Scorched Earth, Alien Wonders
Chapter 28: Saved by the Light

We trudged on for hours, talking, laughing and taking short rests in whatever snippet of shade we could find. I missed Torie, and it was evident by how many times I reached for the mini-binocs that had been hanging around my neck most every day for the better part of two months. Habits were hard to break, but it was also a testament to not appreciating the true value of someone until they were gone.

I was walking in the lead again, but my energy suddenly started dropping like a stone. I felt a breeze picking up, which in most cases was a good thing, because it stifled the heat a bit, but that day it just felt like hot air, stinging my face.

“Are we there yet?” Davis asked, chuckling at his own joke.

Suddenly, what started out as a little breeze action, picked up to be a little more like wind action. Next thing I knew, dust was flying around so thick we could barely see, especially in the dimming light as night was coming on.

“Oh, fica-crap!” yelled Moore. “The wind is kicking up a dust storm again!”

Are you kidding me?

Just when I thought I was on my way off this tortured planet, so I could get separated from a malfunctioning program that threatened to become permanent—the tide of events turned against me again!

Oh, buck up...stop being such a whiner and power through this.

“Everyone put your hand on the shoulder of the teammate in front of you!” I yelled, as the wind picked up even stronger. With Moore’s hand on my shoulder, I forced myself to lean in and put one foot in front of the other.

We inched along like a hunchbacked centipede for what seemed like hours.

I was feeling weak and I really needed my heightened PD senses to give me directional instincts, but I felt lost, and began to wonder which way I was headed. It felt like I was in a shuttlecraft on visual at night during a storm, with no instrument-panel for directions.

Then I stopped in my tracks and squinted to see better in front of me. Off in the shadowy distance, I saw a light. It was a bright, vertical, beam of light.

“Do you see that?” I shouted at Moore behind me.

He and the others moved up to stand close to me, with Moore on one side, and Jones on the other. I grabbed her arm to steady myself, as waves of dust and wind swirled around us.

“That has got to be Osette’s radon-pulse running a subterranean search for Torie!”

“Yeah, I see it!” shouted Jones, as everyone nodded in agreement.

“Okay, let’s move!” I yelled and started walking forward on wobbly legs.

We got as close to the light as we dared, then we sat down to wait for it to withdraw so we could make a mad dash to the transporter once it was safely clear.

It’s so dark...I hope we can still find it after the light disappears.

The Earth must have been listening, because as soon as I finished my thought, the wind and dust started dying down. In a matter of minutes, we could see twinkling stars in the sky, along with a full moon. It looked exactly as it did the night we landed.

Then, without warning or sound, the light stopped oscillating and retracted into the dark within 2 seconds.

“Let’s go!” I shouted.

We all ran as fast as we could to get to the location of the wormhole, but I lagged behind...quickly running out of steam.

“Moore! You go first!” I shouted.

“No way, Captain! I will go after everyone else, including you!” Moore yelled back over his shoulder.

I was panting loudly and feeling weak when I caught up to the others, who stood looking at the wavy spot in the night air about 4-feet off the ground. They looked at that transporter entrance like it was made of rare Rosenian jewels. It was the portal to the most welcome wormhole we had ever seen.

“We have no time to waste! I will find Torie’s travel case, so you guys get going!” I said, trying harder to power through the weakness I was feeling.

“Jones, you are a civi, so you need to go first!” yelled Moore.

I went off to poke through the dead, bushes looking for Torie’s case.

“Okay, but don’t make me come back here after you!” Jones shouted.

I turned and she was looking directly at me. Then she ran and did a kangaroo hop straight through the wormhole, and disappeared into the dark waves.

Doc cleaned the dust off his glasses then shouted “Bye for now!” He took a running start, and jumped into the wormhole. Pretty brave for a guy who didn’t like transporter travel.

“No time to waste!” shouted Brown, and she held her nose like she was diving into a pool as she ran and jumped straight into the transporter.

“See you on the other side!” yelled Davis and he ran over and jumped into the wormhole like the pro that he was.

“After you, top dog!” Moore said to me, as I walked up shaking a pound of dust off Torie’s case.

“You know the captain always goes last,” I said, looking straight into the eyes of my old friend.

“Okay,” he reluctantly agreed. “But I will second what Jones said...don’t make me come back here after you!”

He turned and ran full speed to jump into the wormhole. I picked up Torie’s travel case and tossed it full force into the dark waves and it disappeared instantly.

I had one final look around the dusty, barren landscape, said “good luck,” to Mother Earth. Then I took my last, deep breath of scorched air, summoned all the energy I had left, started running and jumped head-first into my ride home.

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