Part 80

And so the remaining six survivors made their way through the shrouded, fog laden sea of green woodland, with ever increasing speed, feeling the danger of their surroundings seemingly intent on suffocating the very air from their lungs.

Over the hills, no more than a mile ahead of them, the door to the bridge of The Evergreen opened with the resistance of a rusted wreck. Scraping along the fragments of debris left from the crash, the consoles sparking, revealing the little life they still held on to with clenched fists of iron will. With the door open, not needing any pass codes to enter, the security system offline, along with almost everything, the man sniffed as he made his way to a console at the far right side.

Creaking echoed through the halls of The Evergreen as she complained, the aches throughout her body worsening. The man found the panel that he was seeking, and removed the facing, revealing various cables, some of which had melted, no doubt because of an overload caused by the crash. After isolating the power he prepared to do his work, using his knife, he stripped the cables of their melted sheathing. Spending some time making them safe, he began to re-wire the console. "There." he muttered to himself, "That should do it..." and he allowed the small measure of power left clinging to the wrecked systems through into the console he had worked on. A couple of small sparks spat out at him, forcing him to unexpectedly to fall back from his knees. "Thank you, Theo. My systems have been in a bad state since the impact." came the soothing voice of Eve, slightly jiddery in places as she arranged her voice modules into order. "I am detecting multiple friendlies aboard, I am giving them instructions to accompany you on the bridge." Theo stood back and smiled.

Solomon checked his watch, nightfall was soon to be had on this side of the planet. He estimated that they had roughly an hour before darkness engulfed them. He prayed that they would find the wreckage shelter before then. Increasing his pace, the small group followed suit, detecting the urgency, they did not protest with the almost jogging speed of which Solomon now kept, even with their injuries, they knew it would probably mean their death if they didn't keep up to their leading figure. The sun was setting quicker than Solomon anticipated and already the ground was becoming harder to read, causing most of the group to trip and fall. Solomon begrudgingly conceded to their pleas and agreed to allow them to rest until dawn. They would need to arrange watches throughout the night.

The Gryph pilot that eventually introduced himself as Byryl volunteered to make their make-shift camp, Solomon agreed and told the two crewmen to help him. Sykra and Lyra ventured out together to collect wood for a small fire, the two crew members decided to make comfortable of the patch of earth they now found to be home for the night, casting glances of concern to each other when their eyes met. Eager to be safe together at their home back on earth.

Solomon paced slowly around the perimeter of the camp, always keeping it in his line of sight, Noting the exhaustion in Byryl's features, guilt spiked inside his stomach, had he pushed the poor alien too far? Forcing Sykra to effectively drag him most of the way, his broken bent leg bleeding through the bandages that dressed the wound. Trying to shake the feeling, he turned and scanned for the horizon, the fog seemed thinner now, he could make out the end of the forest. "Safer in the trees." he stated to himself, brushing away the idea of pressing on. If the group had suffered less, he would have forced them on further. Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise? Perhaps, their rest will allow them good fortune tomorrow, and raise spirits as exhaustion will be lessened.

Sykra returned first with arms full of broken sticks, lush with green leaves, Byryl clapped with enthusiasm and cheered "Yes Sykra! We be warm at night, because of you!" but the couple sat across from him raised their eyebrows, and both rolled their eyes."Hey!" barked Byryl, "You no do that! He is helping! I do not see your human back yet!" he scoffed. Patting the arm of his hurt partner, the crewman got to his feet, "Oh honey, all that stuff will do, is give off puffs of smoke thicker than this fog and smell worse than your arse." he said with a hint of sass. His voice showing the roughness of the previous days, his husband pulled at his hand, with a concerned look, "I'll need you unhurt" he said with a soft smile as Arnold knelt back beside him and ran his fingers through his husband's hair, returning his smile.

Lyra chose her fire wood carefully, her father used to take her camping before he passed, he always told her, "the deader it is, the better it burns and the less smoke it gives off." after nearly half an hour, she had a mere seven thick sticks, not enough. Checking in the brush, she rummaged through the fallen leaves and still living branches that stooped low, by the time she found a good enough branch to burn, the soil had soaked her knees and shins, with a huff, she got back to her feet, happy with her find, and looked around for more, and then she saw it. Through the thinning fog, and just close enough to see the silhouette against the darkening sky. "Sol!" she called out urgently.