The Valley

by Rick Jones

  Maxwell Dean shook his head slowly. “I’m only telling them the truth, Captain. They deserve to know.”

  “Do you want to cause a panic?” Dr. Gomez asked.

  “I want them to know what’s happening.”

  “What’s happening?” asked Stuart and Keshav at the exact same time.

  “Our instruments stopped reading hours ago. The radio doesn’t work, and the engine just shut off. We’re drifting,” Maxwell Dean said. “It’s like technology has failed us.”

  “Just tell them everything, mensa,” Doctor Gomez said to him.

  It was then, while the trio digested that news, that the bobbing ship slammed into a glacier. As they caught their balance, a massive chunk of ice soared toward the front of the ship. The window was strong; of course it had been made to resist all that nature could throw at it, but nature had been made to exceed the boundaries mankind was always trying to put on it. The instrument panels were left smoking, sparking wreckage. The chief engineer and the deputy captain were crushed and instantly killed. The captain had his left arm smashed, pinned beneath the boulder.

  And the front of the ship dipped down as it began to sink.

  Beneath The Mantle is available from Amazon here