Gurminder wasn’t going to lie to her, he wasn’t going to drive away and leave her in this desert.  That’s what she told herself, but there the rig went, leaving her alone, in the Martian desert. Something had happened to him back in the base, something that had scared him to the core, so much that he wouldn’t even tell her.  What he had seen in that smoky corridor must have been truly horrible.

So Tory walked up the rise to see if at least he hadn’t abandoned her nowhere and with no hope. Sure enough, ahead was a concrete bump by the orange road in the orange desert. The bump was orange as well, but at least the morning sky was a nice shade of pink.

The concrete structure wasn’t at all secured, well, it was for those stuck out in the desert after all. 

After finding her way inside, Tory spend seven hours just sitting there, in its lounge, mulling over her experiences of the past couple days while she ate and drank enough to quell her hunger and thirst with the bland food and water packs that had been left there, planning her next hitchhike on whatever transport came by next. So, no, she wasn’t going to call for help, not yet, not until she had to.

Gurminder had at least provided the proper markings for shuttle field transports, so at least she wouldn’t choose the wrong one again. And there appeared to be enough supplies in the place to last a while, maybe months, so she could afford to wait if she had to.

That, however, wasn’t to be. Before a transport going south even showed up for her to try to hop onto, a small convoy, including a big personnel transport and a couple of buggies arrived and unloaded a half dozen people at the stop for whatever reason, maybe they needed to go to the bathroom. But no, the writing and markings on both the vehicles and p-suits was pretty clear and bright red: Emergency Rescue.

Somehow they’d found her. Maybe via a hidden video camera in the rest stop or something she’d done here since she’d parted ways with Gurminder.

There wasn’t really anywhere to hide, so she didn’t bother. The woman leader of the team found her in the rest stop’s dining area, finishing up her last meal. It tasted the best of all the packets she’d chosen. Tory enjoyed it as the last taste of freedom she’d know in a while.

She just sat there while her rescuers cycled through the lock and stamped in her direction. Tory didn’t even feel like turning.  What was the point?

One of the rescuers reached her, while the others spread out, maybe looking for someone else? Maybe they’d really thought she’d been kidnapped.

“I’m Captain Dionne, Elysium Planitia Rescue. Are you Tory Ciarelli?” the tall blonde officer asked her once she’d removed her helmet stood in front of her, looking sympathetic, gazing kindly but a little worriedly into her eyes. “Are you all right?”

Tory nodded slowly, eyed the woman unhappily. She sighed and put down her packet.

“I guess you’re here to take me home,” she said.

“Yes we are,” the woman said giving her a happy and reassuring look. “What happened? Were you kidnapped? How did you get out here?”

Tory took a last sip of the weird carbonated beverage she’d found several cases of, put down the can and held out her hands to be cuffed.

“I kidnapped myself,” she stated. “And I got out here on my own. Do I go to jail now?”

The woman gaped at her for a moment then shook her head.