It didn't matter that it had taken the better part of an hour to get the group of survivors up and moving forward. There was no change in the daylight, no passing of time to take note of, save the impotent movement of hands on a watch.

Ethan had to resist the urge to rip his own from his wrist and toss it into the darkness. Time no longer existed, but the watch still had uses.

Once everyone was packed up, and packing as much as they could carry, he started leading them through the forest, back to the cave where they'd left the others. It wouldn't hold them all, but could provide a defendable shelter while the wounded were tended to.

They packed the civilians and mobile units into a tight formation, circled by Marines who kept watch while they moved. Ethan was taking point, grateful to be several yards ahead of the others and alone in the darkness. The smell of smoke and molten metal lingered heavily in the air, but the light of the glowing remains had already begun to dim.

Two hours into the forest, they were once again bathed in complete darkness.

No one wanted to stop. Even the most shaken of the walking wounded requested they keep moving, keep walking until memory of what had happened could be left far enough behind. Ethan was more than happy to oblige, and continued leading the way through the forest under the watchful and curious gaze of the Leapers.

The third time Colonel Patterson called for a brief halt, Ethan continued another few yards, rifled raised toward what he'd thought he'd just seen.

When the fanged creature sprang from behind a tree and started to charge the group, he was ready.

It ran toward the center of the resting survivors, oblivious or unconcerned with numbers. The Marines on the outer edge were busy handing out water, but someone finally spotted the creature and screamed.

Ethan was on top of it. He'd run an intercepting route, stopping just ahead of it as the creature bared the full brunt of its long, sharp teeth.

Without a word, Ethan fired into it, launching bursts of energy into the tough hide. It turned on him and charged, but he ran forward as well, firing until the beast finally dropped.

He was two feet from it now, staring at the creature through the scope, his night vision lenses pushed aside.

"Ghost, report!" Colonel Patterson's voice was rushed. He was running up from the rear of the group, ordering his Marines to stay in formation and watch for more attacks.

Ethan focused through his scope, willing the creature to twitch, to flinch, to wiggle one toe with the dying effort of severed nerves so he could empty his clip into its flesh, empty his rage into the bloody mass lying on the ground at his feet.

But it refused him the satisfaction, lying motionless in death.

From the corner of his eye he saw the colonel step up to the animal, then glance at him. He saw it through the scope of his rifle. Heard the command to stand down through the pounding of blood in his ears, the beating of his heart as it pushed against the battle vest covering his chest.

Ethan lowered his rifle.

Colonel Patterson bent down to examine the animal, then straightened up and looked back at the crowd. "Show's over! Get moving. I'll take point, Ghost has the rear."

Ethan replied with a curt nod, but kept his eyes on the dead animal. He was still breathing hard, but his heart was easing back, the blood in his ears no longer blocking out sounds.

He stood there, silently eyeing his kill, as the group moved by, continuing on toward the cave. Even as tightly formed as they were, it took twenty minutes for the entire unit to pass. When they did, he checked his rifle, cocked a new energy bolt into the chamber, and glanced back the way they'd come before taking up position guarding their retreat.

By the time Ethan broke through the forest and started toward the cave, most everyone had spread the word of their tragedy. People where shifting around, moving the wounded inside the security of the cave and storing the gear and mobile units outside. They'd had time to adjust, and get more lights set up to secure sleeping areas.

He found a cot he could set his gear and weapons on for a moment, and some water to wash up in, but before he could drop down and get a few hours of sleep, Lydia came rushing through the crowd.

"Ethan," she hurried toward him, arms outstretched.

He willingly embraced her, but was too exhausted to do more than put a hand on her arm as they stood there.

Finally she stepped back and looked him over. "You look tired."

"I am tired," he replied quietly.

"I have good news." She turned, located the Colonel a few yards away, and motioned for him to come closer. "Colonel, we've been taking samples while you were away and we have good news."

"These tired bones could use a bit of that, for a change," Patterson replied. He put a hand on Ethan's shoulder for a moment, then nodded to Lydia. "Brighten my day."

"Well, we bored into one of the older trees and found no evidence of freezing temperatures."

"None at all?" Ethan asked.

Lydia shook her head. "None. That doesn't mean the temperatures don’t dip, maybe we'll have some kind of seasonal changes, but there was no evidence in the trees of any hard frost or actual spans of freezing temperatures." She looked from Ethan to the colonel. "No signs of fires, either."

"That's good news, doctor," the colonel nodded. "Now, I suggest you get some sleep if you plan on joining our team in the morning."

"Yes, I will," she replied with a smile, then touched Ethan's arm before walking back toward the crowded cave.

"Sir?"

"They'll stay here," the colonel said as he nodded at the group in the shelter. "The only thing that's changed is the number of people we need to account for, and the equipment we have to do it with." He pointed to the bunk holding Ethan's vest and gear. "Get some sleep. I'm ordering eight hours, then we plan a down through that valley, through that pass, and over to the light side of this planet."

Ethan rubbed his eyes. His hands still smelled faintly of soot. "Yes, sir."

"We're taking one squad, and five of those annoying detail people, no more. We'll bring Sentinel and they can bring one mobile to test samples along the way. As soon as we've secured a path, our Marines will hustle the rest of these nice folk along after us."

"Explore and conquer?" Ethan quipped.

"Like you said, Griff, this is home now, good, bad or indifferent. It's time we got down to it."

Ethan nodded and the colonel gave his arm a slap before walking away. He washed up, then fell onto the cot and into a deep sleep almost instantly.

The dreams woke him six hours later. Dreams of fire, of darkness and fangs. Dreams of his twin sister, trapped in a melting ship. Dreams of his men being picked off one by one in the forest, victims of an unseen foe.

By the time he'd managed to drag himself out of the dreams and into a sitting position on the cot, he felt anything but rested.

The men and women around him were still sleeping, or dreaming, perhaps. Ethan stood and quietly gathered his gear, then walked through the collection of cots and sleepers, passed the guards keeping watch on the perimeter of spotlights, and out into the darkness.

There was a cluster of boulders between the cave's perimeter and the grass where giant alien cows had eaten every single flower before moving on into the valley. Ethan set his gear on a rock, then sat down, gazing out over the darkness.

After his eyes adjusted, he could make out the horizon by noting where the stars stopped and a solid blackness began. Down from that, halfway between their cave and the pass they'd be trekking through, stood the cluster of stones that had so captivated his curiosity days before.

He pulled on the headgear and focused the HUD toward the rocks, magnifying as much as he could. A wire frame image slowly built up for him to examine, adding details as the unit digested the information it was straining to gather.

They were rocks, nothing more. Stacked one on top of the other, probably by some ancient volcanic force that had long ago died back in the memory of evolution.

It was a marvel, really, and one that Griff often pondered. The chances of finding another world with the environmental needs of a human species were slim, and had taken them the better part of three thousand years to accomplish.

But here was one, sitting quietly and going completely unnoticed. Already well out of its primal stage, with vegetation, animals, atmosphere. Orbiting happily in the habitable zone required for human life.

It was sheer luck their planned drop from light speed put them within travel distance. Sheer luck this world wasn't still in its developmental stages. Sheer luck the sun it orbited wasn't exploding, having reached the end of its lifespan.

Ethan never did believe in luck.

He stared at the rocks again. As natural as they were, something kept drawing his attention, and he couldn't figure out what.

"I said eight hours, Griff." Colonel Patterson took a seat on one of the boulders and looked out at the darkness. "What has your attention?"

"This valley makes a nice, easy slope down," Ethan replied, flipping off the HUD display. "Lots of grasses, so I assume we'll find herds of those cows." He picked up his rifle and started checking it out of habit. "I promise not to scare another one."

Patterson laughed. "Well I sure as hell hope they're edible."

"I'd wager, also, that it's the cows our fanged friend snacks on. It would probably take a pack of them to bring one down, but maybe that single one in the forest wasn't supposed to be there."

"Or be there alone," the colonel agreed. "He could have been too young, or too old, or a male looking for his own pack." He crossed his arms and looked out over the valley. "It's starting to wear on me, all this darkness."

"It's going to start having an effect on everyone sooner or later."

"It's unnatural," Patterson sniffed. "Can't say as I could handle constant daylight much better, but at least we wouldn't be so dependent on equipment that's going to eventually fail."

Ethan nodded, grateful to have pushed his mind in a forward direction once again. "There has to be a region between, in permanent twilight. We'll have to find a way to get crops to grow, either there or in the light. At least we don't have an elliptical winter to worry about." He shoved the clip back into his weapon, satisfied with the solid click as it snapped into place. "There's also water to take into account, and weather. I haven't seen any fresh water since we left the landing site."

The colonel unfolded his arms. "They found a small creek running through the grass over there and filled our storage units from it. I suspect we'll find water here and there."

Ethan nodded, and they both fell silent for a long while, listening to the silence.

The quiet was broken in short order as more began to wake, then go about the business of being up, hungry and a bit disoriented.

Ethan and the colonel returned to the group for some breakfast, then ordered their squad and the five scientists accompanying them to get themselves ready. As he was adding extra ammo to the pockets of his vest, Commander Ellis approached, clearing his throat.

"Keep your eyes open out there," he said with a sniff.

"Usually do," Ethan replied. "How's Marshall?"

"He'll be fine." Ellis looked away. "Blames himself, of course."

Ethan had no response that would make either of them feel better, so he continued filling his pockets.

"Colonel Patterson gave the order for us to follow a day behind. Most of the wounded are mobile enough, the rest can ride."

"Good," Ethan fastened the last pocket and lifted his rifle, clipping it to the shoulder strap that wound through the vest. "We'll clear a path." He'd started to walk away when Ellis grabbed his arm.

"How far, do you think? To the light, I mean. How far away are we?"

Ethan shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

The commander released his grip of Ethan's arm and took a deep breath, then started to say something and seemed to think the better of it.

Ethan took his leave and met Colonel Patterson outside the cave. Their small group was packed up and ready to travel. Sentinel and the scientific mobile unit formed the left and right sides of their formation, with the five scientist walking between them. Ethan, the colonel, Flash and Wingman took the lead, while Lancer, Stake, Punch and Mortar brought up the rear.

They started forward, moving away from the cave and down toward the valley at a decent walking pace.

Onboard the fleet ships, fourteen weeks behind them and heading for another planet, were mobile transports and personnel carriers that would have made the trek into the valley and through the pass in under five hours at slow speed. Armored and shielded, they could have explored, sampled, and secured their new world easily and safely.

"Who's idea was it to send out their top Marines without wheels?" Mortar asked over the com after an hour of walking.

"Something wrong with your feet, soldier?" Ethan asked

"Yeah, Ghost," Mortar replied. "They hurt."

"They're smellin' something fierce, too," Punch added.

The rocky ground was beginning to give way to thick grass, with tufts of flowers popping up in groups here and there.

"Doctor Warren, do you need any samples here?"

"No, thank you, Major. These seem to be the same grasses and flowers we've sampled," Lydia replied. "Though I would suggest we watch for cow dung as we pass through the field."

Ethan heard her light laugh joining in with the rest of them. "I'll keep that in mind," he replied.

They stepped onto the leading edge of grass and Ethan noticed how much softer it was to walk on. Even the wheels of the two mobile units were made silent by the thick cushion.

Several yards into the grasslands, the vegetation grew taller, reaching halfway up to Ethan's knee. The flowers were now competing with the tips of the grass in a race to be the tallest in the land.

"Kinda hard to see cow shit in this," Punch commented.

Ethan was looking ahead, trying to judge just how tall the grass might get, when he saw a rippling motion spread from the left to the right, then fade into the darkness. He was about to chalk it up to the barely perceptible breeze brushing his cheek, when he spotted another ripple moving in the opposite direction.

He froze in place.

Colonel Patterson raised a fist and the group stopped moving. "Ghost, you seeing this?"

"Does anyone have a visual on these things?" Ethan asked over the com. "Small, moving through the grasses. An animal of some kind."

"Yes, I can, I think see one," Doctor Keller piped up from somewhere behind them. "Oh my goodness, they're really something."

Ethan resisted the urge to turn around and give the scientist a look. One of the things had stopped almost directly in front of him and he didn't want to risk losing sight of it.

"Goodness, look at those ears!"

"Okay, Colonel, I think we could classify these as akin to an Earth rabbit," Lydia injected.

"Yes, yes that's a good estimation," Doctor Keller added enthusiastically. "The ears are large, and more rounded than those of an Earth rabbit, but the teeth and body size and shape are quite similar."

"They're eating grasses and the flowers," Lydia continued. "Wide set eyes, large ears, teeth more suited for eating vegetable matter. I'd say they're simply a rodent of some kind."

"Thank you, Doctor Warren," Colonel Patterson replied pointed. "Let's move out. I think our little friends can hear us coming and get out of the way."

Ethan started forward again and the one nearest him quickly moved away.

"We'll be safe enough if the little bunnies attack," Stake said. "Ghost can always scare them away with his big light."

Ethan nodded as he walked, taking the laughter amicably.

They moved through the field, occasionally startling groups of the little rodents as they moved through the tall grasses. After several hours of walking, and pausing for samples whenever a new plant was spotted, Colonel Patterson called a halt to their trek near a gathering of large boulders.

There, they parked the Sentinel and scientific mobile unit up against two massive rocks, then set up lights and made camp between the two shielding vehicles.

While camp was being set up, Ethan stepped out into the darkness and looked ahead, toward the cluster of rocks they were heading toward. He had the lenses flipped up, letting his eyes grow more accustomed to the darkness. They were closer now, and a shape was trying to take form against the black that was the horizon.

"We'll take shifts, but with the lights and the mobile units, I think one guard on patrol should suffice," Colonel Patterson said as he stepped closer. "Something on your mind, Griff?"

Ethan shook his head, still staring at the path they'd be taking after a rest. "Just trying to get used to this place. It's home now."

Patterson stood beside him, night vision lenses flipped up, and held out a cup of steaming coffee. "This isn't gonna last more than a few more weeks."

Ethan accepted the cup with a nod.

"I thought about rationing it, save it for special occasions or something, but I figure life's too short for that," Patterson continued. "I think they managed to save a few cryo plants. Maybe in time we can grow coffee on this world."

"Or we'll find something to take its place," Ethan replied. He sniffed the coffee, enjoying the scent, then chastised himself for it. If they were going to run out of coffee soon, he really should start weaning himself now.

"Might not be a bad idea to get everyone off stimulants." Colonel Patterson turned around and looked back at their small camp. "I was just having a conversation with Doctor Keller. He's a bit of a twit, but a smart man."

"About our little rodents?"

"No, about us," Patterson sniffed. "About this world, and all of this damned darkness."

Ethan glanced at the colonel. "The darkness?"

"The sameness," he replied. "We're heading for the light side, but if we find it's not a livable area, we'll be forced to adapt to this." He waved a hand in the air, indicating the blackness of the world around them. "No day, no morning, not a hint of natural light anywhere, anytime."

Ethan nodded as he sipped his coffee, keeping his eyes focused out toward the rocks in the distance, and the opening between the hills, only discernable by the lack of twinkling stars.

"Humans are adaptable, as a species, they keep saying," Patterson continued. "But as individuals he brought up a concern."

"Not everyone can handle the dark?" It was something Ethan wasn't unfamiliar with, growing up so far North. Most people thought they could handle a twenty four hour day, or twenty four hour night, but only a handful ever made it through a full season.

"He's afraid the lack of variety will, in time, be a potential source of mental instability in some individuals. They'll begin to suffer a change in sleep patterns, get nervous, irritable, eventually paranoia could set it." He sighed and ran a hand over his short, graying hair. "Sounds to me a bit like deep sea pressure sickness."

Ethan looked at the colonel. "That seems a bit extreme, doesn’t it?"

"He was adamant," Patterson replied. "Says it won't happen for a while, and could take weeks or even months to show up in some people."

Ethan looked at his coffee. The lights from their camp were struggling to pierce the darkness, but a glimmer was reflecting against the sides of his metal cup, shimmering like the stars.

"Did he have recommendations? Signs to watch for? Ways to prevent it?"

Patterson sighed. "Regular schedules, mandatory time off and sleeping rotations. None of which we can successfully implement until we've determined the viability and safety of our new home."

"I think keeping everyone occupied right now is the best course," Ethan replied. "No one's really taken the time to think about it. Not with everything else happening." He looked back out toward the rocks ahead. "Keep them moving, exploring and discovering. It's the best way to take their minds off what happened."

"I agree," Patterson smiled, then cleared his throat. "And I told Keller as much. I'm not worried about the Marines handling stress. The civilians are Captain Marshall's problem."

"Until they become our problem," Ethan added.

"Do you want first shift? I'll have Punch relieve you in an hour."

Ethan nodded, then handed his empty cup back to the colonel and pulled the lenses back down. "Yes, sir."

The camp settled down, everyone either studying the scans from their walk or getting a quick jump on some extra sleep. Ethan walked the small perimeter, outside the light that was casting down over the camp. Now and then the tall grass moved, and small tufts of flowers would vanish. The breeze was barely there, occasionally touching his cheek, but not affecting the grass.

He thought about the planet, about the unique challenges a permanent night would pose to their ability to grow crops or maintain sanity. He thought about how much more they needed to know before making any real assessment of their chances, without satellite data to confirm or deny what they could speculate on the ground. He thought about what a light side would be like, and the twilight area between.

Mostly he tried hard not to think about the Solaria, or the fleet ships filled with sleeping refugees of a dying world.

After several passes back and forth, Ethan took a seat on a rock a few yards in front of the camp, on the very edge of their perimeter, where he could monitor any movements easily with just one lens down.

He reached out and plucked a flower with a long, thin stalk and brought it closer to his nose. The scent was heavy, and pleasant, but like nothing else he'd ever smelled. His mind wanted to liken it to lavender, with a hint of papaya, but that made no sense.

Resisting the urge to taste it himself, he noticed one of the small rodents approaching and casually offered it, holding the flower and giving the end of the stalk to the curious animal.

It stopped, sniffed the stem, then sat and began munching happily away, completely unconcerned that the other end was being held by a strange creature.

"Now that's not something you see every day."

Ethan glanced up without moving his hand, and saw Lydia approaching slowly.

"A Marine feeding a flower to a bunny."

He looked back at the rodent, who was now halfway up the stalk and reaching out, and let go of his end. "And you're not going to tell anyone what you saw, either."

"I wouldn't dream of it." She laughed lightly, then took a seat on a smaller rock beside him, watching the animal eat its prize. "Did I tell you I'm engaged?"

Ethan blinked, looking up. "No, you didn't."

"Well, I think I am, anyway," Lydia added with a shrug. She reached out and plucked a long strand of grass and began twirling it around in her fingers. "His name is Karl. He's a botanist, coming out on the same fleet ship as your sister. Karl Frankin."

Ethan took a breath, then leaned back a bit and gave the area a quick look over. "Like you said, we might see them again."

She nodded. "I know, sure. If we can send a message to the fleet to divert them here. Providing this planet is suitable, more so than 581c." She twirled the grass strand. "And providing we can send them a signal. You know, if we're not already too late, or if we can't get positioning on a world that doesn't rotate. And if nothing's in the way that would block the signal."

"Lydia--"

"And that's all hinging on there being nothing wrong with the other fleet ships. I mean, what if they all failed during jump points?"

"Don't."

"What if what happened to the Solaria happened to the other ships, too, but at different jump points?"

"Don't do this to yourself."

"But what if they never even get this far? Or worse, they get here and don't get our message, then go on and can't make it on 581? What if that planet isn't as viable as we thought? Or they fly passed it?"

"Lydia--"

She threw the strand of grass away and wiped at a tear. "Or they'll land, safe and happy, and never know what happened to us."

Ethan opened his mouth to reply, but the words caught in his throat.

"God, we'll probably never see them again." She sniffed. "They'll colonize, and wonder about us but never be able to know where we are or what happened. Then, eventually, Karl will find someone else. Kathryn will marry, start a family."

"I hope she does." He swallowed and gave a shrug. "Without her brother there to scare them off, like when we were kids."

Lydia wiped more tears. "What?"

Ethan looked out over the grass. "Whenever she'd get a boyfriend, I'd take it upon myself to check him out. I figured without mom and dad around, and our uncle gone a year later, it was my job to make sure she found someone worthy of her." He laughed quietly with the memory. "When I joined the Marines, it got too easy to scare the guys away. I didn't really mean to, but I figured if they were afraid of me, they weren't strong enough to handle her."

Lydia tried to laugh, but it was more of a moist cough. "I'm sorry, Ethan, I shouldn't have said that. It's just--"

"You're tired, that's all," Ethan offered.

"Ghost, this is Punch, where you at?"

Lydia sniffed again and straightened. "You're right, I should go to bed, get some sleep."

Ethan nodded, then tapped his com. "To your left, Punch."

Lydia stood just as the other Marine came closer. "Good night, Ethan." She nodded at Punch. "Good night."

"Sleep well," Punch replied as he approached. He moved his mic out of the way and looked at Ethan. "So, you two hooking up?"

"No," Ethan stood and flipped his night vision up and out of the way. "She's just a friend. We knew each other from before, when she worked with my sister."

"Oh," he looked down for a moment. "Damn."

"What? Did you guys have a bet or something?"

"No, nothing like that," Punch replied. "It's just that history thing, yanno?" He shrugged and looked out over the grassland. "She's someone you have a history with. That's not something I ever gave much thought to before this.

Ethan nodded. "Yeah, me neither."

"They really fucked up, you know?" Punch said with some heat. "Separating families for the sake of the gene pool. My brother is on the third ship, my mother on the fourth. Even my girlfriend got put on the second ship, because of her job. They really fucked up."

There was nothing he could say, so Ethan gave Punch a nod and walked back to camp. Most everyone was asleep now, so he took off his rifle and vest and got comfortable on the ground, staring up at the night sky.

Only it wasn't a night sky, it was really just the sky. Ethan was becoming more and more aware of thought patterns that had to change. Night and day, morning and evening. Even if they reached the light side of the planet and colonized that section, the constant daylight would pose its own hazards.

He watched the stars move slowly by as the planet turned on it's equator, shifting the view in the dark sky above but offering no promise of sunrise. After a time, he began to take note of certain clusters and wished he'd paid more attention in class when they learned to read the constellations.

Kathryn had enough of them memorized to name in any given night's sky, but could she have recognized them from a foreign angle?

Ethan pondered the stars until his eyelids were too heavy to care, and he drifted into a dreamless sleep.

A sleep that was interrupted a few hours later by a horrible scream.

Ethan launched up, grabbing his rifle out of instinct. Everyone had jumped up at the terrible sound, but fear and sleepy confusion kept them quiet.

Colonel Patterson was slipping his headgear on as Ethan started toward the camp perimeter. He had the com unit keyed up, but didn't put his headgear on.

"Stake, report," he commanded.

"Here, sir. I don't see anything out there, but that scream, it was just like the creature in the forest."

Ethan was beside Stake now, rifles ready as they scanned the area. Ethan knelt, his eyes adjusting easily now to the darkness. Colonel Patterson and the others were beside them a moment later, all looking out and around their encampment.

"I don't see anything," Punch said.

"Not here, either," Wingman added.

"Too far away," Colonel Patterson surmised. "Maybe one of those things is hunting, out there somewhere." He nodded over the grassland. "Probably those cows are out there, grazing."

"Maybe one of the cows made the thing scream," Lancer offered.

Ethan was scanning the horizon, then he noticed one of the rodents wandering by, unconcerned. "I don't think it's close. Sound would carry quite a distance out here."

"Ghost is right," the colonel concluded. "At ease, everyone. Might as well call it a morning and get ready to move out."

Ethan stood and followed the others back to into the lights while Stake continued to patrol. Everyone was up now, dazed and a little shaken by the sudden alarm.

"It's all right, folks, just something hunting it's breakfast out there," Colonel Patterson assured them. "I say we do the same, and get moving again." He turned to Ethan. "Griff, you think we can reach that cluster of rocks by tonight?"

"We should, yes," Ethan replied. He'd been staring at them for so long, he was determined to get there, even if he had to recon ahead of the group. "Marshall can bring the group here to camp, then follow us to the rocks."

"That's what I was thinking," Patterson nodded. "Sentinel, make sure our friends back at he cave are awake, and direct them here to camp for the night. They'll need more room, and a bigger patrol if our fanged friends are feeding anywhere nearby."

"Yes, sir."

Someone had coffee already made, so Ethan let himself enjoy a cup with the promise of weaning himself off beginning after this one. He went to where he'd left his vest, having used it as a pillow for the night, and pulled an energy bar from one pocket, forgoing whatever it was the science group was heating up over the cook stove. He suspected they were already availing themselves of the local edibles, determined safe by their scanners and equipment.

"You'll eat a bug, but you won't try their breakfast mush?" Colonel Patterson quipped as he approached.

"The bug I could identify," Ethan replied, eyeing the boiling pot of brown stuff. "What the hell is that?"

Patterson shrugged. "I dunno, but if everything on this planet tastes like chicken, we're gonna get bored pretty quick."

"Pardon me, Colonel Patterson, but I was wondering something."

They turned to find Doctor Snyder standing behind them, looking up from a solid five inches lower than Ethan.

"Yes, Doctor Snyder? What can I do for you?" the colonel asked patiently.

"Well, sir, I was just wondering why we're telling the group to follow us." He blinked, but did so in a slow manner that gave everyone a clear image of his eyelids opening and closing again. "That is to say, they're safe in the cave, are they not?"

Ethan fought back a grin and watched the colonel for signs of a red-faced eruption.

"I'm not suggesting I know your job, naturally," Snyder continued, clearly oblivious to the body language of the man he was addressing. "But it seems to me that, what with the Solaria gone and all, the cave would make the perfect shelter. Long term, as it were."

Colonel Patterson had turned to look at Ethan while the scientist droned on, but he found no assistance.

"So I was just wondering, why are we allowing them to venture forth, when it will be much more difficult for them to travel and be protected."

Ethan had to suppress a laugh, so he bit off a chunk of energy bar and looked at the colonel, waiting for his answer. He knew his commanding officer hated scientists, and always trusted his Major to run interference, dealing with their inane questions and lack of combat understanding.

He also remembered being teased about scaring a cow.

Colonel Patterson glared at Ethan, then cleared his throat and turned to Doctor Snyder. "It's very simple, doctor. Circumstances have changed dramatically with the destruction of our ship, so we're pushing forward, to the light side of this planet, in the hopes of finding a way to survive. Now, if we kept going, found a nice slice of this world where the sun is actually in the sky, and decided to settle down, we'd have more than a thousand people miles -- perhaps even weeks -- behind us. They'll have to come along eventually, you see. And right now they don't even fit into that cave. If we keep them to within running distance of help, then we basically all remain together, in a defensible position."

Doctor Snyder blinked again, slightly more rapidly this time.

Colonel Patterson stared at him, a forced smile frozen across his face.

Ethan swallowed his mouthful. "There's safety in numbers, Bill. If they get into trouble, we can reach them more easily if they're only a day behind."

Doctor Snyder looked at Ethan. "Oh, I see." He paused, then turned and walked back to his group, obviously satisfied with the answer.

Colonel Patterson muttered under his breath.

"You try too hard," Ethan replied.

"Let's move out, people!" Patterson bellowed at the crowd. "Finish your mush and let's get moving." He stomped off in search of his own vest and gear.

Lydia approached, wiping her hands on a towel. "Bad mood?"

"He's not much of a morning person." Ethan laughed. "How about you? Feeling better?"

"No," she said with a shrug. "But handling it better. Thanks. You were right, I was just really tired."

He wished he could tell her it would all be alright, that they'd see their families again, be reunited with their loved ones. But he couldn't even reassure her that they'd survive. That they'd find a way to live on this world, and make the best of what had happened. They were living day to day now, moment to moment, hoping to find something to hold on to, and that was one hell of a way to protect and serve.

It was a hell of a way to live.