I was an aerospace engineer, the best in propulsion systems, or so they said back at AstraCorp, the biggest space exploration company on Earth. Zane Calloway, the golden boy of the program—an astronaut with accolades too long to list—had barely acknowledged my existence before this mission. We were two entirely different worlds forced to collide, sent to Erevos, a planet glittering with black crystal plains and violet skies, on a routine exploration.

The mission was supposed to last three months. We landed flawlessly, set up camp, and began collecting data on the strange, magnetic terrain. The sunsets here were surreal, twin suns casting the land in hues I didn’t think existed. For a brief moment, I even felt a sense of peace. We’d done it.

Then the transmission came.

“This is Command. Due to miscalculations, there’s only enough fuel for one-way transit. We deeply regret this—”

The comms went silent. My heart sank as Zane paced in the small cabin, his jaw locked, his fists clenched. "Miscalculations? You don’t miscalculate something like fuel!" he snapped, kicking a crate across the room. For the first time, the unshakable Zane Calloway looked genuinely lost.

I tried to focus, to keep us alive. The planet’s resources were minimal. The air was breathable but thin, the temperature extreme. And the wildlife? I didn’t want to think about it. Our food rations would last a month at best.

At night, the silence pressed down like a weight. Zane wasn’t the distant, untouchable hero anymore. He was a man struggling like I was. We hadn’t worked together before, but now we had no choice. His survival depended on me, and mine on him.

One evening, after hours of futile brainstorming, Zane leaned against the window, staring at the shimmering black horizon. "So, what’s your brilliant plan, Engineer?" His voice was low, almost mocking, but there was something softer beneath it—a challenge, a flicker of hope.