Not of This World

Three: Sya

The small pod starts to shake violently around me as I enter the planet's atmosphere. Hopefully this doesn't cause too much damage or I'll be in more trouble than I already am. I grip the straps that hug tight to my chest, as if it would give me some sort of stability. I shut my eyes tightly as my stomach starts to feel like it's about to enter my throat. Gravity, I hate this feeling.

A sharp, loud alarm starts to scream in my ears, causing me to immediately shoot my eyes open to the red flashing light. Crap, I've lost the systems. I'm in a free fall.

"Status!" I exclaim. The AI should still be connected to the pod.

"Systems failing, plummeting toward planet surface. Estimated impact with surface in twelve point nine minutes. Shall I redirect, Captain Emmerson?"

"Redirect!" I scream.

Almost instantly I'm shoved roughly to side, and I feel the pod flip upside down and back around. The pod continues to plummet farther and farther through the planet's atmosphere, shaking even more vigorously the farther it falls. I grip the straps over my chest so tightly that my knuckles start to turn white. I fear I won't make it the the surface before the entire ship rips itself apart.

"Estimated time till impact: thirty seconds," the AI informs.

"Location of impact site!" I exclaim.

She gives me a set of coordinates that don't tell me anything. I just want to know whether I'm going to survive or not.

"Ten seconds till impact,"

I brace myself in the seat, hoping this won't be my last moment of life, trapped in a small metal pod, alone. I can't die like this, alone with no one around me. On a planet that isn't even my own.

"Five seconds,"

I shut my eyes tight, thinking of home. My mother and father, my classmates. Striving so hard to be at the top just so I could attend this mission. It was all a waste . . .

I find myself staring at water that is rising at my feet. I gasp shooting my head up. The pod is practically pitch black except for the flash of yellow sparks every few seconds. My head starts to throb, and I reach my hand up to it. A warm liquid seeps from a cut on my head. I realize I'm bleeding, from what now stains my fingertips.

I yank at the straps, trying to unhook them. They fly off me and I stand, pulling my feet through the now quickly rising water. Yellow sparks continue to surge around me as I make my way toward the door. I run into the sides of the pod before actually reaching it. When I make it to the door I quickly slide my hand over the pad, panicking when nothing happens. The systems must be down from the crash and the water that is now at my waist.

I place my hands flat on the cool metal door. My suit starts to light up, building up the energy to blast a hole through it. This could kill me, considering I'm in such a confined space, but I'm going to die anyway if I do nothing. Large red letters fly across my vision reading: WARNING.

Analysis gear is programmed into all our brains as soon as we enter the training academy. It's supposed to help in decision making and strategies as well as adaptation. Looks like I'm just spitting in the face of our brightest scientists, but I don't have another choice.

I'm enveloped by a white light and launched backwards. When I open my eyes, I realize I'm completely submerged in water. I look down, feeling a sharp pain in my leg. A piece of metal sticks out of it. I grab hold of it and quickly yank it out, trying not to scream in the process so I won't loose any air. The shard slowly glides in the water, followed by a stream of blood.