Moments ago, there had been nothing but debris, the immense chunks and fractured masses of a planet utterly destroyed. Now there was a planet, whole and untouched, and Caspian's shuttle was about to crash straight into it.
"Sojourner, are you reading this?" Caspian spat into the comm, struggling to reach his ship through the static that filled the channel. "Sojourner, this planet appeared out of nowhere. My shuttle was unable to compensate for the sudden shift in gravity and...something is interfering with my engine, draining power. I'm gonna have try and land here."
"Captain...planet....we..." Commander Serra's voice crackled and broke apart.
Caspian had little time to wonder how a planet could magically appear out of a field of debris as this one had just done. He was too busy wrestling with the controls, trying to force the shuttle through the fluctuating gravity fields that threw it about while the engine power grew lower and lower. Until the shuttle was practically dead, but still moving, still falling. The planet was pulling him in, and he had no way to escape.
Caspian peered through the viewscreen, watching as the clouded atmosphere began to clear as the shuttle hurtled through clouds and then air. His first view of the planet was blue, endless shades of blue and blue-green spread out before him, sparkling beneath the golden alien sun. Caspian had enough time to realize that it was water, an endless sea spread out beneath him, before the shuttle smashed into the waves.
YOU ARE READING
Tideline
Science FictionÁuliiel lives on a world of seas but dreams of travelling to the stars. As princess, she has spent her entire life on her home-world, one that remains hidden after a deadly alien invasion. Hiding has kept her people safe, but Áuliiel believes that...
