My eyes ran up and down the Lucas. It was the first time I had seen her in the flesh, never actually getting so much as a glance at her body when she was in drydock. Finally seeing it was like falling in love. The entire thing looked like an enormous, faster-than-light gunmetal grey egg, the tip of it made of glass to give panoramic views from the tiny habitation zone. Behind that was engineering, the ship’s automated section where five engines had been crumpled in on landing.

I sat down on a boulder for an hour, taking in the air and watching the sun rise to light up the sky in a vibrant blue. The grass that wasn’t burnt was lazily drifting side to side in the breeze. Eventually I figured out I had to get moving. Using cracks in the hull I got back inside. I found my backpack, rifle and tablet in my hiding place between the wall and the pod.

Starting the tablet, it automatically showed a map of my nearby area and a red line extending eastwards. In bold white letters I saw ‘LANDFALL BEACON: 58 MILES.’