ToxicHaven by Gabriella Bradley

she resembled. After she was chosen for the program, she hadn’t seen either of her parents again. It was a rule. The chosen had no contact with family members until they were eighteen. When she was thirteen and inquired about her parents, they told her they’d died some years ago of a strange affliction. Probably induced by the damn slag , she thought bitterly.
    Between dozing and thought, time passed, albeit slowly. Every now and then, one of the men looked at their timepieces using their flashlight.
    “We should arrive pretty soon,” Josias said. “Good thing, too. Our tanks are near empty. It won’t be pleasant getting dumped with the slag. Be prepared to be somewhat buried,” he warned.
    Isan removed his mask for a minute. “We need to move into different positions so that we fall apart. Just in case one of us is buried too deep,” he suggested.
    “I agree.”
    “How much of a drop do you think there will be?” Haven asked.
    “I’ve never been dumped before, and neither has Isan. I don’t know,” Josias said and chuckled.
    “What about the tanks?” she asked.
    “They’ll just get dumped with us, but unless we can get oxygen on the planet, they’ll be useless. We have about half an hour of oxygen left,” Isan said. “We’d best get into position.”
    “Is there no way to get to the back of the slag? Then at least we’d fall on top of the stuff instead of get buried by it,” Haven wondered.
    “We can’t chance using that door and the walkway. It’s possibly the only one. There might not be another door further down. As you can see,” he shone his flashlight at the pile of slag. “It’s piled to the sides and to the ceiling. There’s also a thick steel automated panel the full width and height of this hold that pushes the slag out. I don’t relish getting squashed by it.”
    “It was a thought. There has to be at least ten ton of it. What if they dump it all on one big heap?”
    Isan answered her. “I’ve seen how they dump it. They fly very slowly and it dumps gradually over a very large area.”
    A grating sound joined the loud humming of the engines and the cargo door sluggishly slid open. Haven was relieved to see a strip of light appear that slowly widened until the door was gone from sight. She was glad they’d arrived during daylight hours and not at night.
    Taking off his oxygen mask, Josias warned them. “As soon as you start to slide down with the slag and you start falling, swing your body away as fast and far as you can. That’ll help to land near the outer edges of the dump rather than in the center. Haven, get closer to Isan or me, please?”
    “Holy smokes, that’s a hell of a drop,” Haven shouted as she peered over the edge.
    “Probably about thirty feet. I hope we make it without breaking any bones,” Isan shouted back. “Get ready. I hear the engines changing their tune so it’ll move pretty soon.”
    He’d no sooner finished speaking when the slag behind them moved. Haven leaned sideways as much as she could. The door was like a giant fat slide. Isan, beside her, didn’t even make it down to the bottom as the stinking material pushed them outward. He slipped off the side almost right away. Haven took a deep breath and hoped he’d be okay. She slid to the bottom fast. Her heart thundered as she flung her body sideways as soon as she encountered emptiness. The air swooshed through her lungs as she tumbled toward the ground. She tried to straighten her body but it was hard as she gathered speed.
    When she hit the ground, her breath was knocked out of her. She gagged and groaned, then gasped for air. The air whistled from her lungs until she could steady herself and take a breath. She’d fallen just to the side of the slag. Some of it had broken her fall. Gingerly, she got to her feet, shook her arms and stomped her feet. Everything seemed to be intact. No broken bones. Frantically, she looked around for Josias and Isan.
    A short distance away, a hand