Alex was looking up.
Intent—for any sign of the ships, listening, but all she could hear was the sound of the sands—and the rumbling board strapped to her feet. She felt like she was in the middle of a tornado. She pressed down harder on the remote—board rattling—bringing up her speed.
When all the sudden, a man—Felix—fell right past her. He was yelling, but it sounded muffled. And he fell away, into the deep.
Alex was quick to redirect. She deactivated power to the board and let herself fall, got situated so the thrusters on the board were pointed in the right direction—then she boosted, straight down. Her body was at an angle, diagonal to the ground far below. Her knees were bent. She aimed nearly straight down, towards where she'd seen Felix fall.
"Please, please, please," she whispered into the sleeve.
She entered pockets where the sand was more dispersed, then plummeted into thicker areas. The light constantly changing. Her field of vision changing. Sometimes she could see about fifteen feet out. Sometimes only a few feet.
Then she caught a glimpse of Felix about fifteen feet out and off to her right. She boosted towards him, trying to keep him in sight. But then she lost him as the storm swallowed him.
She kept the angle.
Saw him again—to her left.
She gave the thrusters all they had.
He disappeared in the cloud.
Suddenly, he was there, just five feet from her. She stopped the thrusters, coming in too fast. She flew right into him. They collided. Hard. Then spun away from each other.
She lost orientation.
Lost him.
Was seeing stars in her eyes from the spinning.
She cut power to the engine, listened.
She heard him yelling. Muffled. Below her again.
She powered up the board, then flew smoothly down, toward the noise, getting the hang of this flying business. "Here," she shouted.
They reached out and took each other's forearms.
She could see his eyes clearly: looked happy to see her.
Once she knew they had a solid grip, she turned them around and flew upwards, back towards the ship, or where she thought she would find the ship.
Though she knew it might be a bad idea, she used the thrusters for all they were worth—max capacity. They launched skyward, flying through the fickle sands.