My stomach immediately dropped. I glanced uncertainly at Audrina, who gingerly stepped forward.

                To our left were several large crates that had at one time been stacked, now tipped over with contents spilling out. On the other side of the hallway were several helmets and suits, similar to ours except less bulky and a different color. One of the helmets was shattered. A large duffle bag was lying in the middle of the hall, filled with packaged food.

                I opened the call option on my helmet despairingly, as we both started to walk into the hall.

                "...Rose? Can you hear me?" I called out over the radio meekly. I watched Audrina unlatch her helmet and cautiously pull it off.

                "Rose? Hello?!" She called out loudly.

                We walked further into the hall. There were two doorways to either side, leading large rooms. Both almost entirely empty, with the few remaining items in similar disarray. We walked further down the hall, sporadically calling out for anyone. The next four rooms were almost entirely full with massive crates and several smaller boxes. Again, there were several tipped over. Still with no occupants in sight and no answers to our calls.

                The last three rooms in the base were entirely empty. The last doorway on the right was blocked with caution tape. We both instinctively walked directly up to the tape. At the far end of the room were three bots, near silently working away. One slowly tunneling further into the hill, another forming the walls and a ceiling of the room, with the last cleaning away debris and moving the building materials closer, inching along.

                "This is really... bizarre." I muttered while we stood there watching the slow progress.

                "It's… disastrous. The other crew left in a hurry and we have no idea why or to where. We still don't know where Rose is. And we’re on an entire planet that we haven't explored. It could take weeks to find answers in this alien terrain." Audrina stood for another second before turning away and walking back towards the entrance. "Come on, we have to update the others."

                I scurried to catch up, the eerie silence and a chilling feeling that I was being watched motivating me along. Audrina or not, I wasn't going to be alone in the abandoned, artificial cavern.

                I tried to breath my sigh of relief silently after we had closed the airlock behind us and left the quiet chaos. Still, I saw her out of the corner of my eye as she glanced at me and rolled her eyes.

                "Milton, we have an update. We found the other crew's settlement. It’s tunneled into the side of a large hill. It looks to be abandoned. No residents and no Rose. Roughly a mile west of the ship. No obvious signs of danger, but the settlement was in disarray." Audrina seemed to be examining the horizon as she spoke, looking every direction other than mine.

                "Oh, wow. Understood, we'll send drones in that direction. I'll check in with the other teams. Unless anyone else has found anything, that direction is our best lead. We've been discussing the possibility of Rose somehow coming in contact with or maybe searching for the other crew for some reason. If we find one, there's a chance of finding the other."

                I sat down a few feet from the door, leaned back onto the hill and closed my eyes. The sun was beginning to shine brighter and warm my skin. We should be back at the base camp, relaxing and eating a decent breakfast. Not journeying all over the planet, overheating in these stupid suits.

                "What are you doing?" Audrina brought me back to reality.

                "...Waiting for the update from the other teams." I opened my eyes to meet her gaze.

                "Why? We can keep looking. I think these might be footprints. Well, not footprints, but some sort of trail maybe..." I looked at the scuff marks she was pointing to and then back at her.

                "I think that might be from us." I responded skeptically.

                "I think it doesn't matter. We should keep searching." She fired back.

                "I don't think that's the safe option. Something happened in there. I actually felt safer on the abandoned ship than here."

                "You want to run back to the ship? We have a missing crew and missing teammate in distress. We push on.

                "Honestly, maybe we should head back to the ship. The others are probably back there by now, and it makes more sense to us all to join up on the search instead of just us two." I stood up as a spoke and gave her anticipatory look.

                "That's so like you to play it safe." Audrina muttered. She turned and started walking back the way we came before I could respond. I stood in silence while racking my brain for a response.

                "What? What does that even mean?" My voice was raised without even meaning to, and it almost cracked. Not the best comeback. My face flushed and I hesitated while I struggled to follow up my question with something more coherent.

                "You know what I mean." She had stopped and was now turned facing me. The visor made it harder to see her face, but I could just barely see her eyes glaring back at me. Or maybe I just felt the fierce expression burning into me. I remained frozen as I stared back.

                "You know what? Fine. I'm not a coward and I don't just 'play it safe'. You'd know that if you got to really know me instead... I don't know." I spluttered and turned away. I gathered my tattered dignity and started walking further into the wilderness. I heard Audrina mutter something under her breath as I turned to see her following, trudging along begrudgingly.

                 We somehow managed to almost make it another mile out before we stopped. My legs ached and the sweat had started to make me chafe in the worst places. We were now on our second day of this and we were no closer to getting back home than we were yesterday, the day we were supposed to be back. Almost as if we were being pulled further away by a cruel twist of fate.

                "Ready to go back yet? We should at least check in." I inquired. I fought the urge to plop down and sit on the ground right where we had stopped. Audrina was staring past me wordlessly. I raised my eyebrows incredulously. "Hello, Audrina?"

                "I already tried." She muttered.

                "What? Why didn't I hear you– what do you mean 'tried'?" I heard my voice raise again.

                "I think I see something." She walked past me as I stood in place, still staring at where she had been. My heart thudded resoundingly and a chill washed over my body.

                I turned and followed Audrina while my hands furiously tried to radio out to Milton or any other team. I watched the screen in my helmet repeat 'Could Not Connect' over and over again. I tried again, just to see the same message and the same annoying little beep as it denied me communication with the all other the people I would rather be talking to than Audrina.

                I kept trying desperately, seeing the same message as tears welled in my eyes. I didn't even notice that Audrina had stopped. I would have walked right past her, if I hadn't immediately heard a sharp crack and feel my feet meet nothing.