�Thanks Hisheena. Where are we?�
�We�re in some kind of forest, at the bottom of a canyon. Don�t worry; it�s not the one we ditched our ship in.� David looked around. He could smell the fresh water of the stream no more than a few meters away. Its soft trickling and splashing past the river rocks made him almost want to go back to sleep. All along the riverbank were luscious green alien plants, with strange purple fruits on them that looked ripe for eating. Above, the sun was setting, bringing out the stars of a pattern strange to David. The canyon walls thousands of feet above him seemed to frame this strange sky, making it seem even more oddly beautiful.
As he got to his feet, he noticed William and N�tn�see setting up their camp, and getting the final touches on the helicopter�s camouflage.
�Davi- sir, would you like to assist me in collecting some of the fruits and fishes?� asked Hisheena. She showed no sign at all of any of the worry that filled her. Though she knew that her leader must have some sort of plan to get them home, she could not see one. She felt somewhat worn from piloting the ship this far, but she had to do whatever it took to help her teammates survive.
�Absolutely�, replied David. He had to hurry; they would not have the luxuries of military camping equipment that they had previous nights, and nighttime approached quickly.
He walked over to a nearby bush full of the strange fruits, and plucked one off of its unusually strong branches. It appeared much like an Earth orange, with its rough skin and rounded shape. The only difference he could see was that it was a heavy purple. He dug his nails into the skin, and began to peel it away. The exposed fruit under looked at him as shockingly tasty.
�Only one way to know if it is poisonous�, muttered David to himself. He took a large bite of the luscious fruit, his senses drowned with a sour taste much like watermelon and lemons. In fact, it seemed so sour it began to tingle his tongue. Immediately, he spat the fruit out, washing his mouth out with water. The rest of his crew, witnessing the incident, rushed to him.
�I�m fine�, began David. �But it would appear that the fruit surrounding us is dangerously acidic. We�ll have to stick with any fish we catch from the river�. Satisfied with a sense of relief, the team stood back from him. �I�m sure that helicopter has some sort of tracking devices, so-�
�Destroyed�, interrupted William. �We dismantled it two hours prior to landing.�
�Still, we need to take shelter as to evade any patrols,� said N�tn�see, his face somewhat worried. It looked almost as though he were concentrating on something in the forest. �We have none of our equipment salvaged from our vessel after our initial arrival to the planet, but there is some survival gear in the chopper.�
�That chopper is our only source of cover currently. Since I�ve had far too much sleep recently, I shall stand guard for the night.� The crew acknowledged this, and began covering their tracks made around the landing site, and stood outside the well-concealed helicopter. �Go on, let�s get inside. I believe that there is some motion detection equipment in there and some TEC glasses. I�ll use them to keep an extra eye over our little camp.�
The TEC glasses were an amazing little tool to have handy. They incorporated proton enhancement technology, IR sensors, and motion sensors that increased the wearer�s peripheral vision by about 500%. The motion detection equipment was simply a box of nodes that transmitted to his wrist implant that gave him a map of everything that moved within a 50-meter radius of their location. He quickly scattered them, as nightfall was now upon them. By the time he had finished setting up all ten of the nodes, he returned to the chopper to find, surprisingly, that his entire crew had fallen asleep.
He pressed a button on his PDA wrist implant, and a holographic screen floated a few centimeters above his forearm. It initially showed a welcome screen, and then dissolved to a menu of functions. He opened up the interface/download software, and executed its auto detection software. It found the radio waves being transmitted from the beacons, hitched into a bounce-back signal from them communicating with each other, and began screening the hardware. The program matched the profiles to that of a motion sensor beacon, and brought David a new window displaying a map of the perimeter. It delivered the message
�INITIALIZING� PLEASE WAIT�.
Only seconds later the map flickered to life, and David could instantly see every living creature as it breathed and crawled through the forest, swam in the river, and then noticed a brighter dot in the center. Obviously, from the three other dots directly next to it, this was him and his crew asleep in the chopper. He entered into a menu, selected a screening function, and reprogrammed the beacons to only report anything at least the size of a human. Instantly, everything disappeared off of the screen, save the four dots near the middle.
Satisfied, He sat next to the trunk of a tree, and tinkered for a while with the glasses. Though he could tell that the images he saw were obviously rendered from its sensory technology, the dead night was bright and alive around him; he saw everything as it happened.
But suddenly his PDA changed its calm blue glow to a burning red; something other than the four dots he had designated as friendlies was approaching. A large red dot jumped across the screen, vanishing as quickly as it had come. A slight rumble of a craft above soon followed this.
Oh damn, he thought. But none the less, he remained silent. The enemy had sent scout drones across the planet, like the one that had just flown above them. They must have been looking for some kind of activity; a fire, mass movement, or any human speech would be the regular search screening methods.
Only two other craft followed this one, as daybreak approached. They would not fly at daytime, as too many creatures would be moving about for them to be of any use. David walked cautiously to the creek and began gathering fish. It wasn�t easy, but pleasantly challenging none the less. He would gather at least enough for a decent breakfast, but they would have to be eaten raw. A fire would send IR spikes that their spy satellites could easily detect. Using the combat knife that they had found in the survival kit earlier, he separated the more edible meats from the organs and bones, laying out rations for his whole team. Before he could reach the helicopter door to awake them, however, the door was pushed open by N�tn�see.
�Good morning, sir� he said. �I trust last night went well?�
�We haven�t been detected yet, but our escape seems to have the entire planet on full alert. We probably won�t be able to use the chopper again.�
��Tis a pity to waste such good equipment. The others are waking, recovering from disorientation. What�s this?� he asked, motioning toward what looked like red pulp scattered into piles on some of the large, green leaves.
�Breakfast� replied David.
