Chapter II- The Dunes

The Sandcraft moved very slow, at least when compared to a horse, but as it was the only way across the dunes, it was well worth it. Under serious time constraints, Virginia could push the craft up to 25 mph, but that was it's peak. Normally, she let the craft amble at 10 mph for fear of over-working the engine. She saved the machine's speed and maneuverability for battle scenarios.

"Virginia, I'm gonna double check the harpoon. Get ready for a jolt," Clive said.

The craft leered backwards slightly as the harpoon was fired and then quickly retracted. Clive had taken to doing these tests at least once a day. Virginia only wished the rest of her crew was as diligent at their stations. Jet and Gallows were playing poker at the table in the dining area, using a kettle to hold their chips, lest a sudden lurch sent it flying. They kept the cards that weren't being used in the pack.

"Flush, Clubs" Gallows said.

"Full House," Jet said triumphantly.

"Better luck next time," Gallows grinned.

"What are you talking about?" Jet asked. "Full house beats a flush."

"No it doesn't. It's way harder to get a flush than a full house," said Gallows.

"Maybe so, but the official rules of poker says I win," Jet announced as he held out a card with the official rules typed on it.

"That's a typo!" Gallows shouted. "Clive, flush beats a full house right?"

"Sorry Gallows," Clive said as he punched some numbers into his screen. "Jet wins that hand."

Jet sneered and Gallows chuckled. "Ah, whatever. It's not real money anyways. You want in on this Clive?"

"No thanks. I need to keep my station operational," Clive explained.

"What about you Virginia?" Gallows asked. "You can put this girl on autopilot. We're at least two days from Humphrey's Peak."

"No thank you," Virginia said. "I'd like to run her myself as long as possible. You two should at least run the basic maintenance on your stations sometime today."

Jet scoffed. "Are you kidding? It's a waste of ammo. Even with the dummy shells, we're still wasting gunpowder."

"And all I really do is sit and watch the radar," Gallows said. "I can do that well from here. And we're still all clear in all three dimensions. Just like we were an hour ago."

Virginia did notice that their trip had been unusually quiet. By now they would have run afoul of a dune creature, or hit some obstacle. She wished she could be as casual as the others, but something didn't feel right.

Virginia finally grew weary of watching the endless sand and fog, and put the sandcraft on auto-pilot. Jet and Gallows had finished playing poker about an hour ago. Jet was now cleaning his ARM, the machinegun Airget-lahm, and Gallows was playing a ballad on the guitar, without bothering to sing.

She headed over to her bed, and announced. "I'm going to get some sleep. Wake me if anything interesting happens."

"Don't you want dinner?" Clive asked.

She hadn't noticed, but he had been busy over in the small kitchen area heating up some soup and meat on the stove. Virginia was too tired to eat, even though she was starving. She politely declined and set her ARMs beside her on the bedpost.

---

When she awoke, the first thing that she noticed was that she was not in her bed. She had fallen off and hit the hard metal floor. She glanced up to see Jet at the gun, firing rapidly into an enemy she couldn't see. Gallows was at the helm and Clive was clinging to the harpoon controls with sweat falling in massive beads from his hair.

"What's happening?" She cried.

"Nice of you to finally wake up!" Jet called.

"You could have woken me yourselves!" She retorted.

She ran up the small stairs to her post at the Helm and saw a massive tentacle flying towards her. It hid the side of the sandcraft with a jolt that sent Gallows, Virginia and Clive flying to the right. Jet hit his gun controls with such a crack that Virginia knew for certain that he had broken one of his ribs. Jet didn't even flinch, but continued firing until he heard the chamber click dully.

"Gallows! Ammo!" Jet shouted.

"I'm on it!" He cried getting up off the floor and rushing to reload the barrel.

"I'm taking the helm!" Virginia shouted. "Clive, retract the harpoon. I'm going to send up a flare and take evasive action!"

"You haven't seen how big this thing is!" Gallows shouted. "Whatever it is it's all around us! Evasive action isn't possible!"

"That's impossible!" Virginia shouted. "Nothing can be that big! There's got to be more than one of them."

"The radar is showing one very big and very pissed off monster right below us!" Gallows shouted. "These are just the tentacles!"

"I'm gonna try it anyways! Our craft can't hold against this kind of onslaught!" Virginia shouted.

The sandcraft lurched backwards.

"Clive! I thought I told you to retract the harpoon!" Virginia shouted.

"The chain is locked!" Clive shouted. "She won't retract!"

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Jet cursed. "Even after all your tests, your equipment still malfunctioned! Imagine that!"

"Okay Jet, aim for the tentacle! If we can't retract it we're gonna have to lose it!" Virginia shouted.

"Now you're making sense!" Jet shouted.

Gallows loaded the last of the ammo into the barrel and shouted. "Clear!"

"Firing!" Jet shouted.

Virginia saw the rounds hit the tentacle firmly and saw the harpoon breaking half, the jagged end still sticking in the tentacle. Clive snapped back with the whip of the chain and fell out of his chair.

"Lost the harpoon!" He shouted.

"Need more ammo over here!" Jet shouted.

But their shouts seemed like they were miles away now. One massive tentacle went sailing straight towards Virginia and broke through the sandcraft. It grabbed her around her throat, and everything went black.