His big hand lands atop my head as I sit up. "How are you feeling?"
I blow a raspberry at him.
Kaspar laughs. "I'm going to take it that this is bad, then."
"It ain't great." I wince at my bandaged hand. It looks swollen and hurts like the dickens. "Is there not one of those med-things on this ship?"
"This isn't a ship," Kaspar says. "It's a pod. Big difference. And no, there's no med-bay. This is simply meant to be an emergency transport, nothing else." He gives my head a pat and then goes back to whatever he's doing behind me.
I sit in my pain for a moment longer, and then something thwaps my good ear.
"Sorry," Kaspar says in a cheery voice. "That was my tail. Close quarters and all."
I rub my ear and get to my feet. Or try to. The pod's so slanted that it makes standing upright a little tricky. I guess I didn't notice before, what with the double vision and all. I manage to move to my bunk and squeeze into the corner, despite the fact that the entire thing is tilted at a 45-degree angle. It's like the entire nose of the pod buried itself in the ground when we landed. Ten bucks says we're not getting aloft in this thing again.
I glance over at Kaspar. As I watch, he reaches into a wall panel and rips out a bunch of tubing. Sparks fly, but he ignores them and continues tearing at the controls.
Twenty bucks, then.
"What are you doing?" I ask him, because I'm pretty sure it's a bad idea to tear the pod apart.
"Looking for anything we can salvage and use while we set up a base of operations." He considers the handful of tubing he's holding, and then tosses it aside. "Since we can't stay here."
"We can't? Why can't we?"
He glances at me from over his shoulder, and I swear it almost looks like he's excited. "No water. We're going to need to find a supply and I scouted around where we've landed. No water around here, either. At this point it'll be smarter to set up camp somewhere else rather than to jog back and forth between the water source and here."
"Ah." It makes sense, even if the thought terrifies me. "You looked around? What does it look like out there?"
"Green," he says, pulling a long, flat panel off the wall and knocking on it. "Humid. Overgrown."
Great. Not exactly what I wanted to hear. I watch him work for a little longer, wondering if I should help. Then again, I don't exactly know what he's doing, so I just cradle my injured hand in my lap instead. "You seem like you're in a good mood."
Kaspar laughs, as if my observation delights him. He sets the panel down and puts another next to it. "I'd rather take my chances in the wild than with Shaalyn's crew. This'll be an adventure. You'll see."
An adventure. Just what I don't want with my head swollen and my hand hurting. "I can hardly wait."
"Give me a little longer to keep scrapping the pod and then we'll set off."
"So soon?" I don't feel ready, but I'm also thirsty, so I guess we should. "What time is it?"
"Don't know. I don't know how long the days are on this planet either, so we should take advantage of the sunlight while we have it. We don't know what kind of creatures the night will bring out."
Well this just sounds better and better. While he works, I get to my feet. I still feel shaky, but I head toward the ship's lone door, the one near the front end. It's closed, but I need to see what this world looks like. I need to get a good look at where we've crashed. I fumble with the door itself, but I can't figure out how to open it, especially given that I only have one working hand.
"Don't run off," Kaspar tells me. "You're small and it could be dangerous."
Run off? When I just want to lie down? When I can't even get the damn door open? He doesn't have to worry about that. I gesture at it. "Can you get this for me? Please?"
He's suddenly behind me, his big form pressing up against my back. Oh. I feel completely swallowed up by him as he reaches over me and depresses a panel in the door, then drags it back. The door of the pod neatly slides into the thin wall, and before I can think about how much of Kaspar is pressing against me…the wave of humidity smacks me in the face.
I blanch.
After years of chilled climate control on the Star, it feels strange to have that much heat out of the shower. I stare out at our surroundings, even as Kaspar places a big hand on my shoulder, as if he's worried I'll somehow leap out and go racing away.