Burnt, charred, and otherwise damaged remains of what used to be food were scattered throughout the ship. Chao picked through the rubble, sifting out food that might still be edible while the others stared in horror.

"Don't give up yet," Chao pleaded. "Some of this might be salvageable. We should look for the seeds too; the sooner we plant something the faster we can harvest crops."

"Looks like we split up for nothing," Hamadi shrugged. "Guess it would have been smart to check the ship before concluding the discussion."

Anaya nodded in agreement. "Let pack up all the supplies we can find. Then we can try to catch up with the others." Anaya glanced at the smoldering remains and sighed. "If the smoke plume from the crash was big and pronounced like a normal crash, we'd have an easier mark for returning here."

Raphael shook his head. "No need dwelling on something you can't control."

Anaya 's eyebrow shot up. "No?"

"No." Raphael held his position as though he knew what Anaya was thinking, but the rest of the group continued picking through the food idly.

"If we fan the flames, just a little right before we leave—"

Raphael sucked in a sharp breath then expelled the air rapidly. "Why would we waste time doing that?"

Anaya shrugged. "Who says it'll take a long time? There's no way we flew across the universe with no weapons... I'm sure a grenade or two will liven that smoke up in no time."

Raphael shrugged, glancing at the others for support. Hamadi shrugged his shoulders neutrally while Chao, barely listening, continued digging through the food. Only Gabrielle spoke up.

"What if we need shelter? The plume of smoke would give us a way to find our way back, but what would we be coming back too?"

Anaya smiled devilishly. "It'll serve as a beacon, for all survivors; the 5 who left, and any others that might be out there. There's no animal life, so the worse case scenario is rain, right? We should be ok without shelter for a while. Don't you think?"

---

---

The desert sand was hard and compact; their weight left no impression as they wandered forward looking for the other survivors. The terrain was rocky, with ragged hills that made it difficult to see into the distance. While the others babbled about how to find their lost companions and plotted the next steps to ensure their survival, Gabrielle mused at her husband's insistence that she only pack sensible shoes. If it hadn't been for his stubbornness she would have been nursing her feet along with her heart now. Anaya didn't seem to be bothered by the footwear she'd chose, though Gabrielle couldn't imagine the cute ballet flats being comfortable on the rocky terrain. Perhaps it was age that made the difference.

Chao groaned beside Gabrielle. "We're never going to find them!"

Gabrielle nodded in agreement. "I don't think this was part of The Survival Plan."

Chao's chuckled unexpectedly. "I wonder what all the people who planned this would think if they survived?"

"They'd probably lie to us and say everything was under control." Gabrielle frowned, though the friendly conversation was succeeding at dulling the ache in her heart.

"Wait, did you see that?" Chao pointed to the ground nearby.  "It"s a trail."

Despite it's hard surface, the ground before them bore a trail of contoured markings in the distinct shape of some type of paw. The prints continued as far as Chao could see in the distance.

"Hey, I think Chao found something." Gabrielle called out to the others, who rushed to see what all the fuss was about.

Chao, now kneeling on the ground, was inspecting the tracks carefully. "I wish I knew something about animal tracks..."

Hamadi knelt beside him, running his fingers over the ground. "Any chance the other survivors made this as a trail back to the crash site?" Everyone, including Hamadi, shook their head no.

"Doesn't make sense, they would have started before now. Plus why make such an elaborate mark? A simple X would have sufficed." Raphael clarified. "This has to be an animal."

"There are no animals," Anaya and Hamadi said in unison.

Raphael pointed at the start of the trail and let his finger follow the trail across the horizon. "That says otherwise."

Five pairs of eyes moved from the trail to each other and back as each person tried to process the fact that perhaps they were not alone, after all. The prints were not excessively large, suggesting an animal about the size of a labrador, but that didn't mean anyone was in a rush to be face to face with the creature.

"Ok, I really wish I hadn't blown up the rest of The Ark now." Anaya's eye drifted to the plume of smoke in the distance. That was twice she had messed up in just a short period of time.  She couldn't afford to mess up anymore; it might cost them their lives.