Light blue drained from the sky as darkness fell, only to be replaced by brilliant shades of purple and pink interlocking streaks snaking across the sky. There was a full moon so large it encompassed at least a third of the sky. Unfortunately,—for now at least, it would be irrelevant, if they survived long enough to call the planet home—it was much dimmer than Earth's moon. As the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, the surface of the planet was left with only a faint glow about as bright as a quarter moon.

Landon gestured at the stars beginning to twinkle in the backdrop. "I wonder how many of those stars are the same ones we watched at home."

"You worry about that," Giles said gruffly. "I'll worry about where we're going to sleep and when the next meal is."

Landon waved off Giles' pessimism with a flick of the wrist. "We'll sleep under the stars of course."

"And the food?" Giles continued. "Perhaps Anaya was right. We should have at least taken supplies from the ship."

Dennis pointed behind them at the plume of smoke rising from the rocky terrain. It was faint now, barely visible, but each of them had seen it earlier; they knew what he was referencing. "Too late now. Landon must have really gotten under her skin. Looks like they set the ship on fire."

"That so petty," Landon quipped. "Mankind's fate is left in our hands, we don't have time or the resources to fight each other."

Theo shrugged. "What if it isn't petty at all. What if its an SOS?"

As the others pondered Theo's hypothesis, Landon shook his head adamantly. "Why would they send out an SOS? The ship already crashed. They have the food."

"Maybe someone's sick..." Dennis offered. "The SOS could be to signal other survivors too. To lead them to a central location."

Landon rolled his eyes. "To lead them to the desert when they should be looking for water? That's smart. Anaya might have done that." He shrugged apathetically. "None of us have any medical experience so I don't see no cause to go back."

"Food." Giles said gently, causing the others to erupt in laughter.

"It's gonna be ok, Giles," Sebastian offered. "We'll find food soon."

While Giles and Sebastian continued to discuss the possibilities for food, Landon decided to call another vote. "How much longer should we keep walking? The farther we push, the closer we are to finding something, but we can't walk all night."

No one disagreed, but no one was willing to be the one to admit he was tired either. So they kept walking, making small talk about how far they'd already traveled. Ten minutes later, they were overjoyed that no one had spoken up about fatigue. Growing out of the clay like sand was a sprinkling of short blue plants. They were solid and round with penny-sized yellow berries sprouting from the surface.

Giles was the first to run toward the plant. His hands waved in the air wildly, like a little body on a playground, but he wasn't concerned with what the others thought. "Food!" He exclaimed.

"Wait! What if its poison—" Landon's concern was too late. Giles was already swallowing a plucked berry and raiding the tree for more.

"They're sweet—like blueberries—and velvety like honey," Giles reported.

Sebastian shrugged. "There's nothing else to eat, might as well give it a try."

He joined Giles, rapidly plucking off the berries until they had cleared a whole side of the plant. They grinned at each other sheepishly. Sebastian lifted his hand to his face to wipe the juice from his mouth but was shocked to find his hand dripping wet.

"The tree! It's like a cactus. It stores water!" Giles called out to the others.

Sebastian's eyes went wide. "Looks like we hit the jackpot."

---

---

The five of them slept in a circle, with their heads in the center. Sleep hadn't come easy, but eventually, all but Theo were sinking into REM. Landon was convinced they didn't need to post a guard to stand watch, but Theo didn't feel safe, and he couldn't sleep if he wasn't sure of his safety.

He tried to distract himself by watching the stars for familiar constellations. Astronomy had never been his subject of choice, but he was certain if he could find one star he remembered, he would feel more at ease. As he scanned the sky unsuccessfully, an orange light caught his eye. It was a small light—about the size of the smallest star he could see‐but it was moving across the surface of the moon.