S1, 19 Cold Crash (FB) (February 10, 2015)

Corresponding text underneath each picture.

**1st June 2094**

Chain: “*What the hell*?!” I shouted as I staggered down the boarding ramp and out into the icy cold of the snow.

Jarred simply laughed.

Chain: “That was **stupid**!”

Jarred: “Oh come on, what was I supposed to do?”

Chain: “Not shoot them, for one thing!”

I shook my head in anger and looked around us. White. White everywhere. Snow in every direction. There was a fast breeze blowing which added to the freezing temperatures we were currently feeling.

We were on the icy side of Iapra, the side that never faced the sun and so was held in a state of eternal night time. And eternal cold.

Chain: “So what the bloody hell are we supposed to do now?”

Jarred: “How should I know? You’re the guy who always has a plan!”

I grunted an annoyed sound and stomped a little way away and stopped underneath the transport’s wing, which jutted up into the air.

I pulled my bandanna over my face and then hugged my coat around me to protect myself from the cold. I thought as I stared at the vast expanse of nothingness, trying to figure out what our best bet was.

Chain: “Let’s rest here for now. Give me some time to figure out what we can do.”

Jarred: “Fine by me. Flying never was a favourite of mine anyway.”

We grabbed some flammable objects from the storage compartments in the transport and piled them up in the relative shelter of beneath the ship’s wing and then set fire to them, to give ourselves a little bit of warmth.

We sat on the cold, snowy ground by the flickering flames and tried to get as warm as possible.

I was so angry at Jarred. That ship could have been our ticket off this damned planet! Now it was useless, damaged beyond repair; at least beyond any repairs that the two of us could make out here in the middle of the icy desert with no equipment.

That morning, one of Jarred’s new ‘friends’, AKA, one of his new criminal buddies that he’s made friends with over the past few weeks, informed him that he knew where we could get our hands on a datapad – something that we’ve been trying to get a hold of practically since we landed here. He told him that a local mining company was bringing in supplies for their office today, and that the cargo ship was almost certain to have a datapad on board.

Jarred and I set off for the mining facility and scouted it out from a distance to start with. When we saw the cargo transport landing, we carefully made our way over and watched as the men unloaded it, keeping an eye out for the datapad. The ship was a bit dented in places and there was a fair amount of rust, especially towards the lower hull. Once the men stopped going in and out with crates and hover-carts, we made a dash over to the boarding ramp, took a quick peek inside to make sure it was all clear and then hopped up inside.

It was a good sized ship but luckily we didn’t have to do much searching to find the datapad as somebody had just left it laying on a workbench. I grabbed it, checked that it was working and then turned to leave the ship. But as we made our way towards the rear of the craft, it began to vibrate and we could hear the engines getting louder as the repulsors built up power. We were almost to the ramp when it closed on us as the ship took off, complete with us in the cargo bay.

We had spent a while arguing as to what to do. I wanted to stay on board, just to get off of the planet, however Jarred wanted to return to our base as neither of us had any of our very few possessions with us. In the end Jarred stormed off and I realised too late what he was planning on doing. I chased after him and arrived just in time to see him spraying the cockpit with bullets, killing both pilots and causing numerous malfunctions on the control boards. The ship lurched and we both grabbed onto the doorframe. We watched through the cockpit window as the white ground rushed up to meet us and we were both thrown backwards as we hit the snow and skidded along to a final stop.

And so now here we were; sat by a fire in the freezing cold expanse, stuck halfway around the world from our base and with no transport.

A brilliant situation to be in.

I wanted to rant and rave at Jarred but I knew it would do no good. I glanced over at him as he shivered and rammed his helmet onto his head, just for extra protection from the cold.

I stared into the mesmerizing flames, willing myself to heat up, but when nothing much happened, I decided that the best thing to do would probably be to keep moving.

Chain: “I’m going to go and see if there’s anything else useful among the cargo.” I told Jarred as I got up, but he didn’t respond. I shook my head and climbed back into the ship.

I spent the next ten minutes rummaging around in all of the different storage sections of the transport, but the most useful thing I found was a medpack, which I shoved into my satchel.

I got angry and kicked out at a bucket which flew across the bay and hit a control panel. There was a ‘*BEEP*'ing sound and suddenly a panel of the wall which had until then seemed blank, slid up to reveal another storage space beyond.

And sitting in the space…..

Chain: “Jarred, look!” I called excitedly as I pushed the speeder bike as best I could down the wonky boarding ramp and rounded it towards the fire.

Jarred leapt up and rushed over to examine it.

Jarred: “ROBKAT systems T600.” He announced, having found the manufacturer details. “A little dated now, but not bad. Does it run?”

I tested it out and thankfully the engine whirred into life.

Jarred: “Perfect. Let’s get out of this freezin’ dump.”

He leapt on and I climbed on behind him. It was a bit of a squeeze but neither of us were complaining, because at least we now had transport. That and the fact we were sitting on an engine that was generating heat.

Jarred revved the engine and then with a swerve around the fire, we were off.

This whole story actually came about because I had an urge to build a wing with an engine hole in it! So this was mid-creation.

The photo shoot setup.

Some alternative / unused images that I liked.

    The ship itself. Yes it only has one wing. Yes I may one day make the other and re-use it in another episode.

The wing. I'm rather proud of this if I may say so myself!

Another angle, showing the rotating engines.

The original main image.

As my series is going to be jumping around though time, I will include a date on each episode and add it to the timeline at the end of each episode so that you can follow it.

TIMELINE