The Next Time We Die

In a scorching alien desert, a small team of explorers presses onward toward the ruins of an ancient city. Pike McLean, a hard‑bitten roustabout, and Nora Martin, an archaeologist yearning for a home, grapple with the harsh environment while exchanging bitter‑sweet reflections on humanity’s endless cycle of death and rebirth. Their banter reveals a restless optimism: that each death is merely another chance to solve the grand puzzle of evolution and reach the stars.

As the sun beats down, McLean tends to his own injuries—missing fingers, a fresh wound from a mysterious needle ray—while Nora administers first aid with a mixture of scolding and tenderness. The landscape is both beautiful and lethal, its silent dunes hiding unseen threats, and the crumbling remnants of a once‑great civilization loom on the horizon, promising answers that may finally justify the sacrifices they’ve already made.