Having even a moment of real freedom on Weston’s ship had been life changing. So, while everyone else mightbe freaking out thatThe Dreadnautis in pieces behind us, I’m happy to finally say goodbye to it.
Several more bursts of light flash from outside the windows, and I close my eyes against it. Brightening up the backs of my eyelids, they quickly die out in the vacuum of space. Ships crashing and burning. Rockets launched from one to another.
“Here we go!” Weston shouts. “Get ready for the pressure!”
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Blat mutters quickly under his breath.
The Wreckrattles, only a little at first, except it builds and builds until it’s shaking violently. I grit my teeth and hang on, grateful that Weston, the crew, and I managed to earn enough money to repairThe Wreckand even make a couple of upgrades on her. Not because we wanted to, but because we had too. No one wanted to be stuck onThe Dreadnautfor as many years as it took to accomplish its reason for going to Earth. We just wanted to gohome.
The last thing and only thing we still need is enough dark material to get us there. More fuel, in short. Apparently two years was too long and took us too far away to make the return voyage to the other colony ships with what we have stocked up. We’d planned to be in the spaceways by the end of the season and would’ve been ifThe Dreadnauthadn’t gone under.
But it did.
Pressure swallows me, making my legs and arms tremble as the ship croaks and groans. An anxious hush falls that not even Annora breaks, everyone breathlessly waiting to see if we survive the atmospheric transitions or not.
Curling my toes and clamping my teeth, I start counting by fives in my head.I don’t want to die.
Five, ten… Twenty-five, thirty…
“There’s smoke in the back!” Tata shouts.
My eyes snap open and I look over my shoulder, seeing a hazy cloud starting to form at the bottom of the engine hatch door.
Weston jerks around to glance behind him. “Shit! Someone check it out!”
Both Blat and Mickie unstrap their belt buckles and struggle to their feet, pulling themselves toward the engine room by the backs of the seats. Explosions flash through the narrow viewports on either side as other ships, older or unequipped ones, fail the transition, succumbing to the pressure. One detonates far too close, andThe Wreckshudders directly afterward, sending both Blat and Mickie crashing to the floor with twin cries of pain.
Annora sits forward in her seat. “Weston, pay attention!” she shrieks. “We need to slow down!”
I twist again, worriedly watching Mickie and Blat get their hands and knees under them and start crawling toward the smoke until the strain on my neck is too much. Turning back, I l glimpse tears in Tata’s eyes, and quickly look away as she wipes them off.
Finally,The Wreck’sentry levels out, and we manage to slow down enough to fall behind most of the surviving ships. There’s a collective sigh of relief as Weston successfully changes course inside the Earth’s atmosphere. But the reprieve only lasts a moment.
I cough as the smoke reaches me, glancing over my shoulder once more at Blat and Mickie working at the back hatch. Just as they get it open,The Wreck’ssirens blast my ears, the ship’s sensors catching wind of the smoke.
“Head left! Toward that mass of ruins, not the forest,” Annora says sharply when a large swath of green appears amongst the brown landscape.
“I hear you!”
As we dip lower, ships continue to explode in the distance, illuminating the dark sky.
“Left, I said! More. You’re going to land too far away!” Annora points emphatically. “Don’t keep heading for the forest or you risk crashing into another ship changing course!”
“We’re going to crash anyway!” Weston yells. “Everyone, get back into your seats now! Blat, Mickie.”
Too late.The Wreckjudders, the smoke thickens. Everyone starts screaming around me, and, squeezing my eyes shut again, I ask whoever is out there to at least give me a quick death.
“Weston, slow down!”
“You’re going to kill us all!”
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck?—!”
The sound of another explosion hits my ears, closer than ever before, and I’m thrown forward. My body quakes as stars burst behind my eyelids and I fight to inhale through the thick, choking smoke. Swallowing thickly, I pray it’s notThe Wreckthat blows up next.
TWO
AFTERMATH
