text: [Themes: sci-fi, science fiction]
  
  In the end you've managed to collect 36 liters of water, using all eighteen of the 2-liter bladders you fabbed at the ship. You each fill your duffels with six bladders and sling them onto your backs.
  
  With the fire smothered with wet gravel, you set off back to the wreckage. Even going down the mountain, the twelve liters of water on your back is a heavy burden to carry. You feel it mostly climbing back up the foothill. From the top you have a clear view back across the desert plain, with the wreckage of the ship 4 kilometers out--and another ship parked beside it!
  
  "Is that one of ours?" Ibanz asks.
  
  "I don't think so," you say. "An Astral Navy ship wouldn't be black like that."
  
  Oviedo-Nandez studies the distant scene for a minute and concludes, "That's a Katanyan ship. I'll bet some trader detected the crash and hoped he'd be able to claim the salvage rights."
  
  "I think you're right," you say.
  
  "Then that begs the question," Ibanz says, "is he here to help, or is he here to plunder? It's hard to figure the way a Katanyan thinks sometimes."
  
  The lieutenant agrees. "All the people we left behind yesterday could be in danger."
  
  > If you approach the Katanyan peacefully to request assistance, turn to page 100.
  "With 4 kilometers of open desert to cross, and with only the one plasgun between us, it's not like we have a tactical advantage," the lieutenant reasons.
  
  "And whatever he's doing here, he would've realized the ship wasn't abandoned the moment he found Gunder and Dr. Munro inside the cargo hold," you say. "I think this is a rescue. Maybe Commander Andrade contacted him."
  
  "We can only hope," Oviedo-Nandez says.
  
  "I'd like to get out of here and go someplace where I can get a shower," Ibanz says. "If that means hitching a ride with a Katanyan trader, then so be it."
  
  "Well, shall we go meet our savior?" Oviedo-Nandez says.
  
  "We shall," you reply.
  
  The three of you trot down the hillside under the burden of your heavy packs, the water sloshing around with every step. Then you make your way across the exposed desert plain, the Girian sun filtered by a haze of dust, but warm just the same. As you make your way across the flat terrain, you look for signs of movement at the crash site ahead of you, but all looks still.
  
  > Page 135
  The scene as you get closer turns out to be far more horrific than you ever could have expected, though.
  
  "Guys, I think you need to see this," Ibanz says as you are just 100 meters out from the cargo hold. There is a pile of tattered clothing at his feet, and you recognize the yellow blazer that Dr. Munro had been wearing since the day of the crash.
  
  But there are more than rags here: the clothing contains the scientist's skeletal remains.
  
  "No Katanyan did this," Oviedo-Nandez says.
  
  "It looks like she was eaten!" Ibanz looks sickened.
  
  You hear no voices anywhere around the wreckage site, just the wind across the plain and the sound of somebody searching for something inside the cargo hold. Having no desire to look at what's left of Dr. Munro, you decide to confront whoever is inside. Turning the corner, you come face-to-face with the Katanyan.
  
  Well, sort of. The alien is wearing a leather helmet of some kind that hides all his facial features. But his overall form is rather bizarre, with a body that is segmented and soft like a giant caterpillar, and with four legs to support his bulky body. The two arms extending from his upright torso look almost like human arms that were grafted onto the otherwise alien body.
  
  > Page 136
  "This your ship?" the Katanyan asks through its mask.
  
  "Yes," you say. "We crashed here two nights ago. How did you find us? Did you get Commander Andrade's hyperspace radio signal?"
  
  "Don't know Commander Andrade," the alien says. "I just follow ion trail, find crashed ship."
  
  Oviedo-Nandez steps forward. "Where are the rest of our people?" he asks. "There were ten humans here last night when we left to go find water."
  
  "Most dead," the Katanyan says. "Jyuga get them--desert crabs. They come out nighttime, inject venom, make you see things not true. Then they eat you."
  
  Looking around the crash site, you can see at least two other fallen forms on the ground, just like Dr. Munro. Your heart sinks at the thought you let these people down.
  
  "Young ones still live," the alien continues. "In my ship. Scared of me, but ready to leave. Injured humans in shelter." He points to the cargo hold. "I try find way to carry them to my ship. Maybe you help."
  
  Inside the hold you find Ander Dyo, apparently unconscious. The man that Dr. Munro placed in stasis is there too.
  
  The Katanyan removes the helmet to reveal his strange head--vaguely human-like, but with a dozen small black eyes, and a lipless mouth filled with filament-like teeth. A sparse covering of stiff black bristles is about all he can muster for hair. "My name Captain Manda," he says.
  
  > Page 137
  Captain Manda indeed proves to be an ally, although it's unfortunate he didn't discover the ion trail of the EWR210819 a full day earlier, as that would have saved far more people. As it is, he helps you and your companions gather the remains of the sand crab victims--those who fell prey to the jyuga as he calls them--from the desert. Inside his small ship, you find Yiggy and Easa hiding behind a cargo container. They are happy to see you, but you can tell they have been disturbed by all of the events of the last few days.
  
  Manda is aware of the colony location, so before you leave Giri Minor he agrees to take you to where you hope to find Commander Andrade and Lieutenant Nimjey. However, there are no signs of life, just decaying plascrete structures partly buried in dust.
  
  "Jyuga get anybody cross the desert at night," Manda says, and you concede that the likelihood of finding Andrade and Nimjey alive after all this time are nil. It had seemed like a harmless decision at the time, but they had set off to find the colony in the middle of the night, unaware of the dangers. They never had a chance.
  
  Manda makes contact with the Starship Orion, and then plots an intercept course to take you there. You never want to see Giri Minor again, but you also know that your experiences here will haunt you forever.