Chapter 6: Safe and Sound........Almost.
AN: I'm glad that most ppl understood the last chapter, lol, hopefully that means u'll understand this one to!
Oh and Magicman, please don't pull ur hair out I'm sure you have very nice hair and as a new writer I could do without the reputation for making my readers go bald ^.^
Location: Mars' outer atmosphere-
The ride was getting a little to bumpy for Van's liking. They had all gone through the simulations but this seemed so........real. He closed his eye's and tried to think of something, anything. An image of a sandy haired woman flashed inside his head. He didn't believe in God, he hadn't for a long time. But he prayed that she was OK. Dryden interrupted his train of thought.
''The auto-guidance systems down.'' He shouted over the noise, reaching for one of the side panels. ''It must have got cooked during the fire!'' He cursed.
''I thought these systems where protected.'' Dilandau shouted, his eyes squeezed shut.
Van felt sorry for the guy, he was younger then the rest of them and he wasn't even meant to be here. He was a last minute replacement.
''Complain later.'' Dryden yelled back at him, not bothering to hide his annoyance as he reached for the manual flight controls. ''I'm going to manual flight.''
Van held his breath, it was a long way down.
~~~~~
Location: Mars 1-
Hitomi still sat on the flight deck, desperately trying to delay the inevitable. She wasn't going to give up without a fight.
''Commander, 5 seconds until systems begin to shut down.'' Merle reported.
Across the ship the remaining lights began to fade. Not that you needed them to see anymore. The many fires were spreading. It was gonna get worse before it got better.
Hitomi gasped slightly as her whole body was lifted from her seat. It took her a moment to figure out what was happening.
''Artificial gravity failure.''
Hitomi looked to her left to see small bubbles of liquid rise into the air and float towards her. ''Oh shit.''
~~~~~
Location: Mars 1 Launch Pod-
The entrance into the lower atmosphere seemed to take an eternity, but in reality only minutes had passed.
Dryden almost sighed in relief as the computer screen started to blink green. ''Deploying shoots.'' He reported to the others before flicking a switch that opened up three parachutes, slowing their decent. He braced himself.
~~~~~
Location Mars 1-
Hitomi swam through the corridors that where slowly becoming over come by fire that, thanks to the gravity shut down, could now spread more easily. She started to cough from all the fumes, but gritted her teeth and continued on. Coming to a small hatch in the wall, she grabbed a fire extinguisher and headed straight for the nearest source.
''Caution commander.'' Merle warned, as Hitomi prepared to fire, positioning herself in front of the fire by spinning her legs around.
''Not now Merle.'' she replied, irritated.
The moment she fired the extinguisher she was thrown backwards from the force. She span out of control through the air until a wall got in the way and she was smacked into it.
''This is a zero gravity fire commander, I tried to warn you.'' Merle's very helpful voice came through.
Hitomi resisted the urge to curse at everything in sight and pushed herself back towards the fire. When she reached it she braced herself against the opposite wall and shooting again, putting out the fire. Only to be rewarded by more helpful news from Merle.
''Commander we now have additional fires, spreading in zones six through nine.''
~~~~~
Location: Mars 1 Launch Pod-
Dryden cursed again, as he read the now red flashing screen. ''We're off target, there's too much weighing us down.'' He grabbed at another near by lever. ''I'm dumping the landing gear.''
''But Amme's in there.'' Van objected.
''No choice.'' Dryden called back as he pulled. The pod gained speed again.
~~~~~
Location: Mars 1-
Hitomi couldn't help it and was now coughing for all she was worth, as she swam through corridors heading for her space suit in the research bay. There was only one other option. The air lock.
''Systems indicate increasing air toxicity commander.''
''Oh, really?'' Hitomi mumbled in between coughs. ''I hadn't noticed.''
Reaching her suit she didn't bother to strip down, there wasn't enough time. She suited up in what must have been record time and inhaled deeply once she could breathe again. 'of course this won't matter if I'm burned alive.' She thought sarcastically.
''Fires have now consumed 80% of the ship commander, this exceeds our fire extinguishing capabilities.''
~~~~~
Location: Mars 1 Launch pod-
Now that the oxygen balloons where deployed all that they could do was wait.
They didn't have to wait very long.
It all seemed like such a strange dream, floating down in a giant hexagon onto Mars' surface. Unfortunately reality hit them with a bang. Literally.
They took the first hit OK, then another hit came, and another. As the pod bounced up and down on Mars' rocky, untouched surface like a basket ball.
All of a sudden, the bouncing stopped. They where on a edge of a cliff. Inside the pod all five men held their breath without realising it as the pod slowly moved downwards. Folken was unlucky enough to have his back to the inevitable fall.
The fall itself was fine, the problem came when the pod hit land again at an incredible force, smashing into Folken's side of the pod. Pushing his body forward at an unstable speed. All anyone could do was call his name as the pod continued to bounce upon the red planet's surface.
~~~~~
Location: Mars 1-
Hitomi could hardly see. The smoke was so black. Even so, she knew what she was doing as she restrained herself in a chair, much the same design as those in the launch pod. Pulling the red restraints down and locking her boots in place, she reached for the air lock mechanism. With an unlady-like grunt she pulled the lever back and the air lock directly in front of her opened. Sucking the fire, smoke and oxygen out into space.
She praised the fact that the chair was locked to ship via an unbreakable cable as the force of everything being sucked out into the black abyss smashed against the restraints.
Within seconds the ship was silent again. Nothing was left. Well almost nothing.
''All fires have been extinguished. O2 levels 0%.'' Merle reported in the same voice.
~~~~~
Location: Mars' surface-
Everything was quiet again. The pod had come to a stop and the surface once again had a layer of peace washed over it. Although it didn't last to long.
The 'door' to the pod was blown open from the inside with a bang. Van was the first to emerge.
He only had a few seconds to admire the scenery, as he quickly turned back to help Dilandau carry Folken from the pod. The two men set Folken down and Van started to check for any injuries as Dryden and Allen emerged.
Van sighed, turning back to Folken. ''Well, luckily it doesn't look like anything's broken, you should be fine.'' He finished, sitting down next to him. Folken nodded, the pain in his chest was preventing him from speaking.
Allen inhaled then exhaled deeply, looking at the red, rocky surroundings. ''We made it.''
''Yeah,'' replied Dilandau looking up. ''Lets hope we weren't the only ones.''
AN: I'm glad that most ppl understood the last chapter, lol, hopefully that means u'll understand this one to!
Oh and Magicman, please don't pull ur hair out I'm sure you have very nice hair and as a new writer I could do without the reputation for making my readers go bald ^.^
Location: Mars' outer atmosphere-
The ride was getting a little to bumpy for Van's liking. They had all gone through the simulations but this seemed so........real. He closed his eye's and tried to think of something, anything. An image of a sandy haired woman flashed inside his head. He didn't believe in God, he hadn't for a long time. But he prayed that she was OK. Dryden interrupted his train of thought.
''The auto-guidance systems down.'' He shouted over the noise, reaching for one of the side panels. ''It must have got cooked during the fire!'' He cursed.
''I thought these systems where protected.'' Dilandau shouted, his eyes squeezed shut.
Van felt sorry for the guy, he was younger then the rest of them and he wasn't even meant to be here. He was a last minute replacement.
''Complain later.'' Dryden yelled back at him, not bothering to hide his annoyance as he reached for the manual flight controls. ''I'm going to manual flight.''
Van held his breath, it was a long way down.
~~~~~
Location: Mars 1-
Hitomi still sat on the flight deck, desperately trying to delay the inevitable. She wasn't going to give up without a fight.
''Commander, 5 seconds until systems begin to shut down.'' Merle reported.
Across the ship the remaining lights began to fade. Not that you needed them to see anymore. The many fires were spreading. It was gonna get worse before it got better.
Hitomi gasped slightly as her whole body was lifted from her seat. It took her a moment to figure out what was happening.
''Artificial gravity failure.''
Hitomi looked to her left to see small bubbles of liquid rise into the air and float towards her. ''Oh shit.''
~~~~~
Location: Mars 1 Launch Pod-
The entrance into the lower atmosphere seemed to take an eternity, but in reality only minutes had passed.
Dryden almost sighed in relief as the computer screen started to blink green. ''Deploying shoots.'' He reported to the others before flicking a switch that opened up three parachutes, slowing their decent. He braced himself.
~~~~~
Location Mars 1-
Hitomi swam through the corridors that where slowly becoming over come by fire that, thanks to the gravity shut down, could now spread more easily. She started to cough from all the fumes, but gritted her teeth and continued on. Coming to a small hatch in the wall, she grabbed a fire extinguisher and headed straight for the nearest source.
''Caution commander.'' Merle warned, as Hitomi prepared to fire, positioning herself in front of the fire by spinning her legs around.
''Not now Merle.'' she replied, irritated.
The moment she fired the extinguisher she was thrown backwards from the force. She span out of control through the air until a wall got in the way and she was smacked into it.
''This is a zero gravity fire commander, I tried to warn you.'' Merle's very helpful voice came through.
Hitomi resisted the urge to curse at everything in sight and pushed herself back towards the fire. When she reached it she braced herself against the opposite wall and shooting again, putting out the fire. Only to be rewarded by more helpful news from Merle.
''Commander we now have additional fires, spreading in zones six through nine.''
~~~~~
Location: Mars 1 Launch Pod-
Dryden cursed again, as he read the now red flashing screen. ''We're off target, there's too much weighing us down.'' He grabbed at another near by lever. ''I'm dumping the landing gear.''
''But Amme's in there.'' Van objected.
''No choice.'' Dryden called back as he pulled. The pod gained speed again.
~~~~~
Location: Mars 1-
Hitomi couldn't help it and was now coughing for all she was worth, as she swam through corridors heading for her space suit in the research bay. There was only one other option. The air lock.
''Systems indicate increasing air toxicity commander.''
''Oh, really?'' Hitomi mumbled in between coughs. ''I hadn't noticed.''
Reaching her suit she didn't bother to strip down, there wasn't enough time. She suited up in what must have been record time and inhaled deeply once she could breathe again. 'of course this won't matter if I'm burned alive.' She thought sarcastically.
''Fires have now consumed 80% of the ship commander, this exceeds our fire extinguishing capabilities.''
~~~~~
Location: Mars 1 Launch pod-
Now that the oxygen balloons where deployed all that they could do was wait.
They didn't have to wait very long.
It all seemed like such a strange dream, floating down in a giant hexagon onto Mars' surface. Unfortunately reality hit them with a bang. Literally.
They took the first hit OK, then another hit came, and another. As the pod bounced up and down on Mars' rocky, untouched surface like a basket ball.
All of a sudden, the bouncing stopped. They where on a edge of a cliff. Inside the pod all five men held their breath without realising it as the pod slowly moved downwards. Folken was unlucky enough to have his back to the inevitable fall.
The fall itself was fine, the problem came when the pod hit land again at an incredible force, smashing into Folken's side of the pod. Pushing his body forward at an unstable speed. All anyone could do was call his name as the pod continued to bounce upon the red planet's surface.
~~~~~
Location: Mars 1-
Hitomi could hardly see. The smoke was so black. Even so, she knew what she was doing as she restrained herself in a chair, much the same design as those in the launch pod. Pulling the red restraints down and locking her boots in place, she reached for the air lock mechanism. With an unlady-like grunt she pulled the lever back and the air lock directly in front of her opened. Sucking the fire, smoke and oxygen out into space.
She praised the fact that the chair was locked to ship via an unbreakable cable as the force of everything being sucked out into the black abyss smashed against the restraints.
Within seconds the ship was silent again. Nothing was left. Well almost nothing.
''All fires have been extinguished. O2 levels 0%.'' Merle reported in the same voice.
~~~~~
Location: Mars' surface-
Everything was quiet again. The pod had come to a stop and the surface once again had a layer of peace washed over it. Although it didn't last to long.
The 'door' to the pod was blown open from the inside with a bang. Van was the first to emerge.
He only had a few seconds to admire the scenery, as he quickly turned back to help Dilandau carry Folken from the pod. The two men set Folken down and Van started to check for any injuries as Dryden and Allen emerged.
Van sighed, turning back to Folken. ''Well, luckily it doesn't look like anything's broken, you should be fine.'' He finished, sitting down next to him. Folken nodded, the pain in his chest was preventing him from speaking.
Allen inhaled then exhaled deeply, looking at the red, rocky surroundings. ''We made it.''
''Yeah,'' replied Dilandau looking up. ''Lets hope we weren't the only ones.''