Acid Burns

* * *
Dannion watched in horror and resignation as the last biosphere went offline. The
evac ship was still thirty minutes out. He wondered if the central base would last that long.
If they lost power, the ship would have to rely on manual coordinates to find them and
land, but the mountainous rainforest terrain would make that tricky. There was one
suitable spot nearby: the same place used to land the transports that had brought them,
and the lab, to Garxxax. But after six months of disuse the rainforest was reclaiming the
area, and identifying it from above would be difficult. Especially with a heavy storm rolling
in from the west.
Dannion's last contact with Jorres had been an hour ago, when he urged her to
return. Since then he'd been unable to raise her. But there was nothing more he could do
for now. He entered the central lounge area, where Callins and the other staff were
gathered. Two were missing.
"Hey, where are Hesken and Dirthiss?"
Callins scowled at him. "Still packing in their dorms. It's fine; we have time."
Everyone else sat around the room, drinking and chatting. Most were complaining.
Some of them eyed Dannion warily. They'd argued earlier about the blackouts, and Hesken
had even accused him and Jorres of overreacting to what was "clearly a comms issue."
Dannion had mentioned Jorres's report, that sphere three was completely destroyed, but
Hesken had shrugged it off. Maybe a tree had collapsed, or a rock had tumbled down the
mountain. Maybe a rogue meteor had just happened to make landfall on the sphere's
location.
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