~Present~

The team easily came to the agreement to turn back again the way they had first come in order to make it back to the pod by approximately six o’clock that evening, at least until they had a better idea of when this planet’s sun may even set.

Not aware of how cold the nights would be either, they decided first to place a small battery operated heating source both inside, near the door that separated the supplies compartment and the tiny cockpit, as well as right next to the small steps that led from the door to the purplish colored dirt of the ground. They all then finished another silent pre-packaged meal that evening, before taking their turns at slipping behind the closed door of that tiny supplies compartment to change out of the jumpsuits, into the more casual attire that they each usually had only worn inside their own quarters late at night, when they had still resided aboard the only home they had really known.

Jared had taken a quiet seat on the step outside the pod door as he again went through the files of each sample he had recorded that day. Just as quiet as the others that evening, Kyle took a seat inside the cockpit, making yet another attempt at any kind of contact with any other computer, besides just Jared’s, which he of course, had no trouble sending any signal too, which only further proved that both he and Jared’s computers were working correctly. Though, he wasn’t sure exactly how much better that made them feel, all things considered.

Ian took a resigned seat on the step next to Jared as he finally took a moment to look at the truly strange beauty that now surrounded him, as he had spent the last five hours only watching for signs of any kind of danger, instead of truly being able to even take a moment to take in any of this new world.

He finally pulled his eyes from the strange array of clouds slowly making their way for the stars and sighed softly as he glanced at where Jared was forcing his own concentration to the study of the information he had managed to gather that day.

“So, what all did we find?” Ian finally asked him in reference to the screens Jared continued to move through.

“Don’t really have names for any of it, yet,” Jared admitted quietly.

“Well, did you find anything other than just plants, really?” Ian attempted to continue the conversation, if for no other reason than to keep from dwelling on things that couldn’t be fixed right then.

“A few insects here and there,” the younger of the two answered. Lili then moved slowly across the pod behind the open door they sat in, and took one of the other seats in the cockpit, leaning her head sadly against the seat in a melancholy silence of her own as Jared softly answered Ian’s question.

“Plants and bugs, huh?” Ian sighed.

“Well, we only covered about a square mile today, if that,” Jared offered, though still didn’t look up from his screen as he spoke.

“Do we know if we really wanna meet anything more complex than that right now, really?” Kyle offered his own quiet comment, which only caused slight sighs as Lili turned her eyes even tighter to the floor in her own continued silence.

“So,” Ian continued to Jared with his own breath, “do we think any of those plants are edible, or anything, just in case?”

Lili then allowed a more broken sigh, before standing again, to return to the supplies compartment. She then wordlessly retrieved some of the bedding they had brought along for their supposed seven night stay, and curled into a blanket against one of the supply crates, pulling the door of the compartment shut behind her.

“Guess she’s tired?” Kyle allowed with his own sad shrug, despite how early in the evening it still was, and the fact that it had only really been about six hours since their involuntary three day ‘nap.’

Jared swallowed a bit, as he moved his eyes from where they had automatically followed the closing of the compartment door, and back to his computer screen, “Considering the make-up of most of them, there’s a few in there that could very well be edible.”

“Is that the computer’s theory, or the psychic network’s?” Ian asked, though his words sounded more sad than bitter, right then.

“Computer’s,” was Jared’s simple answer, not even bothering to try voicing any more denial of his trust in his own abilities right then.

“So, I guess that’s our plan for tomorrow?” Kyle put in from his seat nearest that outer door where they sat, though only after another long, quiet moment, “More cautious exploring, while trying to deem what, if anything, we could possibly live on, down here?” he offered, trying not to let his voice show any emotion through the words, as difficult as that was rapidly becoming, for all of them.

“Depends on how long we’re planning on being here,” Jared offered his own vague answer.

“Well, if the ship’s really gone,” Kyle began, forcing back his own emotions in response to saying that out loud once more, “then I guess as long as we can…survive here,” he finished, in a near whisper, as he looked down as well, taking a deep breath to hold back any other reaction he himself had to the reality of the matter.

“And what does that mean?” Jared asked simply, finally looking away from his screen to allow his dark eyes to sadly take in their surroundings once more.

“What does what mean?” Ian asked slowly, a slight furrow to his brow.

“Well, do we mean, as long as we can keep breathing, and functioning at all, or are we actually talking about how long we can survive?”

“There’s a difference?” Ian asked in the same slow, questioning tone.

“Yeah, there’s a big difference between four people, just staying alive, and four people actually…surviving,” he stated in the same forced flat, emotionless tone as his eyes stayed on anything but his companions.

“Not sure I follow,” Ian admitted with only a decibel more volume.

“He means…” Kyle attempted, “People stay alive. Races survive.”

None of them said much else after that particular statement, all of their minds thinking on it silently, instead. Finally, several long moments passed following the sun eventually disappearing behind this planet’s horizon, before Jared eventually stood as he cast another glance up at the now visible stars above.

“Have we decided which two of us are taking the first night’s watch, yet?” Jared finally asked his two companions, though nearly under his breath.

“Well, I definitely wanna be on the first watch,” Ian put in, then added, “So, I guess whichever one of you is more tired can try and get some sleep, while the other stays up here with me,” he stated, only accenting the words with a slight shrug.

“Well,” Kyle sat up, not able to help casting a glance back at the rear compartment where Lili had remained alone, for almost the entire time since they returned to the pod. He then cast the same glance up at where Jared awaited their answer, while keeping his eyes focused on the forest, still, “I’m not even close to sleeping right now. I think I’m gonna keep trying to get through, for a while, anyway.”

Jared simply swallowed and nodded as he steeled himself to head back inside the pod, taking a deep breath before finally reaching down to open the compartment door, slowly, silently joining Lili inside, as the two cast each other the briefest glance, before he moved to close the door to the cramped compartment behind them once again.

As that first night lingered on, Kyle finally set aside the computer with a resigned sigh before leaning further back in the cockpit seats, running his hands through his hair once more.

“Finally give up?” Ian asked, wishing the words hadn’t sounded as final in his own head as they did on his lips.

“Even I can only stare at that screen for so long without a break,” Kyle answered with more than a slight tinge of defeat in his voice.

Without the computer screen to stare at, Kyle had to find some other place to focus his blue-gray eyes. He finally allowed them to first move around the cockpit, then back outside, through the window behind the visor he and Ian had managed to pry into opening so they could secure the door for the night. Then he moved them back to the closed compartment at the rear of the pod, with a slight biting of his lip.

Ian’s own eyes followed to see Kyle’s eventually pausing on the compartment door, though the younger spoke no words to accompany his choice in focal point.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Ian had to speak up.

“Huh?” Kyle returned, a bit startled by the question.

Ian just shook his head, “Yeah, I don’t have a penny anyway.”

“What?” Kyle asked with his own crease of the brow.

Ian allowed only a slight chuckle, “I was just asking if you cared to share any of those zillions of thoughts your big brain is probably busy juggling right now.”

“No, not really,” Kyle mumbled with a lack of believability as his eyes turned toward the back of the pod once more. Finally, after another long moment, he belied his own previous statement, and spoke up again, “Wow, we can’t hear them at all.”

“Hear them?” Ian couldn’t help repeating with his own smirk.

“I meant hear them talking,” Kyle denied, though his words continued to lack credibility.

“Sure you did,” Ian snickered.

“Just because you think about sex twenty four hours a day…” Kyle started the sentence, then just let his voice trail off anyway.

“Yeah, that’s just my thing. Cause you know, sex never enters the mind of any sixteen year old guy. Nope, not ever,” he returned with obvious sarcasm, though a continued smile.

Instead of continuing to argue his denial further though, Kyle just looked down, as though lost in quite a deep, possibly even dark, thought right then.

“What?” Ian asked, his own attempt at his usual playfulness stunted by Kyle’s expression.

“Nothing,” Kyle returned, though that lie was more than obvious.

“Seriously, what?” Ian asked in a seemingly sincere tone.

“You’ll just take another dig. It’s what you do.”

Ian looked down again then, though allowed himself to continue in the same sincere tone, “Try me.”

Kyle shook his head again, “Guess it doesn’t really matter now, anyway.”

“What doesn’t?”

“The sarcastic little back and forth taunts,” he offered. “Those are way down on the list of things to bother even worrying about, anymore.” he finished quietly.

Ian looked down in silent agreement, “So why would I even bother making one, if you honestly wanted to talk to me about something, for real?”

Kyle sighed in a bit of concession to that logic, “I was just…” another glance back at the compartment door, “I guess I just was gonna ask, you know, since it’s probably one of the only things you actually do know more about than me. It’s actually something I probably won’t ever be able to learn on my own at all now, surprising as that would be about anything…” he swallowed again, “I guess, I just wanted to know,” a deep breath, “is it as great as it’s supposed to be?”

Instead of making any feared sarcastic retort to Kyle’s confession, Ian looked down with a quiet breath before finally struggling a long moment to find the proper answer, “Depends.”

“Depends?” Kyle repeated, looking up in quite a bit of surprise at the fact that Ian did truly seem to be offering a real attempt at answering his own painfully formed question, after all.

“I suppose it can be,” Ian offered quietly.

“You suppose?” Kyle asked, a little thrown by that answer.

“Yeah, I’m sure it’s possible for it to be as great as it’s made out to be.”

“You saying you don’t know?” Kyle asked with a bit of shock.

“I’m saying that most often, it only feels really great, for about one fleeting second…then there’s the rest of the time.”

“The rest of the time?” Kyle repeated in further confusion.

“The rest of the time… when you look at the other person, that you just shared that perfect second with, and you’re both just wondering the same thing.”

“Which is?”

“Why couldn’t they have finally been the one person that could have made that second actually last?” he took a breath. “And then, you just feel like shit, knowing that you weren’t that person for them, either,” he scoffed as he looked away to hide whatever emotion was written on his face right then. He then reached for his remaining drink, and summarily returned to his vigilance of the strange woods surrounding them, making it clear that he had said all he could bear to on that subject right then.