The Descent

Chapter 25 - Rain

Denton wiped the rain from his face and squinted out towards the field they had just landed on. He tried to spot anything recognizable in the distance, but all he could see through the curtains of rain were the distant, dark shadows of the forest looming on the other side of the field. He dumped his backpack on the ground and sat down next to Leah, close to the trunk of the tree they had taken shelter under. The canopy of the tree was extensive but not thick enough to keep all of the water from the current downpour from seeping through its foliage and down on them.

"Is it always like this?" he asked and pointed towards the sky.

Leah, chewing on some sort of energy bar, nodded. "Around these parts, yes. This area sees a lot of rain, fog and generally just miserable weather."

"I can see that," Denton said and nodded towards the rain. "Does it ever stop?"

Leah shrugged. "Sure, eventually."

"How long do we wait?"

"We don't. The rain is the perfect cover for us to get into town unnoticed. Most people, except maybe farmers and hunters, will be inside."

Denton glanced out at the rain beyond the branches. He was already wet. Drenched didn't sound appealing at all. Not to mention he could already feel the warmth being sucked out of his body. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, we're not going to get lost out there, right?"

"I've done this lots of times. I don't get lost. Here, check this out," she said and held out a small, circular device in her hand.

He carefully picked it up from her outstretched palm and turned it between his fingers. It was circular, about three inches across and had a red and white needle in the middle. The letter N was printed on the top side of the face.

"What is this?"

"It's called a compass. We use it to navigate. It points to the magnetic north. It's primitive, but it works when other high-tech gadgets don't. Or, when other high-tech gadgets can be detected."

"How do you use it?"

"With a map. You line up the northerly direction of the map with the compass, select your heading and then just keep the needle pointed north. It'll take you straight to your destination. Or at least, somewhere pretty close. I scoped out the surroundings before we arrived, so I know where we need to go."

Denton turned the little device in his hands for a few more seconds, amazed at the ability of such a rudimentary device. He then returned it to Leah's outstretched hand.

"You don't have anything like this on Proxima b?" she asked.

Denton shook his head. "Not really. We don't need it."

"Why not?" Leah said and furrowed her eyebrows.

"It's quite simple, really. Since the same side of the planet always faces our sun, we always know which way is north. When you see the sun, you're facing north. Few people actually go to the southern part of the planet. It's just too cold."

"So you don't need a compass," Leah said and nodded as she stood up leaned back against the tree. "You just follow the sun."

"Exactly."

"We can kind of do that here too, although it's mostly useful in the mornings and evenings. The sun rises in the east," Leah said and pointed in what Denton felt was a random direction. "It sets in the west." She pointed in the opposite direction. "Of course, when the weather is like this, even that doesn't really help. The clouds just make everything dark and dreary."

"Tell me about it."

"Alright," Leah said as she reached for her backpack. "You ready to head out?"