At its fullest available thrust Eagle One lifted its nose and rocketed rapidly upwards. It burst beyond the blue stratosphere of the planet and into the familiar starlit darkness of space… on its way back to its home on the moon.
In the passenger module, Doctor Russell tended to Alan's leg. He grimaced and winced as she cleaned, disinfected, and sealed his open wound, but he did not cry out in pain…he only gritted his teeth.
"There you go, 'outback-man'," Helena announced and kidded him as she finished wrapping-up her repair job in surgical gauze.
"Oy! Thanks, Doc," he responded with a ready smile as he gingerly massaged near the wound site. "Anything for the pain?"
"Oh. I thought you liked all that," Helena replied slyly. After, carefully inserting an anesthetic shunt under the bandaging she looked at him critically. "Seriously, Alan, you must be out of your mind to take on all those aliens like that. You couldn't have quietly sneaked or even run back like the rest of us?"
"Oh, come on Helena. 'Sneaking' just isn't my style!" he quipped with a smile and feigned bravado. "Besides it's all a part of being a space hero!"
Helena rolled her eyes, but still could not help laugh. "Quite a character," she thought to herself.
Just then the central monitor of the cabin came on and with it came the wizened face of Professor Victor Bergman. He had a look of objective contemplation as he wrung his hands in subconscious empathy with the plight of the Eagle landing party.
"Ahh, John," he said nodding consolingly. "I take it your scouting run for Operation Exodus does not give us an optimistic outlook."
Koenig paused as he sat back in his seat. He crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. He looked down at his own numbed, very badly mangled appendage.
"Well…have you fed any data into Computer and had it crunch some projections on what our survival chances would be down there…if we could find some easier landing site?" John asked.
"Ah. Well. Actually, we did." Victor replied. "…you know…based on what we gathered from what was happening to you. And…um, it says…" Victor punched a few buttons and tore off a slip of read-out paper that Computer deposited at him. He raised his eyebrows in a sort of curious acceptance.
"Oh god. Don't say it. I know…" John groaned. Now it was time for him to roll his eyes. "'Human Decision Required.' Right?"
"Yes, John, yes," the professor nodded with more than slight amusement showing.
"Anything useful?!" Koenig growled, exhibiting his usual lack of patience with Computer's level of helpfulness.
"Ah, well, now of course I don't have our man Kano's capabilities of programming with Computer, but from what I've been able to collate from Computer's range of possibilities given…it seems you may have possibly landed between a field of combatants for domination of the resources of that planet, John."
"You're kidding." Koenig sat forward now and glared-on at the monitor display in new surprise.
"No. No. "Professor Bergman confirmed. "From what we can, detect there are signs of skirmishes all along the surface. A sort of… balance of power seems to kind of…'ring' the planet. Your landing area may have been that rare neutral piece of land. You may have violated their little sanctity, John."
"Uhnn," John massaged his brow in dissatisfaction. "But why shoot at us? We aren't even from there! We are not a part of their wars."
"Yes…well, John, imagine Earth civilization at that age of development. Now, in the midst of a war and already armed and ready for battle… You know, John, as terrible and terrifying as they appear to you, you might also appear to them."
"Yep," the commander had to nod with understanding. "That would be pretty terrible."
"And, so I don't think they were of the mindset that you were just harmless creatures just looking to catch a break and find a home on their respective lands. I mean, frankly, John, they probably weren't likely to be all that welcoming even if they did understand all that."
Koenig nodded his head and contemplated his leg again.
"Yeah, okay. So how long do I have?"
"Well, the moon is still kind of far off…but we're travelling at a tangent to the planet's orbit. Current calculations are that the Evacuation Phase of Exodus would have to commence no later than three days, John."
"Oh." Koenig sat back a little again. He scratched at his brow. "Well…we've had shorter windows. Thank you, Victor. Hold for now." he said firmly
"Right, John." Victor replied without further question. "Hold for now…" he repeated.