Aydan (The Azziarin Series Book 6)

by Hannah Davenport

  Dressed in my white flight suit, I eased into the pilot’s seat and ran my hand slowly over the arm as the weight of the moment settled over me. This was it, everything I’d worked so hard for had all been for this moment… this mission. It was a small ship, but large enough that six people could live comfortably. It provided sleeping quarters and a small galley kitchen that contained a food replicator.

  I glanced over my shoulder and caught Lara’s eyes. I shot her an excited smile before securing the harness and tightening the straps. With my helmet in place, I took one calming breath to steady my nerves.

  “Exploration One, this is control. You are cleared for launch. I repeat, you are cleared for launch.”

  “Copy that, control.” One by one, I flipped switches, lighting the navigation panel. The power hummed throughout the ship, infusing my body with excitement. The long-awaited moment was here. This was what I’d trained for.

  The ship vibrated with liftoff, the force of G’s pinning me against the seat. Nothing was a surprise. It would only take a mere minute before we cleared the Karman line. As daylight gave way to darkness, I relayed, “Control, we’ve cleared the atmosphere. Switching on the artificial gravity system now.”

  “Copy that, Exploration One.”

  After setting the coordinates to the edge of the Milky Way galaxy, I took only a moment to enjoy the view. I could see the craters carved in the moon as we passed by. I stared in awe as we neared Mars.

  “Woohoo! I can’t believe we’re actually here!” Lara’s excited voice sounded through the earpiece inside my helmet.

  “We are the first!” Glen yelled as he punched the air. I couldn’t help but grin at his enthusiasm. There were six of us, and everyone felt the same. We’d all worked hard for the honor to be on the first exploratory voyage, the pride easily heard in each voice as we sounded off.

  “Can you believe how beautiful it looks from up here?” Lara said with awe. When I looked back, I saw Lara staring at the window.

  I felt the same. It looked so clean, so peaceful, unlike the smog that choked Earth.

  One day passed, and then another. We had seen Mars’ red color, Saturn’s rings, and Jupiter… no wonder it could be seen from Earth. One week turned into two, then three. Everyone had settled into a routine, but the awe of space travel kept spirits alive. Things were proceeding as planned.

  “Brian?” I said, getting my copilot’s attention. When he looked in my direction, I finished, “I’m going to get something to eat. Yell if you need me.” He nodded. “Thanks.” I pushed up from the chair and headed for the galley.

  “What will I have today?” I asked myself while looking over the options. Grabbing a can of soup, I warmed it in a small bowel and headed to the table.

  Just as I’d finished lunch, Lara dropped down in the seat next to me. With a grin on her face, she asked, “What do you think?”

  “I think it’s amazing! I still can’t believe we’re here.” I lifted the cup to my lips and swallowed a drink of water.

  “I know, right? Who would’ve ever thought?” Lara grabbed some crackers from the table and popped one into her mouth.

  I smiled over the rim of my cup as I studied my only female friend. Lara could’ve been a model with her blonde hair, fair skin, and perfect features. Most people we encountered had a hard time believing there was a highly sophisticated brain inside her head, especially when you mixed her looks with her bubbly personality.

  “I did. I knew we could do it.” I grinned at Lara and then took another sip. We were so different, and yet so much alike. Okay, brains were the only thing we had in common. Physically I looked completely different with my red hair, creamy skin, and green eyes.

  “I know. I wish I had half of your confidence.”

  “Shut up,” I jested as I threw a pack of crackers at her. She shot me a look and then placed the crackers back on the table. They were wrapped in plastic, so it was fine.

  “What do you think we’ll find out there?” She tore open the pack of crackers she’d just rescued.

  Shawn walked in and grabbed a bottle of water before turning to the two of us. “Probably little green men that can’t talk—you know, the ones on the covers of all those gossip magazines.” He grinned as he lifted the bottle to his lips.

  “I’m serious,” Lara huffed.

  “I’m sure they want to mess with us; they’ve taken so many humans over the years that now they have no interest in us.” I couldn’t help but interject. Shawn had a great sense of humor, and I loved the banter we always fell into. Talking and joking with him came so easily.

  “Yeah, and what are they? Like three feet tall?”

  Lara listened quietly while Shawn and I bantered back and forth, talking about the little green men.

  “At least. You are twice their size. I think you could take them.”

  Shawn grinned and took another drink.

  “If you two are finished,” Lara said, “what do you think we’ll find?”

  I studied my friend for a mere second and realized that she was a little worried. Neither one of us had given much thought about what could be waiting in the great beyond. Our first thought was to work hard to get on the exploration team. The second was finding a suitable planet. I hadn’t really wondered about other beings occupying the planet. In my mind, the planet would be sitting there just waiting for us.

  “I don’t know,” I finally admitted as my brows drew close together, “but whatever it is, we’ll deal. That’s what we do.”

  “And we stick together,” Shawn added as he pointed the water bottle at Lara.

  “Okay,” she murmured, relief easily heard in her voice. A smile replaced the concern on her face. “Maybe we’ll find a planet full of sexy men and women.”

  “That’s what I’m talking about,” Shawn added with enthusiasm.

  “That would be awe—” An alarm blared overhead as swirling red lights filled the room.

  The three of us raced to our stations. I slid into the pilot’s seat and accessed my AI. “Shit, it’s an asteroid storm!”

  “Where did that come from?” It wasn’t a question. Brian always talked to himself. “The asteroid shower appeared out of nowhere.”

  His worried eyes stared at me, but I only spared him a glance. With the AI connected to the ship’s computer, I initiated countermoves, trying to avoid the asteroids. But there were too many. Switching back to manual mode, I grabbed the helm and jerked it to the left. Avoiding one large asteroid put us in the path of several smaller ones.

  “We’re hit!” Shawn shouted as the asteroids bombarded the ship, knocking it one way and then the other.

  As panic made my heart race, I tried to maneuver around them, but there were so many. The ship groaned with stress as it made one sharp turn after another. “Shit! I’ve lost navigation control!” I shouted. “Get it back online! NOW!”

  “No life support! I repeat, no life support!” Chris’s panicked voice came through the ear piece.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The mission was a complete failure, and all we could do now was try and live through it. Accessing the AI, I scrolled through the info that only I could see, and I programmed all the evac pods with Earth’s coordinates. “Evacuate!” I ordered. “Your pods have been programmed with Earth’s coordinates.”

  I quickly unbuckled my harness and raced for my designated evac pod. Just before the lid closed over me, I caught Lara’s worried eyes. The lid snapped shut and locked with a final click. Accessing my AI that interfaced with the pods, I ordered the ejection of all six.

  As my pod ejected, the sheer speed plastered me to my seat, and I gripped the handles so tightly my knuckles turned white. Fear raced through my body, making my heart pound wildly in my chest. I hadn’t practiced this; I wasn’t prepared for failure. I always tackled every task with confidence, determined to succeed.

  Something struck the evac pod, jerking my head sideways and changing the pod’s course. “Oh, shit!” I said with breathle
ss fear. Thinking quickly, I accessed the pod readings. “Oh, god, no!” I screamed as the pod hurled into the opening of a black hole.

  The weightlessness of space quickly disappeared as the gravitational pull greatly increased. My body felt stretched, although I stayed strapped into my seat. My insides pushed upward with the force of the black hole. The Exploration One could’ve handled the pressure, but the evac pod wasn’t equipped to deal with the force. I screamed from the sheer pain of being ripped into before sweet darkness took over, and I passed out.

  Zorvak’s Rescue

  Coming soon!