- Scurvy
Freefall
For one beautiful moment, nothing seemed to happen.
The world moved slowly and in complete silence, the Bubble slipped away, the high wind shifted its exhaust trail, Auger’s body seeming to float as it began to fall…
The Bubble zoomed off; he watched it intently for signs of his fellow jumper.
But nothing happened, the bulbous flying machine continued on its course below the mines.
For a few moments he thought the unthinkable; Liez had set him up again, it was all just a lie. If he were to pull on the ripcord attached to his parachute-pack, nothing would happen. He’d fall to his death.
Then, as if to break Auger from his inner drama, things began moving quickly again in an unholy roar.
The Bubble pulled up recklessly towards the swarm of deadly mines, already attracting the attention of the lowest-fliers.
Like a swarm of angry bees, the mines lazily converged on their rapidly approaching target. It was all over in a matter of moments. The Bubble hungrily rushed to meet its doom, the first mine made contact, shredding the Bubble’s unwieldy hull like tissue paper.
Pieces of metal flew in all directions, red-hot from the explosion, zinging past Auger audibly.
The spreading wreckage from the first explosion detonated other mines, until the sky surrounding the bubble’s last position bloomed in explosive radiance.
The first shockwave hit, knocking the air from the petrified Human’s lungs.
Fire and smoke filled the air.
He hadn’t seen Liez jump.
Nothing could have survived that hellfire, not even that little sneak.
The scene grew smaller as Auger fell to the ground, his legs towards the sky and face regarding the smudge he’d escaped from.
He soon realized, as deep panic set in, that he’d been falling for a long time,
Calling upon a little mental solidarity and memories of half-serious flight safety training, Auger spread his arms and righted himself so he belly-flopped towards the ground.
Scrubby plains laid out across tens of miles greeted his view.
It was close, he knew if he left it too long he’d break his legs on impact, though if he did it too soon the parachute wouldn’t open properly.
The ground looked closer, now seemed as good a time as any to take the plunge.
Gulping, he Reached up to his shoulder and steeled himself for the worst.
He pulled hard on the ripcord, there was a loud sound of fabric on fabric before the parachute shot out and opened up to slow his fall.
The pack’s straps tightened almost instantly and felt like they were cutting to the bone, draining the inertia Auger had gained during the fall.
It took a few seconds for Auger to grab the parachute handles and control his descent, working off instinct.
Then he spotted it, another open parachute like his a few hundred feet below.
Liez must have bailed out in time. Auger thought, relieved.
After a few experimental tugs on the parachute handles, Auger was confident enough to try and maneuver his landing point as close to Liez as possible.
Several minutes later, Liez’s ‘chute made contact with the ground, billowing in the breeze.
Auger watched it intently as he tried in vain to land as close as possible, still learning how to guide his descent.
He hit the ground at a semi-run, before tripping and falling onto the dusty Hekshanian ground, his ‘chute settling on top of him.
Auger had forgotten about gravity, it seemed unreal just how much more he weighed here then on the IM. Not daring to move, he allowed himself to breathe deeply and acclimatize to the feeling.
Slowly, taking care, Auger pulled himself up onto all-fours and held himself like that for several seconds before trying to stand. The difference in gravity was less then a third, but Auger swore has he heard his bones creak.
The landscape seemed to be mostly dry savannah…Tall grasses and scrubby patches of bushland with the towering, insurmountable giants of the Red Mountains in the distance.
Taking small steps he unhooked the parachute fabric, leaving a lightweight backpack of struggle with.
Standing to his full height, Auger tried to get his bearings, the air being cool despite the sun being high in the sky.
Auger grinned wide, just realizing he’d survived something so dangerous.
Heartened by this, he bunched up his parachute, standing on it for extra height to try and find Liez.
He spotted another ‘Chute, red and white polymer rustling in the breeze not far off.
Wincing at the forgotten feeling of extra weight, Auger hopped off the pile of fabric and plastic and began running towards the other parachute.
“Liez!” He shouted, running towards the other parachute trying to rouse his compatriot.
No answer came, the smile dropped from his face.
“Liez? C’mon, where are you?”
There was a slow moan from under the parachute in answer.
Throwing much of the parachute aside, Auger soon realized why Liez wasn’t up and about.
Liez had been laying face-up underneath the parachute, an impressive piece of debris protruding from his abdomen.
“Oh fuck, don’t move!” Auger knelt down and hastily tried to assess the situation, rusty medical training coming to the foreground with agonizing slowness.
Liez’s eyes widened for a few moment as he tried to sit up despite the metal stopping him.
“Don’t do that! Ruler…Just lie still and I’ll figure this out.” Auger panicked, pushing the Chuian’s small frame back to the ground.
After a few moments he’d decided what needed to be done, it was going to be horrible.
Now more then ever he wished he’d never gotten involved in any of this.
“Liez! L-liez!? Look at me, you gotta stay awake for this part. I want you to stay awake.” He slapped the Chuian’s face harshly, getting Liez’s attention as his eyes snapped around and locked onto Augers face.
Almost comically, Auger gave the foreign body of metal an experimental nudge.
It shifted position with a sickening sucking sound, causing the stricken Liez to black out for a few seconds in pain.
“Okay, we’re in luck!” Auger said with clenched teeth as he prepared to stem the resulting bleeding from what he was about to do.
Looming over the wound, he wrapped his hand around the piece of debris and gave it a gentle tug to assess its shape inside Liez’s body, then did the only thing that seemed to make sense.
In one swift slick of the wrist, the metal was out and skittering across the dusty ground. Fearing blood-loss, he hastily ripped a sleeve from Liez’s overalls and wrapped strips of the frayed brown material around the stricken Chuian’s torso.
Keeping pressure on the wound beneath the makeshift wrappings, Auger took several deep breaths to calm down while he checked Liez’s small frame for other injuries.
Finding none, he took stock of the situation. Running from the most effective force of law there is, they’d just survived a mine-run, parachuted through the explosion of their ship, and to top it off, Auger had just pulled a comparatively large piece of spaceship out of his companion.
Trying to decide if he’d get away with taking the pressure off Liez’s wound long enough to vomit; Auger noticed that Liez was still conscious. His eyes attempting to bore holes through Auger’s skull, though they seemed glazed over and uncomprehending.
“Can you hear me? You’re going into shock. I’d give you some morphine but I forgot to pack my pharmacy today.” Auger said, beginning to feel inexplicably intoxicated as he realized the enormity of their problems.
Liez showed no sign of comprehension, instead beginning to shiver as his body attempted to assimilate its new condition.
Seeing no landmarks nearby but the distant mountains, it seemed unlikely anyone would just happen by with medical equipment. After all, that was why this seemed like such a good landing site, it was in the middle of nowhere between the mountains and the midland plains.
So the decision was made, Liez needed medical attention that two month’s medic training and a bandage made of overalls wouldn’t provide.
North Tek was only forty miles away by traveling in a straight line, as opposed to the ten mile hike to Yeka they were originally planning on.
And in Liez’s condition, traveling on foot was going to be complicated.
Before they set off Auger checked through the former parachute packs, and discovered, to his dismay that among other things they contained a small first-aid kit. Though better then before, Auger’s kit contained only a 12” bandage, a small bottle of medium-strength paracetamol, and a suspect tube of antiseptic gel labeled in old script Conturian.
He decided against disturbing Liez’s wound for now, stuffed the Aid-kit and a few other essentials into one bag before shouldering it and slipping both arms under the unconscious Chuian, beginning headway to North Tek.
