>>5850362When the airlock door open, you're greeted by the sweet, musky scent of decaying corn husks and the sound of chirping crickets.
Before you can even think about walking out, Princess bolts outside and starts running around like crazy.
She's been stuck on the ship for far longer than you have, so you don't blame her.
Everyone else, though, doesn't dare to step outside on their own.
So you walk down the ramp to take a look around... and immediately discover a slowly enlarging circle of flames around where one of your arc-thrusters is located.
"Shit. Guys, come help me put this out, quick." You call out.
Everyone shuffles their way out like they're waiting for something to eat them, while you quickly stomp on the flame and kick dirt over them.
"Hurry up! Last thing we need is a damned field fire."
With that, they somewhat snap out of it and quickly help kick the fire out.
"Yeah, kinda forgot about that..." You sigh, having extinguished it before it got out of control.
"...David, where are we?" Cylia asks, sticking close to you.
"My home." Your reply, looking off in the farmhouse's direction. "Or at least it was, before i 'died'."
"Old man, is the air safe to breathe?" Kyla asks.
Sanig looks down at some readings on his holopad and nods.
"Seems safe enough. Got some strange gasses and aromatics... elevated levels of methane, for some reason?"
"Cows." You inform them.
"Sure, whatever the kid said. You can remove your helmet, but keep the mask on. It'll reduce the oxygen level down to something breathable." He continues.
"Got it." Kyla replies, slowly releasing the seal on her helmet. It takes a while for the pressure to equalize.
The armored plates slide back, but the mask covering her mouth doesn't retract. You can still hear her clearly thanks to the suit's passthrough speakers, although there's a bit of reverb.
The others follow suit after seeing that she didn't immediately die or burst into flames or something. Meanwhile, you start heading toward the house.
You shine your headlamp over the front of the building, and find that the door is standing wide open.
Your rocking chair is still there on the porch, but there's no visible furniture inside. Bastards took your TV...
And then you hear it. An obnoxious little bark coming from inside.
A few moments later, something shaggy and white appears in the doorway.
"Mutt! You little shit, you're still here!"
Mutt stands in the doorway and barks at you, even louder than before.
Either he can't see you or he doesn't recognize you in the armor, because he then takes off down the steps and starts gnawing at your legs.
"Oh, what a good boy. You were guarding the house this whole time, huh?"
Bending down to one knee, you give him a few pats and pick him up.
His toothy growl immediately stops as soon as he gets a good look at your face in the darkness.
Replaced by happy little yips and flails of joy as he tries to lick your face, you pull him in close and give him a hug.
