CHAPTER SIX - Water
As soon as the canopy to the Astro Orbiter closed over me, panic set in. I felt like all the air had been sucked out of the cockpit and no matter how deeply I tried to breathe in, my lungs couldn’t take in any oxygen. The ship moved forward, and as it did, I struggled, futilely, to pull open the release latch.
I was going to die.
The doors, now behind me, swooshed closed, and ahead of me a tunnel of red flashing lights pulsated. Without warning, I shot forward, pressed into the seat, further squeezing my chest until I passed out.
Whether it was three seconds, three minutes, three hours, I could never say. But when I woke back up, the ever-growing image of Earth approached. Alarms were sounding, and a staticy voice announced, “Final destination in one minute.”
Flames seemed to engulf the rocket around me, obscuring my view, before I felt the rocket slow. The flames died away and, below me, I could see the blue ocean, land barely visible at the horizon. I suddenly realized how unplanned this was. Is this how Sarah and Ursula had come? If so, I hoped the Orbiters were programmed to empty their cargo in the same general area, otherwise I’d be lost in the middle of nowhere, possibly worse off than if I had just stayed put in the security man’s office!
When we were perhaps a mile or two above the surface, another alarm sounded.
“Final destination. Delivering cargo in 15 seconds.”
“Um,” I said, panic returning, hoping the thing could hear me. But then, if it was just meant to deliver trash, why would it be programmed to listen to anyone?
“Ten seconds.”
“Stop,” I demanded. “Wait.”
“Five seconds.”
I grabbed the joystick in front of me and pulled back, sharply, hoping it would somehow distract the computer from fulfilling its duty. And for a brief moment, it seemed to work.
“Final destination lock lost. Recalculating.”
As I pulled harder, the rocket began ascending. I veered left, then right, then pushed downward. I wasn’t sure how long it would last, but I managed to prevent being dumped so high the splashdown would undoubtedly kill me! I breathed a sigh of relief.
“System failure detected. Back-up system engaged.”
And, my relief vanished as the joystick pulled away from my grasp, the rocket zooming back around back towards where we had been.
“Final destination in 10 seconds.”
It was no use. I was a goner for sure. I pulled tightly on the strap to the parachute, make sure it was secure. It was clear I was going to need it.
“Final destination. Delivering cargo in 15 seconds.”
I waited.
“Ten seconds.”
I held my breath.
“Five seconds.”
I closed my eyes, unsure if I even wanted to watch.
“Releasing cargo.”
And suddenly, I felt myself falling. Only, as the cargo doors below me fell away, the pack holding my parachute snagged on something, and I found myself dangling, the chill of the wind blowing over me. A few bits of scraps left from some previous trip plummeted below me. My head banged against the metal exterior, my body fluttering like a feather in a hurricane. I tried to reach up and unhitch my pack from whatever it was stuck on, but it wouldn’t budge.
Next, the cargo doors began to close. Time was up, apparently, and I wasn’t sure what might happen when my pack was half inside and half outside when they finished. But it didn’t take long to find out, because as they tried to seal shut, the strain pulled the pack strap so taut it snapped.
As I fell away, my finger snatched the pull cord. I watched as the ship, along with my parachute, rocketed away. I was falling, with nothing but the ocean below me, approaching quickly. I spun around, knowing I had almost no time to make one last ditch effort to save myself from certain death. Not that it mattered. Even if I survived the impact, I could barely swim and any glimpse of land in any direction was completely gone.
But then, something came flying toward me from the direction of the rocket ship. I wasn’t sure what it was, at first. It didn’t look like a plane, or the ship itself, but it was flying straight for me, whatever it was.
Below, the sea was fast approaching. I spread out my hands and legs wide to slow my fall, but it didn’t seem to do a whole lot. As the wind blew at me, I couldn’t even keep my eyes open. I didn’t want to see my death, anyway.
Good bye, Mom. Good bye, Dad. Good bye, Sarah. Death would come quickly, now. My grave, the water.
(Jump to Chapter Seven.)