His Fallen Star

by Lily Thomas

  Liam turned to his men and got them working on gathering wood and getting a fire started.

  “Anyone else feeling a little bit afraid at being stranded on an alien planet?”

  Olivia turned to look at the woman behind her. She was short with brown hair and eyes. “What’s your name? We haven’t met yet.” She was still trying to get familiar with all the women on their team.

  “Riley.” Her arms wrapped around her waist, as she hugged herself.

  “Don’t worry, Riley. We have guards here to protect us, and we have a distress signal notifying anyone flying by.” Olivia made her way over to Riley and hugged her tight before letting her go. “It’s okay to be scared, but there is no reason to freak out quite yet.” She sent the woman a strong smile. She was the leader of their little group, so she had to make sure they all kept their wits about them.

  If they hadn’t been rescued in a few weeks to a month, Olivia might grow more concerned. It wasn’t like they were in a populated area of space, and she wasn’t exactly sure how far their distress signal would carry through space. They might end up here for the rest of their lives, and that was a daunting thought. Although she wouldn’t completely lose hope until after a couple of months passed.

  All the scientists settled in, as the men built them a fire. If they were going to insist on being the providers, then she’d sit back and let them build the fire. Whatever made them feel better.

  The women had more important things to do like resting up, and then figuring out how to survive in the long run. Liam might have guns, but they’d need to figure out living on a planet while avoiding natives, and she knew Liam wasn’t about to sit down and think about anything, like what they’d do when their plasma guns ran out of power.

  Olivia took out a nutritional bar and munched on it. It wasn’t the best-tasting thing, but it would keep them alive without the need to hunt their own food… for now. Depending on when they were rescued they might have to start hunting, in which case Liam might actually come in handy because she was going to bet none of the women had ever hunted a day in their life.

  “Peaches and liver.” Scarlett read her nutritional bar’s label out loud. “Seriously? Who comes up with the flavors of these bars? When we get rescued, I’m finding this person and talking with them about their choices.”

  The women around her snickered.

  “Better to tie them up and force feed it to them,” Emma muttered angrily as she glanced at the label on her own bar.

  “How far do you think the research vessel’s distress signal will reach?” Sophie plopped down next to Olivia. She could see the hope gleaming in the back of Sophie’s eyes.

  “Not far. We’d have to have a ship fly fairly close to this system to pick it up. Our real hope is that someone will fly by and help us or relay our message onto someone who can help us.”

  “So, we’re basically stranded here for the foreseeable future.” Sophie’s face fell a little bit.

  “Maybe.” Olivia wanted to be more optimistic, but these were the facts of their situation, and all the women deserved to hear the truth. They were all intelligent women and would figure out their odds on their own. Lying to them would get them nowhere.

  “We’re going to die here.” Riley looked at her empty wrapper like it spelled their doom.

  “I’m not going to let that happen. They put me in charge of this mission, and just because it took a change, of course, doesn’t mean I won’t still keep you all safe and sound.”

  Riley sent her a small smile trying to be positive about the situation.

  Sophia wrapped an arm around Riley’s shoulders. “We have plenty of rations, and we have a lot of heads. Together we will survive.”

  “I just can’t forget how scary some of the wildlife is down here.”

  Neither could Olivia, but she wasn’t going to let it affect her at least not openly.

  As night took over the rainforest, strange animal calls radiated through-out the trees sending shivers racing over Olivia’s skin. She rubbed her arms. She couldn’t help herself. She wanted to look calm and collected in front of the other women, but this wasn’t a situation she’d been trained for.

  “You think they’d kill us?” Riley asked with a shaky voice.

  “The natives?” Olivia shook her head. “We have no proof that they are war-like, and we have no idea what they’d do if they came across us.” It wasn’t exactly an answer, but she hoped Riley would take it as a positive answer.

  “The rainforest is large, and there are only a few clans on this continent. The probability is slim we’d encounter them.” Scarlett spoke up from where she sat against a tree trunk. “For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Scarlett.” She gave everyone a short wave with a bright smile.

  Olivia had been worried more women would be freaking out, but she was pleased to find a lot of them being more than level headed with this situation. That’s probably because they were all scientists and a lot of them worked things out logically before letting their emotions get away from them. Everyone knew wigging out wouldn’t help matters.

  Some of them might even be glad for the emergency landing. This would give them the perfect excuse for studying the natives and wildlife up close while waiting for a rescue.

  She hoped the other two women who’d been separated from the group were safe. If they stayed near their escape pods, then it would be easy to find them, but she worried they would leave in an attempt to rejoin the main group, and then they might get themselves lost.

  Emma seemed to be a woman of action, and Olivia had a hard time seeing her sitting still for long. Olivia didn’t know the missing Harper, but she knew Emma would take charge and take care of them both. She was a head-strong woman.

  Liam sauntered his way over to the group of women with his gun resting on his hip. “Two of us will sleep, while two of us watch over you women.”

  Olivia bristled at the way he said you women like they were useless, but if he gave them a gun, they wouldn’t be so useless. He just had trust issues and thought he was the big man around here.

  But if they ever did get into a firefight, he was probably right to assume the women would be useless, which made her bristle even more, because she didn’t want him to be right. He had to know they were an asset with their knowledge of the planet. Liam might have a gun, but they could figure out which plants were unsafe to eat.

  She ignored him, as the women huddled around each other and settled in for the night. They were going to have a long day ahead of them tomorrow as they tried to cover the distance between them and the other escape pods. It was important they got as far as they could when they had daylight hours.

  Every once in a while, during the night a woman would wake to a bug crawling over her, wig out, and wake the women close to her. To say the least, it was a very long night with little rest.

  Olivia woke the next morning to find the women crowding around something on the ground.

  “What’s going on?” Olivia sat up and asked Scarlett who was closest.

  “Chloe is complaining about a bug bite on her arm.” Scarlett moved out of the way so Olivia could get a glimpse of Chloe lying on the ground.

  Olivia rose to her feet and peered down at Chloe, and her eyes popped wide. Chloe’s arm was flushed bright pink, and there was a nasty looking bump where she’d been bitten during the night.

  “Grab one of our emergency packs.” Olivia bent down next to Chloe, hoping they would have something in the pack to take care of this reaction.

  “Here.” Scarlett thrust a pack into Olivia’s lap.

  She tore through the pack, but all she found were some pain meds and a little anti-itch cream. After rubbing the cream over the bite mark, she sent Chloe a comforting smile. She didn’t need Chloe freaking out.

  Liam came to stand over her. “Get her up.” He waved his hand in the air. “We need to get on the move again if you want to find the other women in a reasonable amount of time.”

  Every woman i
n the group turned to glare at him and his insensitivity towards Chloe’s situation. Maybe a bug would bite him, and then Olivia could give him the same sympathy he was showing this poor woman.

  But he was right. They had to get on the move, and Chloe had the best of what they could provide her from their emergency medical packs.

  “No one knows anything about the medicinal benefits of the plants around us, right?” Olivia turned in a circle to take in all the women, as they shook their heads.

  “We haven’t had enough time to study the planet to know what bit her and what might cure her.” Aubrey stepped forward with her advice. “I haven’t witnessed what the aliens on this planet do if they get a bug bite. Sorry.” Her face scrunched up in misery.

  “There’s no need to be sorry. As you said, we haven’t been here long enough.” Olivia leaned over Chloe. “Can you move?”

  Chloe shook her head. “I feel like my whole side aches.”

  “Someone help me then.” Olivia waved over some women. “She’s going to need a couple of shoulders to lean on if she’s going to move.” She directed the women around her.

  It was definitely a severe reaction to a bug bite, and Olivia hoped it didn’t mean Chloe would die. They did not need to start their lives on this planet by losing someone in their group. It would only hurt the already dwindling morale of the group.

  Scarlett stepped forward, and together they each took one of Chloe’s shoulders.

  “She’s burning up.”

  “I know, but we don’t know what bit her, and we don’t have anything to help with it at the moment.” Olivia felt terrible, but Chloe was going to have to fight this bug bite on her own for now.

  Liam led the women, and in no time they were trekking through the rainforest.

  By mid-day, they had to make a stop for Chloe. Her breathing was labored, and her skin looked like a ripe tomato. She was barely helping them with her walking. It was more like Olivia and Scarlett were lugging her along, the toe of her shoes dragging along the ground.

  “Is she going to die?” Scarlett whispered over the top of Chloe’s head.

  “I have absolutely no idea, but I sure hope not,” Olivia whispered back over Chloe’s head. She wasn’t too sure Chloe was even in a state of mind where she’d be able to understand them, but she still wanted to be respectful of her. “I haven’t ever seen a reaction like this before and have no idea what to do for her. All we have if what’s in our packs, which isn’t much.”

  They let Chloe sink to the ground until she was laying down on her back.

  Liam stomped over to them. “We can’t stop, or don’t you care about the other women in this group?”

  “Of course, I do!” Olivia snapped. “But that doesn’t mean I’m about to abandon Chloe because she happened to get bit by some insect. I’m showing her the same concern I’d give the other women. Emma and Harper have shelter in the form of their escape pods, plenty of food, and the same emergency packs we have. They’re in better shape than Chloe.”

  “He’s right. You all should just leave me.” Chloe whispered weakly from where she was lying on the ground. Her blue eyes had dulled, and her lips were looking a bit chapped.

  Olivia turned to the group standing around them. “Who believes we should just leave her here?” She was taking a bet that the women wouldn’t just throw Chloe out of the group… she hoped.

  All the women mumbled to themselves, but none of them raised their hand. None of them would want to get left behind if they were in Chloe’s shoes.

  “It’s decided then. We will stay until Chloe feels that she can move again.” Olivia stared Liam down waiting for him to challenge her authority in the group.

  Liam huffed, but relented, when he realized he wouldn’t be able to sway all their minds, and he left the women to tend to Chloe.

  Scarlett stepped forward. “Chloe isn’t the only one who needs a rest. He’s been pushing us hard, and my feet are killing me.” She raised a foot in the air and winced. “I don’t think I’ve walked this much ever before.”

  “When he gets ill, we should pretend to leave him behind. I bet his tune would change really quick after that.” Avery stepped forward, her jade eyes flashing in displeasure.

  All the women around her smirked.

  Olivia turned her attention back to Chloe. Digging into her pack she took out the container of anti-itch cream and rubbed some more anti-itch cream on the bug bite, and then gave her some more meds for the fever.

  Riley and Avery walked over with their nearly empty water bottles.

  “We thought we might go in search for a water source. Want to come along?”

  “Liam’s going to throw a fit when he finds us missing.” Scarlett smiled at them. “I’m in!” She grabbed a water bottle.

  Olivia rolled her eyes. “I’m in too, but just because we need water. Not because I’m looking to piss off Liam.”

  “You can’t fool us.” Scarlett frowned. “You don’t like him either and pissing him off would give you some satisfaction as well.”

  “He just needs an attitude adjustment. Once we have time to study the planet, he’ll understand why we’re a benefit instead of a hindrance.” Olivia explained hoping she was right. She really didn’t want to be stuck on a planet with a man who just wanted to butt heads with her.

  “I’m hoping he falls ill, and we are the ones to save him.”

  She was inclined to agree, but she hoped Liam would calm down once they were here for a while and had time to settle down. They were all a bit tense. Being forced to land on a planet with no way off was never a fun situation.

  She needed to get Chloe some more water anyways. That was what she needed to focus on now, not Liam and his foul mood. The woman was sucking in water like there was a desert residing inside her dainty body. It scared Olivia, to be honest, and she was sure they would lose Chloe at some point which would hit their moral hard.

  Chapter 4

  “Should we drink it?”

  “The color is just from the minerals in the water.” Olivia stared down at the rushing river. It had a slight red hue, but she was able to recall their analysis of it up on the space station. This planet was rich in minerals, and they seeped into the water source easily. “There shouldn’t be anything in here that would cause us to be sick from what we saw up in the station.”

  The women around her just stood there staring at it, like it might jump up and swallow them whole if they even so much as twitched.

  “Oh, come on.” Olivia squatted down beside the river, cupped her hands, dipped them into the rushing water, brought some of the water up to her mouth, and took a loud slurp. “Tastes like water. I’m sure it’s fine.”

  The other women bent down beside her and filled their bottles.

  “Still looks weird,” Riley commented, as she held the clear bottle up in the air to examine the liquid inside.

  “Alien planet dummy. Things aren’t going to look familiar.” Avery shot back.

  The two women sent each other glares.

  “Now, now children. No bickering, while we’re on the alien planet without anyway off. Who knows how long we might be stuck here, and we don’t want to be making any enemies.” Scarlett interrupted.

  Olivia couldn’t have said it any better. She held up her own bottle and took a look at the water. Their analysis hadn’t been alarming, but she still hoped there wouldn’t be any surprises in it.

  “We can always boil it before drinking it.” She offered up.

  “I like that idea.” Scarlett agreed.

  “It should boil off any bacteria that might upset our systems.”

  A twig snapped loudly, echoing off the water.

  “Did you hear that?” Avery said with a quiver in her voice, her brown eyes darting around the area.

  “Probably just a branch falling off a tree or some animal walking around the forest floor.”

  Slowly the women went back to gathering water. They’d brought all the bottles they could find with them so
they’d only have to make one trip to the river.

  Another twig snapped, and every woman’s head jolted up as they looked across the river. There, standing in front of them was a black panther-like animal, the same type they’d been looking at up in the cafeteria on the space station.

  “Oh… my… god.” Olivia breathed out in an alarmed whisper. Things were really getting worse by the minute.

  There in front of them was the primary predator of the area. The panther’s gold eyes watched them, and its mouth opened showing off some very sizeable canines. It could easily kill one of them… or all of them!

  “No one speaks another word.” She whispered hoping not to alarm the panther but loud enough to get the women organized. “Just slowly back up, but do not turn your backs, and do not run until it is out of sight.” Olivia backed up, with the women around her following suit. Thankfully, everyone seemed too speechless to utter a single word.

  The animal seemed uncertain what to do, and Olivia was glad for that because she was sure it’d be able to jump the width of the river with little to no effort.

  Right before she entered the thick forest, she caught sight of the panther jumping over the river.

  “Now can we run?” One of the women squeaked.

  “Yes!”

  They all turned and sprinted back to camp. They’d left the water bottles by the river, but at the moment they couldn’t focus on anything other than the alien panther that was now on their side of the river.

  Olivia’s arms pumped at her sides, as she sucked in air. She wasn’t the most in shape person in the world. The other women were starting to pull away from her, and she could hear the panther sprinting after them. It wasn’t far behind! She felt as though she could feel it’s hot breath on the back of her neck.

  “Olivia?” Scarlett called out, as she continued to sprint ahead.

  “Keep going!” Olivia waved an arm. “I’m splitting off from the group!”

  Olivia sprinted in another direction. She wasn’t going to be able to keep up with the others, so she might as well lead the panther away from the other women.