Marcus's Intergalactic Mission

We were in the middle of nowhere. The great desert stretched to all sides, cracked and broken in places where we could glimpse the dusty red plains below. In those spots it seemed there was no hope for life at all. Not even a cactus dared grow there.

We were looking for water, but there was nothing to be found. I glanced at my companions, who stood next to me silently staring out across the horizon. They were tired and hungry, their faces covered with dust, their clothes stained with sweat and dried blood from wounds inflicted by sandstorms. We had been walking for days, always searching but never finding. Perhaps it had been foolish to leave our hidden valley so soon. But if we stayed there much longer, our food would run out and we would die anyway.

It had seemed like such a good idea when we left the valley. Our ancient machines had told us that once this desert used to be fertile ground, fed by rivers and watered by rain from the skies. Perhaps if we went out into the desert we could find a way to bring back the rain again? Then our valley - and all its bounty - would not be lost forever.

Now I wondered if our ancestors hadn't been insane... or perhaps they just had a different perspective on time than we did - what was "forever" to them? What was "now" to them? They had lived for hundreds of years; they must have grown bored of their lives long before they died.

I thought about that as I stared at my companions: Aurore, the one-eyed woman who always sat in the middle of our group; Jules, who never spoke but carried all of our heaviest gear; Calixte, who clung to his tattered book and cursed us when we strayed too far from his maps; and Elena, who walked ahead of us all with her eyes closed, listening for clues that might lead us onward.

Aurore was clearly exhausted as she leaned against her spear; her eye patch had slipped down over her other eye and she didn't seem to notice any more. Jules stood with his back pressed against an enormous boulder and swatted absent-mindedly at flies gathering around his face. Calixte bent down to pick something up from the ground - it looked like a piece of metal - and he turned it over in his hands before setting it down again with a sigh. And Elena continued to walk ahead of us without looking back until Calixte finally shouted her name and asked why she wouldn't stop walking so he could read his maps! She opened her eyes then and gave him a confused look before trotting back over to him in confusion while he opened up his map book and read off directions to her while she listened intently.

We began walking again then under Elena's guidance while Calixte trailed behind her muttering obscenities under his breath about "stupid women." After another hour, Elena stopped suddenly and gasped in excitement as she pointed off into the distance. "There!" she said triumphantly! "Look!" There was nothing to see but sand dunes stretching as far as we could see - but Elena insisted that someone must live nearby! "Someone has built a tower," she said excitedly! "Or maybe a bridge?" Jules groaned loudly at this news; he didn't care how close we got if there were people nearby - he wanted food and water NOW! Calixte looked up from his book long enough to say "What the hell is going on? Are you kidding me?" Aurore leaned on her spear with one hand while using the other one to tuck back strands of hair that blew into her face every time she blinked at them angrily - she looked too tired even to speak these days! And I wondered once again how this motley group had ever agreed to set off together on such an impossible quest! We must have all lost our minds somewhere along the way... or perhaps this journey was simply meant only for those few brave enough to take it? Either way, we were determined now; there was no turning back... not after everything we'd already gone through together!

With Elena leading us onward once again (and Jules muttering darkly under his breath) we trudged forward until eventually we reached a point where the soft sand transitioned to solid ground beneath our feet. This discovery excited us at first, but before long we stumbled upon ruins made of concrete blocks half buried in sand dunes crawling with large black scorpions. These creatures climbed up onto our legs when disturbed by our footsteps, only to be smacked away by Jules' heavy pack before he crushed their heads against stones.

We ate the scorpion flesh because there wasn't any other food available - except for seeds which Jules threw away, saying they might kill us before hunger ever did! We slept huddled together on concrete blocks because there weren't any tents or blankets left anymore