#6 Meltdown

"Sergeant! Report!" The lieutenant barked.
"Sir. All men are accounted for. Loomis and Ketsu are injured but are ready to move. The dropship is beyond repair."
"Terrain assessment?"
The sergeant looked over his lieutenant's shoulder, shielding his eyes from the sun glare off the snow. "I don't have much, LT. We can't explain the tremors. We had no advance recon on earthquakes or geological instability. They appear to be increasing, getting worse..."
"Worse?! Sergeant, I'm standing right here with you. Worse is a gross understatement, soldier! The planet feels like it's about to split in two. What about the eclipses?"
The sergeant lowered his eyes and shook his head.
"Look, Hess," the lieutenant said, "sorry for tearing you a new one, but I've got to get these men to the rally point. All I see is snow and more snow. Our instruments and comm systems are blown to hell. I can't even get a compass to work. Every thirty seconds there's a total eclipse followed by an earthquake."
"LT, I think we need to move on. There's no explaining this planet. But we can't keep the men pinned down here. They need to get moving to take their minds off it all."
"You're right about the men, Hess. But we don't even know what direction north is."
Corporal Pat Hughes jogged up to the edge of the command tent. He saluted. Lt. Fields returned the gesture.
"Get in here, Patrick. What've you got?"
Hughes said, "Sir. Something unusual is happening. The snow is melting but not like you'd expect. It's rapidly liquefying and becoming like syrup."
"Hughes, what in the hell are you talking about?" Hess said.
"Sir, the snow is changing into a thick liquid, like heavy cream or something."
The lights failed and their world tilted on edge. All three men went down. Tables collapsed tossing maps, supplies and weapons onto the ground. Ground covered in snow that had transformed into a sticky, wet mess.
The soldiers struggled to stand. White strands of snow-stuff covered their uniforms and hands.
"That was the worst tremor yet!" Hess shouted. Sunlight returned, instantly scaring the darkness away.
A private ran into the command tent forgetting to salute."Sirs, half of Alpha company just disappeared! Right when the eclipse started. They were right there and now there's no trace. Just a terrible scraping sound like the planet was being peeled back. No equipment, no nothing left behind!"
"What?" yelled Lt Fields.
"Did you forget how to salute an officer, private?" Hess yelled.
The private immediately saluted.

"Mother, this ice cream tastes yucky. There's little things in it."
"Oh Bobby," sighed Mother. "Must you constantly whine? There's a garbage can right over there. Toss it out but don't expect another one! I'll get you a wet nap for your hands. It's melted all over you."

Bobby lumbered over to the trash can and tossed the half-eaten cone inside. He stopped for a second. He swore he heard shouting and guns shooting. Gun shots? He looked into the can but didn't hear it again. He ran back to mother.