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Crash Landing

Kendra Burns

    The ship shook violently as the second engine erupted into flames, sending Ean to his knees with a hard thud. Around him, flashing red lights and the high-pitched warning sirens dampened the sounds of flames trying to breach the hull. Ean grabbed hold of the captain’s chair as another violent shock wave ripped through the room, allowing him to pull himself up on unsteady legs. With a sigh, he threw himself into the chair. His dark eyes looked out of the thin heat-resistant window at the blaze surrounding his ship. Yellows mixed with reds with the faint sight of greens and blues.
    “Seshat, what’s the damage calculations?” Ean said, resting his head in the palm of his hands.
    Seshat’s holographic orb form materialized before Ean. “Engines two and four are offline. Engines one and three are forty percent functional. Interior mainframe breached at level three.”
    The ship gave another violent shake causing ripples to form in Seshat. Heat rolled out of the ventilation in a misty wave. Small beads of sweat formed upon Ean’s brow.
    “Correction, mainframe interior breach has reached level two. Entering Earth’s atmosphere now.”
    “Seshat, do we have enough power to launch a pod ship?” Ean asked as he stood up. His knuckles turning white as yet another shock wave ripped through the ship.
    “Affirmative. I will redirect power to the pods. Crash landing calculations show the ships will end up in the Baltic Sea.”
    Ean pushed through the shock waves, barely making it to the steel sliding doors of the pod ship before a wave of fire shot past him. Safely secure in the pod ship, Ean rested his head against the white walls of the pod.
    “Pod launch in T minus five, four, three, two, one.” Seshat’s voice filtered through walls. One last shock wave ripped through Ean before the calmness of the fall through Earth’s atmosphere lulled him into a light dreamless sleep.
    The landing jerked Ean awake, his head slamming against the wall. Lights flickered and Seshat’s small holographic orb form projected mere inches in front of his face.
    “We have arrived on Earth. Flotation devices have been activated and Mothership has been notified of our circumstances.”
    “Thank you, Seshat. Have they sent any word back?”
    Ean stretched out the kinks in his spine, small popping sounds echoing in the cramped space of the pod.
    “Affirmative. Mothership says to hang on. they will be here shortly. Code name Flame-caster specifically says that the damage to the scouting ship was caused by a malfunction in Engineering. The ship wasn’t supposed to have launched.”
    “Seshat, reply to Flame-caster: Little late for that now isn’t it.” Ean said. He adjusted himself so he was laying down, eyes looking up at the clear blue sky. Grey clouds hung over the edge of his view promising rain.
    “We may be here a while, Seshat. Might as well turn power output to the bare minimum.”

    Birds flew past, one leaving its droppings in the middle of the domed window. Ean closed his eyes listening to the faint whistling of the wind and allowed the waves to rock him back into a dreamless sleep.



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