The Lander

The moon retreated over the lip of the mountains. It's soft red glow reminded the man of English sunsets on the south coast, watching the Cornish fishing boats chugging into dock with their catch, the seagulls squawking in a feeding frenzy.

He let out a drawn sigh. No such wildlife on this rocky outcrop.. Just him and a barren landscape pitted and scarred after aeons of frenetic climatic change. No life had ever existed on the planet. You didn't need to be a scientist to know that you could feel it. Just rock and nothing more.

His arm still hurt from when he had wrenched it in trying to wrestle with the guards. He grinned at his own foolishness and desperation. They had kicked him a couple of times when he had hit the floor but the blows were more mandatory rather than struck with any real malice. With a little more effort the boots could have broken his ribs easily.

He looked at the placard they had left for him on the floor. "Reflect and make peace with yourself," he spoke out softly. Part of him wanted to stamp on it, rip it, punch it. He felt the anger rise within him as he thought of the self righteous judges who had determined his punishment and cast him adrift in the cosmos to rot slowly and painfully with only their words for company.

"you are an evil man, evil to the core. A man who cannot be rehabilitated into society, who has conducted dastardly deeds with real malice and who hid behind a veil of terror. I have no alternative than to sentence you Leonard Delphin to Azaralis where you will be provided with the opportunity to come terms with what you have done and make peace with yourself before you inevitably meet your maker."

Around him in the unforgiving landscape there must be the remains of thousands of criminals, their bones laying bleached in small piles, gradually being ground down into the dust.

Ha sat up straight with a start and focussed his gaze to his right. Something had moved, he was sure of it. Squinting in the half-light he could see a figure approaching. It moved slowly, picking a path through the outcrops and undulations. Leonard stood up gingerly. As the figure approached he smiled as amicably as he could. A toothless grin beamed back, the emaciated face seeming to creak with the effort.

"I saw the lander and thought I'd come on over and say hello!"

"I never thought I'd see another human again."

"Well, you almost haven't. I don't think I'm much of one anymore."

Leonard had to agree. The man was withered to the point of being almost unrecognisable as a living being. Every bone in his body protruded through shrivelled skin and his eyes belied a lurking menace which Leonard shrugged off, such was the man's friendly demeanour.

He kicked the placard and a coarse noise cackled from his throat.

"They damn well gave me the exact same card, son's of bitches!"

"Have you made peace with yourself?" Leonard asked him.

"I sure as hell have not. Christ man, I'm too busy here surviving.'"

Leonard creased his brow. "What do you mean? no one survives here, there is nothing here."

The man cackled once again, "That's where you're wrong see, there's plenty here, you just gotta know where to find it. Thirsty?"

"Of course."

"then follow me."

The man limped off down into one of the many crevasses that furrowed the landscape. Leonard followed, his thirst becoming stronger now that there seemed to be a chance it would be satiated.

After a walk of some ten minutes they stood on the lip of a circular crater like formation.

"Down there, that's where you'll find the water."

Leonard looked, and sure enough, the stars were reflected in the pool.

"How come the authorities don't know about this?"

"Not everyone knows everything does they my boy? They send you here to die, with no food and no water, it's lucky they don't know this spot. It's our secret! Go on, Go and drink!"

Leonard didn't need to be told twice and he scrambled down the few feet of the lip to the water's edge. Bending down on his knees he reached his hand to cusp the water and it hit a solid object. Perplexed, he brought his hand down again. As his brain reacted he saw the reflection of the man towering over him, the stone in his hand bringing it crushing down onto his skull.

As the man drained every precious drop of Leonard's blood into the stone bowls he made a mental note to save some of the skin to polish the crater ready for the next lander..