A Flicker of Hope
Gren opened his eyes. The hazy blackness seemed to swirl around him for a moment, then the sky slowly came into focus. He sat up and licked his parched lips, but his mouth was as dry as the desert around him.
Night had fallen as he slept, the dreamless sleep of exhaustion leaving him refreshed. Or, at least, his strength felt renewed. His mind was a different story.
A light flickered in the distance, a tiny pinprick in the dark. Gren took it for one of the giant Glow-bugs that lived on Titan. They could be as big as a man's hand, and on a clear night their phosphorescent glow lit up the sky like lightning. His thoughts began to wander to his military training, and as another tiny light illuminated the horizon, he leapt to his feet, a grin on his face.
Water. The Glow-bugs lived by sensing out oases and nesting near them...Gren broke into a run and sped off across the dunes.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
His calves were burning from the exertion of pulling himself up the shifting hills of sand, and his skin stung and itched from sliding back down on his back, often tumbling blindly head over heels, but the flashing lights were getting closer.
As Gren approached, he heard a faint buzzing in his ears. At first he took it for the sound of the insects, but as his ears adjusted to the noise after so many days of silence, he realized that it was not the Glow-bugs. It was voices.
Peering cautiously over the top of the dune, he was startled to find that the lights he had followed were not bugs at all, but oil lamps carried by the troops who had set up camp near a small pool of cloudy water. He was inching closer to squint at their uniforms when he felt the cold press of metal against the back of his head.
"Get up," a gruff voice commanded. Gren complied, pushing himself shakily to his feet and keeping his hands where the soldier could see them. He turned to face the barrel of a rifle, and beyond it, a cold, gleaming pair of eyes.