"Sam?" I cried into the open air. "Sam, I need a little help here!"

"Sarah, you are about to reach terminal velocity."

"Yes – Sam - that's why I need help!"

'My systems are offline. Attempting to resolve connectivity problems."

"Well-" I spluttered. "I need you to be pretty quick about it!"

My heart thudded painfully against my rib cage as adrenaline pounded through my veins. The hazy atmosphere began to thin and I could see the ground rushing up to meet me.

"SAM!"

'Connectivity restored. Calibrating jump jet for safe descent."

The jump jet came to life with seconds to spare. The first burst pulled me up fast before stalling. It fired again, in uneven bursts this time, until I was close enough to the ground that I could land with both femurs intact. I landed unsteadily and toppled headlong over the edge of the outcrop. The jump jet tried to compensate for my falling by firing again as I continued to roll downwards and thrust me harder towards the ground.

I rolled onto my back with alarms sounding inside my helmet. A crack in my visor grew from the left hand side like a spider web.

Oh shit.

I lit up my omnitool.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Oxygen was dragged out of the compromised visor as a vapour and vanished into the thin atmosphere. The fine laser tool activated and I had to will my arm to move slowly and steadily across the visor. With the screen repaired I let my arm fall to my side and concentrated on the rise and fall of my chest. When I was convinced that I was no longer dying, I slowly opened my eyes to the cloudy haze of Habitat 7. A fork of lightening thundered above me and my eyes followed the light down further along the ridge.

The rocks seemed to scale down at least another mile. I could see some life towards the bottom – some greenery and pools of water – but no sign of sentience. No sign of either shuttle.

"This is Ryder, come in." I braced my hand on my knee and forced myself up onto my feet. There was no response. "Hyperion? Sam? Anyone there?"

I spun around to the sound of heavy footsteps. My hand fell instinctively to the pistol holstered just below my hip.

"Sarah?" It was Liam. The rocks shifted under his weight and he stumbled as he stopped. He was out of breath and doubled over onto his knees.

"Sam's offline. I didn't see where either shuttle ended up." He sucked in a deep breath. "No one's answering comms."

He looked through my visor. "You okay?"

A clap of lightening interrupted my answer.