Natural light coming in through the porthole in his cabin had caused the captain to awaken with a start. He sat up in his bed and noticed that the blankets he’d tucked under his mattress to keep him from sliding onto the floor were no longer necessary. Across the hallway Ansul woke at nearly the same time. Taking note of the exact same thing he ran for the captain’s cabin. The two men, still dressed in pajamas, nearly ran straight into one another in the hallway.

“What happened!?” the captain asked.

Just then a whirring sound and Herschel came walking out of his cabin and into the hallway a few doors down. “Well, this sure is easier.” he commented.

Ansul gave him an angry look. “Easier to walk around maybe but how in the blasted hell are we supposed to lift like this?”

Herschel’s expression changed instantly to one of terrible realization. “You’re right. Now we’re really stuck!”

Tarsik tensed his fists. Despite always waking early because he felt it was the proper thing for a captain to do he was not a morning person and being awoken to find yet one more problem added to their already substantial list was putting him in an even worse mood.

“Herschel, get dressed and get up to the cockpit, see what the situation is. Broadcast that distress call again.” the young pilot instantly snapped into action. Tarsik had really just wanted the junior officer gone so that he and Ansul could talk privately.

“This is impossible isn’t it?” he asked grimly. “We cannot lift like this, right?”

Ansul thought about it for a moment, his head still a little foggy following the previous day’s incident.

“Well if we had full power, I mean full power, and we used some of the ship’s supplies to construct some kind of jack to lift the nose to at least 15 degrees then just maybe we could lift.”

The captain let out a disheartened sigh. “So then…no.”

Ansul didn’t know what to say. He’d never seen the captain so demoralized. He knew that in a few moments Tarsik would pull himself together for the benefit of the crew and keep on fighting so long as he drew breath but at that very moment in time it seemed as though he wanted to give up.

“Breakfast Ansul. Please go tell the cook to make the most outlandish breakfast he can possibly make. We’re going to start this day off well, make sure everyone is hopeful, and see what we can get done. We avoid talking about the ship coming down on her side other than to mention how much easier it is to walk around okay?”

The first officer nodded in agreement. “Can do sir.”

With that the two men returned to their respective cabins to get dressed. It was indeed easier to walk around the Honshu with her deck only a couple of degrees off of parallel with the ground.

Just as instructed Chef spared no expense. It probably wasn’t the wisest of moves to be so frivolous with supplies since no one knew how long they would be stranded but the lavish breakfast did exactly as the captain had hoped; it boosted morale and kept attention off of their newest problem.

Over the amazing spread of pancakes, bacon, omelets, biscuits, tarts and other delights a few spoke of the ship’s current condition but most seemed rather happy that they could at least walk around without falling over. Tarsik overheard a conversation or two in which concern was expressed over how it would now be even more difficult to lift but it seemed as though most of the crewmen knew it was near impossible in their original crash-landing position anyway.

He knew that all of his primary crewmen were cool-headed and would perform their duties so long as they had the ability to do so, auxiliary crewmen could be different though. Happily the current batch of auxies didn’t seem to contain any true malcontents, save for Crewman Jones, who’d spent half of the night drinking in the loading bay by himself but even then he’d been tearing down and drying equipment. After their recent escapade aboard Aeolus Station the captain knew that Jones, despite his penchant for strong drink, was a trustworthy man and one hell of a shot with a raygun.

After breakfast Tarsik made sure to stop by the kitchen and thank the cook personally for putting in the extra effort. Chef Grimmik had been on-board for nearly 3 years and had in essence become part of the primary crew. He was short, even by Peka-Paku standards, reaching no more than a meter in height. His kitchen was full of stools and step-ladders that allowed him to reach the shelves and cooking surfaces that had all been designed for a being of roughly human height.

He never complained about it but he was very protective over his space and didn’t like anyone moving things around or otherwise disturbing his layout. To most it just looked like chaos but the sharp-witted little alien had a system, it’s just that no one else understood it. The captain was no stranger to the fact that alien beings had different thought processes and perspectives. Understanding and accepting that fact was one of the things that made him good at what he did.

The captain’s eyes had been bigger than his stomach and he’d gorged himself on those delicious pancakes to the point that he stopped to loosen the belt on his Service uniform a notch before entering the access tube. Crewmen made way as their commander walked past and by the time he reached his destination he wished very much that he had exercised a little more restraint at breakfast. Entering the cockpit he looked around and saw only Herschel.

“Junior Pilot.” he addressed the crewman who quickly turned to acknowledge him.

“Good morning sir.”

“Morning Junior Pilot. Where’s Faust?”

Herschel hesitated for a moment then admitted, “I don’t know sir. I haven’t seen her yet.”

“That’s not like her, she’s not one to leave her post, especially during a crisis.” he slapped the tele-wave on his belt, “Captain Tarsik to Pilot Faust.”

Both men stood there waiting for a response, their brows furrowed. Most of the electronics in the cockpit were shut down to save battery power but bright morning light poured in through the front windows and illuminated the space nicely.

After a moment he tapped it again, “Captain Tarsik to Pilot Faust, please respond.”

Boots clanging through the metal passage that was the access tube turned Tarsik and Herschel’s attention to the rear of the cockpit. Jones’ sweaty and unshaven face became visible as he emerged, “Sir. I have something I feel I should report to you.”

Tarsik nodded, “Go ahead.”

“Sir some of the gear that I was drying last night was missing when I returned from breakfast. I checked the logs and someone opened the loading bay door during that time.”

Instantly Tarsik knew where Faust was. He forgot all protocol and angrily pawed at his tele-wave once more, “Emily! Get your ass back to the ship immediately!”

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Nearly two kilometers away from the Honshu Pilot Faust reached down and turned off her tele-wave. Tarsik’s enraged ranting was making far too much noise. It was bad enough that her boots, and those of Doctor Ramus, were crunching along on dead tree limbs and drawing attention to them. They knew firsthand that there were very dangerous creatures lurking in the forest but seeing as how a raygun had easily dispatched one of the biggest and most deadly of them all the two felt fairly confident that the blaster Faust was carrying would keep them safe.

“You do know that there will be consequences for this don’t you?” the doctor asked Emily, already sweating under the harsh sun and her hair a tangled mess hurriedly tied up behind her head.

“What about you doctor? No fear of reprisal?” she smiled.

“Au contraire...I have no doubt that I’ll be chided until my ears bleed, but when it really comes down to it the captain trusts my judgment…and he needs me.”

“I guess I would say the same Doctor, he needs me. He’ll have to deal with it.”

Being third in command Faust had been approached the evening before by the doctor about being granted permission to disembark to do some biological studies of the local wildlife. Emily had promised to take it up with the captain. When she woke him before dawn and said his little expedition had been okayed and that she planned to tag along he’d suspected that something was amiss but he’d decided not to ask questions. She’d been rather upset with the captain after he’d blamed her for crashing the Honshu and he knew that she wanted to be nowhere near him until he’d summoned the courage to apologize. When her tele-wave had started erupting with the sound of an angry Captain Tarsik his suspicions had been confirmed. Their little trek had not been authorized at all.

“Besides,” she sighed, “if we end up here for good there’s not much use for a pilot is there? If that’s the case then his opinion of me won’t matter very much anyway. If we’re stranded in the garden of Eden for all eternity I suppose I’ll be the new Eve.” She said as she smiled and twirled a strand of hair in her fingers. Then she realized what she had just said and a look of disgust came over her face, “Eww.”

The doctor smiled and shook his head, “My dear you would make a lovely Eve, but being rather well versed on the scriptures you are speaking of I can assure you that Eve is not a character you wish to portray. As far as the captain…Emily you are every bit as stubborn as the as he is.”

She scoffed.

“That said you are also every bit as talented as he is. You’re right, he will forgive you but I have a feeling that betraying his confidence may make it difficult for him to trust you completely in the future. At least for a while.”

As if she hadn’t even heard his last statement she stopped in her tracks and turned to the doctor, “Can you believe that arrogant bastard blamed me for crashing the ship? If it wasn’t for me we’d all just be debris scattered about this Jurassic landscape.”

“Cretaceous, actually.” the doctor remarked smugly.

She smiled and gave him a light punch to the arm. “Come on Yatin, I’m trying to be angry here.”

“You know, I wondered why you wanted us to walk a kilometer or so from the ship before taking any samples or readings.”

“Did you really?”

“I suppose not. I knew something was amiss but I think I wanted to see how it played out.”

“So you’re really not afraid of the captain putting you off of the ship for insubordination?”

“Are you?”

“Not really.” she said, though the possibility did disturb her.

“Besides, like you said we may be here forever.”

She scoffed again.

“There it is.” he smiled as he pointed at her.

“What?”

“You don’t believe that any more than I do. Captain Tarsik, Ansul and the rest of the crew will never give up, just like you and I will never give up. We’ll get off of this planet.”

“And then?” she asked.

“Well, that’s the real question isn’t it?”

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The captain rubbed his head in a vain attempt to stymie the headache that was building as he listened to Ansul read off status reports.

“...rear quarter damage to fin number three. Power systems on deck seven under repair and should be fully functional within the hour. High-gain scanner array severely damaged and will require roughly four hours of work to repair and two scouting robos damaged and inoperable, no parts for repair.”

Tarsik nodded from the pilot’s seat as Ansul finished his extensive report. “I want you to prioritize the repair of that high-gain scanner. I know it’s a long-shot but if we can scan the entire solar system we might just catch sight of any passing ships.”

“Passing ships? Sir we’re 65 million years in the past.” Ansul himself couldn’t believe he just said that. Time travel to the past was...is impossible.

“You don’t think there were no species roaming around the galaxy at that time do you? Surely there has to be someone out there.”

“If they don’t answer our distress call I don’t really see what difference it makes.”

“Come on Ansul, you know as well as I do that a ship could pass by and be long gone in the intervals between our transmissions. If they have something like NC drive they could completely miss our signal as they hop around space.”

“What about power drain sir? The high-gain isn’t all that power hungry but it’s still one more thing we’ll have to find the juice for.”

“I totally agree with you Ansul, we’re going to run out of power soon if we don’t come up with something. After the high-gain is fixed set your men to some of the more menial tasks and I want you digging through everything we’ve got looking for a solution to our energy dilemma. There has to be some way we can construct something to gather solar energy, wind energy....anything.”

Ansul thought for a moment. “It’s not impossible Harry. I’ll see what I can do.”

“I know you will my friend. I have every bit of confidence in you.” the captain tried his best to work up a believable smile.

“What about Faust and the doctor? Are you sending any men after them?”

Tarsik turned away so that Ansul wouldn’t see the stiffening of his facial expressions. He was embarrassed that his own pettiness had driven Faust to place herself in danger to get away from him but at the same time he was also rather angry that she had broken protocol. “Jones says that they took expedition packs, tele-waves and a blaster. They can take care of themselves. I’m not going to waste manpower on them unless it’s absolutely necessary. The welfare of the entire crew is paramount.”

“Must be hard.”

“What?” Tarsik turned back toward the Martian.

“I know you Harry. Admit it or not you’re worried about them.”

“I’d be a damned fool if I wasn’t. They’re part of my crew and I’m responsible for them. What’s more they’re my friends but they’ve gone and done something stupid and I can’t put others in harm’s way because of their foolishness.”

“Do you want me to try contacting them? I mean....she’s just mad at you right?” he chuckled.

“No...wait, you said that two of the scouters were damaged right?”

“Yes.”

“That leaves one operational?”

Ansul nodded.

“Send it out and have it find them. I’ll record a message for it to deliver to them and it can keep an eye on them.”

“Sounds good. Is there anything else before I get out there in that sweltering heat?” Ansul nodded toward the window.

“Find something for me to do Ansul,” he turned to face his first officer, “I might as well make myself useful.”