Slime pt. 2

Lana sat in the airlock, the sleek, airtight helmet sealed over her head. Rochelle sat across from her, her face hidden behind the darkness of the visor.  Their gear for on planet was much simpler and sleeker than the stuff Lana remembered seeing when she was a child. Gone were the days of bulky space suites, replaced with simple, sealed jump suits. With an air regulator and a pair of gravity boots, walking around on planet was not only simple, but even comfortable.

So if her gear was so comfortable, why was Lana so fucking uncomfortable. It was her gut. The feeling in her gut would just not let up. It was tugging at her, like an alarm that refuses to turn off.

Something was very wrong, and something very bad was about to happen.

“This’ll just be routine.” Rochelle’s voice came over the small speaker in the side of Lana’s helmet. “You need to calm down. You’re so nervous that even I’m starting to feel it.”

“Can’t help it. This just feels all kinds of wrong,” said Lana. 

“You’re just getting jitters about leaving. Eight years is a long time.” Rochelle checked the timer on the airlock. “We are good to go.”

Lana just nodded, and then Rochelle hit the airlock release, and the door to the outside opened up with a woosh of air.

Before either of them stepped onto the rocky soil Rochelle scanned the surrounding area. “Looks like that quake did a lot of damage. If we weren’t already leaving, I would suggest getting out of here sooner than later.”

“How bad are we talking?” Lana glanced at Rochelle, unable to understand the data that was suddenly rushing across her visor.

“Potential sink holes all over the place.” Rochelle was shaking her head. “I don’t think it’s even safe for us to step outside. It looks like huge chunks of this planet suddenly just hollowed out.”

“That’s impossible.”

“But it happened.” To prove her point, Rochelle placed her foot two feet in front of the open door, and tapped her toe against the dusty ground.

Within seconds the ground began to crumble, and then fall away, a hole opening up before them, spreading away from the compound quickly. As Lana watched, the hole grew in both length and width… and depth.  

“There is nothing down there.” Lana leaned over the door frame. “It just goes on into…”

“Looks like you are going to get out of having to go on a scouting mission. On account of the planet turning to dust.” Rochelle motioned for Lana to step back into the airlock, and then pulled the door closed.

She took a seat, and waited as Rochelle started the program up that would allow them to enter the pressurized compound again.

“Did we do that? I mean, through the mining?” Lana waited for the small ding in her ear, and took off her helmet.

“I doubt it.” Rochelle sat across from her. “We haven’t been mining long enough to do that kind of damage.”

“Then I have to wonder,” Lana said, “where the hell did all that planet go?”

Rochelle looked at her confused.

Lana continued. “Yesterday that ground was solid. We have the data to back that up. Today, after that quake, we suddenly find ourselves with a planet on the edge of collapse. Where the hell did all that mass go?”

“I couldn’t tell you.” Rochelle shrugged. “I hate to say this, but we also probably won’t get the chance to find out.”

Lana nodded, but in her mind she had the sinking feeling that she would find out, and soon.