When Scott came to, he saw the world of Habitat 7 raw: he gazed straight into the storm of white mist through a broken visor. It was not broken like before, a small crack that could be welded shut: most of it was entirely missing.
The air of the planet was cool, not like Zimbabwe.
He rolled over onto his side, hands upon the gray, arid ground, and noticed something strange. Though he was inhaling, his thirst for oxygen was not being quenched. He inhaled desperately, but the pain in his lungs continued to grow. He remembered the pilot's words: "Oxygen levels below minimum human requirements."
His father's black legs came into view.
Ryder looked up at his dad with pathetic desperation. Alec's suit whole and complete, his face tucked away safe and comfortable.
Alec kneeled down, removed Scott's broken helmet and tossed it on to the dry ground. Scott's face was fully exposed to the foreign atmosphere. What was he doing?
The elder Ryder detached his own helmet, and put it upon his son's head.
It clicked into place with a sound like an airlock and Scott began desperately inhaling the oxygen rich air.
"Deep. Breath." Alec said, tapping some buttons on his omnitool.
"What are you-"
Before he could answer, a shot rang out, and in a blur a projectile flew through his father's head!
Scott face whipped towards the assailant, before an avenging string of bullets pummeled the alien.
"Ugly bastards!" Liam cried. The human yelled into his omnitool, "Hyperion! This is the Habitat 7 landing party! Do you copy!?"
A female voice responded. "Liam, what the hell is going on down there!? We've been try to reach you for-"
"An electrical storm, our ship crash landed. We came under attack by hostile aliens. The storm's died down. Can you send a recovery shuttle!?"
"Hostile aliens!?" The unabashed alarm her tone was unsettling.
There was an uncomfortable silence.
Finally, the woman continued, "I'll see what I can throw together. Hang tight at your location."
Scott looked around. Even with contact re-established, he felt he had only just entered his personal hell. His farther was dead and bleeding right in front of him, and hostile aliens were lurking about the endless storm of white mist.
"Scott!" Liam ran over and placed his hand tenderly on his back. "Are you okay?"
"My dad...he..."
"I know. I'm sorry. But help's on the way."
There was more deep, metallic chattering from the fog.