Martianautic

Chapter 1

     "How's it, uh, lookin' over there, Brookestone?"

     "Well, Walker, I think you'll be happy to hear that... although in grid section 28, the particles are fairly coarse, in 29, they're, uh, much finer, and they should be ideal for chem analysis."

     "Oh wow, did you guys hear that? Cole just discovered dirt," Jay joked. "Should we alert the media?"

     An eyeroll was earned from the black-suited martianaut at the blue-clad mechanic's remark. "I'm sorry, what are you doing over there, Walker? Making sure the MAV is still upright?"

     "Well I'd like you to know that visual inspection of the equipment is imperative for mission success, Brookestone," Jay retorted, then added, "I would also like to report.. that the MAV is still upright."

     Cole breathed a laugh as Lloyd sighed. "Brookestone, you keep leaving your channel open, which leads to Walker responding, which leads to everyone else listening, which leads to us being annoyed."

     "Roger that. Jay, the captain would like you to please, uhh, shut your smart mouth," Kai smirked from his side of the rover, receiving a wheeze of laughter from Jay's end of the channel in response.

     "We'd prefer to use a different adjective to describe Walker's mouth," Zane called from the Hab, sharing an amused look with Nya beside him.

     Jay let out an exaggerated gasp. "Did Zane just insult me?!"

     "Dr. Julien, and yes," Kai corrected with a chuckle.

     "Happy to turn the radios off from here, Commander," Nya added in, "Just say the word."

     "Wait, Nya! Constant communication is the hallmark of-"

     "Shut 'em off, Nya."

     "NO-" was all Cole managed to get in before the radios screeched, and there was silence. He stood up from the bed and threw his hands in the air at Lloyd, who only walked by with an exaggerated shrug.

     "I'm sorry you felt the need to get involved in the black and blue banter, Smith," he joked with a slight warning undertone as he walked over to the red martianaut.

     "Apology accepted," Kai grinned. "How many samples do we need, Commander?"

     "Seven, a hundred grams each."

     A beeping from inside the Hab drew Nya's attention from one computer to another as she sipped at her coffee. The screen read "EMERGENCY" in blinking orange letters over a virtual map of the area.

     "We have a mission update, Storm Warning," Nya informed Zane behind her, setting her mug on the counter. "Commander, you should probably come inside, you're gonna wanna take a look at this."

     "What is it?" Lloyd asked, standing up from the coarse red sand.

     "Storm Warning," Nya replied.

     "Yeah, I saw that in this morning's briefing, we'll be done before it arrives. It'll be fine."

     "Yes, but it appears they've upgraded their estimate," Zane said. "This storm is going to be a lot worse than previously suspected."

      "Walker, how's it look?" Lloyd called to the westernmost martianaut. Jay let out a breath as he watched the clouds of dust roll over the hill.

     "...Not that great."

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     Nya glanced at the blinking mission status update at the bottom of the screen that read, "emergency, severe storm approaching, alert crew" with an exhale. "We'll probably be in here for a while," she sighed.