When Denton came to, everything felt wrong. His head was pounding, his throat felt dry and raspy, and his body ached everywhere. As he opened his eyes and found himself laying sideways and tilted backward inside the trekker, it took him a moment to remember where he was and what had happened. He took a couple of deep breaths, opened and closed his eyes a few times and then tried to focus on the instruments in front of him.
One of the two control screens in front of him was cracked, flickering on and off on irregular intervals. The other screen flashed angry red warnings, pointing out the various systems on the trekker that had failed. At that point, Denton also realized that warning chimes were sounding every few seconds, its rhythm synchronized with the flashing warnings on the screen in front of him.
A glance at the canopy revealed that the trekker was partially buried in the snow. Stars were visible through a large section of the left front part of the canopy. He felt a surge of relief. Never before had he been so happy to see the celestial neighbors of Proxima b. It meant that his situation was not as grim as it could have been. He was alive and not completely buried. That in itself was better than what he had expected.
His relief was short-lived. His mind started to analyze his situation and came up with a number of grim scenarios. The canopy was closed. He was half-buried in the snow. Was the canopy air-tight? Was there a risk he could run out of air? Even if he made it out, would he freeze to death? He felt his chest contract as the thought of running out of air and suffocating slipped through his mind, pushing aside the sense of relief he had felt just moments earlier. Sweat formed on his forehead, and it felt as if the walls of the cockpit were pushing in closer. He had to get out.
His fingers found the belt clasp that held his body in place and was just about to press it when he paused. He took a deep breath and tried to let his rational thinking take over. As uncomfortable as he was, laying there on his side, if he released the seat belt he would be operating the trekker controls from an unnatural position. It would make an uncomfortable position awkward, maybe even more difficult.
He decided to stay put and returned his focus to the readouts on the screens in front of him. He had to figure out a way to get out, but it was better to take his time and do it right.
It didn't take long for Denton to verify that the trekker was stuck. The track of the trekker and the drive unit was offline, and no amount of settings and sub-menus on the on-screen controls would change that. It wasn't going anywhere. His only option seemed to be to try to get the canopy open and climb out. The prospect of leaving the trekker behind was not appealing to him, but he also knew that he didn't have much choice.
He pressed the button and waited. Nothing happened. A second attempt yielded the same result. Nothing moved. The canopy remained firmly shut in place.
Denton tapped a couple of menus on the screen and found that the power to canopy opening equipment had been diverted to the life support system. All he had to do was redirect the power back to the canopy, and he'd likely get out.
As his finger hovered over the button to execute the transfer, he hesitated. Turning off life support was not a decision taken lightly. Did he have any other option? Not one that he could see. To survive, he had to get out. Whether he liked it or not, he'd be on his own up there.
He pushed his doubts aside. With a few quick taps on the remaining working screen, he rerouted power to the canopy and tried the opening sequence again. This time, he heard the distinct click of the latch unlocking and the groaning as the engine that opened the canopy engaged.
At first, nothing happened. The only thing he could hear was the whining of the engine that grew more intense by the second. He expected the engine to blow up, but instead, the canopy flung open. Snow particles rained down on Denton as his lungs and face were greeted by subzero temperatures, momentarily paralyzing him with shock.
He quickly gathered his gloves, face mask and hat, then pulled out the emergency kit from a side compartment in the cockpit, unlatched his seatbelt and reached for the top edge of the trekker cockpit. Carefully, he placed his feet on the seat and the steering controls and pulled himself up and out of the trekker. A well-aimed kick to the cockpit canopy closed it again. It shut with a loud click, sealing Denton's decision to venture outside.
He immediately noticed the sting of the cold air on his face and his first few breaths made him cough from the chill in the air. He zipped up his jacket as far as he could and secured his face mask around his face. Not unlike a helmet, it protected his face but also provided a HUD with necessary survival information such as temperature, heading, and comms controls. The latter one was useless, so he quickly disabled the long-range antenna. He left the short-range peer to peer scanner on in the hopes that he could use it to find those he was looking for.
As he stood up on top of the avalanche field, he could see the path the avalanche had taken down the slope. Although it was too dark to see the snowtrekker tracks he had followed further up the hill, he knew they were up there somewhere. All he had to do now was locate them again.
After dismissing the thought of climbing back up the slope to get word to Tanner, he started down the uneven slope while he kept a watchful eye on the hill behind and above him. The last thing he needed was another avalanche. It was unlikely that he would survive another one without the snowtrekker.
It took him another 20 minutes to descend to the floor of the crater. He was just about to start looking for the trail when he stumbled right over it. Denton couldn't help but smile, and he felt a sense of relief. Continuing on hadn't been a miscalculation after all.
Denton's elation faded within minutes, as did his smile. The further across the plains of the giant crater he walked, the more the wind picked up. With the wind came blowing snow and with blowing snow the inevitable disguising of the snowtrekker trail. Ten minutes later, the trail had quite literally gone cold and disappeared under the drifting snow.
Denton had to stop. The heading on his display still showed north. Walking in the right direction was not a problem, but he suddenly felt uncertain about what to do. He looked over his shoulder. Although attempting to turn back at this point and return to the top of the ridge was doable, it would take a while. It would be time lost, time he didn't have. The further he went, the more difficult the trek back would become, especially without a snowtrekker.
He sighed and looked north again. North was really the only choice he was comfortable with, despite the risk. Lives hung in the balance and if he turned around now, there was no telling what could happen to the Forsythe's, not to mention Jarrel.
"Tanner, can you hear me?" He had to make an attempt at least, even if Tanner was out of range. "If you can hear me, I'm on foot, heading north. My trekker is out of commission. You can thank mother nature for that." He gave him his current coordinates and then closed the connection. There was no way of knowing whether Tanner had actually heard his call or not but at least he had made a try.
As Denton continued north, he could make out the northern edge of the crater. Based on the area Tanner had transmitted to him, the rim itself was also at the northern edge of the range Jonythan and Gabi could have reached in the time since they left the depot. It was therefore likely that the destination itself lay within the crater. The thought gave him hope that at the very least it was realistic to find them on foot.
The cone of his flashlight danced across the snow in front of him as he walked, like a finger of the undead, searching for signs of life and hidden dangers. Denton tried to focus on taking one step after the other and not so much on his unknown destination. As time went on and the snow-covered landscape continued unchanged, Denton started to feel like he was walking in circles. It wasn't true, of course, he knew that. The HUD on his face mask told him as much. The direction he had been walking was due north. That didn't prevent his mind from trying to convince him that maybe it was time for him to turn back.
As his steps turned into hundreds and thousands, his legs began to ache. Lifting his feet to move them forward, one after the other became more difficult and he was forced to stop and rest more and more frequently to give his legs a break. Finally, he collapsed on the ground and rolled onto his back, breathing heavily. Above him, the clear sky revealed millions of stars, dotting the sky. He couldn't help but smile despite his exhaustion. It was a beautiful sight.
His eyelids became heavy as he admired the sky above him and when he nodded off for just a second, he snapped straight up, eyes wide. Sleep was not an option. If he fell asleep out here, he'd never wake up again. He had to be careful.
He rolled back onto his hands and knees and struggled to his feet and stood there swaying back and forth for a few moments. With legs that felt like lead, he trudged onward, his eyes on anything that might offer a clue as to where the Forsythe's had ended up. Eventually, his mind wandered, and his eyes were drawn to the stars in the sky as he forced himself forward, one foot in front of the other. Up there, millions of stars occupied the space beyond Proxima b. One star was easily lost among all the others while Denton found himself lost without a crowd to get lost in. Then, without warning, his foot found itself stepping into open air instead of the snow his foot had expected.
His body flipped forward and over itself, and he landed on his back, the air knocked out of him as he let out a grunt. Stars danced in front of his eyes, and he had to fight back against the darkness that once again intruded around the edges of his vision.
With unconsciousness avoided, he pushed himself up into a sitting position. A movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He gasped audibly when he realized that it was the peer to peer communication signal display. Where there had been no indication of a signal just moments ago, his antenna was now receiving at almost full strength. He knew exactly what that meant. Someone else with similar equipment was nearby.
He stumbled to his feet and looked around. A smile spread across his face as he saw a door large enough to fit ten snowtrekkers in the shadow of the ledge he had fallen off of. A ramp led up towards the surface opposite from the door, and the trails from all three snowtrekkers descended it and led straight to the door. Denton dropped to his hands and knees and burst out laughing as a sense of relief flooded his body and mind. He had made it, he had found them.
As his laughter subsided, he returned his attention to the door. His eyes scanned it from left to right. What was behind it and more importantly, how could he get inside?
~~~
Denton has finally reached his destination. Or has he? What will he find behind the doors, if he can even make it inside?