Nick was a bit worried that he couldn't focus on his predicament, but on the plus side, he wasn't panicking. Sure, I'm in pitch darkness, stuck inside a machine that's possibly taken a lot of damage and with a nonresponsive CPU, and I'm slowly suffocating, but at least it's keeping the stink out.

  It was too much to hold in his head at present, so he took small bites. I'm in the dark. I want light. Somewhere in here is the light fixture. I just need to find it and turn it on by hand, is all.

  Nick tried to move and saw stars from the pain. After a minute to recover, he started experimenting very gently to see what his body was willing to do. The good news was that his arms and hands felt fine; he was able to pick up a rock and put it down, no problem. The bad news was, his head did not like moving at all at the moment, and there was a searing pain in both legs when he tried to shift around. As a small consolation, it felt like there were injuries to the legs themselves, and not a spine or nerve problem. Legs are easier to fix, so long as I don't bleed to death before Petra's back online.

  Holding his head as still as possible, he felt around among the lumps of ore. One by one he picked them up, felt their shape and size, and put them back down. There were three things he hoped to find: the light ball, his cell phone, and Petra herself. Since Rockhunter had apparently flipped over completely, and he was lying on the roof, the items could be anywhere. He might be lying on them. He didn't hold out much hope for his phone surviving, though, especially if it got bombarded with rocks.

  He reached up in the blackness, and managed to find the top of the seat, and from that, got his orientation. He tried to remember which way Rockhunter had tumbled, but it was literally painful to think about, which was something Nick had never experienced before. Weird. All right, can't think about that right now. Just search the whole area I can reach. Petra landed somewhere, and her physical core seems pretty tough.

  It seemed to take forever—feel around to find a new rock, feel its shape, decide if it was one of the desired objects, and put it back down. He had almost finished checking all the rocks on his right side when he felt the edge of his phone. Holding his breath, he carefully grasped it with the tips of his fingers, and pulled it closer. Then he could pick it up.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Yeah, that's a serious crack in the screen, worse than before. It's probably bricked, but... Nick bit his lip and felt for the power button, then tried to turn his phone on.

  When he saw the little manufacturer icon light up under the spiderweb of cracks, Nick was so relieved that it was good he was already lying down. He felt weak from the stress. I'm not blind, and it's not completely broken. He didn't realize how tense he was from not knowing those, until his ignorance was replaced by good news.

  It took him a minute to read the time on the screen, because it was so hard to think. It was the same day, and only an hour or so had passed. It felt as if he had lived through ten years in the dark, though.

  He couldn't do much with the phone, because the screen was largely unresponsive, though not completely. He could manage broad swipes and sometimes big buttons. Fortunately, that was enough to get both the flashlight and the camera to turn on. Nick put it in selfie mode and took a picture over his shoulder, then examined it to see what was behind him. He thought he could see the light ball, but it was mostly buried and well out of reach from his position, anyway.

  It felt exhausting, and it was hard to hold his hand steady enough while taking a picture, but Nick surveyed the rest of the rocks around him the same way. Each time he did his best to focus on the picture, but he couldn't zoom in and he couldn't squint. Nothing looked like Petra, though.

  Finally, he started carefully reaching underneath him and pulling rocks out by feel, one at a time, and examining them by touch. Several times he almost passed out from the pain, but managed to keep on going, with frequent breaks to recover. His mind was too fogged to think about the bigger picture; it felt a bit like the depths of depression, when he would only have the energy to do one mindless task at a time, droning through them to completion.

  Nick realized that he had spaced out and lost track of time again. He refocused on what he was doing, and realized that he was holding Petra in one hand, and had been for some time. Some part of me knew not to throw this rock away, even if I couldn't remember why. Blearily, he tried to examine Petra.

  One corner of Petra was slightly chipped. Nick felt the edge over and over, trying to think of what he was supposed to do next. She's hurt. She needs a rock doctor. I wonder if there's a list of galactic phone numbers for rock docs.

  She's hurt.

  She's hurt.

  The thought wouldn't leave Nick alone for some reason, so he just sat with it a minute. Finally, it came to him.

  Kathy.

  With the memory, there was a surge of pain in his head, and Nick rode it out, clinging to the thought: Kathy was sick, and he needed to bring her element 23. It's not just me in danger. Get it together, Nick. Kathy might die without this. I need to get back home, with the element 23. I can't let her down.

  if you're paying attention.