You gotta do what you gotta do

"Hello? Can anyone hear me?" Artemis said for the sixtieth time. "Obviously they can't hear you Artie, or else they would have called by now" Holly, Artemis' only companion and constant annoyance replied. "Well, what do you suggest, you do have an IQ of 6,000, oh wait! You lost it all! But you know who didn't, ME! So stop mocking me!" "I wasn't mocking you, I was just telling you....you know....nobody's out there" "But you said that there were survivors!" "Yeah, but most of them are away on a nearby planet" "Why?" "Jay's in a sorry state, they're trying to scavenge some supplies to repair the drive room so we can search for a cure" "Jay Chrysler? Smeg, how bad is it?" "He won't survive if we can't find some help soon" Artemis sat in silence, contemplating his next move. "Artie? What ya gonna do?" "Well, Jay needs our help. Are there any shuttles left?" "Yeah, why?" "We're going to find the others" "We? As in me and you?" "Yes, who else is going to fly the shuttle? I am anything BUT qualified to fly those things!" Artemis reached into his pocket and pulled out his digital watch. He held it up to Holly's screen. "Hop in" he said. "What now?" "Hop in the damn watch Holly! I've seen you do it thousands of times before, now c'mon! Time is wasting!"

Artemis shuffled into the cockpit of the Blue Midget. He was dressed in his neon yellow environment suit, and had strapped on bright white braces to help him walk. Strapped to his back was his "bug out bag", filled with an assortment of tools that had been stashed in his quarters (likely the only tools of his to survive the big freeze). Strapped to his wrist was a reluctant Holly, housed in a curry covered watch. "Alright Artie, plug me in" Artemis aimed the watch at the main console and pressed the upload switch. Holly appeared on the main screen. "Wow, are you really gonna wear that when you meet up with the survivors?" "Holly, honey, just do your job and I'll worry about my awesome suit" Artemis strapped into the pilot's seat and put his helmet on. "Right then, let's see what ol' Holly can do"

The Blue Midget crashed nose first into the swamp, Artemis was flung through the windshield and into the mud. "What the god damn Smegging hell were you thinking you ass?" Artemis screamed at Holly, who was back in the watch. "You said make preparations to land then get back in the watch!" "You turned on the lights! I meant put down the landing legs, activate auto stop, AND turn on the lights!" "I don't see how this is my fault Artie" "What happens if a ship doesn't have a pilot or a computer at the helm?" "It crashes" "EXACTLY! How are we supposed to find the others if we crashed miles away from the LZ?" "Look up" Artemis lifted his head to see the tail end of a parked Starbug. "Oh" Artemis uttered softly as he struggled to stand. He examined himself, the suit was plastered with mud and grime. The soft red glow of the lights and the reflection off the braces made him look like some sort of swamp monster. "Gah! My suit! This thing cost me three months pay!" "It's dirt, it'll come off. So what do we do now that we've wrecked a Blue Midget and marooned ourselves on a foreign planet?" "We do what we gotta do Holly, let's go find the others, and maybe some samples of the local wild life, I always wanted to cross breed a swamp monster and a pleasure GELF!" Artemis proceeded into the swamp, following the nearest trail of footprints.

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(I'll wait until one of the parties discover Artemis and Holly before going any further) (Later Edit: You know what? Screw that, I'll come to you!)