II
1-1
With a final shove, the hydraulic door to the Odyssey fell from its hinges. The four astronauts came pouring out and landed face first in the mud. The ship had already begun to sink and was tipped at an odd angle. Toad spat out a mouthful of mud. If he wasn't already in a foul enough mood, chewing dirt had certainly done the trick.
"Gah! Confounding machine," he yelled at his ship. "How am I ever going to repair her? The only reason I took this blasted mission was for the coin."
Mario helped Toad to his feet and they walked together out of the marsh pit, their boots sloshing in the mud. Daisy rested on Luigi's shoulder with their backs up against a rock face. Her eyes were closed but she grimaced periodically when the pain from her dislocated shoulder hit. It came in waves. Toad took a seat next to them while Mario surveyed the land.
"Luigi, get a satlink up and send out a distress signal," said Mario.
Luigi arched an eyebrow at his brother. "So you're in charge now?"
"Do it," said Toad.
Luigi pushed Daisy off his shoulder and set her gently against the rock wall. Then, he went to work. He climbed a nearby hill since the extra height would give the signal the best chance of transmission. But still it was a long shot. Behind them, a mountain range stretched back to the horizon. It was far more likely that the signal would bounce off one of the peaks and be deflected right back to where it came from. He pulled out his omnitool and satcom. It sat on a tripod with a wide disc that whirled on a pivot. The computer readout read, "NO SIGNAL" in bright red letters.
"Daisy," said Mario, nudging her awake. "We need to pop your shoulder back in."
She groaned and Toad rose to join them. "Do any of us know how to do that?" he asked.
"We're gonna find out," said Mario.
The computer readout on the satcom read "Establishing Signal" as a bar filled below to show its progress.
Daisy screamed, which jolted Luigi from his computer screen. Mario pushed as hard as he could. He could feel the ball of the bone grind on the socket rim but he could not get it to slide into place.
"You're gonna pull my arm off," Daisy wailed.
"We've got to get it back in," said Mario through gritted teeth.
"Don't hurt her," Luigi shouted from the hill.
"You stay on the satlink," Toad commanded.
"I said don't hurt my Daisy," Luigi thundered and he stood from his computer, his white-gloved fists shaking.
"Okay, okay," said Mario, giving up. "Maybe we should try a sling until we can get her to a medbay."
"Yeah, that would be good," said Daisy, catching her breath. Sweat beaded on her brow from the pain. She wiped it off on the back of her glove with her good hand.
The computer readout on the satcom turned a brilliant green and read, "Transmitting."
"Hey, I got the signal," said Luigi, a smile brightening his face.
"Well, don't just stand there," barked Toad. "Use it."
"Hello," said Luigi into the communicator. "This is Chief Navigation Officer of the Odyssey, Luigi. If anyone is listening, we were on a routine recon mission from the Galactic Federation to the Outer Rim planetoid, 1-1. We ran into bad atmospherics and have crash-landed. If anyone is out there, our ship is destroyed. Please send help. I repeat: This is an SOS from the Odyssey. We have crash-landed on 1-1. Please send help."
With that, he ended the transmission and packed up his satcom. Time would tell if the transmission had reached its intended destination. It did, however, reach an unintended destination. Luigi made his way down the hill but behind him a Piranha Maw rose out of a nearby drainpipe. It was a plant-like creature with mucus-colored vines snaking from its trunk that hung in grotesque sheets. Its head was blistered scarlet and polka dotted with white abscesses that oozed pus. Its teeth were the size of daggers and lined its gaping maw in three spiraling rows.
"Run," Mario called to his brother as the beast reared back and roared. Luigi booked it right as the Maw came down taking a bite out of the hill. The four explorers charged through the marsh pit as the Piranha Maw dove back into the drainpipe. Their boots were heavy with mud but they kept going.
"Where did it go?" asked Toad.
"I don't know but we can't stay out in the open like this," said Mario.
Just then, the mud in front of them bubbled and grew angry.
"What's that," Daisy screamed.
"It's that damned plant beast," yelled Toad.
In a crashing wave of mud, the Piranha Maw breached the surface, its awful head pointing straight up. Then, it began to make horrible gurgling noises like water down a clogged drain and its trunk bubbled out as if it had something caught in its throat. It opened its mouth wide as if its jaw had no hinges and it belched fireballs into the sky. In waves of volcanic burst, fire rained down upon Mario and friends.
"There's a cave beyond that hill," he cried. "Run for it."
Their boots were heavy and the mud clung to them like a jealous lover. With the cave as their goal, they ran.
"This really isn't my day," screamed Toad as a fireball shot over his shoulder just missing the mushroom cap that was the top of his head. It exploded as it landed, sending mud straight into Toad's face. He retched on the stuff and doubled over.
"Why do I keep eating mud?" he roared.
"Keep going," yelled Mario who led the pack.
Toad wiped his tongue on his glove and made haste. Fire lit the aluminum in the atmosphere causing it to burst in a flurry of sparks like glitterbugs on a warm night on Virmire.
"We're almost there," yelled Luigi. "We're gonna make –"
"Yeah, we did it," said Mario, calling back to his friends as he collapsed just inside the cave. Daisy and Toad joined after wearing expressions of fear and sorrow. Mario looked back and forth between them. Then, it struck him that Luigi was nowhere to be found.
"What is it?" he asked. "Where's Luigi?"