Elias let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. The VID-2 was battered, scorched, and low on oxygen, but she was still flying.
The metal hatch of the hissed open, venting a cloud of pressurized steam into the lunar twilight. It was a rugged, boxy transport vessel—not built for comfort, but for survival. Inside, Elias sat strapped into the pilot’s seat, his eyes fixed on the flickering blue dashboard.
The onboard AI chirped in response. "VID-2 status: Hull integrity 84%. Fuel cells stable. Atmospheric scrubbers at capacity. Note: External temperatures are dropping faster than anticipated."
With a final, violent jolt, the ship broke free of the dust cloud and surged into the blackness of the upper atmosphere. Below, the cratered ground became a distant map. Ahead, the tiny, glowing lights of New Hope Base appeared on the horizon—a lone campfire in a desert of stars.
"Keep it together, girl," Elias whispered, gripping the flight stick.
Elias looked out the reinforced viewport. The landscape of the Mare Tranquillitatis was a monochromatic nightmare of jagged craters and long, creeping shadows. He was three hundred miles from the main colony, carrying a cargo of stabilized isotopes that the med-bay desperately needed to fight the outbreak.
"Systems check," he muttered, his voice raspy from hours of silence.
Elias let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. The VID-2 was battered, scorched, and low on oxygen, but she was still flying.
The metal hatch of the hissed open, venting a cloud of pressurized steam into the lunar twilight. It was a rugged, boxy transport vessel—not built for comfort, but for survival. Inside, Elias sat strapped into the pilot’s seat, his eyes fixed on the flickering blue dashboard.
The onboard AI chirped in response. "VID-2 status: Hull integrity 84%. Fuel cells stable. Atmospheric scrubbers at capacity. Note: External temperatures are dropping faster than anticipated."
With a final, violent jolt, the ship broke free of the dust cloud and surged into the blackness of the upper atmosphere. Below, the cratered ground became a distant map. Ahead, the tiny, glowing lights of New Hope Base appeared on the horizon—a lone campfire in a desert of stars.
"Keep it together, girl," Elias whispered, gripping the flight stick.
Elias looked out the reinforced viewport. The landscape of the Mare Tranquillitatis was a monochromatic nightmare of jagged craters and long, creeping shadows. He was three hundred miles from the main colony, carrying a cargo of stabilized isotopes that the med-bay desperately needed to fight the outbreak.
"Systems check," he muttered, his voice raspy from hours of silence.