She snapped the last snap on her sample collecting case and stood up. "Ugh," she thought to herself, "these space suits are SUCH a pain in the ass." "Open her up, Vic," she said into her helmet, "we've done about all we can do with these natives for the time being."
"At your service, CC" a voice replied. The wall in front of her slid open and sunlight and the planet's poison atmosphere flooded the compartment. Hermetically sealed in her space suit, CC stepped up the ramp, her heavy boots clunking with every step. Though the planet's ambient air pressure was crushing by CC's standards the suit mitigated the discomfort somewhat. She pressed a panel in the wall of the compartment and the door slid shut. With a gentle whoosh, the toxic gasses were evacuated and the air pressure fell rapidly. CC's muscles relaxed as the space suit returned to its depressurized state. A blue indicator light told her it was safe to pull off the cumbersome garment.
"Everything go OK out there?" Victoria asked over the intercom.
"Well, I think we've done about all we can; on this trip anyway," CC replied, "Let's take take ‘er back to the barn."
"Aye, Aye, Chief. We're airborne in 30." CC removed her helmet and tugged her legs out of the space suit. Her third and fourth arms stuck briefly in the sleeves but she twisted them free. Her tail was kinked in two places but it was nothing serious, the usual effects of long hours spent in an alien environment.
"How long before we come back to check on the little guys?" inquired Victoria from the flight deck.
"I don't know, Vic, they've got a LONG way to go down here. We'll come back in say 6 or 7 cycles maybe."
"What's that 10-12,000 rotations around their sun?"
"Yeah, something like that," CC replied.
With a gentle pulsing vibration the great stone pyramid rose slowly out of the sand and picked up speed as it shot skyward. CC opened her sample bag and held a small flat slab of dried mud in her hand. A crude series of scratches and impressions ran horizontally across the tablet. CC looked out the window at the rapidly shrinking planet, now vividly blue and wreathed in thick white clouds.
"Crazy Egyptians."
by: M. Fox