Chapter II

A/N A gloriously huge thank you to the people who reviewed! I'm hoping to get to SPD in the fourth chapter, sorry to keep you waiting but I have to set up my new characters first, and then we can get to the cuteness of Bridge. LOL

Chapter II

Mitchell raised his head and looked around. "Crap" was the only thing his highly confused head could come up with. The door was halfway ripped from its hinges, several wires were out of their panels and spewing sparks. He had to blink back blood from a cut he got from banging his forehead on the control consol and to top it all of he didn't see Stephanie anywhere.

Her brother he did see. Halt was sprawled on the floor and it looked like he had a broken arm along with a bloody gash that ran across his stomach. Mitchell rose dizzily from his seat, went to the first aid kit, and took a tissue repairer from the space. He strode to the boy's side and waved the device over the teen.

Mitchell frowned at the amount of internal bleeding the screen reviled. He set it on Halt's stomach knowing the repairer was known to work miracles and walked back to the control panel to see if any major damage had been done to the ship. Studying the intricate readouts he decided that everything was fixable except the fuel tank had a leek that had drained almost all of its contents.

"Guess we'll have to see if this rock's has any fuel lying around," he said to himself.

He walked out of the damaged door to the inhospitable desert land that stretched far out of sight. He didn't however see Stephanie anywhere but the terrain was filled with holes. It was possible that she had a concussion and had just wandered into one of the openings.

"Just what I need, losing half of my operation down a hole on a planet that doesn't exist to the rest of the galaxy." He let himself get lost in that train of thought as he studied the outside of his ship. "I have the most up-to-date map system available, how does a planet just appear in a nice big open part of space?"

"The probes that are sent out here are so advanced that they can pick up a meteor smaller then two feet long half a light-year away. How could they miss a whole planet?"

Mitchell looked out over the bleak sunny land trying to once again to see anything that would give him a clue to where Stephanie had gone. At first glance he saw nothing but then a flash of blue caught his eye. He approached it with curiosity.

"Steph?" he said as he reached the glimmer. A growl sounded from the hole and a six foot tall lizard with perfect albino skin surfaced, sharp teeth snapping. "Stupid local wildlife," Mitchell grumbled as he reached for his laser. As his hands wrapped around the cold metal ten more creatures, even bigger then the first, emerged from the sand. One of the new comers came up to Mitchell sniffed him, cocked his head, and let out a growl that sounded strangely like "take don't kill."

Mitchell tried to find a way out as two of the creatures enclosed their clawed hands around his arms. They had spoken English, maybe they were civilized enough not to rip him to shreds although he doubted it.

He was handed to another beast that wrapped a single arm around Halt and climbed into a hole, this opening was much deeper then the ones that he had inspected earlier, at least sixty feet deep. The creature used his empty arm to grab at the earth to slow his descent. They fell into a completely black tunnel. The lizard started running, turning frequently. The affect made Mitchell's stomach turn.

On the surface of the planet Halt drew a deep breath and groaned as he regained consciousness. His arm was on fire and his stomach didn't feel much better.

With effort he opened his eyes and gazed at his broken body. He heard a beep and a numbness set into his body. He noted a Repairer on his stomach and smiled knowing that this meant that someone else had to be alive.

He got to his feet and tore the device off his body. He was almost completely healed anyway and it had just pumped him with enough pain relievers to last him for a while. Halt walked out the broken door and stretched his wings. Then he jumped to test the gravity of the planet. It was surprisingly like earths. His wings lifted him off the ground and he began searching, flying in wider and wider circles. He saw nothing.

After almost an hour Halt dropped to the ground in defeat. He walked in the soft sand. It gave no resistance to his feet. Then the composition of the land was as solid as concrete. Not expecting this he fell on his face. He scraped at the ground with his taloned hands and soon uncovered a panel. It wasn't like anything he had ever seen. The metal had a reddish hue. He ripped the panel off and descended into the darkness.

Stephanie woke up and wondered if she had lost her sight. Everything was black. She stood slightly disoriented. "Mitch? Halt?" she rasped. A loud growl suddenly came from her right. The teen turned and crouched into an attack position, ready for anything. Her center of balance was through off, fell on her face and discovered that her hand was bound. The growl came again closer now.