Free Deep Space Dead by Edward Chilvers

the creeps. She must have been having nightmares or something but she just seems to think it’s so real.”
    “All her life she’s been cooped up on the starship,” said Jak soothingly. “And now she’s on solid ground for the first time she’s allowed her imagination to run away with her. Maybe she heard people talking, maybe she’s convinced herself about this Moon Man thing, it’s all just a reaction to a world she could never before imagine.”
    “I suppose you’re right,” replied Arianna, forcing herself to smile. “Anyway, we should go to bed. We have a busy day tomorrow after all.”
    7
     
    Neither of them got much sleep that night. The sense of dread that had haunted Arianna in the weeks preceding their arrival now returned with a vengeance. That morning Arianna left Ambra in the capable hands of Sol who came out with the little girl to wave them off. The atmosphere between them was still tense but for today they had to put their differences aside for the sake of the rescue mission. “She’s been listening to stories,” said Arianna. “She won’t tell us where they came from but maybe you’ll have more luck with her.” And she relayed back to Sol what the little girl had told her last night.
    Sol listened carefully and nodded. “This Moon Man fantasy seems to be doing the rounds,” he said solemnly. “I’ve had more than one parent come to me and say their child has been spooked by something, a giant of some sort. Most of them only seem to have caught fleeting glimpses of it. Ambra is the only one who seems to have expanded on the story.”
    So what do you think it is?” Asked Arianna.
    Sol looked out over the plains and nodded. “See how the sun catches the river and reflects its light,” he said. “And see how it casts shadows across the trees. Of course you and I think nothing of that, because we’ve grown up with it in the Confederation home planets but for those who’ve never known anything except electric light, reflections and shadows are an unerring experience. Look how much your shadow expands when you turn it a certain way. There’s your giant. I’ll talk to Ambra later, try and find out where she heard about Wal.”
    “Thanks Sol.”
    “Be careful Arianna.”
    Arianna bowed her head awkwardly. She looked down towards Ambra. “Take care of her for me.”
    “I will.”
     
    They went out in two rovers containing, each containing three people. Jak and Arianna travelled together alongside Bratten Jorg. Three rangers took the other rover. That left six rangers behind. If they lost anymore they may have to start calling in Sol and his police officers, thought Jak.
     
    This time there was no hero’s departure. They left in the early morning. If anybody saw them and asked questions the official line was they were off to back up the original reconnaissance team. Jak knew his rangers well, had worked with them closely for years. The rangers were keen to get out, having missed out on both the orbiter mission and the original reconnaissance. The engineer Bratten Jorg was there because if, as suspected, Wal and his men had become stuck in a cave in she alone would have the expertise needed to supervise their extraction, provided they were not beyond help of course.
     
    They had been flying for several hours but now Arianna noticed a real change in the landscape. As Arianna looked down she saw a large lake of yellow liquid which she recognised as sulphur and in the distance she saw plumes of smoke rising from the sky. Here were active volcanoes.
    “Any sign of serious danger and we’re to get out of there straight away,” said Jak, as though reading Arianna’s mind.
    “What do you think happened to them?” She asked.
    “Maybe they ate something that poisoned them.”
    “This whole landscape is poisonous and you hardly need two brain cells to work that out,” said Bratten Jorg. “They wouldn’t have been so stupid.”
    “Doubtless the idiot was looking to make a name for