Lyra swung towards the door frame as she stumbled back into the central hub of the pod, planting her feet firmly until the ship stopped swinging.
"Why is there so much turbulence?" Hunter complained. "There's nothing out there."
"Just the forces of space," Samuel replied. An unhealthy shade of green, he clutched at the armrests as though the forces he spoke of were about to drag him into the endless vacuum and spread his remains amongst the stars.
Hunter tutted at him and unbuckled his belt, tugging on a ceiling wrung to propel him out of his seat. He barged his way past Lyra and struck the button on the cockpit door frame, closing the door behind him.
"I think he's just anxious," she said, perching herself beside Samuel and reaching out for him.
He side-eyed her and pulled at his seatbelt until the metal restraining him surrendered. "I'm going for a lie down," he muttered, traipsing into the back and drawing the curtain to shut himself away.
Lyra retracted her hand. Fighting the guilt swelling in her gut, she focused on the smooth rumble of the craft and the twirl of her thumbs as they danced around one another. Anything to take her mind off the swirling cascade of thoughts prodding at her already tender conscience. The glaring presence opposite her moved and she peeked up at Marguerit. "I suppose you think I should talk to them."
The older woman shook her head. "Personally, child, I think you should stop caring about what others expect you to do, and do what you think is right."
"In that case, I should probably leave them alone for a while," Lyra mused. "That's always worked best in the past. I just feel..." She scratched at her hand and avoided Marguerit's scrutiny.
"What? Say it."
"Guilty." She bowed her head. "They are my best friends, I wouldn't be without them for anything, and yet here I am, dragging them into the unknown."
Marguerit leaned forwards, resting her elbows on her knees. "Did you ask them to come with you?"
"They figured out what I was planning to do and said they were coming with me."
"Did you force them?"
"No." Lyra waved her satisfied grin away. "I get what you're trying to say, but it doesn't rid me of the guilt. If something happened to them, I'd never forgive myself."
Marguerit slid over to the seats on the other side of the module, countering the quakes of the craft with quick footwork. "Every emotion is there for a reason, but guilt is tricky. I know all too well how destructive it can be and what it does to your head."
"Is that why you agreed to help me?" Lyra pressed. "You spoke to my mum, you have more knowledge about this than you're letting on, and you feel guilty having to look her daughter in the eyes and withhold information?"
"Perhaps that has a part to play in why I came with you on this crazy mission," Marguerit admitted, "but the truth is I'm a risk taker, just like you." She nudged the younger woman's leg with her knee playfully.
Lyra fought against the impulse to fidget and resolved to sit tall in her seat. Marguerit was right. She hadn't forced her friends to come with her; they were there of their own volition. The best thing she could do was appreciate their help and focus on keeping them alive. "What happened to you on 4546B?" she asked, expecting Marguerit to outright refuse to answer.
"You've heard of the Torgal cooperation, right?"
Lyra nodded.
"They hired me as a security guard aboard the Degasi, under the command of the CEO, Paul," Marguerit began, eyes fixated on the sprawling array of stars outside the opposite window. "He was a selfish man, far too greedy for his own good, and he knew that 4546B was full of valuable resources. As we approached, an Architect platform shot us down. Out of the entire crew, only myself, Paul, and his son, Bart, survived." She shifted in her seat and stretched her legs out. "Paul and I never got on, so the arguments were inevitable, but Bart was a kind soul, nothing like his father. You remind me of him. Young, bright, and full of adventure. He didn't deserve such a cruel fate."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. Nothing any of us can do about it now. I didn't have a clue what had befallen either of them until I hacked into the Torgal network and found the records. Alterra located some of Bart's journals when they were excavating around the Aurora and sent notifications. Apparently, a Crabsquid got Paul. Dumb idiot never knew when enough was enough, but Bart he..." Marguerit swallowed thickly and rubbed at her cheek, hunching over her juddering legs. The recollections came like a rainstorm, each droplet soaking through to her core where she hid those painful memories. "Bart caught the Kharaa. I suppose you can guess what happened to him."
Lyra sat in stunned silence, still as stone and heart pounding with each devastating revelation. Even if she'd have wanted to say something, she wasn't sure what she could say.
"He was nineteen, and he died in pain and alone on some alien world," Marguerit breathed, angry more than anything else that Bart had had to suffer so horrifically. "But that is what this planet does, and you're a fool to be going down there."
The tannoy crackled, the speakers on either side of the cockpit door churning out flickers of sound.
"If you look to the left, you'll see the Vesper station, famed for having faculty members so unemotional, they may as well have sticks up their asses," Cassidy announced, followed by a short snort of laughter from Hunter before the pilot cut the transmission.
The two women peered over their shoulders as the base came into view, hovering outside the blue planet's atmosphere. Samuel peeked around the drapery from the back room to get a glimpse.
"There is a little birdie down there causing quite a lot of trouble for them," Marguerit commented, sullen eyes trailing the space station as their pod drifted just out of tracking range.
"Where did you hear that?" Samuel asked, venturing out into the connecting module.
The mercenary turned to the man wandering closer to the window, a smirk creeping across her lips. "From the little birdie herself."
* * *
"How is he?" Lyra inquired. "Still asleep?"
Samuel nodded, meeting her by the elliptical window and chancing a brief peek at the dim, unforgiving depths of the universe. "Out of all of us, I thought I'd be the one throwing up. I'm surprised I haven't. I always get travel sick."
Behind them, Marguerit stirred in her slumber and turned her back on them as she tucked herself closer to the wall.
Lyra covered her with a coat and returned to the window, following Samuel's gaze out into space. "I'm glad you're here," she whispered. "I'm aware you don't want to be." She held her hand up to prevent him from insisting he did, his mouth hanging open before he resigned himself to the truth. "I know you will always be by my side, no matter what stupidity I bring your way, and I can't blame you for being hesitant. This isn't just stupid; this might kill us all."
"You're not wrong there," Samuel replied, trying to force a smile onto his face. "I'm not adventurous like Cassidy, and I'm not eager to jump into danger like Hunter. I'm rather weak, really."
"No." Lyra shook her head and leaned against the hull. She glanced around Samuel to the rear module where Hunter's snores permeated through the curtain. "You're the bravest of us all," she told him, infusing sincerity into every word. "You may not be bold or willing to throw yourself into the middle of peril, but that doesn't mean you're not brave. You're scared, terrified out of your wits, I'm sure, but you're still here, and that means more to me than anything." She brought him in for a tight embrace, arms circling his shoulders and her forehead pressed to the crook of his neck. "You, Hunter, and Cassidy are my best friends, and I love you all dearly," she affirmed, the whisper of his fingertips soothing down her back.
"We love you too," Samuel assured her.
Lyra beamed and held onto his arms, the golden sheen of his hair glittering in the incoming glow of a nearby sun. "Whenever you feel scared, just imagine of all the cool stuff we will find down there. Artefacts that no human has ever seen, and you will be the first."
He pretended to ruminate on the thought and grinned. "As long as we don't encounter any sleeping Mesmers, we'll be fine," he chuckled. Lyra chortled with him, and he enjoyed the moment while it lasted.
Out of the window, 4546B came into view, a blue stream of light washing over the interior of the ship as they neared the planet's atmosphere.
"Thank you for having faith in me," he said sincerely, holding onto her hand. "It's more than most have."
* * *
The ship swung through the atmosphere of Planet 4546B, tails of flame rocketing from the hull as it wrestled with the forces eager to bring it crashing down.
Lyra loosened the straps around her torso and swivelled in her seat. The clear blue sky opened to them as they broke loose of the pressure, and splotches of land grew below. Speeding towards an island in the northern reaches, she spotted a shadowed mass fixed in the calming waters. As the light shifted, she realised what it was. The skeleton frame crawled up to the clouds like writhing vines, the main bulk of the Aurora struggling to remain afloat, slowly descending into the depths. In a few years, it may not be there at all.
"We're coming in to land," Cassidy informed them. "Might be bumpy so tighten your belts."
The hull creaked as the ship lurched forwards and dipped. Lyra kept her eyes on the world outside, watching as the ocean rose towards them at speed. The wheels lowered and just when she thought they may hit the waves, sand shot up and sprayed the windows. With a few bumps and a sway, they trembled to a standstill.
The clamour of the engine faded, and the pistons fired to drop the door and let the sunlight in.
"Scans have approved the area," Cassidy reported. "You're all clear to vacate the craft."
Hunter was the first out of his seat, vaulting down the steady incline and throwing his head back in bliss.
Samuel clambered out after him, eyeing the terrain suspiciously before he took those initial tentative steps. The warm sand prickled his feet, and the blasts of heat radiating from the sun burrowed beneath his dive suit.
"Breathe in that fresh air, Sammy boy," the doctor gushed. "Have you ever smelled anything so clean?"
"I hate it when you call me that," Samuel grumbled, holding his hands out to stabilise himself as he traversed the uneven sands. Something circular crawled towards him, a bioluminescent ring glowing from the top. The creature launched itself at him and he stumbled back into Hunter.
"Careful of the cave crawlers," Lyra called to the pair, shielding her eyes as she descended the ramp with Cassidy and Marguerit following close behind. "They're not dangerous, but they can give you a nasty nip."
"Now you tell us!" Samuel squeaked, hiding behind Hunter as the spindly beast scuttered away.
Lyra pushed her way towards the shade beneath the island's mighty mountains, her vision adjusting and granting her a better look at the layout. The peaks rose and pierced the clouds and plant life sprouted around the area, but the most prominent feature was the alien structure jutting from the western side of the island. Each block built it higher, but there didn't seem to be any logic in the construction. "The design of this tower is like the facility my mum was in," she said, glancing up at Samuel. "Have you got the coordinates?"
Samuel swiped at his PDA and clicked his tongue as the information loaded. Green paths wove around the map, charting their current location and the way ahead. "Once we've constructed the sea pod, we need to head that way," he instructed, pointing them south. "I don't know how the hull integrity will hold up as we get deeper, so we may have to swim the last hundred metres, but there should be an opening-"
"If we're clever, swimming won't be necessary," Marguerit told them, four sets of inquisitive eyes turning to her. "The previous owners of the planet built complex teleportation systems that could take them from one end of the world to the other." She gestured to the mountains and swished her hand out to the sprawling seas. "I can show you. There should be an archway close by."