They become aware of their situation

After a few hours, the green sun finally set and the survivors could safely leave their escape pods. The starry night was still hot, the temperature being around 35° C, most likely due to the raging volcanic activity in the area. They could see the red glow of the lava fountains on the northern side of the caldera and the ground occasionally trembled lightly under their feet.

Despite that, the small group of survivors managed to assemble near a basaltic column. They were ten, including Mark who was immediately designed as the group’s leader, much to his anguish. Dana, Lin, Tom and Rhonda were joined by the other pod’s crew, consisting of five peoples: Karl and Timothy who were two of the ship’s mechanics, Howard and Jill who were affected to the ship's maintenance and Amos who was in charge of the ship’s propellers.

« So if I understand everything, we are stranded on the planet’s little Mordor and have to wait god’s know how much time before the League could save our ass?” Howard said, clearly the angriest one of the group.

“Yes and please calm down” Mark answered. “The Odyssey sent an S.O.S just before its destruction so a rescue party should reach us in one week, maybe two. With a little rationing, we should be able to wait safely for them”.

“Maybe... Or we can move away from here while we can.”

Everyone turned their head, staring at Rhonda and Tom as they were busy analysing the data they got with a small tablet. Realising she had spoken out loud, Rhonda paused to explain herself.

“Well, I’ve got a good news and a bad one. The good news is that Tom found the signal of another pod. It’s very weak but it’s working so that’s mean there are more peoples alive near us. This pod is probably on the outside of the caldera, but not far from its edge.”

“And the bad news?” someone asked.

“The caldera’s volcanic activity is actually more unstable than what we initially thought. This area was recently flooded by lava, we crashed in what appears to be the edge of a temporary lava lake. If the volcanic activity increases more, we could be in serious trouble” the geologist finished.

Silence fell on the small group. They just realized their situation could become much worse than it already was. Mark sighed as he looked upwards, the sky’s a wondrous show with Circe’s ring partaking the sky while Scylla slowly rose in the starry night.

“We need to be quick then” he began, lowering his gaze to the anxious group around him. “Rhonda and Ivan, you will gather what you need and create an observation site so we can monitor the volcanic activity. We also need volunteers to start exploring the area. We need to find the others but more importantly, we need to find a way out of here”.