The Abyss

3- Supply Drop

His PDA brought up a new notification: "Incoming Vesper shuttle: one-way passage to station: 600 thousand credits. This is currently your only viable route off planet 4546B. Do you wish to accept payment? Y/N?"

Martin groaned in frustration. 600 thousand credits?? That was half their pay in the first place! On the other hand, it was their ticket off, but 600 thousand... He nearly choked on nothing but pure outrage. That explained Maria's agitation. She had wanted the trip only so she could save up enough credits to buy her own place, back on Earth. Now that split pay would never suffice and she'd have to take another transit job, which she deeply hated. He felt a deep regret at his blunder; he had lost the Seahawk. He could have done better. He could have saved her. He... He was the captain. Now he had no ship, no crew, and no planned future. Before he had even realized what he really had, he had lost everything. He would never be able to get his own ship now, not with history of a failure like that. How could one single event cause so much disappointment and regret? He let out a long breath. He hadn't appreciated anything fully... It was frustrating, and at the moment all he wanted to do was get out of the situation; curse those transit fees! He was fuming and his crew could tell. Maria noticed, and after a second thought, in a rather half genuine, controlled manner, spoke a bit softer; "You did what you could Martin. There's no point in hating yourself for it." She gestured at all of them standing in a circle on the beach, tired and weary. "We made it alive." And she meant that statement. She was upset, there was no denying that, and their relationship was most likely over. "No point... let's get off this planet."

And Martin was forced to acquiesce. There was no other way. Either they stayed here to starve, returned to the research base (for which they had no authorization), or accept the fate they all had. He channeled all the energy and self control he had left and nodded. "You are right. Accept the payment transfer."

And that was that. The transport vessel landed in an hour at their beach location, higher inland, and they boarded it without much of a word to one another. The trip to the station was deathly silent. No one looked at the other, they all gazed disappointed at the ocean planet below, sinking farther and farther into the distance as the Vesper approached. The ring of icy land around the equatorial plane did not surprise anyone. They were all too sullen to wonder. The blue and wispy white clouds resembled a magnified glass marble from this height, its surface reflecting much light back in all directions. The oceans were like a giant mirror. It was a pretty planet...maybe nicer than Earth, but Martin did not say this out loud. He caught Maria's eye for a second before she turned to look out the window again. He didn't want her to be doomed, stuck out beyond the phasegate. He promised himself that he would help her out as much as he could; she was still beautiful no matter how angry or sad she appeared. They did not see the orbital station till it was time to dock with Vesper.

He said goodbye to Alondro and Roy before they parted from them. They had a fare to catch; family wealth had been at their disposal perhaps? A commodity he never knew. He let that immature jealousy go; that was simply not how he had been raised. He didn't care much for his own part. What was the point? He did this. He would probably seek employment aboard Vesper till he accumulated the credits to return... That was an unlikely prospect. That was 6 phasegates away and now Maria would hate him for it. Or at least be resentful toward him. She would find a way with her expertise and smarts. Unlike Martin, she had a generous extended family that could spare a couple hundred thousand credits, and her engineering knowledge was only to her advantage.

Martin considered calling his own family...and shrugged the thought. That was ridiculous. He could take care of the matter eventually; they would only make a fuss about it. He just needed time to rest. Time to think.