I'm reading fanfiction in my pyjamas when I hear a nightmarish sound: the emergency alarm. Pulling an oxygen mask out of the nearest wall panel, I sprint to the helm with my heart in my throat.
There's a glowing red message on the screen, which reads:
ASTEROID COLLISION IMMINENT
AUTOMATIC TRAJECTORY ADJUSTMENT FAILED
ENGAGE MANUAL CONTROL
I'm abruptly filled with complete and utter fear. The guidance system has crashed. I need to take manual control, otherwise we're going to be hit by an asteroid within the next few minutes.
For what must be the millionth time, I wish that Dad was here to help. I try to calm down, taking slow, steady breaths as I tell myself that I'm brave and strong enough to do this – and even if that's not true, I have no choice but to do it anyway.
There's no time to panic, no time to do anything except go. My attention narrows. This is something I've practised: I've been in simulations using force propulsion to minutely adjust the course of the ship since I could count. Dad trained me to operate the emergency program in case there was a problem that he couldn't take control of himself. He joked that if there was ever an emergency before 7 a.m., I would have to deal with it because he wasn't giving up his lie-in.
I do exactly what I've practised in the simulations, and use the joystick to line up the thrusters with the propulsion metrics on the screen.
The Infinity is travelling too fast to slow down much, but a minute adjustment of direction is all that's needed to make sure the asteroid misses us, if only by an arm's length. I check and agree to the trajectory angle calculated by the computer and initiate the adjustment.
I watch the screen, waiting. Outside the ship, precious fuel is being used to shoot nanoparticles into space. The force of the blast into the vacuum of space will turn the ship and change the trajectory – or at least, it's supposed to. I have no idea if it's working. If for some reason the propulsion thrusters don't work, or they respond too slowly, we could fly right into the asteroid.
I just have to hold on, and hope the ship can move in time.
YOU ARE READING
The Loneliest Girl in the Universe
Bilim Kurgu***The Loneliest Girl in the Universe is a published Young Adult novel. This sample contains only the first chapter.*** Can you fall in love with someone you've never met, never even spoken to - someone who is light years away? Romy Silvers is the...
