How to Survive Interplanetary Camping

               “Hey, Josh. Joshua. Wake up!”

Hands shook Josh awake. The first thing he noticed, as he came to, was his position. He wasn’t lying down, he was sitting straight up, strapped to a chair. An uncomfortable chair. His back was stiff, it kind of hurt to shift. His brain caught up to why he was sitting as his eyes shuttered open through the grogginess. What he saw woke him up immediately. The clear windows of the shuttle revealed the twin moons of Icar blocking most of the light from Daedal, the planet’s parent star.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Eric grinned, tapping the back of Josh’s chair.

“How in the world did you fall asleep?”

“Don’t give him too much crap, Sam,” Kurt laughed, “I’ve flown plenty of these missions and people react to the pressures of space travel differently. Falling asleep is a pretty normal reaction. We’re preparing for entry, so sit back down and strap in!”

Almost as soon as Sam and Eric complied, the shuttle started to shake. It started softly at first and quickly got more aggressive. Even though it felt like the ship would be ripped apart. Josh was enamored by the shades of pink and red that were layering themselves on the outside of the shuttle. The blue and green of the planet below melted into a purple-esc color, while the sun peeking out from behind the moons spread out to look like the sun setting, burning across the horizon of Earth.

“Now that is beautiful.”

The dirt of Icar was soft, much softer than the crew was used to. It wasn’t wet though. The grass was heavier, creating more resistance as your legs attempted to walk than even the taller grass on Earth. The rocks were pretty much the same, only the color was slightly tinted red. Josh wondered if that was due to more oxygen as it hardened, but he had no real idea. He was way out of his expertise, but he was okay with that. He was happy to take in the view.

“Do you smell that?” Sam asked the group, almost giddy. This was the first time in a long time any of the men had been close to giddy. On Earth, Joshua was forty, Eric was thirty-seven, and Sam was thirty. On Icar, they were kids again.

“Fresh air,” interrupted Kurt, inhaling deeply, “you never forget the first time you step onto an unpopulated planet. The smells, sights, and sounds of nature without human manipulation are breathtaking!”

They sat in silence for a moment. Although it wasn’t truly silent. The chirping of unknown birds they couldn’t see, the waves of the nearby ocean crashing against the rocky shore, strands of grass brushing against each other in the light breeze, and many more incomprehensible sounds that provided the quiet of the remote wilderness.

“Well. I’ve got to be going if I’m going to get my other crews where they need to get by the end of this cycle. I’ll be back in three days. Try not to die. Remember, if there is any trouble that warrants rescue, the emergency beacon is in your supplies.”

“Yes, this is all standard procedure. We know.”

“I just have to say it, Eric. For insurance purposes.” Kurt laughed as he boarded the shuttle. After a few minutes of checking systems, the ground started to shake as the ship took off. They were officially alone in an uninhabited alien world.

“Alright, tag this location on the GPS, and let’s find ourselves some shelter!” Sam was excited about starting on the work, unlike Eric and Joshua, who’d have much rather admired the views of this planet. But, of course, Sam was right. They had the rest of the day to find shelter, find water, and try to hunt for some food.

“After you, fearless leader,” mocked Josh.

“Can we make this quick? I don’t want to lug all these bags around for much longer.”

“Yes, yes. We’ll stop as soon as we find somewhere well situated for resources and fortification.”

They started off heading west, going along the coast for most of the time. The waves of the sea lapped softly against its beach. The shore was more rock than sand, only jutting into the mainland for about thirty feet until it was stopped by a small cliff of dark red stone rising from it. The forest that bordered the flat-grassy lands they landed in was approaching fast. Eventually, a river broke off from the ocean and cut into the forest. They followed the river as the trees grew denser, cutting off bits of sunlight, and casting a cool shadow on the crew. They were more than appreciative of the break. Since Icar was a lot younger than Earth and shared a similar makeup, the heat enclosed by the functional atmosphere made the world quite a bit warmer than Earth. Most crew members, specifically Joshua and Eric, had removed their shirts and tied them around their heads to hold back the sweat.

Sam led the crew by the river, occasionally stopping for water breaks, until the river passed by the foot of a mountain. He then veered off the path, telling the two less experienced hikers to wait and hold onto the supplies. The two happily sat on some rocks by the river and tried to look for alien fish swimming with the current. They thought they saw something a couple of times, but, in a flash of sunlight, they were gone.

“You know, Josh, what I wouldn’t give for a fishing pole right about now.”

“I’m not confident we’d catch anything here if we got the chance. These fish are moving too damn fast.”

“Yeah, but it’s not about catching anything, it’s about the experience. Sitting in nature, a beer in one hand and a fishing pole in the next, gabbing with friends while scaring the fish away.”

“It is very relaxing. I’ll give you that. I wonder why those fish were so fast though…”

“Get off your lazy asses, I found a great spot to camp. It’s about a quarter mile into the woods, defensible, and only a little further up on the mountain.”

With the groan of stiffening joins, the two picked the supplies back up and followed their resident backpacker into the dense forest. They would have gotten lost if their guide hadn’t known their limits. Thankfully, the year of intense training had him checking behind him every twenty feet. They weren’t out of shape to any degree, just older and less experienced than Sam. Before he knew them, Sam had explored much of what Earth still had to offer, although that wasn’t much at this point. Humans may have developed the technology for interstellar travel, but neither the funds nor resources existed yet to transport and support mass migration to combat overpopulation. There was barely enough to send these small, well-trained exploratory teams, and that was still limited by funding. A bird flitted across a small break in the canopy, its twittering smothered in large leaves.

Slowly but surely the trio made their way to a place where the woods started to thin out. It was only half a mile out from the river, but the dense forest and gradual incline turned it into a half-hour hike. The older men were a little tired, but that didn’t matter now, all that mattered was the small cave that opened into the side of the mountain just past the edge of the woods.

“Here it is boys!”

“Uh, this may not be the greatest place to set up camp.”

“Didn’t they tell us to avoid caves?”

“I glanced in and I’m pretty sure it’s very shallow. Maybe not super comfortable, but at least defensible and not far from water and potential wildlife. Now, come on! Let’s go check it out!”

Sam went in first, Josh went in second, and Eric followed in the back. Sam had been right; the cave was very shallow and uncomfortable. It was just tall enough for the men to stand up in. Just beyond the mouth was a wide cavern that almost resembled a room that was only five feet deep, but, in the back of the wall, were five uneven cracks that jutted into the wall. It kind of looked like the mountain had folded in on itself, leaving crevasses just big enough for a human body.

“Well, that’s just good luck.”

“I’ve seen this kind of thing before. It’s rare, but not unheard of.”

“I mean who cares, as long as we have places to sleep.”

“Of course, the old man is thinking about sleep.”

“Hey,” Joshua gave Eric a small shove, “I could stay up longer than either of you.”

“It’s settled then,” Sam smirked, “you’ve got the first watch.”

“Okay, fine. We better start gathering material and setting up the shelter first before you two get too comfy.”

“Yeah, whatever. I’ll refill our water reserves and try to find some small game while you set up our shelter, defense, and tests. Eric, organize our supplies, make sure the medical equipment and rationed food are easy to get to.”

“Ay, Ay Cap’n!”

“You know we were at the training too, right?”

“Okay, yeah. I’ll see you when I get back.”

The shelter came together rather quickly considering the door was the only part that had to be built and secured. Security included mostly big-game intimidators and deterrents. Floodlights were fashioned in the dirt on either side of the cave opening with their batteries and switches inside; an electric perimeter was set up around the tree line, a specific bracelet was needed to pass that all three of them had; guns were assembled that were disassembled for interplanetary travel and were placed in the open room of the cave; and two high-tech sensors were placed nearly ten feet above the cave ‘door’ on a grassy ledge. The two sensors were the only reasons they were able to go on this adventure. Two undisclosed companies sponsored this extremely expensive trip to get two sets of data. One sensor measured the flux of the dual moons’ gravitational pull, and the other measured the saturation of chemicals in the atmosphere and analyzed its effects at ground level. Joshua was taught how to set it up, but he had nowhere close to the knowledge to decipher the data, nor did he know their intended uses, just that they needed to be set and backed up daily. He’d stick to the spaceship design for the time being.

After setting up the campground, Josh opened the wood and aluminum reinforced door he made and went to check on Eric. The cave looked like a base now. Bedding rolls were placed in each bed-crack; guns lined the back side of the wall, giving the men direct access to them from our beds; medical supplies were set up and organized on the right wall near Eric’s bed, who, being the retired army medic, was the groups expert; and the rations were on the left. Hopefully, Sam would find some real, edible food and they could eat more than the ration reserve. The emergency beacon was set by the door.

“I like what you’ve done to the place.”

“Thanks, but I don’t like what this uncomfortable stone has done to me. I’m going to get some air.”

“I’ll join.”

“I still can’t believe that smell, it kind of shocks the system in the best way possible.”

“Yeah, and the air is so pure it feels like I’m able to breathe for the first time.”

“Nowhere we hiked on earth compared to this, not even close.”

“Want to get a better view?”

“Absolutely! While I was setting up the tests, I saw that ledges were going all the way up the mountainside.”

“Let’s start climbing then!”

They climbed for about a half hour. The climb was very treacherous, nothing worse than they had scaled before, they just took it slow, so they’d have the energy to climb back down. The tree line sat about thirty feet below them, and they could see for miles. Sitting with their backs to the mountain and feet dangling from the edge, Joshua’s head rested against the cool stone at his back.

“I wish my kids could be here; Hallie would love the view, and Adam would have the mountain explored by now.”

“How are they doing?”

“They’re alright, just surviving classes. College isn’t easy, and they're being stupid kids like I was, but I’m confident they’ll figure it out. How’s Ashlee?”

“She’s doing great! Just got a promotion at work and is now the director of sales. I wish she was here, but I know for a fact she’d hate it,” Eric chuckled. “She’d prefer to be curled up in a cozy bed reading a book that came out a century ago.”

“That’s fair, I honestly don’t know if Mary would’ve enjoyed this. She always talked about wanting to travel but we never got the chance. I only made a point to start after she passed.”

They sat for a while in silence, breathing in the fresh air, taking in the scene painted out before their eyes. One of the moons was starting to show from behind the mountain to their left; the bay glittered pink and purple as the sun prepared to kiss the horizon; the water had risen to the cliff, obeying the shifting tide of twin moons; and the once blue sky above them had darkened to a purple.

“Let’s get down before the sun sets and we break our necks on the climb.”

The climb down was simple enough, taking a few minutes less than the climb up. By the time they got to camp, twilight was coming to an end and darkness started to set in.

“Sam?”

“Sam!”

Tension rose as the two men realized their friend had never made it back to camp since going to get water. The hair on the back of Eric’s neck stood up immediately.

“Do you hear that?”

“Hear what? Sounds quiet to me.”

“Exactly, it’s silent. Too silent.”

The rustling of animals in the trees and birds in the distance fell silent. Eric instinctively motioned for Joshua to go inside and gather material. The two grabbed their bags, packing medical kits, emergency survival kits, rations, and all the weapons they could manage. With flashlights fastened to their shoulders and rifles nestled beneath them, Eric led as they went out to find Sam. If he was hurt or in trouble at all they’d take care of him. He’d done the same for them plenty of times. They made their way slowly through the thick of the trees towards the river as they came, where they had seen him set off last. Hitting the river’s clearing they came face to face with their worst fear: Sam’s tactical knife was lying on the ground, red blood spattering the grass. The blade was snapped.

“Holy shit! I knew we shouldn’t have left him alone.”

Eric shushed Joshua, whispering, “No we shouldn’t have, but be quiet. What got him may still be here.”

Joshua took a deep breath, assessed the situation, and realized something horrifying. “Run!” He emphatically whispered. The woods weren’t silent anymore, the trees were shaking, and the noise was getting louder. Eric sprinted ahead, being younger, faster, and having more experience in action-packed situations. Josh wasn’t too far behind, though. They didn’t know what from, but they were running for their lives. After what felt like an hour of running, though it only truly was ten minutes, Joshua tripped and called out in surprise. He landed on his face, a hard tree root cushioning his ribs’ landing, and he heard shots.

The thing chasing them had made a beeline for him, and Eric had turned around just in time to shoot at it. The bullets hit their target, but they seemed to do no more than stun and piss it off. A guttural, vibrating roar of dismay came from behind Joshua. The sound alone sent enough adrenaline to force him up and sprint faster than before away from the creature. It could have caught him easily enough, but apparently, Eric posed more of a threat with that irritating weapon. A long, snake-like body dove over Josh’s head, and, taking a few bullets from Eric in stride, pounced on the veteran. Josh fired a few rounds into the hide of the beast, but they did nothing to deter it. Having left the monster out of sight, he made a beeline for the cave. The only thought coursing through his head was to get through the barrier and bar the door. May God have mercy on him. As the perimeter he set came into view, he started to get another wind, and he felt claws dig into his back. The muscles shredded and he could feel blood soaking the pants he wore as it fell profusely. He jumped on mere instinct and came tumbling through the perimeter before he could be eaten.

He landed on his back. The creature was struck dumb by the electric fence, and delayed for a moment, but that didn’t matter to Joshua. He just saw the stars. Not Earth’s stars, but they twinkled the same. The lack of light pollution allowed for more visible stars than he could have imagined, and each one of them burned brighter than any he’d seen before. The only thing that looked familiar, even as the world faded around him, was the Milky Way galaxy. The strip of stars never seemed to change. He wondered, vaguely, if Hallie was looking up at it now. 

That brought him back to reality. The beast was stirring again, its daze wearing off. Josh sprinted into the cave, barred the door, and clung to the back wall. A small prayer escaped his lips as he lunged for the distress beacon, the beast tore the open door.