Something strange

Sam settled in for the night, but not before redonning his suit and keeping his pistol within close proximity at all times. He had been trained to sleep pretty much anywhere and at any time and was able to slip into a doze within minutes of touching his pillow, his dreams mostly unclear, but with a sense of urgency to them. He awoke perhaps two or three times at hourly intervals, but only for a few minutes before slipping back into the fog of sleep.

Eventually though, something cut through the sleep loud enough to keep him firmly awake. It was halfway between a scream and a howl, cutting through the night like some unholy prayer to a heathen god and it had Sam up and out of his tent within an instant, his pistol drawn and his eyes darting about for any sign of life. It was still mostly dark, and the camp fire had dwindled considerably. There were stirrings within the tents as the others woke up, peering out at him in confusion and fear.

The scream cut through once again, and this time sounded considerably closer. Everyone was frozen in shock and Sam kept his pistol trained on the darkness surrounding them, waiting for any sign of movement in the murky void. He received none. After a medium sized eternity, there was only silence and a sense that the danger had passed. Sam lowered his pistol and put another block of the fire consumables onto the campfire, sitting down into one the chairs they had set up.

“What the hell was that?” The Captain asked, cautiously approaching, eyes flicking about. “Did you see anything?”

Sam prodded the fire with a stick. “No, there was nothing,” he exhaled slowly, “whatever was out there is gone now, and I doubt it’ll return so long as we keep this fire going.”

“At least we know there are fauna on this planetoid,” She remarked bitterly before turning to the others, “you can all go back to sleep, we’ll keep watch.”

There were multiple grunts of acknowledgement and then the two were alone. Sam watched the robot on her shoulder. “Didn’t do much,” he said, leaning back in his chair and stretching his legs closer to the fire, “that thing might not have been within ten feet, but it was certainly within eleven.”

Alice winced. “I shouldn’t have left the fire unattended before I went to sleep,” she rubbed her temples, “I can take a shift if you wanted to get back to sleep.”

“No, I’m fine,” he shrugged, “I got at least five hours and that’ll do me for now. But tomorrow we’ll most certainly have to move to somewhere less open.”

The Captain nodded. “The lifeboat can be converted into a land vehicle,” she rubbed her arms, “first thing.”

She made an effort to stay up with him, but ultimately fell asleep in her chair about an hour later. Sam regarded her, noticing that without the bodysuit in place she really did have quite a fit body and allowed himself to wonder about that for a treasonous moment before getting his head back into his current task. He kept watch and feeding the fire when necessary until the first rays of sun began to peak through the clouds, bathing the land in a brilliant pinkish light. He took out another protein bar, chewed it ponderously and then slowly eased himself up to his feet, going to check the camp’s perimeter.

There was no real sign of the night’s disturbance, at least not that he could see. With how horribly the creature had howled he thought that it may have been wounded, yet there was nothing to indicate that. He brooded on it for a stretch before returning back to find everyone up and slowly getting into the day.

Once everyone had had their rationed breakfast and the caffeine pills Miguel had smuggled aboard with him, the Captain informed them of the plan. It took no time at all for them to pack everything back into place aboard the pod and ready it for transportation. The landing gear shifted and changed, wheels taking their place and pushing the craft forward at a surprising speed as the Captain deftly navigated it from her wrist-bound tool.

They travelled for half an hour before slowing to a halt and Alice beckoned Sam over to inspect that area she was looking at on her tool. They had cut through forestland and made their to the base of a mountain where several rock formations were strewn about. He looked at it for a moment, taking note of the different angles that ANDY’s drones were able to pick up, and found it to his liking.

“These boulders, rock formations,” he gestured to the tool, “I’d say that’ll give us decent cover and it’s on an incline so we’ll have higher ground if need be...I think we can make this work Captain.”

Alice grinned a little at his approval. “That’s excellent, but before we set up shop I’d like you to take someone and go check out those neighbouring caves,” she moved the drones to the left slightly and the image brought up three caves that marked the side of the nearby mountain base. “I don’t want us to pitch a tent right next to some alien grizzly.”

“Alright,” Sam nodded at once, his hand already opening the pod’s armoury “I’ll go in, have a look...clear anything out if I have to and then return. Easy enough.”

The Captain gave him a pointed look. “Take someone with you,” it was very clearly an order, “I won’t risk my security officer on a whim, have someone watch your back.”

Sam huffed, but nodded his assent. He looked over the crew and considered his options.