unstable expedition 1

As their rover crested the hill, Janet could make out the lighthouse through the scalding rainstorm. Thunder rumbled the ground as the rover drove forward, the hot water spray now blowing across the ground nearly horizontal. She could start to make out the structure of the base.

"I can see the base," Janet said through her headset. Bob, Kevin, Marty, and Emily huddled around the rover cabin window to try to make out the base through the storm.

"The cables are still holding!" Janet heard through the radio.

"We're all suited up Carol, we should get back to the launch vehicle as soon as possible to... wait a minute," Janet responded, watching the lighthouse tower. It seemed to be moving. She stopped the vehicle. "Carol, watch out, the lighthouse!"

Janet stopped the rover just outside of the base. The shining silver rocket stood on its large fins, tilting to one side due to the wind. The fins kept it at least slightly stable, keeping the center of wind pressure low enough that the rocket was not forced to tip over. The cables attached to concrete stakes in the ground were stretched out, but held. In her space suit, Carol could not see behind her, and it took some effort to stand up from where she was to look towards the lighthouse. By the time she did, she saw that the lighthouse was falling right towards her. She rolled out of the way of the falling mass of girders, which crashed into the roof of the habitat. The rotating lamps fell onto one of the cables, snapping it, and the rocket began to tip further over.

"Are you okay?" Janet asked, but Carol didn't answer.

"I'm going out to the surface," said Marty, as he went to the rover's airlock.

"Marty, no; Your suit isn't rated for that kind of weather," Janet snapped back.

"Carol might be hurt!" Marty said, "she needs help!"

"You'll have to be quick, the coolant will saturate before long," Kevin said.

"Wait, she's standing up," Janet said.

Carol was waving at the rover.

"Carol, this is Rover One in the blind, do you hear me?" Janet said.

Marty went into the airlock and began to cycle it. Carol was walking, leaning into the wind, towards one of the other two cables. Those cables were downwind of the rocket, so they were not providing much support. The winds picked up, and between the scalding spray and the three atmospheres of pressure, the rocket began to slide across the concrete landing pad.

Marty ran up to Carol, trying to speak to her. Carol turned around and noticed, waving him away. He ran up to her. He could hear muffled yelling, but he couldn't understand her. Carol realized this, and put her helmet visor up against Marty's.

"You have to get back to the rover! You can't be out here in a suit like that!" Carol said.

"I had to make sure you were okay!" Marty said, and he put a soaking wet headset in her gloved hands.

"Now's not the time for heroics, Marty. We have to get the launch vehicle safe!" Carol took the headset and spoke into its microphone.

"I'll get the cable--"

"No! I'm going to try to get in the rocket and fly it to safety," Carol said, turning away. Marty followed, beginning to feel a little stuffy.

"I'm coming with y--"

"It's too dangerous! Get back to the rover!" Carol turned back to Marty.

"Carol, I--"

"There's no time to argue, Marty, come back here," Janet said over the radio. Marty turned back to the rover, and began waking towards it.

"Fine!" Marty said, turning back. "Carol!"

"What?"

"I love you!"

"I love you too, see you soon!" Carol said as she did her best attempt at running over to the rocket.

"Carol!" Marty shouted, louder this time.

One of the landing gear of the rocket fell off the concrete landing pad. The rocket tilted over, sliding into the mud. Carol realized this just in time for her to duck behind the concrete cable support. Once in the mud, the rocket fell over entirely, and when the propellant tank hit the ground it exploded, sending shrapnel flying in every direction. When the shockwave hit Marty, he went flying back, and the remains of the lighthouse were thrown back across the base. The parts of the base which were aboveground were demolished entirely by the explosion. The greenhouse was shattered, the the observatory blown away. A flaming crater replaced the landing pad.

Janet had already backed the rover off a safer distance, but debris from the launch vehicle rained down onto the rover.

All of the rover's crew silently stared in horror at the flaming remains of their launch vehicle.

"Carol, Marty, are you alright?" Janet said.

"I can barely hear anything," Carol said, "just ringing. I can hear someone is talking, but I can't tell what they're saying." Carol was sitting behind the cable support. She looked around the wreckage. "I can't see Marty!"

Janet couldn't either, but she drove the rover towards the crater. "I see him!" Kevin said. He pointed to a space suited body on the ground behind the shattered greenhouse. Janet drove the rover over to the greenhouse, and Kevin cycled through the airlock to pick up Marty. When he came back into the rover, his helmet visor was broken, he was unconscious, and his face had some severe burns.

"We have to get him to the medical lab," Kevin said.

"No way we're getting into the habitat until this storm ends," Janet said.

"That might not be until after periastron! He isn't responsive. Emily, get me the first aid kit."

Janet drove the rover up to Carol, who limped up to the rover's airlock, and went inside.

"Is Marty okay?" Carol yelled a little too loud.

Kevin looked up from taking off Kevin's helmet. "He's got a pulse but--"

"What?"

"He's got a pulse but he's not conscious. He took in a lot of hot water and atmosphere," Kevin repeated and continued, in a louder voice. "Emily, get me a bottle of cold water," Kevin said. Emily returned, and Kevin poured the cold water over the burns. Kevin took the head scanner and placed it on Marty's head. After a few moments it beeped, and Kevin reported that Marty was concussed. He waved another scanner over Marty's body. "He's got lots of broken bones. Emily, please get me an ice pack," he said. "Carol," he raised his voice, "help me get him in splints."

Carol and Emily both complied. After a few hours, Marty was in stable enough condition.

"He's got a broken rib that I'm afraid will hit his lungs, he's got a lot of internal bleeding from the blast, but I've done all I can do. We'll have to give him plenty of pain medication when--if he wakes up."

"The storm has already passed its maximum. Reports from the weather satellites were showing that it's getting better from here," Bob said.

"Then maybe we can try to get into the habitat after all. We need to establish comms with the guys who are still in there, if they're still alive. The radio mast on the light house was destroyed so we don't have any direct radio contact," said Janet.

"This expedition has really turned south quickly, hasn't it?" Emily said. The others couldn't help but agree.

pt. 2: https://pastebin.com/L1YTv9DV