by Cross, Amy
“Me too,” I reply. “I had one small difference, the feathers, but otherwise it was the same.”
“Feathers?”
“Long story,” I tell him. “So what's happening? Are we there?”
He pauses.
“Thomas?” I say cautiously. “How long were we asleep for?”
“The computer says it was something like five hundred years.”
“No way,” I reply. “I did not just sleep for five hundred years!”
“The computer kept us alive, and it stopped us aging,” he explains. “I actually had a chance, over the past three days while I was waiting for you to wake up, to read up on how it all works. I don't really understand any of the science, of course, but the system kept us fed and hydrated, it removed waste from our bodies, it even managed to keep us from getting sick. I don't know about you, but I honestly feel pretty good.”
“This has to be some kind of trick,” I tell him. “There's no way I was just here on this bed for five centuries!”
“You don't believe it?” He pauses again. “Fine. Then why don't you look out the window?”
Not realizing quite what he means, I slowly get off the bed. As soon as I try to stand, however, my legs buckle and I start to fall. Thomas rushes over and manages to hold me up, and then he helps as I try to steady myself.
“The computer's good,” he says, “but not that good. It took me about twenty-four hours before I really felt stable. The good news is that the improvements come very fast. You'll be back to normal in no time. Honestly, it's like some kind of miracle.”
I take a deep breath, and then I try once again to take a few steps. Thomas stays close, clearly worried that I'm going to fall again, but I find that I can keep moving just so long as I'm careful. Still, it takes me about a minute before I'm able to reach the window. So far, all I can see is a whole load of stars, but suddenly I spot a planet ahead. My first thought is that this planet, which looks blue and green and yellow and very familiar, simply has to be home, but then I realize that the continents are completely different. As the ship continues to move forward, I can't take my eyes off the sight of a complete new world.
“Pretty crazy, huh?” Thomas says, standing next to me. “That's an alien planet. According to the ship's systems, it's totally good for us. There's water, there's oxygen, the gravity's almost exactly the same as what we're used to... The guys at Project Atherius were right on the money.”
“This can't be real,” I reply.
“I know, but it is. It really is.”
“It can't be,” I tell him. “There's just no way. It has to be some kind of trick. And how can I feel completely okay after barely moving for four -”
“I told you, the computer system -”
“We can't be five hundred years from home!” I snap, pushing him away. “It's just not possible!”
“Just try to stay calm...”
“How can you stay calm?” I shout. I know I'm panicking and losing control, but I can't help myself. I take a step back, and then I stumble and fall, landing hard on my ass. Putting my head in my hands, I try to work out exactly what's happening, but I swear I can't quite believe that any of this is true.
After a moment, Thomas comes and sits next to me.
“I was the same,” he says finally. “When the system woke me up, I had to make sure you were okay, but after that... I spent about eight or nine hours just in complete denial. At first, I thought we were just in orbit around home, and then I started to think that time had passed but that we were still in orbit, that home had just changed a lot over five centuries.” He pauses. “There's something else you should know, Elizabeth,” he adds, with a hint of fear in his voice. “The ship's system was set up to pick up pings from any other Project Atherius ships that might be out there.”
I turn to him.
“And?” I ask.
“Nothing,” he replies. “Carver said a long time ago that no other ships seemed to have made it, and now that seems pretty certain. There's... actually one other thing, too.”
I take a deep breath.
“What?” I ask cautiously.
I wait, but this time he seems even more reluctant to say anything.
“The ship,” he explains finally, “has been making constant attempts to -”
Before he can finish, the whole room suddenly shudders, accompanied by a loud banging sound that seems to be coming from the other end of the ship. A moment later, Thomas sits up and starts checking the monitors, and I watch his face in case he shows signs of worry. He taps at one screen in particular, cycling through different pages, and then he turns to me.
“That was the back section disconnecting,” he tells me, as I feel the ship starting to slowly turn. “That can only mean one thing. We're about to land!”
Chapter Twenty
Thomas
“All crew-members take your positions for landing,” the computer says as the new planet begins to fill the view from the main window. “Touchdown estimated in ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes?” I stammer, as the ship starts shaking more violently than ever. “That seems kinda quick, doesn't it?”
“Sit down!” Elizabeth yells, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward the beds, which have already folded in on themselves to form chairs.
Taking a seat, I look once again at the window, and I'm shocked by the sight of the planet getting closer and closer. For a moment, it's as if my mind completely empties and I can only stare straight ahead as the ship begins its descent. A few seconds later, as I see that we're heading down toward the darker side of the new world, some kind of shield starts sliding down to cover the windows entirely, blocking our view.
“That'll be because of the heat, right?” Elizabeth suggests. “That's good, it means the ship's working properly.” She pauses. “Doesn't it?”
Before I have a chance to answer, the entire rocket shudders heavily, as if it's in danger of breaking apart. An alarm starts sounding and I look at the screens just in time to see that various red dots are flashing all over what appears to be a very rough map of the planet's surface. I have no idea what any of that means, but an alarm doesn't seem like a very good thing, and when I turn to Elizabeth I see the fear in her eyes.
“Warning,” the computer announces, “touchdown estimated in nine minutes.”
“How exactly does this thing land, anyway?” I ask, as I grip the arms of the seat. “Do you think it has legs?”
She doesn't answer. Instead, she's looking over at the monitors, craning her neck in an attempt to get a better look. I'm pretty sure she won't have any more luck than me, especially since the ship is now shaking so badly that it's barely possible to see anything at all. The alarm is still blaring, and I can't shake the feeling that the vibrations are getting a lot worse.
I'd feel a lot better if I could actually see where we're going.
“Is it getting hot in here?” Elizabeth asks after a moment.
“We must be entering the atmosphere,” I tell her.
“Do you think the shielding will hold?”
“I'm sure they planned for every eventuality,” I reply, even though I can't help worrying that five hundred years of space travel might have added a few unforeseen complications. I guess right now we have no choice but to hope that everyone at Project Atherius managed to figure out how this thing was going to work.
Suddenly the alarm gets louder and faster. The screens are still flashing, and one of them seems to show a section of land getting closer. I can't quite believe that we're close to landing already, but a moment later I realize I can hear something rattling above us and I look over to see that Elizabeth has her eyes squeezed tight shut.
“Hey!” I shout at her. “It's going to be -”
The ship shakes violently as we hit something, and I hear an incredibly loud metallic shrieking sound as something bumps heavily against the floor section. I have no idea which way up we are, and after a moment all the lights fail and we're plunged into darkne
ss. I feel myself getting tipped first one way and then the other, and then for a moment I think we might even be upside-down, although it's hard to really be certain. Red emergency lights flicker to life above us, and a grinding noise rings out from the left side of the ship. I feel as if the entire ship is being shaken around, but gradually the sensation begins to fade as we come to a thudding halt.
Sitting completely still, with the siren still ringing out and the whole room bathed in red light, I wait to see what's going to happen next.
“Are we...” Elizabeth pauses. “Did we... are we down?”
“I think so,” I tell her, as I hear a distant, loud creaking sound. A moment later, something seems to crack somewhere deep in the ship. “What do you think we're supposed to do now?”
“Do you think it's safe to get up?” she asks.
I wait for the computer to say something, but it's staying strangely silent right now. I feel it should be telling us something, and I'm worried that the ship might have been damaged during the landing. So far, everything seems to have been completely automated, and Elizabeth and I haven't had to do anything, so I'm wary of starting to touch any of the controls or computers. At the same time, I'm also not sure that it's a particularly good idea to just sit here like this.
“Thomas...”
“I'm thinking,” I tell Elizabeth, as I watch the screens.
“Okay, but Thomas...”
“Hold on,” I say firmly. “We just have to come up with a plan.”
“I know,” she replies, “but Thomas... do you think that's supposed to be happening?”
I look across the room, and at first I'm not entirely sure what Elizabeth means, but then I realize that something seems to be moving on the floor. The red light makes it a little difficult for me to properly see what's happening, but after a moment I'm just about able to make out what seems to be water leaking through a gap at the bottom of the main hatch.
“It must have been damaged in the landing,” Elizabeth says cautiously, “but... what do you think we should do? You don't think we're underwater, do you?”
Before I can answer, the ship creaks again, as if the entire hull is under a huge amount of pressure.
“It wouldn't have landed in the sea,” I tell Elizabeth, partly in an attempt to also calm myself down. “This thing successfully navigated its way through space for five hundred years and found the planet, so why would it dump itself in the water at the very last moment?”
“Accidents happen,” she points out.
“Why isn't the computer saying anything?” I mutter angrily.
“We can't just sit here forever,” Elizabeth continues. “It's going to fill up!”
“I know, but we might make it worse if we do something.”
I watch as the water starts spreading across the whole floor, and then a moment later Elizabeth unbuckles herself from her seat and starts limping over to the computers.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Trying to make sense of all this stuff,” she replies, as some of the screens continue to flicker. “I guess this is where it'd be useful if one of us actually knew what we're doing. I think some of these are maps, but I have no idea whether they're showing where we are right now.” She looks up at the ceiling. “Do you hear something?”
Following her gaze, I realize she's right. There's a faint roaring sound coming from somewhere above, as if something's tapping frantically at the top of the ship.
“That water's not going to stop coming through,” she says. “Thomas, I know this might seem crazy, but we can't just sit here and wait to drown.”
“The ship might do something,” I remind her.
“Or it might not!” She pauses again. “I think we should open the hatch.”
“No!”
“What do you want to do instead?”
“I don't know!” I snap, before opening the buckles and getting to my feet. My mind is racing as I try to figure out what to do next, but I'm pretty sure that time is running out.
“I did not come all this way,” Elizabeth says after a few more seconds, “just for it all to go wrong now. I vote that we get that door open.”
“But -”
“It's the only choice!” she adds, before limping over and starting to turn the wheel on the inside of the hatch.
“Wait!” I shout, hurrying after her, but I hold back from actually grabbing her and trying to make her shop. “Are... are you really sure this is a good idea?”
“No,” she replies, “but they say fortune favors the bold, right?”
“Funny,” I mutter, “my sister told me the exact same thing a while back.” I watch as she continues to turn the wheel, and that's when I realize that this is what Martha would be doing in this situation. And since I really don't have any better idea, I tell myself that this probably is the smart option.
“Okay,” Elizabeth says, “it's -”
Suddenly the hatch buckles and bursts open, almost smacking me in the face. At the same time, water comes rushing through from the darkness outside, spraying across my face and almost knocking me off my feet.
“Run!” Elizabeth screams, as the red lights flicker and then die. She grabs my arm and together we try desperately to get out against the torrent of icy water. “Hurry or we'll drown!”
Chapter Twenty-One
Elizabeth
Suddenly my foot slips on the wet platform outside the door. I twist as I fall, and I just manage to hang onto the door's side, and then Thomas hauls me up. Rain is crashing down, harder than any rain I've ever known before, and when I turn to look over my shoulder I see nothing but darkness.
A moment later, a huge crack of lightning rips across the sky, and I briefly see crashing, rolling waves smashing into the side of the rocket. We've landed in some kind of ocean, and sure enough a moment later the entire ship shudders and starts to lean slightly. I step back and cling to the doorway, but Thomas is already edging his way out as he looks around for somewhere we can reach.
Thunder rumbles high above.
“What happened?” Thomas yells, as a huge wave crashes into us, almost washing us away.
“The ship landed in the sea!” I shout.
“Why would it do that?”
“Nobody's perfect,” I reply, “not even the A.I.”
Another wave hits us, followed almost immediately by another. I'm no expert on storms, but this one is stronger and harder than anything I ever experienced before. It's as if this new planet is reacting against our arrival and desperately trying to break us apart. I look around, just as another flash of lightning briefly sparks in the sky, and at that moment I spot a dark smudge of what appears to be land. For a moment, the idea seems to good to be true, but then the lightning briefly returns and I realize that I was right.
“Over there!” I yell, pointing into what is now just darkness.
“What?” Thomas replies.
“I saw something! I think it was land!”
“There's nothing there now.”
“I know, but I swear I saw it.” I pause, waiting for the lightning to return, but instead the ship merely shudders beneath us and seems to dip a little lower into the water. “This thing is going down!”
“We have to find a way to stop it sinking!”
“How?” I shout, as the ship shakes yet again. “I think the best thing, right now, is to get to shore and wait for the storm to pass! Then we can hopefully come up with some kind of plan, because staying here isn't going to work.”
“We could go back inside!”
“The ship was leaking!” I remind him. “There's no -”
Before I can finish, another wave hits us, this time with massive force. I scream as I cling desperately to the doorway, but at the last moment I see Thomas lose his footing and disappear into the water. I call out his name and try to grab his arm, but he's already gone. A few seconds later, another flash of lightning allows me to see down into the darkness of the waves, and I'm horrified to realize that th
ere's no sign of him at all.
“Thomas!” I shout, hoping against hope that he's somewhere around. “Where are -”
Suddenly another wave hits, this time from the side, and I'm powerless to hold on to the ship. Parts of the doorway are shattered as I'm knocked clean away, and I scream as I hit the water, only for the churning waves to immediately silence me as I'm dragged beneath the surface and into the roiling, salty darkness.
***
Coughing and spluttering, I dig my hands into the sand and try to haul myself through the darkness. After spending a couple of minutes getting tossed about in the sea, I was eventually sent crashing into the shore, only for the waves to then drag me back out to sea. When I hit the shore for a second time, I was better prepared, and now I cry out as I feel the waves rushing against me. My fingertips are almost pulled out of the sand, but finally the pressure fades and I immediately start dragging myself further up this strange, alien beach.
Lightning flashes again, and I see large, dark rocks up ahead, ringing the beach's edge. There are several dark patches dotted all around me, probably stuff that's been stirred from the ocean's depths and tossed up here. I roll onto my front and start coughing wildly, trying to get all the salty water from my mouth. My chest is stinging with a sharp pain, and I'm soaked in the coldest water I've ever felt. For a moment, as the sounds of the storm continue to swirl and rumble in the sky above, I can only stay completely still and try to get my breath back.
Behind me, a loud creaking sound rings out, and I turn to look back toward the ocean. Another bolt of lightning arcs across the sky, allowing me to see that the rocket is dipping deeper into the water, as if it might be about to sink at any moment.
“Elizabeth!”
Suddenly Thomas slams into me, dropping to his knees and turning me around to face him.
“Are you okay?” he shouts.
“I'm fine!” I splutter, before pulling him close and giving him a massive hug, despite the fact that we're both soaked. “I thought you were gone!”
“The tide must have swept us both up here,” he replies, as another huge wave hits the shore, showering us with spray. “For a moment, I thought we weren't going to make it!”
