Sandstorm

A brief headache attacked Sy as he climbed out from his rented pod. He contemplated for a second about the condition of his body before standing up and moved around to stretch his cramped legs.

Tiff was sitting on a hover chair - crossed legs - and watching a projected screen. This time, she was wearing a light-brown sweatpants and a white t-shirt, complimenting the colour of her hair. She immediately turned after noticing Sy coming out from the gaming pod.

"You've been inside the pod for over 22 hours," She pointed out, "I slipped some nutrients packs so your body can have sustenance."

"Thanks.." Sy gratefully said, his thoughts still a bit groggy. A brief moment, he finally caught up and asked, "How much?"

"On me." Tiff raised her chin proudly, but then threw him a stare in a scolding manner, "Just remember that we have protocol here."

"Oh." Sy awkwardly smiled, ruffling his hair, "I'll take note of that."

[We, the children of Pyr - our great founding father, a great pioneer - must fight for what he built for us.

The Republic of Leeb had transgressed our boundaries - claimed it for themselves - and we only watched as they occupy our precious sectors.

We must respond.]

The sound of what Tiff was watching echoed throughout the gaming center. The elected supreme leader of the Union of Pyr was making a speech at the heart of the union.

As Tiff and Sy's attention were drawn by the live news, a young boy in a uniform of black and white, rushed inside and went straight to the owner of the shop.

"Tiff! Have you baked some buns?" The child asked, a wide grin plastered on his face.

"Aww.." Tiff made a sad face, consoling the kid, "Tomorrow, Brian. I'll make some."

Sy thought he saw the boy somewhere before. With his unclear head, he brushed away the thought and made his way toward the exit.

"What do you think about our lifelong enmity with the Republic of Leeb?" Tiff chased him the question.

Sy briefly paused and turned his head, "Old men should be fixing the squabble of young people, not the other way around."

He raised a hand and exited the gaming center. To him, the majority of soldiers sent to wars were young men and women - dying for a purpose with no end. A waste of potentates who should be forging the future of humanity.

Tiff deeply thought about what he said. She was born and raised in the union. Propagandas and factionalism was instilled deep inside her, but she couldn't help but notice the deep meaning of his words.

She teasingly pinched Brian on the waist, causing the young man to pout.

Sy searched the nearby shops and eventually bought a pair of mask and goggles. After donning his newly acquired protective gears, he went outside and waved a nearby hover cab.

The dessert storm was getting stronger. A red alert notice was given to every people in the city, urging them to stay inside their houses.

"I've been around for as long as I can remember. First time seeing a storm like this. I can't even see where I'm going." The driver murmured, attentively staring at the guidance system of the cab while steering.

"I'm more concern about surviving this trip." Sy jokingly said.

The driver laughed, and assured, "I'm sure we can manage."

It took more than an hour before they reached his apartment. With the lack of vision, the driver slowly and carefully traversed the city, delaying their journey.

The building had three floors, each housing three individual apartments. Sy covered his head and rushed to the second floor - to where his room was located. He opened the door and stepped inside in a swift motion, only allowing a tiny portion of dusts within the vicinity of his hospitality. He could only hope that the ventilation system of his apartment would not let him suffocate in this raging storm.

An hour later, the wind violently surged. Sy felt as if it was trying to uproot the building. He had spent his time binge reading the news - covering the Union of Pyr.

With the storm grabbing his attention, he switched his channel to Logria. The vast storm and some magnetic interference, obstructed any reception from satellite images. The people within the planet's atmosphere were completely blind to what was happening.

"This is getting serious.." Sy muttered.

Desert planet had no natural barrier - like mountain ranges - to dissipate a serious disturbance like this. It would build up momentum and grow stronger as it went on.

He was considering some safety precaution when he heard loud knocks from his door.

Sy paused for a moment and thought carefully, before he cautiously went to open the door after he wore the mask and goggles. Someone might be in serious trouble if they were outside bathing in the sands.

The young pioneer quickly opened the door and step out from the enclosure, startling the person outside - who seemed to be cheerful even with the phenomenon threatening to bury the city.

"Haha -" The person laughed - choking as dusts entered his mouth. He was an inch smaller than Sy, but sported a wider frame.

"Sandstorm like this is the pride of Logria!" The man shouted in order to be heard from the whistling wind. He coughed, and continued, "This kind of beauty had not occured since my grandfather's time."

"Sir Fanick?" Sy recognized the man. He was the landlord of the building. When he contacted him back when he arrived in Logria, the man was off-planet.

"I dropped yesterday. You were not here." The landlord said, covering his forehead with a hand - shielding his goggles as the sands started forming around it, blocking his vision. "Just call me Niel."

They were both dangerously exposed outside so Niel went ahead and explained, "Look. We are at the outer rim of the city and served as the first barrier. Sands will be piling up around the building and soon bury us. The nearest underground evacuation is 2 kilometers away. We will be 10 feet beneath the sands before we reach it."

"What are you suggesting!?" Sy asked in urgency.

"You're the only able man among my tenants." Niel declared without hesitation, "Most are ladies. I'd hate to bring them out only to panic. My grandfather built an underground facility. Good ventilation. Power generator. We could sit there and ride out the storm. When it's over, the terraforming engines could easily clean up the city from sands and we come out unscathed. We only need to stockpile food, water, and other necessary tools to survive."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Sy agreed.

"Well, the problem is.. we need to pry its two inch steel door and start the power inside - make it automatically function." Niel made a face that he was not confident about it.

"Where is it?"

"In the courtyard!"

Sy no longer cared if sands entered his room. He urged his landlord inside to have a better environment to plan their move.

Niel explained that the steel door weren't properly closed - with a few inches gaping. The problem was that they did not have the tools and equipment to even make it budge.

"We can insert some steel rods in the gaps - do you have a hover car? How much does it weight?" Sy realised something and designed a course of action.

"Hover truck." Niel corrected, "I use it to transport machine parts across the city."

"That's even better." Sy revealed a smile. He urged Niel to find the metal rods. The duo rushed outside and went to the landlord's garage where they found plenty that can fit into the gap but also had the length that Sy estimated. They both grabbed three pieces each - carrying it on their shoulders - and marched to the courtyard.

"Shit! The sands are piling up. We need to dig." Niel shouted as their feet dug inches into the ground - walking ahead of the younger man.

"If we were a bit late in doing this, we will have no chance in opening your grandfather's underground facility." Sy shouted back.

"We're here!" Niel roared, impaling his rods into the ground so that they don't get buried by the rain of sands. Sy did the same and they both started to dig. When they found the gap, they inserted the metal rods - made them a bit slanting as they can.

"We need to drop your hover truck atop the rods, but we do it slowly. If we do it sudden, the steel door might get flung up and come back down hard, crashing on the metal rods and bending them."

"We need to clean the sands beneath the rods and add a hump as a leverage so they could raise the steel door higher." Niel added after a careful thought.

A series of metallic banging caught their attention. It was too late when they realised that a debris driven by the wind was coming their way. Sy, as a Pioneer, was combatant when needed, and reacted faster as he kicked Niel - pushing them both backwards. The object dangerously whizzed at their former location before explosively smashing into a parked hover car.

The two men glanced at each other for a moment before Niel stood up and said, "I'm gonna go get the truck."