The floor groaned. The last bolt gave way. As the module tilted toward the abyss, Elias realized her frantic gestures hadn't been technical reports at all. She had been waving goodbye.
The intercom crackled, but only static came through. Elias stared at the console, his thumb hovering over the transmit button. Outside the reinforced glass of the observation deck, the storm on Kepler-186f was a swirling wall of iron-rich dust, turning the sky the color of a fresh bruise. 10. Failure to Communicate
Through the visor of her helmet, he saw her mouth moving, but the vacuum of the airlock and the roar of the storm swallowed her words. She held up three fingers, then pointed toward the horizon. Three minutes? Third sector? The floor groaned
"Base, this is Scout One. The atmospheric stabilizers are failing. Do you copy?" Silence. Then, a rhythmic thump-thump from the airlock. She had been waving goodbye
He shook his head, pressing his face against the glass. He pointed to the stabilizer readout—a flashing red 'Critical'—and then to the manual override lever across the room. He needed to know if the exterior bolts were locked before he pulled it, or the whole module would shear off the cliffside.
Elias keyed the internal comms. "Sarah, your suit radio is down. Use the hand signals we practiced. Are the stabilizers holding?"