In the gaps
It was everywhere: in the water, in the food, in his clothes. When he moved his tongue, he could feel it scraping the insides of his of his teeth and some would settle into the space between them. He longed to spit it out, to rinse and spit over and over until it was gone, but he resisted. The others in the group had stared in derision last time he had done so. Besides, it would just end up in there again the next time he ate, or drank, or tried to talk.
He moved in it, his feet would sink in and it would make waves when he stepped, like water being displaced by two boot shaped whales breaching the surface. His muscles ached with the effort, but there was nowhere to step where it was not.
He was beginning to despise it. It was his whole world, everything that surrounded him. He could barely remember what life was like without it. He could feel it in the wind, striking him, shaving off little bits of him, his clothes, his sanity. He imagined that it gnawed at him, slowly taking parts of him away to combine with the rest to one day chip away at some other poor traveler.
He closed his eyes. Some of it was collecting in the shallow wells at the corners of them and some ground into the folds of his eyelids. He didn't want to look at it anymore, he wished he could be anywhere else, doing anything besides trekking through endless miles of...
His right boot made contact with something solid and he fell forward, eyes flying open and arms extended to catch himself. His hands went to either side of the narrow object and sank in, causing his face to thump painfully against the half-buried object. Terrin's head rang as he pulled himself up and he took in the sight of what had interrupted his progress.
Immediately the pain in his head was forgotten as he excitedly crouched down and began trying to unbury more of the object. The others in his party gathered around and began to assemble collapsible pack shovels. Urgently, the group set to work, clearing more of the top and sides. Terrin could tell that the vessel was on its side from the way the resonators angled upward. He moved several paces to his left and began to dig, eventually uncovering the top of a hatch that was flush with the rest of the hull. Following the curve of the vessel, Terrin uncovered the rest of the hatch and stood triumphantly over the softly glowing access panel.
The sun was halfway set, and the rest of the crew watched expectantly as Terrin entered the access code. Pressurized air forced its way out around the edges of the hatch, clearing it off in a glittering cloud. As the motors worked to lift the hatch open, Terrin smiled to himself: he wouldn't have to sleep in the sand tonight.