Chapter 24

Dreadnaught

The hours droned on for what seemed like days. The satellite cruised overhead, inspecting the surface of the planet. Tessa and Michael switched watch duty every 45 minutes or so.

"This isn't quick," Michael said lazily as he started his next shift.

"Hopefully it'll find something soon," Tessa mumbled as she started compiling a map of the planet.

"Found it!" Michael shouted.

"Where?" Tessa, suddenly filled with energy, stood.

"It's about a thousand miles from here, and the first sun is going to set there in about two hours."

"We need to be quick," Tessa said. "Get to work on increasing the power in the escape pod engines. Hopefully we'll get there while the second sun is still up. We can work through the night if we have to."

"I'll get on that right away." Michael dashed outside, and he and Alexys began making their modifications.

Only half an hour later, the pod was ready to go. Everyone except Julian climbed in.

"You have seven hours, and then you'll need to come back. Good luck," Julian said in a cautionary tone. The pod lifted off the ground and began its flight. With the modified engines, it sped across the surface of the planet. Even with the more efficient propulsion, nearly an hour would pass before the pod would reach the crash site. Tessa examined the schematics of the ship. She was hoping to salvage other items as well, but the shield generator and the main computer core were the primary targets.

When the pod reached the crash site, there was only one sun in the sky, and it would soon be gone. Sammi estimated they had 45 minutes at the most, so they began their search immediately. They split up into groups. Sammi and Brian were going to find the shield generator while Tessa, Michael, and Alexys were going to remove the computer core. If there was any time left at the end, they would take as much scrap metal as they could fit into the pod.

Michael pushed his way through the wreckage of the ship. It wasn't very large, but it was quite formidable when it was strewn across the surface. The entire electrical system was non-functional which comforted Alexys. At least she wouldn't electrocute herself. The group ripped and tore their way through bulkheads.

"I liked this ship much better when it wasn't demolished," Sammi complained as she and Brian dug through scraps of metal.

"Yeah. I guess it wasn't built for atmospheric reentry," Brian said.

"It was built for reentry, just not the kind we made," Sammi mumbled. "Jumping out of Hyperspace right over a planet puts incredible amounts of stress on the hull. For a while there, I thought we were going to bounce off the atmosphere and fly off into open space."

"That would've been bad. And at least we ended up on the right planet. We could've jumped out over a lifeless rock."

"This place isn't much better. It's just been one lethal thing after another," Sammi said distantly.

"True, but at least we're all alive," Brian commented as they continued to dig.

"I wonder what Earth is like," Alexys wondered.

"Dead, dry, and desiccate," Tessa answered coldly.

"Maybe they completed the underground shelters," Michael said hopefully.

"You mean the ones for the rich politicians who bought their way in to save their petty asses," Tessa said cynically. "Honestly, I hope they didn't."

"Maybe someday we could go back," Sammi said.

"Yeah… Maybe," Tessa said distantly.