With resources scarce, the crew look for alternatives.

It had taken the group of stranded ship officers several hours to get a manifest of their supplies, finding that they had enough food and water to last the week until a rescue ship would arrive… A week after their supplies would run out. “This is not good.” Commented Santos to himself, wiping the sweat off his brow when the supplies and equipment were gathered and placed in the one pod as a makeshift stock house. The other two pods had their parachutes gathered up and were being propped over the entrances with rods just like crude camp tents to keep the surface cool and keep out the sand. “As it stands, we’ll starve by the time the rescue shows up, and in this heat, we’ll die of dehydration before that.”

“Sir?” Called out Ensign Franklins, knocking on the door of the stock house pod before entering. The young man wore short red hair and a thin beard to match, his arm bandaged from the rough landing his pod endured after the crash. “We gathered everything we could from the three pods like you asked, but I think there might be more.”

“What do you mean?” Asked Lieutenant Santos, handing a clip bored to a fretting Rebecca who continued to check off a list of their equipment that was salvaged.

“I remember a fourth pod that was with us when we crashed out here, but the thing exploded when the ship did half way down the descent… Uhm… If I’m right the remains might have some equipment and supplies that survived.”

“If you’re right?”

“Well its worth a shot isn’t it? Besides… If there are crewmembers that died that we’re close enough to find, I think their families would appreciate it if we bring back their tags or ID for mementos.”

Giving the idea some thought, the lieutenant looked to his assistant. “Alright, I’ll let you go and find it, hopefully something useful survived.” Taking the pad back from Rebecca, the man continued. “And be sure to bring Rebecca with you.”

“But sir, I’m needed here.”

“I can handle the manifest on my own Rebecca, besides you look like you could use the fresh air for now. If you’re kept in here scribbling down lists any longer, you’ll be bouncing off the walls, now go.”

Slowly nodding and stroking her pony tail again, Rebecca got up and joined Franklins at the door. The moment she did, she and Franklins took the torn sleeve of a spare shirt they managed to find in one of the pods to wrap around their heads and face to keep out the sand and to avoid losing moisture in the daylight heat. The moment they both stepped out into the open the temperature difference became more than obvious. The glazed dunes the three pods rested on had cooled bad was still hot to the touch in the mid day. Several other crew members had taken to staying in their pods to avoid the heat while a few in sight gathered what they could to hold out until nightfall.

“Where did you say the fourth pod crashed?” Asked Rebecca, keeping a hand over her eyes to block the sunrays out of her eyes.

“Over there, I’d say its two or three hundred feet from our landing site, you can see the trail of smoke even over the winds.”

Looking over to where Franklins pointed, Rebecca noticed the thin plume of smoke and nodded, deciding to follow the ensign out into the dessert. It took the two of them almost half an hour to cross the dunes to the location of the smoke, the pair shielding their eyes the entire time to the harsh wind and heat.

“THERE!” Franklins pointed over to the glint of metal poking out of the sands.

By the time they arrived at the ruined pod, the pair’s sense of hope dropped at the sight of things. Scorched metal and debris littered the entire area, the sands surrounding the impact was melted into volcanic glass from the heat. There was hardly anything left of the fourth pod, what was worse was the intense heat had incinerated everything contained inside and its occupants.

“Well… Guess we can safely say there’s nothing left.” Sighed Rebecca, her shoulders sulking.

“Not quite…” Slowly moving over the wreckage to something that caught his eye, Franklin sifted through the sand at what he though was one of the green food storage containers they now had stored back at their make-shift camp. “Here, help me clear this away.”

Getting to the spot where Franklins was digging away the sands, Rebecca fell to her knees and did the same, digging away the sand to clear the object free. “Ow!” Recoiling his hand, the man noticed a quill stuck in his finger, pulling it free and examining it. “What the hell is this?”

Scratching her own fingers on something sharp, Rebecca reached behind her and pulled free her knife from the small tool kit she had on her belt. Using her knife as a crude shovel, she cleared away the sand to reveal something green and smooth with quills lining specific angles down its shape.

“What is that? A cactus?”

“Why would a cactus grow underground?

“Maybe it was buried in the crash, even so I think we may have solved our water issues.” Answered Franklins, managing to join Rebecca in carefully digging free the large plant. “Cacti retain moisture in their trunks, if we gather enough of them, we might have something to eat and drink after all.”

Perking up at the information, Rebecca used her knife to carve out a chunk of the plant, noticing a green clear fluid spurt out of the cut before freeing a chunk and biting into it. “REBECCA! Don’t eat that!” Already swallowing the small piece, she found it tasted like lime yet had the same juicy consistency of watermelon. “Spit it out! It could be toxic!” Blinking back at the information, Rebecca coughed and tried to hack up the piece of plant, but nothing came out, but then again… If it were toxic, she didn’t feel sick or dizzy. Checking the woman over for any signs of poisoning or allergic reaction, Franklins found that for now she seemed alright, sighing in relief but still worried.

Well… I think it could be toxic, cacti on Earth certainly are if not treated.” Digging deeper and freeing a bulb of the cactus they dug free, the two got up and kept looking. “We’ll bring this back to camp for testing, HOPEFULLY nothing horrible happens.”

“Like what?”

“Dunno… Maybe your hair falls out.”

“FRANKLIN!” Giving the man a soft punch in the shoulder, the two continued to scrounge the destroyed pod for any signs of crew that managed to be onboard. While doing so, Rebecca scratched at the back of her neck, finding her skin felt unusually dry.