Tevun-Krus #25 - Romantic SF

Falling Hard - A Short Story by @LeighWStuart

Pace

Beep. Initializing revitalizing process. Beep. Initializing revitalizing process. Beep. Initializing revitalizing process. Beep. Initializing revitalizing process. Beep. Initializing revitalizing process. Beep. Initializing revitalizing process.

"Enough already! I'm awake, dammit!"

Am I awake?

He blinked and tried to rub his face. His brain wasn't communicating with the rest of him, yet. He was in a box. Where was he?

Base. Cryo pod.

No. He was home.

Beep. Initializing revitalizing process.

"Shuddup! I'm awake."

Stiff as a board, light as a two ton bolster engine, and just as bendable. As many creaks and snaps as the Colonel's knuckles when he cracks his fingers.

Beep. Initializing revitalizing process.

Now to figure out why Jasper woke him up.

***

Celeste

"Systems are go and ready to launch," she said.

"Pilote for Scout314 you are cleared and ready for take-off," the controller answered over the voice com. "Automatic flight control in place. Launch in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Have a safe trip."

She didn't reply. The vibrations rumbling through the hopper were enough to keep her from unclenching her jaw. People bit tongues off like that. Besides, what did you reply to such inanities? Have a safe trip. She hadn't been first in her class of 3,478 students to let the well-wishes of a robot decide her fate.

The hopper fell free from the star station.

Celeste punched in the codes for visuals and pilot navigation information. The shaking lessened just as the spinning began. Egraphin glowed a green-gold smear from the viewers. The sun was rising.

Hoppers weren't designed for comfort, but for efficiency. The spinning planet in the viewers threatened the pilot's lunch. In fact, it was spinning too much, even for a hopper entry. They hit the blue atmosphere – a jerking blow. The straps on her shoulders held her in place, but would leave bruises. They were still spinning and the viewers whited out from burning gasses.

"Computer!" she yelled. "Manual override. Codes 27-Sierra-51-Victor-12."

No response.

"Computer, comply!" The ship groaned and the rattling reached into her skull, knocking about her brain. "Manual override. Comply!"

She typed the codes out on the touch pad. Nothing.

Darkness was creeping around her eye's periphery. Pilot's board reported reasonable speeds, and decelerating.

A crock of shit. She could see through the flames that they were falling too fast.

Flight simulations with out of control spinning and speeds half of what they were doing always ended badly. G-forces were dragging her under.

"Computer!" she shouted over the hopper's death throes. She typed the codes again. "Comply!" No response. There was maybe a minute left. "Computer...." She spun into white flames and nothing.

***

Pace

He debated the pros and cons a final time, took a swig of sapjuice and pushed the transmission button on his touch pad. He was awake, but he was the only one out of cryo on the planet. This wasn't regulation. Why hadn't they sent revitalization signals weeks ago?