Asteroids

A Story Inspired by the Game Asteroids

By Daniel S Jacobson

THUMP, THUMP; THUMP, THUMP, his heart went as his eyes darted from left to right. No end. No escape.

The small white triangular ship lay motionless in the vast empty void of space. All around the tiny craft flew hundreds (if not thousands) of asteroids, all varying in size, each one threatening to hit the small ship and exploding it into millions of tiny pieces.

Inside the spacecraft the pilot, Dak, tried to remain as calm as possible as he desperately tried to radio for help. "Captain Logg, do you read me?" Dak said as he pushed buttons on the multi-colored control panel. Dak waited for a response but after a moment of silence he decided to try again. "Commander Rains are you there?" Again no response. Inside Dak's chest, his heart pounded. It was slow but was loud enough to hear and it told of the panic Dak was doing his best to fight off. Desperate to get an answer Dak opted to try the radio one more time to see if he could get a reply. "Admiral Bushnell, this is sergeant Dak, please respond." Once again silence filled the cockpit.

Dak slammed his fist down on the control panel in frustration. Inside Dak's chest his heart sped up a little. "Why?" Dak said through gritted teeth. Why was he here? How did he get here? Here in this blasted asteroid belt that, as far as he could tell, went on for miles.

After a moment of trying to steady himself Dak looked back up and saw, to his horror, one of the bigger asteroids headed straight towards him. His heart immediately sped up as Dak panicked. He quickly reached for the controls and slammed the button that started the ships engine. The engine hummed to life as Dak Quickly rolled away from the asteroid. Once he was clear of the asteroid's path, Dak quickly spun the spaceship around to face it and pressed the fire button. Dak watched as a few lasers were fired from the guns mounted at the front of the ship. A few seconds later Dak heard the boom and watched as the giant rock exploded into countless, smaller chunks.

Dak grabbed the controls again and maneuvered the ship out of the path of the incoming rocks. After the danger had passed Dak pressed the engine button again and listened to the low rumbling of the engine coming to a stop. Dak looked at the control panel again. Both the meter that showed the ships fuel and the ships shields were at full capacity. Dak laid back in his seat, his heart still beating quickly, and thought about how he got into this situation.

It seemed so simple. Dak had just graduated a year ago from the Warner Academy and was considered one of the Academy's best students. He had been valedictorian during graduation and had the highest scores ever achieved by any student. In fact, he had done so well, that right after graduation he was immediately placed under the command of Captain Logg, Commander Rains, and (perhaps the most impressively) Admiral Bushnell. Dak quickly rose to the rank of Captain and that was when he was given the opportunity to test out the Academy's newest ship. The ship was a one man spacecraft designed to travel far distances. It was lightweight but had a massive laser canon on the front that could be used to defend itself. It was also the first one man ship to include hyperspace. Dak was asked to pilot the ship on her first, "real," test flight. Dak accepted the position and spent the next few months training for the mission. Finally when it came time for the test flight Dak was brought to one of the moon's bases where Logg, Rains, and Bushnell were waiting for him. After having situated himself inside the triangular ships cockpit and flying into space, Dak positioned himself the way he was told. The first part of the test flight was a test to see whether or not the hyperspace was working correctly. Dak was supposed to use it to fly to Mars and then turn around and fly right back to his starting position. Mission control had given Dak the all clear signal but right as he hit the hyperspace button Dak swore he heard Admiral Bushnell yell, "Don't..." in a panic tone over the radio. However that was the last thing Dak remembered as he hit the hyperspace button and suddenly blacked out.