Rene slept deep and dreamless with exhaustion. Even for all his genetic enhancement, all his physical and mental conditioning, the events of the day had pushed him far closer to the edge than he had ever come. Physical exhaustion was something that all marines came to terms with during the brutal six months of training they underwent upon induction, but during that time Rene had been able to keep his emotions separate, able to maintain his intellectual objectivity.That had not been the case with Solae trapped under uncountable thousands of tons of soil, a mere tremor of the earth away from a slow death by starvation or suffocation.
 
As he slept afternoon slipped into night and the chilling of the air squeezed the last rain clouds from the sky in a final spiteful cloud burst. The heavens cleared to reveal the bluish glow of light reflected from the gas giant, and an aurora which must always have been present but drowned out by direct sunlight, began to play across the northern horizon in flourishes of green and blue with occasional explosions of bright pink pastels.
 
The electrical jolt of the alert signal from his comm implant woke Rene with start, months of training sending his hand towards a weapon he wasn’t carrying before he was fully aware of the action.

“Lady Solae is awake,” Mia’s voice rushed breathily as Rene lifted himself up of the deck where he had all but collapsed. At some point someone had propped a pillow under his head and a canteen of water lay a few feet away. Pain rippled through him, deep aches in his muscles from the intense work of hauling the hoses around as improvised excavators, blistered and raw hands from pulling and shoving on the pipe casings and a network of cuts and scrapes from pieces of sharp rock. He was filthy, coated from scalp to toes in a carapace of dried mud and grit. For an absurd second he wondered if he should shower before he presented himself to the duchess and then lurched across the deck on stiff legs into the bay where the medicomp stood humming, its sound proofing drowning out whatever noise Solae was making as she slapped at the inner side of the glass. Mia was full capable of opening the unit if she thought it best, but the AI clearly didn’t feel it/she had enough information to make that decision. Rene’s glance at the read outs was incidental as he triggered the release switch. If Solae was well enough to move then she was in no real danger, at least nothing that the medicomp itself wouldn’t be able to fix over time. There was a hiss of pressurised air and the sudden sharp scent of antiseptic as the glass shield drew back freeing the duchess.

“Oh thank the Stars,” Rene all but gasped, leaning forward to kiss Solae’s forehead in a fervent prayer of relief, ignoring the chirps of disapproval as the mud and dust flaking off his body spoiled the sterile field.