by Z. M. Wilmot
~Fineas Sparten, First Helmsman of the Caliphate of Cairo in Egypt, in advice given to an apprentice helmsman
I expected it to be more dramatic. Antarct was not a particularly brilliant star – it looked a lot like Earth’s sun, although it was more blue than it was red. There were only five planets circling it. The fifth planet was massive compared to the other four, and much further out. We headed in a straight line directly towards the fourth planet. When we were an estimated three hours from the planet, Vincent told us all to stand at our crash stations. Naturally, being relatively new to the crew, I had no idea as to what this was. I couldn’t find him to ask him, so I turned to Rafael. After a moment of uncertainty, he told me to just stick with him. So I did.
As we waited, I asked Rafael what exactly was going to happen as we approached the planet. He shrugged. “This is my first real exploratory mission – I’ve never had this happen before. My guess is that we’re going to crash-land onto the surface. This ship is surprisingly sturdy.” He touched a black spot on the wall, and a strange harness dropped from the ceiling. He put it on, then fiddled with some straps and somehow managed to attach me as well. I was uncomfortably close to him, but didn’t say anything. I could feel his breath on the top of my head, and I’m sure he could feel mine on his neck.
After a moment, he disengaged us both. “It seems to be working.” He left the harness dangling from the ceiling. “Okay. We don’t need to put that dreadful thing on again until twenty minutes before impact.”
“What does it do?” I was curious. I had never seen or heard of anything like this, despite my paying close attention to the world of spacecraft as a youth.
“It’s a crash harness. When the ship senses an impact, the ropes will stiffen, and whenever you’re about to hit something, like the wall or another person, it will steer you away, while also not breaking your bones. That, combined with the disabling of the artificial gravity drives, keeps you pretty safe. Or so I’m told.”
I tilted my head. “If they’re supposed to stop us from hitting things, why is it so close to a wall?”
He opened his mouth, about to say something, then closed it. He looked up at the ceiling for a moment, then the harness, then back at the wall. “I don’t know.”
I waited another moment, then asked him another question. “What does Fineas do during all of this? Doesn’t he have to steer?”
Rafael shrugged. “I don’t know – I’m not an expert. I think he has some kind of special pod or something.” I nodded.
After that, we stood in silence for a while. There was a viewport right next to where we stood, and I looked out of it as we approached. As we got closer to the planet, it gradually began to enter my field of vision. Its surface was a dark, uniform green. It didn’t even look like there were clouds; it was just green. Rafael tapped my shoulder. I turned to see him already in his harness. “Get in, boy. Impact soon.”
I walked over and let him strap me in. We waited awkwardly (or at least that’s what it felt like to me) for quite a while, and then we felt the ship begin to slow. I blinked. How were we slowing? The brakes were dependent on the engine – or so I thought. I asked Rafael about this, and he replied saying something about gravitational fields and extra-engine thrusters and the atmosphere. I didn’t understand it then, and even now I don’t completely understand it, but we slowed down rapidly. The green that we had seen vanished as we entered the atmosphere. My ears began popping madly, and I grimaced as my hearing left me. My eyesight began to blur, and then they went black as my vision left me as well. As my eyesight faded, my head began to hurt, and soon I was unconscious.