passing minutes that seamed like hours, as his gaze switched between them signs of life return to them one by one, until they all were rolling around the floor with intense stomach ache. For the next two hours they relentlessly took turns pacing backward and forwards to the toilet as their body’s rejected the poison in the system, they became violently sick with vomit.
Mars handed out fluids from a drinks dispenser, and they all eventually started to feel better and look half human again. As the craft returned to a kind of normality, there was a sudden high pitched alert in the cockpit that grabbed their attention.
It had been 36 hours since their escape from Maverick, but now Wolfe feared that Gonzalo might have found a way to track them down, he ran over to the cockpit. The craft had started to alter its course, directing itself over to a group of planets near to the sun they had rapidly been approaching. Optimistically he laughed out loud. ‘It seams we have a destination to go to after all!’ he said as he ventured into the cockpit to monitor the progress of the journey.
Mars was also relieved, but for a different reason, he had managed to save the lives of the ones closest to him, his adopted family who he knew had great hearts and a desire for protecting him. He thanked his lucky stars that they had not perished to leave him alone again. He wondered if they could achieve their highest goals, of assisting the survival of the human race. Could he help them? He wondered, but before he could do that he would need to find himself. Perhaps this journey could unravel some of his past, and help him build a better future?
Mars joined Wolfe in the cockpit of the craft and watched the ship manoeuvre itself between the third and fourth planet of the brightly shining sun. The craft adjusted its speed slowing itself down every time it banked over and realigned itself to the protective aura around their surfaces.
Mars felt extremely excited. He asked Wolfe a barrage of questions. ‘What does it feel like to walk on a planet? Does it feel warm? Will there be animals? Will it be safe to stay there?’
Wolfe looked directly at Mars and tried to reassure him everything was going to be alright, but he knew there could be thousands of scenarios, so he smiled and said, ‘Mars this is a thrilling adventure, as long as we all stick together. We can work towards overcoming any problems we face. This looks as it’s the start of a new life, so we need to be extremely careful about the decisions we might take. All I ask is that we look out for one another.’
With that said the boy relaxed and let the planets quickly approaching capture his imagination. The boy analysed the galaxy. This system had only three planets closely spaced together; one of the planets seemed to have a moon gliding on its axis. There were some other smaller satellites dotted around, but none drew the attention more than the green moon, which had a highly distinctive colour. He looked at the ever changing band of colour that surrounded the middle planet it reminded him of Earth, which he had recently studied from online schoolbooks and the database of the space station. He had been particularly interested in the protective layer of gasses, which absorbed light from the sun but also protected the earth from too much radiation. The gasses were held in place near to the surface of the planet by magnetic fields generated in the core of the planet due to its rotation and relationship of its moon. He wondered if the atmosphere of the planet they were nearing would be similar.
Mars conceded that the true nature of this homely looking planet could not be assessed until they entered its protective layers. They would need to test the gasses, temperature and carbon content to ascertain if the planet could actually support mans needs. As the craft descended on it’s approached, the characteristics of its surface could be seen more clearly. It had two masses on its surface. One was a red/orange colour, and the other was a purple/blue colour. Mars tried to differentiate the two to understand which was land and which was sea. He eventually made out what looked like a mountain range arched along between what were two landmasses, and he could make out what appeared to be desert patched running across the planet like a central band. So his conclusion was that the sea must be the purple colour, consisting of about seventy percent of the planet’s surface area.
As they looked down on the planet’s surface, their view was suddenly obstructed by an alert flashing up on the window of the cockpit; it was made up of strange characters, which read vertically. The message initially formed one column but very quickly became some sort of statement, as each time it flashed another slice of information was added.
Mars stared at the window as Wolfe asked him what it was.
‘It’s some kind of warning. I can’t make it out entirely,’ he replied. He took his time and spelled out the characters in his mind, it was difficult using a language he had not been exposed to in many years. He closed his eyes, and uttered words he recalled from his early child hood.
‘CAUTION’ was the first word.
He read through the other characters and spelled them out again ‘ENTERING,’ he spoke again.
‘PLANET’S ATMOSPHERE,’ Wolfe finished off the alert as if he could read the characters and had become an expert in the foreign language.
‘Mars get everyone strapped into seats, it looks as if we’re about to have the ride of our life,’ he pointed to the monitors and gauges, ‘The gravitational pull of the planet is accelerating our descent.’
As Mars rose to his feet, the cockpit windows changed their appearance to a tinted silvery colour. He could still make out their destination, but he could also see the anxious reflection of Wolfe as he looked at the instruments. This was going to be a extremely bumpy ride.
Everyone even Sheriff who had only just started to show increasing signs of life secured themselves into their seats, before the increasing juddering and erratic movement of the spacecraft worsened. Suddenly there was an almighty bang and an increased thrust to the engines as the ship nosedived at a hurtling speed. The ships passengers gripped onto their seats as the gravitational force nearly blacking them out for a second. The ship continued to dive vertically for what seemed like an eternity, the inhabitants of the craft nearly going out of their minds with worry about the outcome of this unexpected end to the flight.
Wolfe fought against the G force and continued to watch the crafts progress into the atmosphere. The nose to the ship was a bright orange colour burning through the outer planet’s gasses, vibrating and juddering straining the aerodynamic outer shell of the ship. Wolfe noticed the steep angle the ship was taking and thought it to be part of the ships programme, to concentrate the main force of entry on the toughest part of the ship.
The cabin pressure was high Mars could feel his ears hurt as air built up behind his lobes, he gulped and then tried a second time holding his nose with his right hand finger and thumb. The pain relief was instant but returned a few moments later. He applied the same technique a number of times, before he noticed a change in the symptoms and an ease in his breathing. His head started to clear, and his light-headedness was now gone.
Minutes later the crafts steep elevation gradually changed to a comfortable degree, and the cockpit was filled with brilliant sunshine, they had reached their destination.
Wolfe shouted through to the others ‘Stay in your seats, it looks as if we are descending directly to an uneven landing site.’
Mars was so excited he could feel butterflies appear in his stomach at the thought of new surroundings to explore, the uncertainty of what to expect from this planet, a planet amongst the stars far away from earth.
As the craft levelled out and began to reduce its speed, extra noise and juddering began to increase again. They now had to deal with the turbulence of the planet’s sky.
The craft manoeuvred sharply banking to the left and then back to the right in one swift movement before tilting backwards as it approached the planet’s surface.
Wolfe shouted into the back, ‘We are landing.’
They all braced themselves; Mars checked the seat belt one last time to ensure it would protect him. He then closed his eyes and hoped e
verything would be alright, almost straight away he felt a slight nudge in his seat as he waited for touchdown. Mars still had his eyes closed when Wolfe shuck his arm. The boy panicked before realising a joke was being played on him.
‘We are here,’ Wolfe exclaimed and raised his hands above his head to celebrate.
Mars looked at his dad and for the first time saw the full extent of the bruising on his face and head, as if the change in climate had added extra depth to his discoloured skin.
The boy hit the release button to his seat belt, and ran over to Halley to help her in her seat. Then released everyone from their restraints. He progressed toward the door of the craft and before anyone could react he hit the release catch to the external door.
‘No!’ Shouted Halley as Wolfe dived after the boy, but it was too late, the door to the craft hissed. As the seals broke free from the body of the craft, cold vapour entered through the gap in the door as it edged open. After ten seconds the door opened wide and warm air rushed into the cabin, Mars became light headed and jumped from the craft onto the solid ground beneath his feet, the soil was dry and dusty, and of a deep red colour he bent down to feel its rough texture and grabbed a fistful.
Wolfe and Halley looked out of the
Space Refugees - Star Warriors Page 2