'What?' The fog and clouds had misted over her thoughts. She shook them away.
'Which way, Lambert?' Dallas was staring at her.
'I'm okay. Too much thinking.' In her mind she was visualizing her station on board the Nostromo. That seat and its navigation instrumentation, so confining and stifling under normal conditions, now seemed like a small slice of heaven.
She checked a line on the screen of a small device attached to her belt. 'Over here. That way.' She pointed.
'You lead.' Dallas stepped in behind her.
Followed by the captain and Kane, she started off into the storm. As soon as they left the protective bulk of the Nostromo, the storm was able to surround them on all sides.
She stopped, disgusted, and operated suit instrumentation. 'Now I can't see a goddamn thing.'
Ash's voice sounded unexpectedly in her helmet. 'Turn on the finder. It's tuned to the distress transmission. Let it lead you and don't mess with it I've already set it myself.'
'It's on and tuned,' she shot back. 'You think I don't know my own job?'
'No offence,' the science officer responded. She grunted, stalked off into the mists.
Dallas spoke toward his own helmet pickup. 'Finder's working okay. You sure you're receiving us clear, Ash?'
Within the science blister on the lower skin of the ship, Ash switched his gaze from the dust-obscured figures moving slowly away to the brightly lit console in front of him. Three stylized images stood out sharp and clear on the screen. He touched a control and there was a slight whine as the science chair slid a notch on its rails, aligning him precisely with the glowing screen.
'See you right now out the bubble. Read you clear and loud. Good imaging on my board here. I don't think I'll lose you. Mist isn't thick enough and there doesn't seem to be as much interference down here on the surface. Distress signal is on a different frequency so there's no danger of overlap.'
'Sounds good.' Dallas's voice sounded unnatural over the blister speaker. 'We're all receiving you clearly. Let's make sure we keep the channel open. We don't want to get lost out here, not in this stuff.'
'Check. I'll be monitoring your every step. Won't bother you unless something comes up.'
'Check here. Dallas out.' He left the ship channel open, noticed Lambert watching him from behind her suit's dome. 'We're wasting suit time. Let's move.'
She turned wordlessly, her attention going back to the finder, and started off again into the dancing muck. The slightly lower gravity eliminated the burden of suits and tanks, though all still wondered at the composition of a world so small that could generate this much pull. Mentally, Dallas reserved time for a geological check in depth. Maybe that was Parker's influence, but the possibility of this world holding large deposits of valuable heavy metals couldn't be ignored.
The Company would of course claim any such discovery, since it was being made with Company equipment and on Company time. But it could mean some generous bonuses. Their unintentional stop here might turn out to be profitable after all.
Wind drove at them, hammering them with dirt and dust, a solid rain.
'Can't see more than three metres in any direction,' Lambert muttered.
'Quit griping.' That was Kane.
'I like griping.'
'Come on. Quit acting like a couple of kids. This isn't the place for it.'
'Wonderful little place, though.' Lambert wasn't intimidated. 'Totally unspoiled by man or nature. Great place to be. . if you're a rock.'
'I said, that's enough.' She went quiet at that, but continued to complain under her breath. Dallas could order her to stop talking, but he couldn't keep her from grumbling.
Abruptly, her eyes brought information that momentarily took her thoughts away from their steady condemnation of this place. Something had disappeared from the screen of the finder.
'What's wrong?' Dallas asked.
'Hang on.' She made a slight adjustment to the device, made difficult because of the bulky gloves. The line that had vanished from the face of the finder reappeared.
'Lost it. I've got it again.'
'Any problems?' A distant voice sounded in their helmets. Ash was voicing concern.
'Nothing major,' Dallas informed him. He turned a slow circle, trying to locate something solid within the storm. 'Still a lot of dust and wind. Starting to get some fade on the finder beam. We lost the transmission for a second.'
'It's still strong back here.' Ash checked his own readouts. 'I don't think it's the storm. You might be entering some hilly terrain. That could block out the signal. Watch yourselves. If you lose it and can't regain, switch the finder to trace my channel back toward the ship until you can pick up the transmission again. Then I'll try to direct you from here.'
'We'll keep it in mind, but so far that's not necessary. We'll let you know if we run into that much trouble.'
'Check. Ash out.'
It was quiet again. They moved without talking through the dust-laden, orange limbo. After a while, Lambert stopped.
'Lose it again?' Kane asked.
'Nope. Change of direction.' She gestured off to their left. 'That way now.'
They continued on the new course, Lambert keeping all her attention on the finder's screen, Dallas and Kane keeping theirs on Lambert. Around them the storm grew momentarily wilder. Dust particles made insistent ticking noises as the wind drove them against the faceplates of their helmets, forming speech patterns within their brains.
Tick, tick. . let us in. . flick, pock. . let us in, let us in. .
Dallas shook himself. The silence, the cloud-enveloped desolation, the orange haze; all were beginning to get to him.
'It's close,' Lambert said. Suit monitors simultaneously informed the distant Ash of their suddenly increased pulse rate. 'Very close.'
They continued on. Something loomed ahead, high above them. Dallas's breath came in short gasps now, from excitement as much as exertion.
Disappointment. . it was only a large rock formation, twisted and grotesque. Ash's guess about the possibility of them entering higher country was proven correct. They took temporary shelter beneath the stone monolith. At the same time, the line vanished from Lambert's finder.
'Lost it again,' she told them.
'Did we pass it?' Kane studied the rocks, tried to see over them, and could not.
'Not unless it's underground.' Dallas leaned back against the rock wall. 'Might be behind this stuff.' He tapped the stone with a suited fist. 'Or it might be just a fade due to the storm. Let's take a break and see.'
They waited there, resting with their backs to the scoured wall. Dust and mist howled around them.
'Now we're really blind,' said Kane.
'Should be dawn soon.' He adjusted his pickup. 'Ash, if you hear me. How long until daylight?'
The science officer's voice was faint, distorted with static. 'Sun's coming up in about ten minutes.'
'We should be able to see something then.'
'Or the other way around,' Lambert put in. She didn't try to hide her lack of enthusiasm. She was damn tired and they had yet to reach the source of the signal. Nor was it physical weakness. The desolation and eerie colouring were tiring her mind. She longed for the clean, bright familiarity of her console.
The increasing brightness didn't help. Instead of raising their spirits, the rising sun chilled them by turning the air from orange to blood. Maybe it would be less intimidating when the feeble star was completely up. .
Ripley wiped a hand across her brow, let out a tired breath. She closed the last wall panel she'd been working behind after making certain the new components were functioning properly, put her tools back in the satchel's compartments.
'You ought to be able to handle the rest. I've finished the delicate stuff.'
