Somebody had screwed up the calculations big time. After nearly thirty minutes of circling Athena, we broke atmosphere and found ourselves in the middle of a storm that made the hurricanes back home seem tame. The white winds tossed the ship around like it was a fly, beat it up so bad that we could hear the metal groaning under the stress- if it weren't for our suits, we'd have lost some necks for sure. The pilot was shouting something I couldn't quite make out... and then with a violent crunch, we hit the surface. Several of the men's harnesses tore loose completely from the impact, sending them crashing about helplessly. Almost endlessly the ship rolled along, losing pieces of itself until the hull gave way entirely and filled the crew compartment with a hail of sharp ice fragments. Several of the group were sucked out of the breaches and into the freezing waters, leaving only four of us still strapped in, praying for the motion to stop. I found myself silently thanking Command for never letting us eat before a drop as my stomach turned on itself.

The cockpit finally smashed into a jutting fragment of the ice outside, lodging the ship in place (for the moment). I knew the pilots had bought it then, and didn't bother to check for them. The remaining man and I quickly threw off our harnesses and sped out into the open.

I could barely see an inch ahead of my faceplate, the wind was so thick with ice- we wouldn't have lasted two seconds out there without our suits. Even as we pushed against it and tried to get away from the ruined ship, the shallow water around our feet was turning solid, threatening to anchor us in place with each passing second. My legs ached. My whole body ached. Ron- his size looked about right for Ron- was already ahead by a bit, always the stronger of us two. I turned on the comm. to make sure it was him, but the storm filled the channel with static and I couldn't make out a word he said. No matter. Whoever it was, he was alive and moving. Had to be thankful for that at least.

Abruptly, the force that was pushing us back seemed to change direction, and only my anchored feet prevented me from falling over. I cleared my faceplate as best I could, taking advantage of the improvement in visibility. The landscape was an endless, shifting sea of white with no discernable horizon to be seen through the heavy fog in the distance. Cracks moved like pulsating veins, gushing out water that froze before it could land. It was all the same in my entire field of vision, the only exceptions being Ron (who was trying to pry his half-submerged leg from the ice) and the broken ship, which was starting to bore downward, its reactor core overheating and melting the ground beneath.

I cursed and realized I'd stood still for a few seconds too long- now my boots were firmly in place. I grabbed a knife from my belt and began to chip away, looking over my suit stats as I did so. I had enough oxygen to last hours- good, since radioing for help was nigh impossible with the weather. Drinking water was good; food would run out, but no sooner than my air. Air... Athena had a breathable atmosphere, but it would do us no good unless the storm cleared soon. What the hell kind of life was Command expecting us to find here?

The ground rocked violently and I lost my grip on the knife. Before I could go looking for it, the ice cracked, and a blast of water sent Ron and I flying into the air. We landed hard (though not as hard as we would have on Earth) and slid probably another thirty feet before we were able to slow ourselves to a halt. Ron was frantically examining his left arm- a break in the armor. I clumsily stood up and made my way towards him, digging for the sealant can in my belt.

Again the ground rocked, and again the wind changed direction. From the corner of my eye I saw the incoming tide. No, not the blue ocean tides you see at the beach or even in the deep sea on Earth. A wall, if you will, so huge that it looked as if all of Athena was turning itself inside out. Forward it threw ice sheets the size of city blocks, shattering them like thin glass and creating hundreds of tiny storms on its own. A nuclear blast of cold, a frozen apocalypse... what could I call this thing? You had to see it!

Ron saw it too, and we both tried our best to run. On the slippery surface, you can imagine how far we got. Underneath our feet, the ground began to splinter, and then crack, and then every step we took seemed to sink further down. The wave caught up quickly and lifted us off our feet, spinning us head over heels until we were thrown into the freezing waters amidst chunks of the crust. I frantically looked about for Ron, but only managed to catch a glimpse of him desperately trying to close the fracture in his suit with his gloves while Athena's currents pulled him away from me. I couldn't see the surface, I couldn't tell which direction was up, but I felt myself being pulled somewhere as she swallowed us whole. The pain in my body was unbearable, but Athena was relentless in her assaults. Whether by lack of light or from the agony I did not know, but my vision began to fade.

Then, as the forces jerking my body around started to weaken, I managed a look in the general direction I was moving. It was so dark; who knows how far I was from the surface by then. But I could see bright points in the distance. Lights... the longer I drifted, the more appeared. It was all blurred... if I only I'd had some semblance of strength left to make sense of it at the time. The more I neared them, the more of the gleaming, metal structures I could see.

The current picked up again and all went to black.