship closed rapidly on the third planet, slowly pulled in by its immense gravity. It's semi-intelligent computer launched several small emergency beacons towards the planet's single monster moon. There they would be safe from possible discovery by the planet's inhabitants while they called for help, unless those same inhabitants had the capability to reach their moon with manned craft. Five hours later, as the ship skipped the planet's atmosphere it launched the lander along with several hundred pounds of radar reflective material. It's last action was to transmit a short message to the escaping craft, a report detailing everything it had discovered and done as the two occupants had slept. Moments later plasma flames roared into the command area, shutting down all but the most rudimentary functions. Effectively the ship was now dead.

Chealith awoke with a start as they violently separated, her fatigue induced headache returning under the sudden pressure. She had a glimpse of the ship moving away, a huge cloud of reflective material flowing behind it, then they began to spin violently as they encountered the planets atmosphere. She glanced away from the side port, back to the pilots area. Sunjia was awake and working the controls one pawed, trying to land them safely on a hostile world in a crippled ship. Turning back to her own station she initiated the counter measures she had trained for these last few weeks. There was a sudden bang from the rear of the craft, shaking it like a dog with a rag. Looking forward the mouse was shocked to see Sunjia was slammed against her shattered arm. Pain must have flared like a bonfire she knew and the mouse watched in horror as her companion slumped into her couch, unconscious.

Outside plasma fire rolled across the landers skin as it searched for any way in, licking hungrily at the alien alloys as it strove to reach the two soft fleshed women inside. Failing to find an exploitable weakness it screamed in anger as the pod's skin refused to let open a way. Slowly the craft bled off energy, plasma fire grudgingly giving way to the rushing cry of hypersonic flight. Noting its position, the pod's guidance system extended small fins to adjust its trajectory, desperately attempting to compensate for six meters of missing starboard wing. Below, cold hard rock waited for the aliens arrival.

Sunjia woke, groggy with pain to hear Chealith's voice. "Wake up. Come on Sunjia wake up or we are both going to end up as pancakes" the mouse screamed, reaching forward to jerk on the woman's collar. Sunjia glanced at the instruments, some covered with bright orange blood from her re-opened wound.

"Not yet my friend" she whispered, her voice weak from pain. She focused on the laser altimeter. "We're still about three miles up and moving fast. I'm afraid we're going to miss our mountains though, and badly, something happened to our starboard wing. We're heading south of the site I was planning for." She suddenly felt the soft touch of the medics paws on her arm, glancing up into the other woman's eyes for an instant.

"You're bleeding again" Chealith answered the unspoken question as she fought to remain standing in the jerking ship. "I'll stop it as best I can for now." She tightened the bandage, sending a wave of fire through the larger woman's body. "It's not too bad, yet. But when we land I'm going to have to work on it again. If you don't stop banging it around like this I'm afraid you'll lose it."

Sunjia thought about that for a moment, then dismissed it. There was nothing she could do about it now anyway. Ignoring the medics ministrations as best she could she made a quick check of the automatic log. Yes, the beacons had been launched and activated. No, no friendly hidden research station or tiny colony had been detected. Their signal should reach a rescue ship in a few years. If not they were stranded for a long time on a planet in the middle of nowhere. Thinking about the video signals they had received, how this planet's people treated visitors from the outside, she knew such a life could be short... very short.

Studying the rapidly changing mapscreen she adjusted her ships attitude. Dancing numbers slowed, then steadied as the ship ceased its wild skydance. "It looks like we will be landing somewhere around Latitude 28.5 by Longitude 98.5, using this planet's reference system" she told Chealith. "That's near a very large city, but there appears to be a lot of undeveloped hill country to its West. I'll try to set us down there. I can't do anything until we're below the radar net or we'd be spotted as an artifact." She adjusted their flight yet again as tale-tales suddenly reported heavy military grade emissions. "You better pray to your Goddess the camouflage system works after landing, there's bound to be 'scientific teams' out hunting us by tomorrow." She tapped a display sharply, angered by what she read. "Once we're down its going to be rough, this planet is larger than any I've landed on before. A full three points above standard gravity, and there is currently a rather severe storm system covering most of the possible landing areas."

She waved Chealith back to her seat, watching a moment as the petite mouse sat down, quietly checking her own belts. She knew the woman was frightened, knew she had never experienced anything like this, but she also knew the medic would never show it. Seven years in the Survey forces and here she was landing on an unknown planet with a Muridae medic whom she outranked only because she was bridge crew while the medic, three ranks higher, was not. Then there were the injuries. Chealith had recovered from her concussion, but Sunjia had been forced to do the delicate work, and her right arm was shattered so badly that the medic had debated on removing it all together. Sunjia had hid the fear of losing her arm, being maimed was one thing, being maimed and trying to live on an unknown planet wasn't something to dwell on.

She wondered how the local religious groups would explain away the intelligent Felidae and Muridae, before they burned them alive at the stake. 'I wonder what kind of devils they will make of us,' she thought. Reports of other crews grisly deaths at the hands of semi-civilized barbarians fluttered through her memory. Above all she couldn't let the peaceful medic fall into their paws. Chealith wasn't only delicate physically, the loss of her husband in the accident had drained her emotionally as well. 'Better to kill her quickly than let such a soft soul wither under their 'questioning' she warned herself, wondering at the same time if she had the courage to do so. Those intercepted video transmissions had been explicit about what happened to those different than the majority, even if they were plays made for the public. Surviving this was going to take every scrap of skill and knowledge both had, and more. Turning back to the controls Sunjia noted that they were less than a mile up. Time to begin searching for a landing place she knew, and they would be entering the storm in less than two minutes. Turning on the polarized landing radar she leaned over, looking out the canopy at dry, scrub brush covered hills. Not an inviting sight for two homeless women.

Chealith was quietly watching Sunjia, her fear evident only in the punchered material of her seats arms. Her tiny claws were digging in as the mouse fought for control. Sunjia had glanced at her, flashing a quick smile, then returned to her controls. Chealith though had landed on enough planets to know too much was going wrong for a safe landing. Privately she put their chances of landing in one piece at a million to one. Especially after she had caught the younger woman practicing landings a week ago. Settling back she tried to relax, forcing her tiny claws to retract as she closed her eyes. No need to let her pilot know that her passenger was almost physically ill with fear.

'No need to frighten her by letting her know just how bad things really are' Sunjia was thinking as she fought the sluggish controls. When they entered the storms outer wall the ship had tried to flip over twice before she managed to regain control. Fighting to remain conscious against the loss of blood she started her search for a landing site. Without the radar they would be safer, less chance of their emissions being detected. Yet without the radar she would be blind and hill or tree, either would be enough to send pieces of shattered craft spinning into the storm. Shattered craft.. and bodies. Knowing that there would only have one chance she slowed the bucking craft. According to her radar they were reaching the end of this line of hills and nothing better was between them and the city. Tapping her controls she began descending, began the life or death hunt for a suitable landing site.

Their small ship slowed quickly as Sunjia applied breaking energy. Several times she spotted good

landing areas, only to be unable to return to them due to a combination of lack of fuel, the storm and their starboard wing damage. In desperation she used the last remaining fuel to hover a few moments, pick a likely spot, then dive the ship quickly to the ground. Moments after landing she slapped at switches, barely waiting to insure the craft wasn't going to slide down a slope or fall into some hidden underground cavern. Hearing her engines slow their high pitched whine while their craft remained stable she slumped into her seat. For better or worse they were down. Anyway, they were almost out of fuel.

Almost as an afterthought she engaged the ship's auxiliary power unit, listening as the powerful little machines vibrations settled into a comfortable low hum, then the holographic camouflage system as she let the encroaching darkness overtake her, slumping lifelessly into her couch.

As soon as the ship settled Chealith had started releasing her straps, moving as quickly as she could in the crushing gravity to Sunjia. She noticed the felidae's arm was still bleeding and that her friend was now unresponsive. Slowly she released the still form. Half dragging, half carrying she moved the larger woman back to her small medical section. Getting the heavy form on the bed was an adventure in itself, fighting the massive planets deadly gravity field was exhausting. It didn't help that the feline weighed a full half again more than Chealith to start with. 'At least the bed lowers to the floor,' she thought to herself as she finished pulling Sunjia's unresponsive body over the shining stainless steel surface.

Opening the small medical cabinet she quickly gave Sunjia a mild pain killer. Working quickly she cleaned the wound, then selected a small needle and medical thread began the process of re-sewing torn stitches. "At this rate she'll never heal. I hate all command officers" she muttered to herself. It took almost half an hour to complete her job, bandage the wound and return the precious needle to her small sterilizer. Opening one of her tiny cabinets she selected another hypo and stimulant. "Three thousand years of medical progress, and we still use plungers and needles," she muttered, mostly to herself. Turning around she slipped the needle into Sunjia's right leg, injecting the amber fluid.

It was only a matter of minutes before the injured woman's eyes opened. "How bad's the damage" she asked, groggily trying to look around from the bed.

Chealith, still dismantling the hypo for cleaning glanced up at her a moment. Continuing to dismantle the second hypo she looked over the prone woman. "To the ship or you Captain" she asked, laying each delicate piece into the waiting tray.

"Both, I think" Sunjia replied. "And don't call me Captain, even if I'm the only flight officer left. We're on first name basis remember?"

Moving the bed to a sitting position Chealith sat down, rubbing her neck and back. "Well then. As to the ship I really don't know. I was rather occupied and we only landed about an hour ago. Its probably still doing diagnostics. As for you, you tore a lot of your stitches out and started bleeding again. Scans show the bone repair is all-right, but we have to be careful of infection until it heals. All in all Snowball, you'll live."

Sunjia grinned at the nickname the Majors husband had given to her during a skiing trip on their last shore leave, when she had proved her skiing abilities by plowing uncontrollably through several snowmen at the bottom of a hill. Moving as slowly as possible she sat up. "Really? I wouldn't believe it the way I feel right now" she admitted. Testing her balance carefully she grimaced at the effort needed just to remain erect. "I guess we better check the ship in case there's more damage." Slowly she stood up, paused, then began to settle.

Chealith moved over and slipped under her good arm. Looking up into the pain laced face she grinned. "Lucky I'm so short or you'd need a cane" she joked, letting the felines weight settle on her, feeling her own delicate bones bend slightly. "I guess we can make it to the cockpit. If you don't fall on me that is. A lot of your problem is this gravity. How could anything survive here?" Slowly the two moved forward.

Settling down in the still sticky, bloodstained seat Sunjia began working with the ship's computer. Selecting the voice pattern systems she began speaking. "Computer. Status of this lander please."

<<Complete, limited, or overview report?>>

Looking over to Chealith she said "Complete could take hours, I'll just get an overview right now." Turning back to the computer she answered "Overview. Major Data only."

<<Working. Hold.>>

Several minutes passed while both women looked out the cockpit at the shadowy, rain blurred landscape.

<<Status as follows>>

The computers mechanical voice suddenly announced, breaking into their silent thoughts.

<<Lander is safely grounded.

Holographic camouflage system working within parameters.

Fuel remaining for primary engines 0.9%.

Fuel for power system 59%.

Estimated flight time under current gravity conditions.

Calm atmosphere.

Two minutes.

Estimated lifetime of power generation.

Three years.

No pressure hull breaches located.

Ship systems working within parameters.

Report complete.>>

Chealith smiled, "Well, I guess we had better re-supply at the local gas station then. What and how much do we need?"

Sitting forward slowly Sunjia rubbed her still aching head with her good paw. Without looking up she started answering. "Anti-matter and Mercury. About twenty ounces of anti-matter would do nicely. Unfortunately according to the computer this world doesn't appear to have access to anti-matter as yet. Mercury should be easy, but it really doesn't matter. This ship will never enter space again without repairs and anti-matter."

She paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. "We've landed in a pretty desolate area about sixty miles West of the city. That's good and bad. Its good because we probably won't be located for a few months after the holo-field drops. It's bad because if we were close to an electrical power grid we could supplement our power requirements. But there's no telling how far away a large enough power grid is." She stared out as lightning suddenly illuminated the landscape around them. "Goddess, with enough electrical power we could create our own primary systems fuel. One of those if-then-else problems your husband always talked about. I wish he were here now. He would know exactly what to do."

Chealith sat down as gravity sapped her strength. "Oh" she said, pain filtering through her voice at the mention of her husband, memories of his lifeless body floating past a viewport flashing through her mind. "Then in three years we die, right?" She turned to the computer pickup. "What if we put out solar collectors or wind generators? Would that help?"

<<Solar collectors will improve energy usage.

Addition of approximately seven months local projected.

No equipment manifested on-board for wind power generation usage>>.

Sunjia stood up, turning to the back of the ship. "Besides, any wind powered unit would be spotted by the locals." Turning around she smiled into the mouses eyes. "Brace up shorty, we'll make it. But I suggest we eat and get a good nights sleep." Looking out the flame streaked canopy again she shook her head negatively. "I don't think this storm is going to end before morning. It will be a while before we can go out and hook up the collectors. Anyway, I'm hungry." Walking slowly to avoid another wave of dizziness she started back to the tiny galley.

Chealith stared out the canopy at the rocky, storm battered landscape, remembering her own forested home. Her intermittent view outside was as alien to her as a desert would be to a fish. She pushed the image from her mind, leaning over her environmental station she depressed a few buttons, nodding to herself as the station began the program. She hadn't missed just how much blood her partner had lost and was honestly surprised the woman could even function at all, much less work in this crushing gravity. She read some of the preliminary data crossing the tiny screen, nodding to herself. Could they even survive outside their ships hull, was this planets ecology acceptable? Closing her eyes she sent a short prayer heavenward to her Goddess, then turned to follow her partner to the ship's small galley. 'It won't hurt to get some fluids and food down her' she thought, carefully skirting a crate of engine parts. 'There's always the sleeper tanks, they have their own power supply.' She tried to look cheerful as she started helping Sunjia dig out lunch from scattered cans. 'I'll just have to keep my mind open' she decided.

Chapter Two

SENSOR ARRAY

A helicopters heavy beat pulsed through Sunjia's body as she lay hidden. The natives odd flying machine had been making slow passes since just after sunrise, trapping her out in the open with her bag of sensors. Moving slowly she carefully took another sip from her canteen. Not only was this planet's gravity heavier than her homeworlds, but the thick humidity of the day was causing her to rapidly overheat.

"I think that was their last pass" Chealith's voice said through her earplug. "It looks like their headed back to that farmhouse to refuel."

Sunjia glanced up, noting that the local sun was near zenith. Bringing her microphone back into position she triggered her transmitter. "Looks like its about noon local time" she reported. "I bet their headed in for lunch." She rolled onto her stomach, bringing her binoculars up for a better look.

As Chealith had guessed the huge machine slowly lowered to the ground, landing in an open field less than a mile from Sunjia's hiding place. She made a sweep for any of the walking searchers, then carefully rose from her hours long position.

"If it wasn't for the heat and insects this wouldn't be too bad a place" she commented as she worked her way back to the hidden lander.

"That's easy for you to say" Chealith replied. "You're not lifting almost half again your weight every time you stand up."

Sunjia chuckled. "That's why you get the easy jobs" she answered.

"I'd rather be out there, making new discoveries" the mouse admitted.

Walking through what appeared to be dense, closely packed mass of flat lobed cactus, Sunjia sighed as she entered the relative safety of the cammo-field and its artificial shade. Her field bags pull reminded her of the three sensors she hadn't been able to deploy. She would have to complete the pattern tonight, in some of the roughest terrain. Looking up at the cloudy sky she silently prayed for thick fog.

Moving carefully the delicate medical officer triggered her ships outer hatch, allowing her sole companion on this alien planet to enter. Swivelling her seat she faced the cat as she entered the ship.

"So, did you find anything interesting this time?" the mouse asked.

"I've brought you a few plants, some mineral samples, and some particularly nasty insects" the cat replied, dropping her field sample bag on a desk. A deep sigh escaped the feline as she sat. "I've trained in high Gee fields, but this constant day in day out stuff is murder."

Chealith nodded. "Your adapting well. In the week we've been here your muscle mass has improved. I think you'll survive." She stood carefully, walking over to the table to examine the samples. "What did you mean by 'nasty'" she asked, holding up a vial of several dozen rapidly moving, multilegged insects.

"They bite, long and often" the cat replied. "Whatever you do. When your out there from now on avoid those mounds of earth. Just touch one and they swarm like Hurj."

Nodding in understanding Chealith set the vial in a quarantine chamber, letting the computer's remote's open and examine the vials contents.

"I think they're what the natives call ants" she said, adjusting the computer's research program slightly. "At least they match those insects on last nights' program." Picking up a small stone she weighed it carefully in one paw.

"Looks like limestone" Sunjia commented, "But there's igneous rock here too. Place must be a mix of old sea and volcano."

"Mmmmmm" the mouse answered, letting a drop of acid fall onto the stone. It fizzled, tiny bubbles built up, to quickly subside as the reaction finished. "Probably right. Its a Base at least. If it is limestone we should have caverns around us, maybe even one large enough to hide the ship."

"After those searchers leave I'll start searching" Sunjia replied. She stretched, a soft smile crossing her face. "I'll see about tapping that river below. A hot bath would work wonders."

The thought of a tub of hot water, floating near weightless almost caused the mouse to moan. Gravity had been doing its worst on her. Already joint pain was almost a full time experience. Her own muscles were proving slow to adapt. Shaking the image away she turned to the plant material.

Sunjia stood, peeling off her outer grey-brown cammo-clothing as she headed for the shower. "As soon as I get cleaned up I'll start lunch, then I need some sleep" she called. The sound of quick release fastenings being pulled apart followed her to the ships rear.

Chealith glanced back toward the ships aft section. She envied her companions strength in this worlds crushing gravity. Keeping her own medical condition, and prognoses, away from her would be a full time job. Turning back to her specimens she softly cursed the searchers. A full week and they were still combing these hills for 'a meteorite of unknown size.' The image of a hot bath floated through her mind again. For a moment she imagined a giant robot attacking the searchers, sending them scattering. A soft giggle escaped her petite lips. Giant robots, on this world and every one she had been too, were elements of fiction.

A smell of cooking food brought Chealith out of her studies. A quick glance showed that she had been examining the alien plants over a local hour now. Carefully finishing her current test she closed up, just in time to accept plate and mug from Sunjia.

"So, find anything interesting?" the younger woman asked.

Setting her mug down Chealith tapped a few keys, bringing up her report. "Basically your average semi-desert vegetation. Those insects are ants, I cross referenced them with the database I'm building off the planetary network. They are native to the Southern continent and were introduced to this one about fifty or so years ago." She glanced over to her partner and grinned, "A typical acid bite, painful in small amounts but deadly if you're overwhelmed. Nasty. The one high point so far is the wood you brought in. Its almost a perfect match for Jen-Jurra."

Sunjia's ears perked up, "Jen-Jurra?" she half whispered. "If it is we're famous. The Lurnoq can't get enough of that wood."

"And now it's an endangered species on my planet just for that reason" the mouse agreed. "It used to be fairly common, until the commercial concerns went crazy. It'll be another thirty years at least before any sort of normalized trade can start again."

"Well it's pretty common as far as I was able to see" Sunjia reported. She picked up a small cartridge, slipping it into a viewer. Tapping the play button she fast forwarded through the first few minutes. A slow pan East of the cliff showed low rolling hills.

"That big city is in that direction" Sunjia commented. "I'd say, sixty local miles or so. You can see the hills are just covered with the plant."

Absorbed by the scene, Chealith tapped the pause button. "So much, like it once was on my planet" she whispered. "That city, how big?"

"About a million from what I've been able to gather" the cat answered, absently leaning against her companion. "The communication lines below us are awful limited. I've had to rely on our satellite tap for most data."

"And a military city at that" Chealith groaned. "How long until our signal gets home?"

"Eighteen years to the nearest base. Another four years for a ship if one happens to be around. Less if they've already sent a ship looking for us by the time our signal arrives."

"What, in all the names of life are we going to do for the next twenty-two or more years?" the mouse asked.

Sunjia shut the viewer off, popping the metal cased crystal into her hand. Setting it on the table she faced her friend. "Hide" she answered.

Fog hadn't answered her prayers, but heavy rain had. Sunjia shivered as the cold water slipped beneath her cammo gear, soaking her fur. The good news was while she had slept the aliens had broken camp. Less than ten remained and they would probably leave when the rain ended. The bad news was, she had some difficult climbing ahead and the rock was wet.

"How much longer" crackled in her ear.

She grimaced, looking across several yards of slick rock to the position suggested by her computer map. "Maybe ten minutes to set it, another half-hour to get back" she reported. Lightning crackled across the sky, ruining her night vision again. Swearing, she keyed her mike. "Better make that another fifteen, this lightning is making things impossible."

"Understood" Chealith replied. "But if your not back in an hour I'm coming out after you."

Sunjia laughed as the image of the delicate mouse fighting storm winds flashed through her mind. "You better dig out an anchor then" she said. "It's a full sized gale out here."

As if making her point, a gust of wind slammed the cat hard against the cliff, bringing a curse to her now bloodied lips. "If it isn't the gravity, it's the marg wind" she cursed. "This planets out to kill me."

Inside the ship Chealith watched as the blue point of light representing her crewmate moved slowly, finally coming to a stop over an amber point. Moments later the amber point changed to green and the blue dot of her friend's beacon started moving back. She sighed, relaxing a little.

This was the most dangerous sensor position, now with the sensor in place nothing larger than a fly could approach within a mile. Not without being detected. It would take days for the ship's computer to learn what to disregard, animals, birds & such. And what to scream bloody hell about. Like the aliens.

Sunjia eased toward the ragged gash in the cliff, the point where she had descended. If anything the storm had gotten worse. Hale had come through minutes before. Thankfully the cliff had protected her from the pounding ice. She shivered at the thought, some of it had been as large as her fist. Reaching out she grasped her rope, pulling herself into the wind just as a huge gust screamed down the ravine.

Chealith stopped breathing as the blue dot showing her friend spun away, falling at high velocity toward the ground over three hundred feet below. Without a word she spun her chair around, running for the airlock in a vain hope against hope. Less than a minute later she was fighting the storm herself, dragging herself along the safety line Sunjia had set. Heading toward the cliff edge.

Sunjia dragged herself over the cliff edge, pulling her battered body along the safety rope by more force of will than strength. Several pieces of equipment had departed her care when the wind had spun her against the rock. One of them had been her communications gear. Fighting the wind she started for the ship, only to run full against something small, soft and warm. With a gasp she collapsed against her friend, exhaustion and pain overcoming her mind.

Chealith fell under her friends massive weight, slamming against hard rock as the cats unconscious body pinned her to the ground. She felt, more than heard bone in her chest fail. Positioning her free leg against the other woman's body she forced herself free. Free she stood, pulling the safety rope up from the cliff. Once the end was in her paws she looked down at the body before her, the ship behind her, and the distance between.

"You ripped open your arm again" Chealith reported, limping across the small room to her patient.

"It seems you did about the same thing" Sunjia replied from her bed.

Chealith looked down a moment, then back at the bandage covered feline. "Actually, you did this when you fell on me" she answered.

“Oh" Sunjia gasped in bdismay. "I'm sorry."

"It's nothing to what you did to my heart when I thought you had fallen off the cliff" the mouse continued. "After all, if you get killed, how am I going to get water from that river? And the hot bath to go with it."

Sunjia laid back in her bed and groaned. "That's right, you're the computer illiterate of the two of us."

Slipping back into her favorite chair the mouse laughed, bringing up the latest weather map from the alien satellite. "Yep" she replied. "I never have found that 'ANY' key."