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Most of it gets expelled, which is how professional divers can reabsorb air bubbles they breathe out.
But the oxygen we shared would run out eventually.
It would grow toxic as it was recycled, accumulating more carbon dioxide with each exhalation.
My throat felt like it was closing up, tightening as I struggled to drag in each breath.
But I didn’t panic.
I was used to struggling to breathe on this alien moon.
After a while, we settled into an easy rhythm with me breathing in, him out, and vice versa.
It must be what it felt like to be twins enclosed within the same womb.
I entered a deep hypnotic state until finally Egara began to move.
He pressed against the heavy weight of the sand above us.
I could barely shift it and was glad he was there to help me. I couldn’t have escaped earlier even if I wanted to.
We burst through the sand and our lips parted.
I gulped in a huge lungful of sweet fresh oxygen.
Egara did the same only he didn’t need to struggle the way I did.
He panted, a little out of breath, but otherwise fine.
He peered up and down the valley roads and at the sky, looking for something I couldn’t see.
“Are they gone?” I said. “Did they go?”
“Yes,” he said. “We got lucky. We won’t get lucky again. Come on. We have to find those who took the shuttlecraft and get it back. Then we can get out of here.”
He took me by the hand and led me away.
We traveled in bursts, moving at a fast walk.
Every step I took ground the sand deeper in my crevices.
Boy did I hate being covered in sand!
A thick streak of it wound up the back of my leg and rubbed against my pants.
I could already feel the chafing and wondered if the shuttlecraft had any creams on board.
Shuttlecraft.
Crazy to think how easy it was to believe there were ships that could travel the depths of space so easily, ships that few had traveled in on Earth.
I kept my eyes focused on the swell of the sand dunes, the sharp inclines that had seemed so protective before could now house guards and drones by the hundreds and be on us before we could react.
Egara’s hand held mine firmly, his eyes darting left and right, focused on the blind corners as we took them each in turn.
The sun beat down hard and harsh, and as the day slipped by, we didn’t stop, not even to eat.
To avoid indigestion, I nibbled at the snacks the same way Egara did.
