Tisis

Arriving at the colony (N)

After climbing up the slope, we overlook a sizeable valley, which descends quickly towards the shore and the ocean.

A huge black structure sits in the shallow water about 20 meters away from the far stretched beach.

The two of us just stand there, staring at what I immediately recognize as one of the ark's compartments for multiple seconds, while the wind blows strongly, tearing at our clothes.

"Do...you think they are really in there?"
"...only one way to find out, Sirus."
"And...what skin color do you think they'll have?"

I let out a big sigh and reply, "I don't know, Sirus...if we're lucky, they will have all the skin colors and work together to make this work."
"And...if not?"

Sirus' hand is trembling at the prospect of being enslaved again.
Chances are, that if anyone survived the crash, it would probably have been the humans who came out on top though.

But I'm not telling him that just yet...otherwise he might get the funny idea of going ahead by himself in order to protect me.

Sirus lets go of my hand, grabs his remade spear with both hands and slowly starts down the slope towards the beach.

After about 10 more minutes, our bare feet dig into the soft sand.
Another minute later, Sirus is the first to step into the cold ocean's waves, which crash lazily against the short.

But thus far, there's no response from whoever is inside there...and my heart begins to sink deeper.

I had seen where the ship fragment came up to the shore, sure...but did I really see, that there were survivors inside?
I...don't think so.

Sirus walks into the water until it reaches up to his chest, before he turns back around to me with tears in his eyes.
"Why...why didn't they notice us yet? They should be all over us by now...right?"

I wish I could tell him that it was just a problem with the sensor array.
But as a matter of fact, I don't know...I just don't know whether they don't respond because they haven't figured out how to check their surroundings yet...or whether they don't respond, because they are all dead.

Speaking of sensor array...this should be close enough.

I take a deep breath, close my eyes and try to establish a connection to the ship's computer.

To my delight, the handshake succeeds and I find myself connected.
Unfortunately, it rejects my credentials...which can either be because of a malfunction in the system, or, which I consider to be more likely, my access rights were revoked during the coup that caused us to crash here.

"Nym? You...you have that look on your face again. What...are you doing?"
"Shh...I need to think here...alright, what's the procedure in cases like that..." I mutter, while trying to remember the proper protocol.

I have to assume, that I have been completely purged from the system, which essentially makes me a guest user...so, in order to obtain access, I need the acting captains approval...now, if only...

My eyes dart back and forth under my eyelids, as I try to establish a contact to the 'acting captain', but nobody responds to my hails.

The system should check its registered chain of command and contact the first one it finds, so 'getting no response' whatsoever can only mean one of two things...they are all dead, or they are ignoring me on purpose.

I try some more, while Sirus attempts a more...hand-on approach, namely jumping up and down on the beach, yelling at the top of his lungs.

A brilliant move, to be sure...if he intends to lure every predator within earshot to our precise location, that is.