by Jessica Cole
“Sure, I’ll go.” Gordon said hurriedly, before Lexi had a chance to retort. “Josh Gordon, SCORPION member. I’ve been at 311 since the academy, and I lived on C-32 before I joined.”
“Colony 32? What housing block?” Jana asked excitedly.
Gordon looked confused. “A-7.”
“You lived in A Block?”
“Uh, yeah?” He raised an eyebrow. “Why do you ask?”
“Enough chit-chat. My turn!” Lexi gushed. “My name is Lexi—with an I—Carroll. I’m twenty-seven and yes, this is my natural hair color.” Jana felt her jaw drop. Is this girl for real? “I like romantic movies...and handcuffs.” She winked.
“Oh—my—god,” Jana groaned, eyes wide.
“What is it you actually do?” Apparently, David was equally confused.
“I’m the HADES member,” she said matter-of-factly.
“You have god to be kidding me,” Jana said with a whimper. HADES was right. This woman is straight from hell.
“Excuuse you, but you shouldn’t even be talking. We’re the ones that should be worried, not you. We’ve got a kid leading our mission.” She shrugged back into her chair and made a gesture with her hand like she was making a phone call. “Boys, you might as well call the families now and tell them you’re not coming home.”
“Shut up. You’re giving me a damn headache,” Aeronth spoke for the first time. “You’re supposed to be a professional. Try acting like one.”
“Oh, baby. You’re a rough one, aren’t you? Hmm, well you can come over to my place any time. I’ll show you rough!” Lexi winked. Jana was seething. Even if she was at odds with Aeronth, hearing Lexi talk about him like that made her stomach churn. She wondered briefly if this was the kind of girl he went after. The thought repulsed her.
“Okay, I think that’s quite enough.” Jana sighed. “Look, we land in—“ Jana looked at her watch. “Approximately eighteen and a half hours. Do what you will until then.” She pushed off from the table and left the room, smacking the button to close the mechanized door behind her. She laid back down on the floor, knees bent and feet up on the small cot along the wall of the little room.
For whatever reason, Jana’s emotions—both good and bad—seemed to amplify when Aeronth was around. She wanted to know more about him, about his past. What made him so closed off? It seemed Aeronth had so many secrets, more than most people. And I want to know every one of them. Everyone had secrets.
Even her.
Jana’s stomach rumbled, and she realized she forgot to pack food for the trip. The mission itself was in-and-out, and they had emergency rations in their packs. The kitchen should have something in there. She didn’t particularly want to face either Aeronth OR Lexi right now. But...food.
She got up and pressed the door button. It slid open with a metallic whirring sound. Jana nearly jumped out of her skin when she looked down and saw Aeronth sitting against the wall right next to her door, knees pulled close and his hands atop them. He looked up at her as she exited the room. Their eyes locked in the nearly dark hallway.
“What are you doing out here?!” She shrieked. He scrambled up and cleared his throat.
“I—“ He began, but she cut him off.
“Didn’t you already do enough?” His soft expression hardened. “I’m sorry.” He looked bewildered. “I’m sorry,” she repeated, taking a moment to calm down. Her blood was boiling, and she had a strange feeling it wasn’t from the anger.
Aeronth visibly swallowed. Is he nervous? “I feel horrible for what I said before. It wasn’t right. You didn’t deserve it.” Aeronth stood a full thirteen inches taller than her. They were so close that Jana could smell him. Not a real scent, but more like a feeling. It made her weak in the knees, but she forced that from her mind. Being so close to him was unnerving.
Oh god, I want to kiss him. She actually considered it for a minute, biting her bottom lip, head tilted full back to look him in the face.
“You were right. I don’t know anything about you.”
Unconsciously she laid her hand on his arm. “Would you like to?” she whispered. He reached up and touched her face delicately as if afraid she would break. Jana closed her eyes reflexively, drinking in his touch. Please. Please... All too soon, the moment was over.
“I can’t do this,” he told her. He was walking away before she realized what happened. The only sound was Jana’s heart thundering in her chest in synchronization with Aeronth’s receding footsteps. I can’t believe I just did that. I’m such an idiot! How could I even think he would...never mind him! What was I doing? In the end, she decided to chalk it up to a temporary lapse of reason. Her hunger was forgotten.
A few hours later, the door opened again. Gordon’s hair matched his brown eyes, which seemed just a tad too far apart and made him look a bit like a fish. He wasn’t much taller than Jana, but he was stocky.
“Can I help you?”
His voice was gravelly. “I came to bring you this,” he said, handing her a bottle of water and a trap of food. “You haven’t eaten anything yet and it’s still too early for Juice.”
“Thanks,” she said, taking a sip of water and shuddering. “I’m not a big fan of water,” she admitted as she set it on the floor.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
Jana only laughed. “No, don’t be. It’s just something from when I was a kid. My parents were obsessed. They used to make me drink water all the time. Obsessive and paranoid, when they were actually paying attention.”
“And they let you join the military academy? That doesn’t make sense.”
Jana looked at him. She grabbed the bottle of water and swirled it around for a second, inspecting it. Aeronth’s face popped into her mind. “There’s a lot of things that don’t make sense,” she said, tipping back the bottle, taking a swig, and wincing in distaste.
13. A Rough Landing
“One hour until target is reached,” the ship’s pilot announced over the intercom.
“You heard the woman,” Jana said. She fastened the utility belt around her hips. It was black, with small holders and compartments. From the locker in front of her she took a compass, plasma flare gun, water, and a handful of tiny orange packets. Then, Jana grabbed the helmet off of the shelf in the locker. Around her, the others were doing the same. She cast a sidelong glance at Aeronth in his tactical suit and took a deep, slow breath. As if he knew she was looking, Aeronth turned his head her way. Immediately Jana snapped her attention back to her own locker, cheeks flushed.
She looked at her reflection in the tinted visor of the helmet. Pull it together. When fully suited up, the helmet hooked into the tactical suits and provided vitals readouts in the Heads Up Display along with a hundred other cool features.
“Let’s go,” she instructed the others. She managed to look at Aeronth without swooning. Jana was in mission mode, and not even he could avert her attention now.
Jana was the last one to board the speeder; the ship they were on currently was too big to land planet-side. She closed the hatch and saw the others securing their things and stepped into the stasis compartments lining the walls.
Each of them had a backpack with their equipment. Gordon’s contained medical supplies, David’s had a bunch of sensors, and who knew what the other two had in theirs. Lexi probably has a barrel of spackle for her face. Jana snickered quietly on her way to the control room. She strapped herself in, started the engine, and ran the systems check to make sure everything was in order.
“Everyone ready?” she asked. Everyone but Aeronth responded in kind. Jana wasn’t worried. When Aeronth did answer, then she’d worry.
“Cleared for takeoff,” said the pilot of the larger ship. “We’ll stay in orbit until you return. Good luck.”
Jana pressed the button to release the lock clamps and free the ship. They drifted far enough not to harm the carrier ship with their thrusters. Jana checked the coordinates and accelerated.
A voice crackled over the com,
“If it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to not die today.”
“I’ll keep that in mind thanks Lexi.”
Earth loomed before them like a sleeping giant that threatened to waken and swallow them whole. Could this really be where we come from? It was beautiful. Frosty white clouds swirled lazily over the mottled emerald and sapphire globe. Well, here goes nothing.
Planetary landings were simple; there was an unlimited amount of landing space. It was hard to overshoot, unless of course you landed in an ocean. Any buildings or manmade structures had long since been reclaimed by the elements. At least, that’s what they taught us in flight school. Then again, she’d never done more than simulate an actual planetary landing. Compared to a relatively small carrier ship, how hard could it be? As they entered the atmosphere, the skiff shook from the turbulence. It shuddered and bounced while Jana counted down, releasing the flaps to show them enough to spare being incinerated in the atmosphere.
The view out of the cockpit cleared. There was nothing before them but the endless green sea of treetops.
“Shit!” she yelled, forgetting to mute her com.
“What? What is it?” cried Lexi.
“Nothing.” Jana was doing everything she could, but they were at too steep of a downgrade.
“What’s going on?” Lexi screamed. “Jana!” she yelled again when she didn’t get an answer.
“We’re not where we should be!” Jana yelled back.
“I knew you were going to get us killed, you stupid cow!”
Jana turned the cabin com off so she could think. She swiveled back to center and reached underneath her to lock the seat into place. She punched a blue button on the dashboard for the stasis gas. Unfortunately, the others would still have to hear Lexi, at least until the gas put them out. It was safer that way.
Instead, Jana turned her attention to the problem at hand. She had followed the instructions to the T, but something else was wrong.
The space in front of them was supposed to be flat and barren. It wasn’t. Not by a long shot. Instead, there was nothing but green trees as far as she could see. Why hadn’t the planet scan shown that?
LANDING ERROR flashed across the window in front of her.
“Yeah, thanks,” Jana said, switching the display off. It was unbelievably hot in the cabin. Perspiration began to form on her forehead and back. She tried to pull up again; her arm muscles strained against the resistance. Her left bicep throbbed like she’d just hit it with a hammer. The small moving square was getting bigger and bigger every second. It flashed red, where they were going to land.
Where we’re going to crash.
Her arms shook violently, ready to give out at any moment. The little square moved away as the nose lifted.
Too much, too fast. The angle of attack is too much for the velocity.
The engine stalled.
Frantic, Jana booted it up again. The ship dropped like a rock, nose falling dangerously far forward. She used all her strength to push off with her legs and keep the whole ship from flipping forward. Putting the landing gear down would be useless; it would just snap off on one of the trees. Instead, she increased the flaps and cut the engine. Jana switched the thrusters into reverse and rebooted again, trying to slow them more. The trees were coming closer and closer.
There was nothing else she could do. Ships weren’t built for this kind of thing—they no longer needed to be.
When they hit, the whole ship jolted forward. They skidded along the treetops, snapping whole pieces off the fuselage. The little ship still had an amazing amount of speed and force. All Jana could do was try to level out. It wouldn’t do them any good.
She saw the tree before they hit. It was massive. They collided with it head-on.
The force threw Jana forward. Her harness nearly strangled her. She gasped for air through the pain. Her head smashed into the control panel.
Blood trickled over her face.
Everything went black.
Coppery wetness trickled into her mouth, and she came to. Jana fumbled with the harness straps, hands shaking too much to unbuckle it. Her eyes watered from pain so intense that she could barely see through her kaleidoscope of her scope of vision.
It was dark. Jana stumbled over to the compartment door, but it was unresponsive. The emergency lights were on, but there was no power to anything else. She had to know the others were okay.
She searched for something to help prop the door open. Trying to open it without power would be equivalent to trying to turn a thousand pound steering wheel without fluid. Finding nothing to use for leverage, she turned her attention to the dirty, cracked window. Clambering on top of the control panel, she kicked the cockpit window. Each time her leg connected with the thick glass, agony flooded through her. It wasn’t doing any good.
Breaths came with labor now; Jana was exhausted. Suddenly the ship rocked violently and she fell over, putting her hands out to stop herself from smacking her head on the metal.
“What the—?” The ship rocked again, then rolled, and Jana was thrown into the air as the ship fell from a very high height. She screamed and landed hard on the...ceiling? The ship is upside down. Her best guess was they’d gotten stuck in that big tree and the weight of it shifting caused the branches to break and send them tumbling. It took a while for her eyes to focus. Her whole body was screaming in pain.
Against her better judgment, she pushed herself upright, arms shaking from over-exertion. The window now had an intricate spider web of cracks running through it. Jana panted, her breathing ragged and deliberate. She put a hand to her face to brush away the bangs plastered to her forehead. When her hand came away, it was covered in thick, warm red blood.
I’m going to faint.
She limped her way over to the window once more. Every bit of her was screaming in pain. With shaking hands, she braced herself and tried to kick out the window, but it was no use. Even in top physical condition, it would have been impossible for her.
Remembering the flare gun in its holster on her belt, she reached for it. Not there. Swearing under her breath she looked around to see where it had fallen, but it was so dark. Finally, she spotted it in a shadowy corner. Lifting it with shaking hands, Jana pointed it at the window and fired off one round, and then two more, until a round section of the glass blew out from the impact. A tiny blob of plasma hit her in the thigh, instantly burning through her skin and cauterizing it.
Jana holstered the gun, dropped to her knees, and scrambled out of the cockpit. The glass raked across her skin. Taking a step back, she surveyed the damage. Even in the diminishing light, she could see the ship was totally ruined. It was belly-up, the door partially blocked by a tree trunk, the front smashed in, the wings clipped. It was a disaster.
Wasting no time, she needed to get the door open. It was bent, and didn’t want to release. It’s no use. The door isn’t budging. She grabbed a long piece of metal and climbed to the top of the ship. She fought off the blackness creeping its way into her field of vision. Jana stuck one of the ends into the crack where the ramp opened and used her body weight as a counter to force it open. She clutched the pipe, almost falling over. It hurts so bad. I can’t die here.
She mouthed the words silently, the act itself giving her a renewed sense of purpose. It felt like every organ and bone inside her had gone through a pepper mill. Just when she was about to give up and try something else, the hatch opened a few inches. Abandoning the piece of metal, Jana dropped to her knees and tried to force it open more, all the while struggling against the pain. Her weak and tired muscles gave out and she fell back, virtually collapsing from exhaustion.
Time was running out. Without power, air was no longer pumping into the stasis compartments. Jana tried again.
This time it opened more, just enough so she could squeeze through. Lowering herself into the hold, she was thankful for the first time in her life that she was so small. The hatch closed again with a deadened clank. It was dark. Trying to remembe
r the layout of the hold and imagining it upside down, Jana felt her way around in the dark, tripping over odd twisted pieces of metal, slicing her leg open on one. Finally, she found a stretch of empty wall.
Feeling along it, she came upon a rounded, oblong object. Fumbling for the lock, Jana struggled to undo it. They can’t breathe. I gave them the stasis gas and now they can’t free themselves. The lock was high above her head, and she had to stand on her toes to reach it.
She found the release button. In a panic, she searched for the buckle on the harness. She wasn’t sure who it was. It didn’t matter. They would all be in stasis for at least another half hour. They wouldn’t even know they were dying.
When she unbuckled the harness, she tried to brace the body so it wouldn’t fall on its head. She struggled under the weight and the pain, and fought the urge to start crying. Once it was safely on the ground, Jana bent and put an ear to their chest.
Still breathing.
Relieved, she left them and moved to the next one. By the time she was getting to the last one, Jana was on the verge of unconsciousness. She had to steady herself. Jana swayed, but braced herself. There was a sharp pain in her chest. Not willing to abandon someone to die, she staggered over to the last one.
She shook her head, trying to get her eyes to focus and to concentrate. Jana had her hand on the lock release. She pressed it as hard as she could, with barely enough energy to stand. It didn’t release; she was too weak. Jana tried again, throwing her body weight into the movement. Planetary landings were simple. Yeah, right.
Jana slipped on something wet on the floor, hit her head, and blacked out.
14. You’ll Feel Better In The Morning
“Jana? Jana, please wake up,” a voice pleaded.
She opened her eyes. Her field of vision flooded with light. Sunlight...real light. An unbearable pounding in her temple made it impossible for Jana’s eyes to focus. Her throat was dry and her whole body screamed in pain.