The floor of Klokos II was soft and spongy. The pine needles from the trees made the forest floor smooth and quiet. Keisha held the rope and helped Fiolas get down the trunk in the soft light of the glowstick they had dropped earlier. In the dark, she could make out huge tree trunks almost identical to the one they just climbed out of. Above they could only see about halfway up the tree with what looked like a fog obscuring the view higher up. In between the massive trees were several shorter trees that were sure to grow as large as their predecessors.

Fiolas dropped down quietly next to her and they took in the scene together. Fiolas motioned with his hand to be quiet and Keisha nodded. He pointed to what Keisha thought was a pathway but as she followed the path with her eyes she saw it ended abruptly in the middle of a small clearing between trees. Keisha gave him a confused look, but Fiolas missed it because he was searching for something on the ground. He found a large stick and threw it just before the pathway ended. From the ground, a trap door sprung up and a monster the size of a large dog sprung up and grabbed the stick and brought it back below. It happened so quickly Keisha barely had time to get a glimpse of it.

"What was that?" Keisha whispered so quietly she wasn't sure Fiolas could hear her.

"It looks like a smaller version than the monster in the tree. Maybe hairier." He whispered back.

They had unconsciously backed towards the tree and grasped each other's hands. Fiolas hand squeezed hers just as much as she held his and he looked as though he intended to never let go. She tore her gaze away from where the trap door was and looked at him. She had never paid him too much mind on the several-week trip over. They had eaten together and worked out together, just like you did with anyone you were stuck on a ship for, but he had spent a lot of his time reading and Keisha was independent enough she didn't care to bother him.

As she reflected on that trip she realized it had been one of the most boring interstellar trips she had been on. The two of them had never fought or gotten annoyed with each other. They had worked together in a synchronization Keisha had attributed to the training they had received, but in hindsight, it may have been the fact that they saw the world similarly. She followed his gaze and in the dark, she could just barely make out their broken ship on the opposite side of the clearing. The fastest route was straight over the trap door.

"One problem at a time, right?" she whispered back to him. "I don't want to find out what's under that trap door." He squeezed her hand once reassuringly and then let go.

"We have to find a way over there without springing that trap and without finding any other surprises." He scanned the area, "Any suggestions?"

"How fast can you run?" She said as she pulled her knife out. Fiolas caught her meaning immediately.

"Faster than you." He replied. They nodded at each other, "Stick close to the trees if you can, if we split up we have a better chance of at least one of us making it."

"Ok, but if that thing comes out, we have a better chance of killing it together." She spat out a little too loud.

"What if there's more than one that lives in there?" He asked. Her gumption to just run over there was starting to wane. She could see in his eyes Fiolas felt the same. The day was starting to end and Keisha could tell the dim light they had been seeing by was starting to fade. Whatever they were going to do needed to happen fast. Who knew what that thing would do at night.

"Ok, let's take separate routes, but let's stay close enough that if needed the other can go help." She could see Fiolas was thinking it through, and he nodded. "Here," she handed him the plasma gun, "You're the better shot with it and you're faster. There's a better chance for you if you have it." Fiolas took the gun carefully and tucked it behind his back.

"The trap door was roughly three feet wide, which means if there are multiples they will only be able to come out one at a time, assuming they're all about that size." He stooped to the floor and started drawing a map of the clearing in the pine needles. "Instead of racing, why don't you go, then I'll follow ten seconds behind you. We'll both stick to the trees as best we can."

"Except you should go first," Keisha said. "I went down the tree first because I was lighter, but you should run first because you're faster. If you go behind me, then you'll just catch up and it won't work." Fiolas was shaking his head no, "I believe I'm the senior officer here Fiolas." She paused and hoped she looked intimidating even though she stood a solid seven inches shorter, "I'll count to 10 once you take off, we're both smart and capable. Remember sparring on the ship? It will be ok." She squeezed his arm and they stood.

Fiolas crouched down ready to run, she counted down with her fingers, three, two, one. He sped off, keeping to the tree line just like he said. Keisha counted to ten in her mind then followed as best as she could, He really is faster than me. By the time Keisha took off he was halfway to the broken ship. She started feeling hopeful when she reached the halfway point when she saw out of the corner of her eye the trap door lift open and the creature with its many blinking eyes shining in the dark. Terror surged through her and she heard Fiolas yelling at her to hurry.

The creature was fast and had a lot of legs. Just like its friend up above, only this one was hairier and its legs were thicker. The fur or hair on it was a mottled brown and matched the forest floor so well Keisha would not have been able to see it if it hadn't moved. It headed straight for her and at this pace would have her in a few seconds. If she continued going forward it would attack her from behind, so she veered towards the beast to meet it head-on at the last second. Her sudden change of trajectory seemed to confuse the creature who hesitated and went past her. She turned again and this time the creature was coming straight at her and Keisha held her knife firmly and kept her muscles loose just like they practiced at the academy.

She heard the plasma gun, Fiolas must be trying to shoot it. The hairy creature crashed towards her and she slashed at it a little more wildly than she would have liked. Her knife made contact with a leg and sliced it clean off. She kicked the monster off of her and scrambled away from it. As she got up she saw another trap door open again across the path they had been running through, and this time a monster even bigger than the first squeezed through the door, it grabbed the maimed creature and bit it. Keisha watched horrified and frozen in place. The first creature started making a sound like a scream but soon was silenced and wrapped carefully in a silk thread the creature made.

Next to her small creatures the size of small rocks came crawling towards her but went past towards the leg she had severed. Keisha had stood in silent horror while the larger creature took it back to the trap door and disappeared beneath and the smaller creatures took apart the leg and carried bits of it back to wherever they had come from. Fiolas surprised her from behind and grabbed her around the waist and practically carried her to the ship. He used his knife to open a side auxiliary door and shoved her inside. As he pushed the door closed Keisha swore she saw eyes watching from a slightly open trap door.

"Keisha," Fiolas was shaking her and she realized she was trembling from head to toe, "Keisha, come back to me. Are you OK?" She took a couple of deep breaths and fell into Fiolas's arms. He held on tight to her and they took a few moments in the dark cramped hallway that was originally only intended for one person at a time. After her breathing returned to normal she separated from his as much as she could in the cramped hallway.

"I ran to you as fast as I could. I couldn't get a shot with you two so close. That thing almost killed you, Keisha." He was on the verge of panic, "You can not leave me on this cursed planet by myself. Do you understand?" He was whispering as loudly as he could and staring into her eyes. Keisha could only nod in agreement without losing it all over again. He held her close again for a few seconds and then picked up the packs that had fallen from them when they entered the ship. He used another glow stick and the walls lit up.

The familiarity of the ship helped settle them both. "Let's see if we can get to a room. We can secure it and get some rest, then we'll find the beacon and find the cargo hold." Fiolas led the way as they made their way to the barracks. The ship was lifeless. There was no comforting hum of the engines or small beeps to show some sort of gauge was working. No lights to show the clean hallways. The only comfort was that it appeared no creatures had penetrated the outer casing of the ship yet. The air was stale and unmoving the deeper they went into the ship.

At the barracks hallway, they began inspecting rooms, "I think it's best if we stay together, the rooms are small, but I don't want one of us to get trapped alone here." Fiolas said. Keisha nodded.

"We can share the captain's room, his was the biggest on the ship." She responded. Fiolas led the way to the captain's quarters. Once inside they inspected the room for compromises to the outside. The air was stale so Fiolas grabbed one of the emergency oxygen tanks held by the door and released some into the room until it was comfortable to breathe again. They settled on the floor and this time Fiolas shared his protein bars with her.

It was small, as all rooms on this colony ship were, but comfortable. There was one double-wide bed, a desk that was in complete disarray because of the crash, and a small bathroom off to the side. Fiolas started rifling through Alterra's old desk and had a smile on his face when he sat back down next to Keisha.

"Nothing like being able to guiltlessly drink the captain's liquor." They laughed and Fiolas opened the glass bottle and poured them both some. "A toast to the Captain! May he rest in peace on the ship he loved the most." They drank and had a moment of silence.

"What did you mean when you said not to leave you alone on this planet, Fiolas?" Keisha asked. A silence followed and he poured the next drink.

"If it were just me left, I would have never made it out of that cockpit Keisha. This planet was not made for humans." He laughed, "Do you know what one of my biggest fears is?"

"Crashing on an abandoned planet?" Keisha asked with a half-smile on her face.

"Crashing isn't so bad." He smiled, "Do you remember me telling you about spiders from studying the Mother Planet? Right before we crashed."

"A little."

"After hearing there were creatures like that back on our Mother Planet, I thought I knew why they wanted to leave it behind and colonize other planets. I had nightmares about them for weeks, and we've landed on a planet inhabited by only spiders. Except they're bigger and even worse in real life" He laughed as tears streamed down his face. "What are the odds I would end up here?"

"We're getting out of here Fiolas. I promise you, we are getting out of here. We're going to save the other colonists and this planet will be marked as the terrifying place it is and no one will ever be allowed to come here again." They finished their drinks and decided to share the bed as they were both terrified of being alone in this place. As Keisha drifted off to a fitful sleep she determined she was going to keep that promise no matter what.