After far too much lugging the heavy escape pod around in the dark, Lilly and Imogen finally reach the bridge to Saffron’s island, only to find it collapsed. The truck is still there, having been left at the very start of the structure. They set down the escape pod and consider their options. The water is only about a hundred feet wide, which Lilly thinks she can easily swim. It is too cold to spend the night fully exposed, and Imogen does not think she herself can make it across the channel, particularly not in the dark. She offers to light Lilly’s way. They originally parked Saffron on the island because the position was more defensible and the ground was relatively clear. This side of the bridge is rougher, but there is technically enough space for the craft. With Imogen providing lighting from the ground, the landing should be a little easier. Additionally, moving the ship to the mainland will mean they do not need to figure out a way to get the escape pod across the broken bridge.
Imogen extracts the headlights from the truck, pulling them out of their mountings far enough to point them down at the water. To do this, she needs to pop the hood and loosen a few things in the engine compartment. In the process, she takes a few shocks, but she realizes that parts of the engine could be used in Saffron as well; it is an Exploracorp truck. As Lilly prepares to enter the water, Imogen hands her the flashlight, reminding her to watch out for her own traps.
Lilly dives into the channel and finds the water shockingly cold. She swims across with no difficulty and suffers no attacks. At one point, something brushes her beneath the water, but it does not wrap around her so she just keeps moving. As Lilly steps ashore on the island, she shivers violently, gasping in the cold air. She runs to Saffron, calling out for Sunshine along the way, “Here, girl!” The lyote lurches at her out of the darkness, dropping something at her feet and leaping up to lick Lilly’s face. Lilly opens up Saffron and in the light of the ramp, she sees that Sunshine has some sort of dead raccoon with her. Lilly pets the lyote. “Good girl, now c’mon.” As Lilly heads into the ship, Sunshine follows with her prize.
The flight is simple between the island and the somewhat flat area near the truck, but the landing is rough. Something overloads, and a spray of sharp parts shoots throughout Saffron’s control hub. Snowball is scratched and Sunshine gets nicked, but Lilly avoids injury. Once the ship is still, Imogen boards and inspects the damage. Wiping her stinging, watering eyes, she replaces a few pieces inside the ship, but there is exterior damage that she cannot address without proper facilities.
“What about you?” Lilly asks, noting Imogen’s red-rimmed eyes and some burns on her hands from her dash through the fire. Imogen consents to treatment, and Lilly flushes out her eyes and applies salve to the burns.
“At least we got an escape pod out of all of that,” Imogen sighs. “But mounting it will have to wait until the morning when we have light again.”
“The survival pod is great, but that was awesome!” Lilly says with a grin. “That vespene! Ka-boom!”
They load the new access code into the main computer to enable the EMP module. Then Lilly takes first watch, letting Imogen collapse for a few hours of sleep.