By Morgan Hannah, Life & Style Editor
Sitting in silence by myself, tears staining my skin, and knees slowly sinking in vermillion sand. I try not to give remote, caustic, hateful thoughts that come up any attention. But, like landmarks of a terrible relationship, they disturb me. I can see exactly where my obsession, my unhappiness, and my guilt have brought distress or, at the very least, inconvenience to those around me. In a position of authority, it was easy to get my way, too.
Itās always after the fact that we realize our mistakes or misgivingsāwhen we can no longer do anything about them beyond moving past it. In my case it seems as though I canāt do much of that either. Without a ship, I am stuck on a foreign planet. Without a power supply, I cannot send a distress signal to my crew. That was a rookie mistakeāa fatal flaw that could cost me my life. It should cost me my lifeā¦ The dark thought leaks into my head and floats around for a while. I know itās not helpful, and I know itās untrue, but I canāt help it. I canāt shake it. Ensign Rabbit didnāt deserve to die. I didnāt know much about her, but ifāI mean, when I get back to the ship, Iāll make every effort to learn all I can about her. Iāll have the shipās ambassador throw her a proper Space Geographer goodbye, one full of honour.
Now, itās only a matter of time before my crew plans a rescue mission. I can only hope they have more success than we had. In the meantime, Iām here; Iām finally on Xexon, the planet that swallowed up my sister whole. Itās time to explore, to learn, and to hopefully find her. But before I can do anything, a scrabbling soundālike that of a creature waddling through the sandāslips into the ship. My breath tightens in my throat and I instinctively reach down at my hip for my phaser.
Continuation of this exciting adventure next week!
