The patch of grass turned out to be a larger section, spreading out along the edge of the forest and widening beyond what Ethan could see, but the flowers Lydia wanted to sample were plentiful and easy to reach.

She held out a specimen bag and pulled on a set of gloves. "I like the cave," she said as she touched a flower and examined the top. "Too bad we can't hang around here a few days and do some studying."

"If you ever want to see day again, we'll have to keep moving North," Ethan replied. He'd taken a few steps ahead of her to position her between him and the safety of the cave behind them while she scanned and gathered her specimens. "I suppose after a time, we'll have to stop thinking in terms of day and night."

"We'll adjust," she replied simply. "In a few generations, our eyes will begin to change, slowly, over time. Probably in a couple hundred years or so, we'll be able to see perfectly clearly in the dark. A few more generations after that, and our human eyes might be as sensitive to artificial light as our animal friends here."

Ethan nodded as he glanced around the area. "You really think we'll last that long? Enough of us to matter, I mean."

"Sure, why not?" Lydia straightened up and pushed some hair from her face.

"We weren't meant to be the only ship," he replied. To keep focused on abstract thoughts and steer his own mind away from personal avenues, Ethan examined his rifle as he spoke. "We have a few stores, and a contingent of four thousand, but can a gene pool sustain and advance from that? For several hundred years? For a future?"

Lydia cut a stalk and put the sample into her bag. "I don't see why not. The human race itself started with one pair, unless you believe otherwise." She reached for another flower. "What do you believe, Ethan?"

A quiet rustling sound reached his ears just as a slight breeze kicked up.

"I mean, Adam and Eve were the first, and eventually our entire human race developed," Lydia continued as she picked samples.

Ethan turned, straining to see into the night.

"Of course, they had life expectancies of thousands of years in ancient times," she said, clipping another stalk.

He flipped up his lenses and raised his rifle slowly, using the scope to see.

"Unless you don't believe that way. I don't mean to offend your religion, or lack thereof." She stuffed another plant into her case.

What he'd thought might be a gathering was taking shape in his scope as one massive creature, looming tall in the distance but moving toward them steadily and without fear.

"We all have our own beliefs, after all," Lydia continued.

Ethan flicked a control on his rifle's spotlight, widening the beam. "Run back to the cave," he said quietly.

"What's that?" Lydia suddenly gasped, then turned and dashed back the way they'd come without another word.

"I'm right behind you, Ghost," Wingman whispered.

"Lights only," Ethan replied. "Hold fire. Wide beam, on my mark."

"Ready."

Ethan watched the animal draw closer, then stop when it reached a clump of flowers fifty yards away. It was at least eight feet tall, standing on four legs as thick as trees, with a head like a brick and two large, wide-set eyes.

It looked down, craning a thick neck, and sniffed at the flowers, then suddenly realized it had an audience.

"Now!"

Ethan and Wingman's light beams found the creatures eyes at the same time, startling it into a rearing position, mouth gaping wide.

Suddenly something hit Ethan's chest with such force, the air was knocked from his lungs. He hit the ground, only aware he'd done so by the sight of flowers dancing in his vision.

Whatever hit him had taken away his ability to move, inhale, or even hear. Flowers were dancing in front of his face, combining nicely with flashes of color and light.

A moment later faces came into view, and they were talking, but he couldn't hear a thing. Their mouths moved a lot, especially Colonel Patterson's, but he didn't hear a sound. Someone was taking his rifle, and he grabbed at it out of instinct, but his fingers wouldn't close around the metal.

Darkness finally took away the silent faces, and Ethan felt himself drifting into the comfort of unconsciousness.

In an instant, the world exploded with light, and Ethan squeezed his eyelids tight in protest. As he did, voices filled the space around him, muffled and quiet at first, then slowly piercing through the fog.

He opened his eyes and saw Doctor Burns gazing down at him.

"There you go, Major, you'll be fine now," he said with a smile. "It was no worse than a shock grenade, really."

Ethan groaned as he recalled the large beast, and the sensation of every molecule of air being forced from his chest in an instant.

The doctor reached out and helped Ethan sit up, then gave him a pat on the shoulder. "You're fine now."

As he stepped aside, Ethan saw Wingman sitting on a cot a few yards away. The cave had been lined with lights, illuminating the entire area for the benefit of those seeking shelter inside. The light was sharp, almost alien after so long in the dark, and the cave was at least twice the size he'd first estimated.

"Griff, good to see you up." Colonel Patterson approached from his left, along with Lydia and Flash.

"Sir." Ethan realized someone had removed his battle vest and headset. He straightened up, testing sore muscles.

"That was very brave of you," Patterson said in a solemn, but raised voice.

Ethan braced himself for what was to come.

"Protecting a civilian like that," The colonel made sure anyone within earshot could hear. "From a cow."

Ethan rubbed his eyes and nodded, waiting for the laughter to die down. He opened one eye and saw Lydia hiding her laugh behind a raised hand.

He sighed. "Yes, sir."

Patterson's laugh evolved to a guffaw as he delivered a hearty slap to Ethan's back. "There's a whole herd of them out there now, grazing on those flowers Doctor Warren was picking," he chuckled. "Harmless as my grandmother."

"But they have an amazing defense," Lydia hurried to add. "When you startled it with those lights, it basically coughed out a sonic blast. There were whales on Earth once who could stun their prey that way, but I don't know of any grazing animals who used that as an effective defense against predators."

The laughter had died off, and most everyone was going about their business. Even Wingman had managed to slink off his cot and get back to work, allowing all the focus of their recent faux pas to land directly on the shoulders of the superior officer.

"So I scared a cow," Ethan nodded and eased himself off the cot.

Patterson shrugged, then reached around behind the cot and handed Ethan his vest and headset. "They're a helluva lot bigger than any cow I've seen, but they're so oblivious to what we are, they've settled in to graze right outside. Once the one ran off, then presumably came back. Although they all look alike."

Ethan took his gear and slipped the vest back on. "I should have realized by the set of the eyes it was a prey animal and not a predator."

"I'd rather you act on instinct where a civilian is involved," Patterson replied. "Hell, we might have to start eating these things some day. I wouldn't sweat over scaring one." He nodded back toward the cave mouth and started walking. "Come on, you're up just in time."

"In time for what, sir?" Ethan followed, still carrying his headset. With the entire cave lit up, the mouth looked like a massive black wall, impenetrable and imposing. Colonel Patterson was flipping down his night vision, stepping out of the warm lights and back into the pitch black.

"The Solaria is going to launch a satellite," the colonel replied. "Or try to, at least. Captain Marshall radioed a few minutes ago. They think they've finally solved their issues and can get one into orbit."

Ethan followed the colonel out of the cave and off to the right, where the land opened up, presenting the valley below. To the left was the forest, but above they could see sparkling stars and the blackness of space.

Before putting his headset back on, Ethan glanced out over the valley, toward the distant rocks. Without night vision, it was so black, you couldn't tell where the horizon ended and the sky began, save for the twinkling of distant stars.

"Reaper, this is Sentinel. Solaria declares launch in ten seconds."

"Roger that," Patterson replied.

Ethan slipped his headgear on, but kept the lenses up, out of his way. As he was slipping in the earpiece, he heard the countdown complete.

"Launching!" Sentinel relayed.

Everyone who happened to be outside the cave just then turned to look at the sky above the tree line. After a few seconds of silence, they saw a bright light arching up toward the stars, already curling a bit in its direction in order to aim for a low orbit.

A moment later, it exploded in a flash of blue light.

"Shit!" Patterson exclaimed.

Ethan tapped his com control. "Sentinel, this is Ghost, get the Solaria on the com again."

"Yes, sir."

The colonel turned to Ethan, jaw muscles rippling with an effort to contain his anger. "It didn't even get a thousand feet! What in the hell is going on back there?"

Ethan opened his mouth to reply, but Sentinel interrupted.

"Sir, I can't raise the ship."

They felt the rumble, more than they heard it. Like a distant thunder that set the grazing animals on edge for a moment, but was quickly forgotten.

Ethan brought down his lenses and immediately spotted the massive cloud rising up over the trees in the distance.

"Sentinel, anything from the Solaria?" Colonel Patterson demanded.

"Sir, nothing, just static."

Ethan didn't wait for the order. He ran back into the cave, the colonel right behind him. The Sentinel's storage compartments carried more weapons and ammunition, accessible from panels on the outside. While Ethan loaded up on extra clips and a side arm, the colonel barked orders.

"Commander Ellis, gear up!" he announced. "The rest of you stay put, inside this cave, and wait till you hear from us. Ghost is with me."

"What's happening?" one of the scientists asked with a trembling voice. "What's going on?"

"Stay here, keep the lights on, and do what the soldiers tell you to do," Ethan replied as he hurried by the man. "Sentinel, keep trying to raise the ship."

"Let's move!" Colonel Patterson slipped a side arm into a holster on his hip and glanced up at Commander Ellis, who had just finished pulling on a headset.

Ethan started out, back into the forest, running at first, then slowing into a brisk jog that he could maintain for longer distances. Behind him, Colonel Patterson and Commander Ellis flanked to either side, but stayed close.

The woods felt familiar already. They'd grown accustomed to the Leapers, and knew there was at least one fanged beast to watch out for, but running in a tight, small group should give them all the cover they'd need.

No one spoke. It's not that they couldn't have, even while keeping up a good pace, but the magnitude of what they were thinking had happened demanded silence. Ethan fell into the jog comfortably and kept both lenses in place, scanning to his left and right each time he passed a tree or moved through a clearing.

The Leapers returned, but they were less curious this time, and only paused long enough to watch the three men run by before returning to their business.

Time passed in a new routine that felt as ancient as the forest itself. Ethan's breathing was in rhythm with the pounding of his feet on the soft ground. The voice of Sentinel broke the silence every fifteen minutes with a report, still no response from the Solaria or any of her crew or civilians left behind.

Even the trees seemed to form a pattern as he passed through them. A small grouping here, a spacing of ten or twelve, then a clearing, then the pattern repeated. Ethan's body was on automatic, and his mind searched for logic in the mathematics of tree growth.

Anything to keep from thinking the worst.

They stopped after four hours, just long enough to drink from their canteens and force down energy bars.

"Reaper, still no word," Sentinel reported again.

"Keep trying," Colonel Patterson answered back as he screwed the lid back on his canteen. He looked at Ethan. "At this pace, I figure another four hours and we'll be in sight of the ship."

"What could have happened?" Ellis asked. "I don't understand what could have happened. The satellite exploded over the ridge. No debris could have come back down on the Solaria."

He was looking from the colonel to Ethan and shaking his head, trying to catch his breath.

Ethan and the colonel exchanged looks. He shrugged and took a long drink of water, then secured the canteen back onto his belt.

"An explosion that big . . ." Ellis let his sentence drift away as he stared at the ground. "I mean, if the engine core went, it would have taken out this entire forest."

Ethan brought his rifle back around to the front and gave Ellis a curt nod. "The sooner we get there." They started jogging again, and quickly fell back into the rhythm and silence.

It didn't take another four hours to get an idea of what happened. They were still a good mile away, still inside the forest, when the orange glow became visible through the darkness.

They could hear voices, too. Shouts of panic, orders being barked here and there. But it was the smell that hit Ethan first. Acrid and sharp, penetrating the clean fresh air like an energy blast ripping through soft flesh.

Ethan and Commander Ellis sped up, calling forth the last of their reserves to push through the edge of the forest, while Colonel Patterson slowed just enough to call back to Sentinel with a report.

When he came through the last of the tree cover, Ethan no longer needed his night vision to see in the darkness. The glow of superheated metal and flames still shooting several hundred feet into the sky lit up the surrounding area nicely with a warm, orange glow.

Spaced out between the forest's edge and the wreckage of the Solaria was a solid mile of debris and dazed survivors.

Ethan stopped in his tracks and blinked, taking it all in while Commander Ellis rushed into the milling crowds searching for Captain Marshal.

The ship wasn't much more than a shelled husk now. It's entire top section had been ripped apart, like a giant hand had peeled it back, looking for the prize hidden inside. Flames were shooting out of gaping holes in the hull. The aft section had broken off, and was lying on the ground at an odd angle, quietly melting, while the bow looked eerily intact.

Ethan looked over the survivors, trying to estimate their number and piece together what might have happened.

"My gods," Colonel Patterson exclaimed as he came up beside Ethan. "Marshall?"

Ethan noticed Commander Ellis standing off to the side of one group, most of whom wore Navy uniforms. He pointed. "There, sir. I see the captain. And our Marines." He pointed again, to the left, where their comrades were still pulling equipment and supplies away from the intense heat.

The pair of them stood quietly for a moment, still taking it all in.

Finally, Ethan pushed his rifle around to his back and moved forward, toward the other Marines, to help with the gear.

The heat was difficult to take, but much of their equipment seemed to have been blown clear, through a cargo door that had split down the middle when the aft section broke off. Ethan quickly assessed the situation and took charge, much to the relief of a few hundred Privates and the handful of Sergeants who'd stayed behind.

No longer were they on an alien world, struggling to make sense of a strange planet with no sun rise, light-sensitive predators and herbivores that can stun a man with their breath. Right now, there were just survivors of an explosion, trying desperately to salvage whatever they could, assist the wounded, locate the missing, and search for victims trapped in the intense heat and thick black smoke.

A few times, someone would pull Ethan aside and shove water and food in his hands. Now and again he heard Colonel Patterson barking orders while the stunned group standing well away from the heat of melting metal began to organize, taking names and making lists.

No one really knew how much time passed. With no sun to set, or moon to rise, no one really took notice. There was just the heat, passageways filled with thick smoke, the smell of burning flesh.

Now and again, Ethan would catch sight of something in a room he was searching, eyes watering madly from the heat and smoke. He'd rush to it, only to find himself choking back the urge to vomit as he struggled to locate the ID of the deceased, to add to the growing list.

It felt like years had passed before Ethan found himself standing in the middle of the group of survivors, looking them over as he searched for Colonel Patterson in the crowd. They were all dazed and silent, staring back at the still-glowing remains of the ship that had given its life to bring them to a world they shouldn't even be on.

He found the colonel sitting with Captain Marshal and Commander Ellis, on the edge of the silent, exhausted group.

"It started in the satellite launch bay," the captain was explaining. "The explosion ripped the top right off the ship, and the fire -- God, the fire spread so fast." He shook his head, unable to look at anyone in particular as he spoke.

Ethan stepped up to the colonel and held out a bottle of amber liquid. "Your quarters were mostly intact," he said as he offered over the whisky. "How many?"

"Twenty seven wounded," Commander Ellis replied for his captain. "And we've counted nine hundred and three survivors."

Ethan blinked. "There were four thousand people on that ship." He looked at Colonel Patterson. "We've only got one hundred and ten waiting back in that cave."

"Sit down, Griff," Patterson said quietly, patting the dirt beside him. "You're exhausted."

He couldn't move right away, as his mind processed the fact that he wasn't, in fact, already sitting down. Finally he reached around and unclipped his rifle, nearly forgotten in the madness, and let himself sink down to the ground beside his commanding officer.

Captain Marshal was shaking his head. His face was covered in soot, and there were bandages covering both hands and part of his neck.

"The explosion killed everyone aft, but the fire and smoke took the rest," the captain continued. "Most of the survivors weren't on board at the time. They were a mile back, at that source of water. It's potable. They were filling tanks."

Ethan pulled out his canteen, but couldn't muster up the energy to twist open the cap, or care. One thousand and forty, out of a full four thousand who'd set out, fifteen years ago, full of hope.

He listened to Captain Marshal talk about the explosion, and the fact that they had no idea what caused it in the first place. He listened to some of the researchers offering up a list of the equipment and supplies that had been salvaged, and to the Marines who declared several mobile units operational, and capable of transporting the heavy equipment and wounded.

He listened, and nodded, and occasionally offered his professional opinion, but it was all background noise.

When he excused himself to go wash some of the soot off his face and check the slight burns on his hands, Colonel Patterson followed along, waiting until they were alone, on the edge of the glowing wreckage, before asking the question Ethan knew was coming.

"Let it out, Griff," he said quietly. "What cards are missing from my deck of disaster?"

Ethan pulled a clean towel over his face. When he looked up, he stared into the forest instead of toward the ruins of the Solaria. "No eyes in the sky, John." He tossed the towel to the side with a frustrated sigh. "If this planet swings away from its sun, we'll have no place to winter it out."

The colonel took in a long breath and chewed the inside of his cheek. "I hadn't thought of that."

"I didn't bring it up," Ethan continued. "Until now, it was a given. Hell, we could have even gone back into cryo and slept through a winter for ten, maybe another twenty years."

"But now . . ."

"Now, we're well and truly fucked." Ethan glanced back at the glowing metal. "Even if we're lucky -- if this world orbits quietly around its sun just like Earth, and we're experiencing the worst temperatures we can expect to see -- that's it. We're here. The ship is gone. We can't even use it for shelter. Plus most of our grains and crop seeds went up in that fire. Not that anything we brought would have grown without sunlight."

"Point taken," Patterson nodded. He cleared his throat and crossed both arms. "Okay, so what's our move? Our shelter is gone, we're trapped on an alien world, we've got civilians to protect, and maybe -- just maybe -- enough equipment to send a message to the fleet in fifteen weeks. What's our next move?"

Ethan closed his eyes for a moment, letting the last of his frustrations and exhaustion filter out so the Marine could take control again.

When he opened them, he nodded. "We get these people to the cave, with the others, and organize our equipment and supplies. Then go find the light side of this planet."

Colonel Patterson smiled very slightly and uncrossed his arms. "And we start now, get these people away from this mess and into the forest. They can rest there, and we'll push on, get them to the cave before it all really sinks in." He tugged at his vest and checked the sidearm at his hip, then activated his com unit. "This is Reaper to all personnel," he announced. "Get the wounded on the mobile units, and pack up the gear. Everybody carries as much as they can. We're not safe here, so we're moving out. Captain Marshal is in command of the civilians, but this is a Marine operation now! We are on the dirt and in control! Ghost has the lead, and he's moving out in fifteen minutes."

Ethan's "Yes, sir" was nearly drowned out by a chorus of Marines snapping into action.