I woke up in a cold sweat. My eyes were burning and and I could hear the hiss of air leaking from my suit. I reached for my flashlight, but it wasn’t in my holster. I tapped the side of my helmet and my dim interior helmet lights flickered on. I used what meager light it gave me to help me find the leak. In the lower left-hand corner of my helmet there was a tiny chip. I groped my leg to find the pocket with the emergency patches. Luckily, I still had a clean patch, about the size of a playing card. I pulled it out of the pouch and rubbed it vigorously to activate the chemical reaction to make it stick and harden against my helmet. I checked my air levels. I still had an hour left. I must have been out for at least a couple of hours. My eyes still burned. I wanted to wipe them, but it was impossible with my suit in the way. I blinked as much as could to try and flush out whatever was burning them.

Where the hell am I? Last thing I remember I was walking back to the ship when I heard a rumbling noise.

I scanned the cave floor to try and find my flashlight. I looked behind me. The way was blocked by piles of boulders from the cave-in that nearly killed me. I tried my radio, but I couldn’t get a clear signal. I followed the cave wall. The stone texture of the wall told me that the cave was a lava tube, hopefully from an inactive volcano. It was coming back to me.

I’m a geologist, I was here to survey the caves for precious metals.

I tried reaching for the tool rack on my back to see it my sample bag was there. It was! I opened it up to check the contents. Gold, platinum, silver, and palladium. I was going to be rich if I could make it back to the ship. I kept plugging along. In the distance I could see a soft yellow light.

That must be the way out. Thank my lucky stars! I’m home free.

I heard it before I saw it. A loud squelching noise. It was just inside the cave entrance a blueish black creature with many arms. It belched, slurped, and spit up a vile looking fluid. I froze up.

What the hell is that! I don’t remember reading about life forms on this rock in the planetary report.

I checked my air supply. Ten minutes left. I was going to have to make a run for it. I stayed close to the right side of the cave wall because the  creature was listing to the left. I waited until I thought I was a few meters away from it before I broke out into a full sprint. In a flash the creature had wrapped one of its tentacles around my left leg and was pulling me towards it. The juice that covered it’s body and arms burned through my suit and into my leg. I clawed at the ground trying to get purchase of a rock or anything to pull myself away from it’s grip. When that failed, I reached for my bag and started whacking at the tentacle. I must of hurt it because it finally let go. That let the caustic atmosphere in my suit. I crawled, hobbled, choked, and coughed my way back to the ship. I managed to get the bay door open and walked through the force field. The ship was empty. I peeled my suit off and took a decon shower. The ship’s med bay suite took care of my wounds after a quick scan. A few shots of local painkiller in my leg and a stem cell salve and I’d be back to normal in a few days. I limped my way to the cockpit to try the radio, but I got no response. I didn’t know how to fly the ship.

If you are reading this, then that means I didn’t make it back alive. I’m sorry. I thought we were going to be rich.