[ IP ] Trilobites

*I had just finished dinner. * 
 
 *I was out for a run, just about home. * 
 
 *Me, I was just waking up to go into work. * 
 
 Everyone remembers exactly where they were when the Devourers arrived. Our Pearl Harbor came on a clear Thursday afternoon, everywhere at once, from seemingly out of nowhere. There wasn ’ t a cloud in the sky across the entirety of the globe when slowly their shadows grew upon the ground the world over. Since then it ’ s been determined that they began by feasting on the water vapor suspended in the sky, an appetizer before their abundant main course. 
 
 “ Your turn Frank. ” 
 
 The sound of her voice was grating as always, but we were the only two stationed this far out. 
 
 “ Dammit Elsa, I ’ m not even dressed and you ’ re already keeping track of my negatives. ” 
 
 Slipping outside of my sealed bunk through the curtains was a habit by this point. Five years since the arrival and we ’ ve gotten this just about figured out by now. Sleep in sealed bunks, spend as little time outside of your suits as possible, and spare every ounce of water you can. My suit had tightened quite a bit since it was issued to me. I ’ m not sure if it ’ s the material shrinking or my diet of resequenced proteins causing me to swell. The chore of putting it on grows more difficult every day and today is no different; it sticks to bare skin wherever the latex meets it. 
 
 “ Rain ’ s coming soon Frank, better hurry. I ’ m only applying two negatives today, you ’ re lucky cuz it could be four. ” 
 
 *Elsa, what a pain in my ass, why did I ever marry this shrill ole bat? * The time between taking off your mask and sealing the suit is required to be under fifteen seconds, otherwise a negligent release is catalogued and another negative applied to your profile. I ’ m not sure how the system really works in the end since the only way you can eliminate a negative on your profile is to report a negative on another worker ’ s profile. Seems to me that negatives all around don ’ t really create a positive atmosphere for work, but that ’ s neither my station nor my destiny. Midway through our four year deployment and we ’ ve just about run the course of the stages of grief over our marriage…I think we ’ re just about to the acceptance stage by now. 
 
 *Seventeen seconds, DAMN, I hope she didn ’ t realize* 
 
 “ Three Frank…Three. It isn ’ t even 0800 yet. ” 
 
 *One of these days Elsa, might even leave you out for one of the Devourers. * I sigh into my sealed suit, my own little world, and make my way to the airlock. 
 
 “ See you soon honey! ” I call dripping with sarcasm. 
 
 
 “ Not if I ’ m lucky today ” She replies with the exact opposite tone. 
 
 Stepping out the sky is the same dark grey it has been for the last 5 years. Us reclaimers are the only ones to see it anymore. Prepping my equipment I feel the pressure drop before I hear the roar of the curtain of water approaching. The rain is quick like always, luckily for us the Devourers can only vacuum up the water below them and they are woefully inefficient beasts. This one simple flaw allows the water cycle to sort of continue, and allows us to siphon off as much as we can from the inevitable deluges. The third curtain of the month fell in a total of four minutes from start to finish, dumping I ’ m not sure how many gallons of precious H2O on our little refuge. The spillways are engineered to bring all of the water to me as I vacuum it into the underground tanks for the rest of Haven 12 to use. 
 
 Lost in my thoughts it took me a minute to even realize the darkness had fallen over me. The sudden tug at my entire body threw my mind into overdrive. I had finished suctioning, so why were they still attempting to feed?! As I hurtled toward the gaping maw of one of them I realized my right arm had a tear, I was leaking. It wanted me, after all, our bodies are sixty percent water. Apparently today is Elsa ’ s lucky day. 

