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into another room, quickly dressed himself, and then unlocked the door to the mess hall. The rover was still being knocked around from the severe weather outside. Dirty cutlery Charlie had left after his meals today were moving all over the place on a nearby table.
    “Damn shit hole,” said Charlie holding onto a wall to steady his balance but was it futile as he started to lose his footing.
    Glad to be out of the kitchen, Charlie sat down into the co-pilot seat.
    “Struggling a little, sir, but I have slowed the speed down somewhat. The ship was taking a beating and I could not risk anymore damage,” replied Richard.
    Charlie looked a little concerned and decided to grab the controls.
    “You okay, sir?” said Richard looking at his struggling master.
    “What do you think? Should we lower the speed some more?” asked Charlie.
    “Erm, okay sir,” said Richard. Richard reached for the controls when one of the sensors started to flash and the alarm sounded—one of the battery stacks was damaged and the power was draining fast. It was a huge issue; if the engine died they would be stranded and if the dust storm kept up, it could be days before a search scout may come looking for them.
    “Plug me in, sir, I’ll need to keep the battery going until we can get some cover,” said Richard.
    “We can't risk it; remember last time? You were off line for nearly a week and I thought I would never get you back,” replied Charlie.
    Richard looked up at him and gave a disconcerting shake of the head; it had to be done and there was no time for arguing.
    “Right you are then,” replied Charlie. He unbuckled himself and walked around the back of Richard. Unzipping Richard's coverall he opened up the switches on his metallic skin. Two mini compartments flicked open and Charlie removed the tubes inside. The battery was underneath the main control panel so Charlie extended the tubes and slotted them into the battery slots.
    “Well done, sir. We should be fine; the power should feed the panels outside. They will hold out,” said Richard, still struggling to keep the rover level.
    After a little while, they had started on the new course they had plotted. The wind outside had calmed down somewhat, both had made the right decisions and the damage to their vehicle was minimal.
    Another week had passed and another storm was forming outside. They had been stuck on the same course for longer than they had wished and Richard had been on downtime for just over a week, his battery situation taking its toll just like Charlie thought it would.
    The mess hall was a lot cleaner now, the last couple of days left Charlie with not much to do apart from cleaning and checking the auto-pilot. Standing in the mess room feeling annoyed, Charlie had missed the bulls-eye on the dartboard after clocking up a good score. He looked around and noticed the metallic body of Richard walking slowly towards him.
    “It's amazing what a good old oiling can do; these joints feel a lot better,” said Richard looking revived.
    “Rough down time then?” replied Charlie.
    “Yes; pretty bad. Hooking up to those batteries has never brought out the best in me,” replied Richard.
    “Well, we’re miles behind schedule and we are not even heading north-west anymore; I lost track a few days ago,” said Charlie.
    “We will get back on track, sir; I can promise that. This is only a temporary measure, the course will revert back to the original soon,” replied Richard confidently.
    Charlie walked straight past him and stopped to look out through the window facing the moving landscape. It was daylight and the sky was a dark blue. The surface below the rover felt smoother than it had the last couple of days. There was not many craters outside, the change in direction had given them a smoother surface to drive on, it was a good move. Charlie stood with both hands pressed firmly against the glass and his head bowed towards the floor, unsure where to go next. He felt the