Jay swam towards the abandoned base, which was just coming into view. It was a good thing that all of the team had been prepared to swim to most places, but this was not what he'd signed up for. And no, it wasn't his fault that they had crashed. It was whoever back at home base was stupid enough not to tell him: "oh, yeah, by the way, there's this huge asteroid field surrounding Trivia. You might want to be prepared for that." When they got back (he refused to think about their situation as "if they got back"), ground control was going to get an earfull.

He and Cinnamon wrenched open the hatch, and went through the airlock. The base was huge. There were two floors, and ladders to get in between them. Circular rooms were at each corner, and one of them was clearly a storage room. It was full of large storage units, most of which were packed to the brim. He hadn't gotten enough time to look through more that the two labelled " Food."

There was a map in the main corridor, and he and Cinna paused by it. "Okay," said Jay. "There should be enough rooms for me, you, Wayne, Rachel, Quince, and Liza, plus the storage room, and the med bay." As he said each one, he pointed to the room that corresponded to it.

Cinnamon nodded. "I suppose that that plan could function," she said. Jay took the map down off of the wall. "I'll check out the rest of this place," he said. "I will be coming with you, then," replied Cinnamon. Jay turned to look at her. She was really beautiful when she was determined. Her eyes flared up, and her mouth got that little frown...

Jay mentally slapped himself. He needed to stay focused on the task at hand. "Alright, come on, then," he said roughly, and turned around to continue down the hall.

==*==*==*==*==*==

Rachel was absent-mindedly wrapping and un-wrapping a tensor bandage around her arm when she heard a grunt from behind her. She whipped around, and saw that Quince was waking up. She sighed in relief as his eyes fluttered open. "R-rachel?" He asked. She smiled. "Yeah, it's me," she said. Quince sat up, looking around. "What the-where are we?" He asked, confused. "The last thing I remember was that we were on the Carolina, and I was opening the escape pod..." Rachel nodded. "We hit a bump of turbulence right after you got the escape pod open. You got flung into the pod, and you hit your head on something. We landed on Trivia in the escape pod, and we've been here ever since."

Quince looked around at the interior of the pod. "Where is everyone?" He asked. "Wayne and Liza are just outside, installing some stuff that should help us get in contact with Earth again. Jay and Cinnamon are off exploring some abandoned sea-base that they found." Rachel rolled up the tensor bandage she had been fidgeting with, and put it back into her backpack. "They should be back soon, and then we can all go to this base and see it for ourselves." She zipped up the bag, and put its waterproof covering over it. Just then, the hatch opened. Liza and Wayne climbed in.

"Hey, Quince," greeted Wayne. "Glad to see you're conscious again."

"Hey," replied Quince. "Jay and Cinna back yet?" Liza was still on the ladder, so she poked her head back out for a couple of seconds. "Nope," she reported. "Nobody out there except fish."

Wayne went up to the small radio equipment, and started fiddling with it. "I think this should work," he muttered, twisting a few wires together. After a few minutes, the hatch opened again, and Jay and Cinnamon climbed in. "Quince!" Exclaimed Cinnamon. "I have happiness knowing that you are safe and sound!"

"Okay!" cheered Wayne. "I have successfully established a connection with Earth!" He stepped back, and motioned for Liza to use the radio. She walked forwards, and tapped in some sort of code on the touch screen.

The crew waited for a few tense seconds as a loading icon swirled around on the screen. Then, something fizzled, and the screen cut out. Wayne cursed. "What is wrong with this stupid thing?" He muttered angrily. Liza stepped back, and Wayne produced a screwdriver. He unscrewed a panel, and thick, black smoke hissed out.

"Okay!" commanded Jay. "Everybody out, come on, let's go, and whoever's last, leave the hatch open. We want this pod aired out by the time we're back." Rachel frowned. "By the time we're back?" She asked. "Where are we going?" Jay turned towards her.

"Now that Quince has recovered, we can all go and get settled at that base." Wayne was the last one out of the pod, and he had brought the remaining scuba gear with him. "I didn't exactly hear Jay's speech," he said, handing the gear to Quince and Rachel, "But I think you're gonna need these."

==*==*==*==*==*==*==

The airlock opened, and the team stepped out into the base. Yes they were a team, Rachel thought. When they had been through so much together, it was only fitting.

The base was quite large, and it looked from the outside like it would be easy to navigate. It was basically just a square on top of a square. "Looks like we have a good chance of surviving now," Jay announced. "Everybody, claim a room."