Impact

Chapter 1: The Crash

I tossed the deck of cards over to Cartwright. He hadn't noticed I had tossed it to him; he was staring down at his PDA. The deck sailed toward him slowly, freely floating in the shuttle's zero gravity environment. "Hey, Cartwright", I said, just as the deck was sailing closer towards him. He looked up just in time for the deck to bump into his face and slowly float off. "Goddammit Robinson", he said. I winked. "Anyways, what were you staring at your PDA for?", I questioned. "Oh, just looking over the readout from the shuttle. The deorbit burn will be finalized in fifteen minutes", he replied. I nodded my head. "We better go get our suits on then", I say. We both unbuckled ourselves from our seats around the small round table. I reach down to tap a button on the side of my left boot. "Mag-Boots On", chirps my PDA. My boots immediately magnetize to the floor. Cartwright reaches down and does the same. We make our way out of the rec-room and into the shuttle's ready-room. I pace over to the left wall. I press a button, and the wall opens to reveal my EVA suit.

 I spend the better part of ten minutes putting the suit on. As I finally situate my suit pack into place, I place my helmet on my head and lock it into place. I turn around and Cartwright is doing the same. "Alright, let's make our way up to the bridge. We have less than five minutes before the deorbit burn finishes", reports Cartwright. We proceed down the central hall and climb up a ladder to the upper deck. We head down another central hall and pass through a reinforced sliding door and into the bridge. A large window gives us a view of space. A nebula can be seen in the distance, colored a bright purple. The system's star shines a brilliant blue, with jet cones spewing out hot star matter and electromagnetic radiation on the north and south poles. "Man. I can't believe they actually assigned us to a system with a neutron star", murmurs Cartwright. "I know right? They're so rare, I never thought I'd see one in person", I say, staring at the star. There are two seats facing the window, each with a matching console. We sit down into the seats and strap ourselves in. "Computer, how much longer until the burn is finalized?", barks Cartwright. "Thirty-two seconds", reports the computer. We spend the seconds in silence, staring out into the great void before us. The computer interrupts our silent contemplation. "Deorbit burn finalized. Reorienting shuttlecraft for atmospheric entry", reports the computer. The ship begins to rotate, taking our view of the void and replacing it with a view of a bright green and blue planet. "Brace for atmospheric entry", says the computer. Flames begin to lick up the sides of the shuttle, and the hull shudders and groans. Everything seems to be going normally, when the computer begins rapidly beeping. "Woah, what's going on?", exclaims Cartwright. "Warning. Violent energy pulse detected", reports the computer. "Energy pulse? This is a planet, where the hell would a pulse be coming- ", Cartwright begins before being cut off by an impact that violently shakes the shuttle. Our view of the planet begins to wildly spin as the shuttle's maneuvering and autopilot systems franticly try to stabilize the shuttle's trajectory. "Warning, trajectory obstructed", reports the computer. The shuttle's interior lighting is replaced with a flashing red light, and the quiet ambient music is replaced with a blaring klaxon. "Jesus fucking Christ, what hit us?!", shouts Cartwright, over the alarm. "I don't know!", I shout back. The ship breaks through the cloud layer and we catch a glimpse of the surface below us. "Oh shit, I think we're gonna crash!", I shout. "10,000 feet above surface", reports the computer. "Brace yourself!", shouts Cartwright. "5000 feet above surface. Engaging crash harnesses", reports the computer. There's a clank as two metal harnesses click into place across our torsos. "Oh shit!", I shout. "1000 feet above surface. Brace for impact", reports the computer. The shuttle slams against the surface of the planet, the hull screeching. The shuttle plows across the terrain, leaving a large ravine in its wake. We come to a rest after a few moments, and the hull groans resignedly. My vision is blurred, and it takes a few moments for the world to come back into focus. I groan and slowly turn my head in the direction of Cartwright's seat. He's slumped against the crash harness. I panic and begin yanking at my own harness. I finally manage to pull the release latch, and I scramble over to Cartwright. There's a long crack across his helmet's visor, but no air seems to be escaping from his suit. "Cartwright, hey, wake up!", I murmur franticly. Cartwright stirs slightly and groggily opens his eyes. He slowly looks around at the ruined interior of the shuttle's bridge. "Five more minutes", he mumbles. I sigh in relief. "Cartwright, our shuttle just smashed into a planet, this is no time for jokes", I say. He groans. He fumbles for his crash harness' release latch and pulls it. He stands up and we look around the bridge. The window is cracked and shattered in places. There are wires hanging from the ceiling, writhing and sparking. I look down at my wrist and activate my PDA. I look over the ship's status. "Okay, engines are at 93% integrity. Communications are shot, but everything else seems to be okay. Hull integrity is at 71%, so in addition to the broken windows, whatever hit us probably put a hole in the hull", I explain. Cartwright groans. "We better go check the ship for that hole", he mumbles. "Yeah", I agree. We open the bridge door and stop in shock. "Hey Robinson. I think I found the hole", murmurs Cartwright. The central hallway is mostly intact, but at the end of the hall a decently sized hole can be seen, torn through the utility bay containing the backup batteries. "Oh, that's not good", I murmur. "Check the integrity of the reactor", says Cartwright. I look at my PDA and pull up the reactor's status. My eyes widen. "What? What is it?", questions Cartwright. "The reactor is at 3% integrity", I say, shocked. "Is it still generating power? Because, obviously the backup batteries aren't going to be of any use!", exclaims Cartwright, franticly. As if spurred on by his outburst, the shuttle's lights abruptly go out. The wires that were sparking now lay silent. "Fuck!", he shouts, ramming his gloved fist into the wall. "This is just great! We have no reactor, and no backup!", exclaims Cartwright angrily. I take a moment to calm myself down. "Okay. This is fine, we can adapt", I say, as calmly as I can manage. Cartwright looks at me like I've grown a second head. "We don't even know if this air is safe to breathe for long enough! These suits only carry twenty-four hours of oxygen!", he shouts. As Cartwright is rambling, I notice something odd about the hull breach. The edges are smooth and blackened, as if they'd been completely melted through. I pace over towards the breach. Cartwright stops mid-sentence. "Are you even listening? What are you doing?", questions Cartwright. "Something hot, really hot, made this hole", I murmur to him while running my gloved digits over the edges. "So what? Does it really matter what made the damn hole?", grumbles Cartwright. "I don't think you get what I'm saying. Something very hot melted through the hull, instantaneously by the looks of it!", I exclaim. "Yet again, so what?", replies Cartwright, his voice dripping with annoyance. "The hull is made of a tantalum carbide alloy, Cartwright! It would take something as hot as the surface of a giant-sequence star to melt it!", I shout back at him. Cartwright's eyes widen slightly. "Hold on a damn minute. Earlier, the computer mentioned a violent energy pulse. Do you think it's possible that something shot us down?", asks Cartwright, quietly. "That would imply that a large energy pulse, most likely some form of laser, hit us", I reply. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but us humans have yet to properly weaponize lasers, right?", questions Cartwright. "Correct. Which also implies that whatever shot us down, if something shot us down, is not of human origin", I reply, my eyes widening at my own words. "This little fucked up situation is starting to put those strange signals we were sent to investigate into perspective...", Cartwright murmurs quietly. "Well, one thing's for sure. Nothing natural could've melted through the hull like that...", I reply. "This is so unbelievably fucked. What the hell are we gonna do? There's a hole in the hull, so I guarantee you there's no oxygen left on board! If we don't do something, we'll suffocate in these suits!", shouts Cartwright. "I know. That's why we need to get to the garage", I answer him. Cartwright doesn't seem to understand at first, but then his face lights up. "The rover", he says. "Exactly. It has its own filters, seals, and life support", I confirm. "Well, what are we waiting for?", questions Cartwright. "Well, with the power off, all the blast doors will need to be manually opened", I reply in a begrudging tone of voice. "You're kidding, right? Those things hold their position with nearly ten tons of force!", exclaims Cartwright. "Yeah, which is why we would normally need to get an ion torch from the utility bay to cut open the access panels", I say. "But the utility bay has a...", Cartwright cuts himself off mid-sentence. "Okay, I see your point", he says, in a small voice. "Yeah. Fortunately, there is an emergency release. The thing is, one of us will have to crawl through a maintenance shaft to get to it", I explain. Cartwright's face darkens. "Well, you know I have claustrophobia", says Cartwright, staring at me. "Yeah, yeah", I say. I crouch down next to the corridor that leads to the garage, which is now sealed with a hafnium-carbide blast door. I crank a small lever a couple of times and a small hatch on the wall slides open. I toggle my helmet's lights and the crawlspace is illuminated. "Alright, wish me luck", I say as I crawl into the space. It's very cramped, and I'm having a hard time keeping my suit from getting stuck as I shimmy through the shaft. It takes a solid couple minutes of wriggling, but I finally reach the end of the crawlspace. There's a large lever on the wall connected to a bunch of hydraulic tubes labelled "Emergency Override". I grab it and yank it. The lever doesn't budge. I grab it with my other gloved hand and pull as hard as I can. The lever finally gives way and I hear a loud "clank" behind me. I sigh in relief and begin shimmying my way back out of the crawlspace. I get my legs out and I can feel Cartwright pulling on them to help me out. I finally fall out of the small space. "Ugh, that was awful. Did the override work?", I question. "Yeah, it worked", says Cartwright. I breathe a sigh of relief and stand up. Sure enough, the large blast door that was blocking our way is now open just enough for us to squeeze through. We pass through the big door and make our way down the corridor to the garage. Mercifully, the entrance to the garage is already open. We make our way in and begin to look over the rover. The rover is a large six-wheeled vehicle designed for scientific expeditions and long-range transport. It can seat six people, has a fully equipped lab, space for cargo weighing up to five tons, and its own miniaturized fusion reactor. I make my way around to the left side and press my glove against a small reader. It flashes green and a pressurized door on the side opens. "Hey Cartwright, over here", I call. I climb up into the rover with Cartwright right behind me. The rover has a cockpit that seats two people with the lab right behind it. "Okay, so we have the rover. What next?", questions Cartwright. "We do what we came here to do", I answer, simply. Cartwright groans. "Seriously? Look, if the shuttle was still in serviceable condition, I'd be all for investigating those damn signals. However, it's not in good condition, and getting to the landing site in the rover will take days! On top of that, we just got blown out of the sky! How do we know whatever is at these mysterious signals won't just fucking vaporize us or something?", complains Cartwright. "We don't. But it's our mission, and I'll be damned if I'm abandoning the mission", I state in a firm tone of voice. Cartwright groans. "I hate when you get all inspirational and shit...", he mutters. "Alright, buckle up, we're going on a road trip!", I exclaim. Cartwright mutters something under his breath. He sits down and straps himself in. I press a button on the wall and the door seals up behind us. I sit down in the operator's seat and power up the interfaces. "OK good, the rover still has a stable connection to the rest of the shuttle. I should be able to toggle the shutter from in here", I mumble to myself. I press a large green button on the main console. There's a screeching noise as the large shutter in front of us opens, blasting the remainder of the ship's oxygen out into the planet's atmosphere. I press a few more buttons, disengaging the connector clamps. I shift the rover's gears and rev the engine. It doesn't make a satisfying 'vroom vroom' noise, as the rover runs on electricity. I shake off my disappointment and press my foot down on the accelerator. The rover lurches forward and out of the garage. We finally get a good look at this planet's surface. There's vegetation all over the place, along with a few boulders here and there and some kind of weird alien trees. Cartwright starts manipulating the secondary console. "Computer is this planet's atmosphere within safe breathing levels?", questions Cartwright. The computer whirs and clicks before chiming in. "This planet's atmosphere is 92% Carbon Dioxide, 1% Oxygen, and 7% Argon/Hydrogen/etc. The atmosphere cannot be breathed safely without breathing apparatus", reports the computer. "Jeez. I'm glad we didn't take our helmets off", I say. "No kidding. Speaking of which, is it safe to take my helmet off in here? My suit's getting kind of stuffy", asks Cartwright. "Yeah, it should be fine", I answer. Cartwright grasps his helmet and forcefully twists it to the right. The helmet hisses and pops off. With that, I remove my own helmet and breathe in the rover's artificial atmosphere. It's not as good as the air back on Centauri Prime, but it's a hell of a lot better than my suit's stuffy oxygen supply. "Um, you should probably calibrate the GPS", says Cartwright. "Oh yeah", I realize. I press a small button on my PDA, releasing a cord from the bottom. I plug the cord into the rover's operator console and transfer the landing site coordinates. "And... that should do it", I say. The rover's windshield lights up slightly as the augmented-reality HUD activates. A compass appears in the bottom left corner of the windshield, and a transparent red line shows up on the planet's terrain, indicating a safe course to take. "Computer, if we maintain a constant speed of 15 m/s what is our estimated time of arrival?", questions Cartwright. "Barring any obstacles that force the vehicle to change course or stop, ETA is 21 hours, standard galactic time", reports the computer. Cartwright groans. "That reminds me... how long are the days on this planet?", I question. "A full day/night cycle on this planet will last approximately 26 hours, standard galactic time", reports the computer. "Well, at least the days on this planet aren't too fucked up", grumbles Cartwright. I press down on the accelerator a bit harder, following the line indicated on the HUD. The computer starts rapidly beeping. "Uh, that doesn't sound good", says Cartwright. "Warning. Hazardous warp cell reactions detected. Shuttle hyperspace core will detonate in T-10 seconds", chirps the computer. "Oh shit!", I shout. I jam my boot against the rover's accelerator. The rover bursts forward. I jerk the controls left and right, attempting to avoid the various rocks and flora in the way. A deafening explosion rings out, blasting the rover forward. I reach down and yank a lever, causing the rover wheels to seize and lock up. The rover stops abruptly. "Get your head down!", I yell at Cartwright. We duck down, placing our hands over our heads. The secondary shockwave hits the rover like a truck, and we're thrown against our seat straps. The rover violently shakes and rocks, before everything is still. I slowly take my hands off my head. "C-Computer, did the shockwave cause any significant damage to the rover?", stutters Cartwright. "Rover integrity at 96%", reports the computer. We both breathe a sigh of relief. "We should probably still get out there and check", I murmur. "Yeah... no kidding", replies Cartwright. We put our helmets back on, and I press a button on the console. The air is violently sucked out of the shuttle, and the pressure is augmented to match the pressure outside. "Pressure stable", chirps the computer. I reach over to the door and open it. The first thing I take note of is that all the alien trees that were dotted around the terrain now lay flat on the ground. "Jesus", comments Cartwright. I hop down onto the terrain. It's soft, and my boots sink into it slightly. I practice walking on the terrain, which isn't hard to master. I turn towards the shuttle. There is no shuttle anymore, though. A giant crater is the only thing left of the ground around where the shuttle used to be. "Holy shit", murmurs Cartwright. "No kidding. When I was in training I was always told that a shuttle's hyperspace core detonating would cause massive collateral damage, but I never imagined this", I say, staring at the humongous crater left behind by the detonation. I make my way around to the back of the rover and assess the damage. There's a massive scorch mark covering the back of the rover, which isn't surprising. The rear facing camera and spotlights are busted, which also isn't surprising. The winch, however, held together well. I grab the diamond-laced Kevlar cable and yank at it. It's still as strong as ever. "What'd we lose?", questions Cartwright. I turn towards him. He's crouched down and running his glove across the terrain. "Rear camera and spotlights", I answer. "That's good. I was worried the back two wheels might've been damaged", laments Cartwright. "You and me both", I answer, trying to not think about how screwed we'd be if the rover were to break down. "Well, I guess we should get back on the metaphorical road", I say, hooking my thumb in the direction of the rover. "Yeah, we might as well", answers Cartwright. We climb back into the rover and set off on our way to the landing site