After breakfast, each team met outside to go over the goals of that day. Milton was quick to confirm the rumors and even quicker to reassure us that there was likely no danger and it was more than likely a simple malfunction with one of the communication units. We were to search, but only rescue if safe and absolutely necessary.

                Milton divided us into our three groups of fourteen. I held my breath as he went through the names, one after another, putting Lunëne on group two... and then me, also on group two. I let out the breath that I hadn't before realized I was holding and exchanged a stealthy smile with them. If there was anyone I wanted to explore our new world with, it would be them.

                We prepped our backpacks and set out an hour later, heading North of the ship's landing zone. None of us spoke much as we began to walk, choosing instead to listen to the sound of our breaths as we hiked along and the occasional updates transmitted to us from Milton and the other two groups. There was some sporadic small talk at first, but the barren landscape did nothing to stir conversation. I found myself wandering through my thoughts aimlessly.

                The travel was not difficult, with only the occasional change in pitch and elevation from the small craters dotting the surface of the planet. Above us, dense, hazy clouds hid the sun, making for a monotonous uniformity in the light cast around us. There were no complaints from any of us though— after the trip we had been on, a calm hike on new terrain had a certain peacefulness.

                An occasional drone would appear in the distance before zipping by, our robotic assistance from the air looking for additional information ahead of us, and to the East and West. The small machines were limited in ability, not easily adaptable, and has a short battery. But on the other hand, they helped immensely with giving a large picture overview of what to expect.

                About three hours into the trek, as we were stopped for a break, Milton contacted our Northern bound group with an update.

                "We found the ship, the other spaceship. No info on their crew yet. Their ship looks to be in good condition though. It's about a two-hour journey further North and a bit East from you guys. That would put you five hours out and roughly four and a half hours back. Which would put you about an hour past the agreed upon return time. So, I'll leave it up to all of you if you want to continue there today or come back to home base. I'll give you time to discuss. If you unanimously agree to move forward, then return a confirmation and we can discuss further instructions."

                There was a scattered response of 'received' from all fourteen of us to confirm. And we began to glance around at each other.

                "I have no issue with that, assuming we find the other mission’s passengers then we could even stay at their permanent settlement tonight."

                "And if we don't, and we have to hike back? That's ten hours. I don't mind walking obviously, but at some point..."

                "We can rest before heading back. Also, we can explore their ship when we get there, it might have useful supplies."

                "That's assuming the crew left supplies and aren't at the ship. They've been here for months; there's no way they don't have another more permanent location chosen."

                "Well, the sooner we figure that out, the sooner we join them. Or help them with finding the permanent location for both our ships' passengers."

                "I think it sounds fun." The familiar voice made my ears perk up. That was all I needed for my decision.

                "I'm with Lunëne on that. It completes our mission in one single day, and it would really exciting to see what their ship is like and how they set up their settlement." I chimed in.

                "It's not about being fun. We have to make the right choice for everyone" Another familiar voice, this time Audrina. The one person I had been avoiding. I turned my head to glance at her and was met with a cold look, directed resolutely at me.

                "Well, we all have to agree or else we're heading back. Anyone else had something to add before we put this to a vote? ...No?" There was silence.

                "Okay, then one at a time, Yay or Nay."

                One by one, clockwise around the group, we sounded off. A confident ‘Yay’, followed by a hesitant ‘Yay’. Lunëne and I adding our ‘Yay’, until it got to Audrina. The second to last one. She paused, staring at the ground. She shifted uncomfortably for a second, and sighed. She gave a reluctant ‘Yay’. Then all eyes were on the last group member.

                "Nay." Defeated groans rang out among most of the group members, and the first member to speak up threw their head back in exasperation. "I’m just kidding, let's go check it out. I say Yay."

                We radioed Milton with the update. He gave us an update in return; the other teams would be redirected North starting tomorrow, and more drone bots would be dispatched towards us for additional information today. Still no updates on if the crew was on the ship or at a second location. Due to the uncertainty, we were to be on high alert for anything that seemed to pose a threat or even gave us a bad feeling. We knew where the ship was, but other than that, we were walking into an unknown with limited back up.

                The trip took a little longer than two hours, and was again done in relative silence. There were sporadic comments and speculation on what awaited us, but it seemed no one wanted to jinx us. Or get our hopes up. And the novel theories became sparser as we inched closer to the destination, leading to conversations dying out sooner.

                We were walking up an incline when the group member in the lead stopped short, paused, then turned to the rest of us wordlessly. We knew what that meant, and an excited dash for the crest of the hill began. Sure enough, across the plain in front of us, was an upright ship painted a vibrant orange, just barely more than a speck.

                We collectively increased our pace, despite still being quite a distance from the ship. The weary legs and aching shoulders were ignored as we all stood taller and walked briskly on. As we came closer, it became apparent that this ship was definitely larger than ours. The sillouette was familiar, yet clearly refined and updated. And as Milton had said, there was no sign of movement or any indication that the passengers were in the vicinity.

                Even from a few hundred feet away, I could see that the ship's entrance was wide open. I could feel my sweat beading on my face, and I couldn't tell if it was from the laborious journey or the sense of uneasy that was gripping my insides. But the outer airlock door being open didn't mean anything itself. We all came to a stop at the foot of the massive towering ship.

                "We've just arrived at the ship. No sign of the crew, but also no sign of... any danger." One of our group member's voices was broadcast into my helmet, the message directed to Milton. A few moments of near silence, interrupted by a barely noticeable hiss from the speaker as it relayed Milton's reply.

                "You are all clear to proceed with a quick exploration of the ship and immediate surroundings. Don't take too long, you have a long hike back." Milton decreed.

                "Dibs on exploring the ship." A voice called out over my speaker.

                "I'm right there with you."

                "Absolutely not, that ship looks creepy as hell. I'll look around out here."

                I turned to see Lunëne smiling at me. I knew exactly what they were thinking.

                "I'll check out the ship too." I added, returning the knowing smile as Lunëne spoke up to make the same choice.

                Nine of us ended up going on the ship and five looking around the immediate surroundings. I followed behind as our larger fragment of the group walked up the stairs extending to the entrance.

                The mechanism to open the airlock was luckily quite user friendly, and after a few seconds the doors opened with a happy beep. We all squeezed inside before someone pressed the identical button closing the outer door, pressurizing the air, and then opening the inner door with a calm hiss.

                The room we entered was dimly lit by an amber light strip at waist height around the room. This exit room was similar to our locker filled exit room, but was instead filled with smaller shelves and an unmanned station in the corner, equipped with a machine that was unfamiliar with an impossible to guess function.

                A sudden click from a few feet away had my head snapping towards the sound, to see that a brave group member had disconnected and was hesitantly removing her helmet. Another followed suit, and with a reassuring nod to us, everyone's helmets timidly came off.

                "Um, hello?" Lunëne called out. Their words echoed but were not met with a reply. The silence was heavy.

                "So... no one's here." Audrina whispered. We stood like statues, straining our ears for anything while the tense silence prevailed.

                "It doesn't seem like it. We can check for food or supplies though; they may have left a few things around that we might want." Lunëne replied in a hushed tone. I joined the scattered nods, and we began to creep forward. I tried to stride along with confidence, but I was practically tip toeing.

                "It looks like they rearranged where everything is, where should we look?" I asked in the same hushed tone.

                "Divide and conquer." Lunëne replied and gave me a wink.

                We set our helmets down in a messy pile against the wall and began walking down a similarly dim hallway. We quickly arrived at the end of the hallway, width an elevator and a singular button to go up.

                "Ok, we'll go in three teams of two, and one team of three. One team per floor. We'll look around, check if anyone is here, and search for supplies." Lunëne pressed the button as they spoke. "I'll team up with Soelli and take the first floor."

                We crammed into the oversized elevator as everyone quickly paired up. The door closed, the elevator moved, stopped at the first floor, and opened to reveal... darkness. Just more amber lights dotted evenly around the room in front of us.

                Lunëne and I stepped out and found ourselves in a dusty and empty cafeteria. The room was smaller than the one we had, suggesting each floor would have individual cafeterias. Tables were pushed to either side of the room, and corresponding chairs were folded below each table neatly.

                The silence remained deafening, and neither one of us felt the urge to call out again. There wouldn't be a reply. We were the only souls on this ship.

                "Wow, it's been too long since we've had some alone time! Can't believe we have to explore an abandoned ship just to get some time together." Lunëne bubbled. They turned to look at me and laugh. "Speaking of, when are we going to tell the others? I almost said something like twelve times but I thought I should ask you first. They're going to be so excited, it was really cute when Elissa and Valentin told us."

                "Oh, um yeah. We should tell them when we get back tonight." I faltered for a moment. "You aren't... creeped out at all from this-" I gestured at our surroundings. Lunëne looked around nonchalantly and shrugged.

                We had glanced around the room, but seeing nothing useful, we began to journey further. We left the empty cafe and started wondering down a hall. Each suit came with a miniature flashlight, which I fumbled with to turn on, as the lighting seemed to be murky throughout the ship.

                After a minute of quietly strolling along, we arrived at the next room, a bedroom, and peered in. There was very little to look at, with empty shelves, a dusty nightstand, and luxuriously large bed.

                "Well, they certainly traveled in style. That bed is nearly as wide as my room." Lunëne kept walking as I did a fruitless double take around the room.

                "That's the luxury suite." I joked as I hurriedly caught up. The next few rooms were the same, until we got to their communal recreation room. The furnishings were more streamlined than the one I was used to, and had a greater variety of available games— a few that I didn't even recognize. We both walked in to check the cabinets and behind the tables.

                "So far this seems pointless. Other than the alone time, I mean." I looked at Lunëne expecting them to reply with a joke. They paused for a moment before jumping up on a nearby table to sit facing me. I raised my eyebrows instinctively and then slowly followed their lead, sitting on the table next to me while facing them.

               "Well while we have some free time, I wanted to talk about something. Um, so remember that time I played board games and hung out with Audrina? Since we lived on the same floor, we've actually kept talking since then and we're, like, friends kinda?"

               I fidgeted with my hands, apprehensive of the direction this was headed.

               "Anyways, she first told me she has a crush on you. Then later she said that you turned her down. And then I asked if you wanted to be my boyfriend, and you said yes obviously. But then we didn't talk about if we want to be exclusive? I know some people aren't, and I thought it sounded really cute when Silas was talking about both of his partners. I don't know, I just wanted to hear what you think about it."

               I sat there for a minute with my eyes widened and mouth open, starting to speak and then stopping again. That was... nearly the opposite direction I thought that was going.

               "You wouldn't get jealous?" I finally inquired, the first of many questions I had.

               "Well yeah, but I'm pretty sure I could handle it. And it makes sense to me –I mean Audrina is adorable, how could you not like her? Maybe it's too early to talk about this, I just feel really... comfortable, safe I guess, talking to you. Do you think you'd get jealous?" They looked at me intently while I hesitated.

               "I definitely would. Maybe too much. I don't know, is there someone you have a crush on?" They giggled and glanced away thoughtfully for a second.

               "Yeah, you." They abruptly stood up. "We can talk about it more, but I'm happy either way. We can be exclusive forever if that's what works for us. Or explore other options. I thought it would be good to think about."