CHAPTER 5

CRASH LANDING

Mel was looking out a car window, wondering if she should pinch herself to make sure she was not dreaming. Six days ago she had been in the midst of a hair raising ride along a temporal disturbance, and now she was on planet Earth, in the United States, in the state of Florida, on a seeming endless patch of State Road 50 on her way to the Kennedy Space Center. Straight ahead, the morning sun was just starting to peek over the horizon.

"After all these years, I still can't believe how much nothing there is out here," Paige remarked, breaking into Mel's train of thought. "It just goes on and on, and all you see is trees, trees, and more trees." With a laugh, she added, "Oh yeah! And sand."

"We did have breakfast in a rather large city back there," Mel reminded, thinking that the sprawling city of Orlando was hardly the middle of nowhere. She then reflected on what her friend had said, comparing it to the endless expanse of space. Now that was the middle of nowhere! Then again, there were so many exotic alien worlds out there, each possessing an untold beauty all their own. How does one compare that to the seemingly endless highway and scrub pine of Florida? And how could she admit, even to herself, that she was actually finding Earth …boring?

Mel's boredom ended with a loud roar and even louder crash when a spacecraft plummeted from the heavens and landed in the very trees her friend had been complaining about.

Paige brought the car to a halt with a skid, a squeal of tires and an enormous cloud of dust. "Did you see that!" she exclaimed. "That had to be a private plane going down."

Mel jumped out of the car, waving the dust from her face and coughing. She pointed at a plume of smoke. "Over there," she managed between coughs. "Come on, there might be survivors." Grabbing a bottle of water from the car, she set off through the brush, attempting to wash the dust from her throat as she went, her friend following reluctantly behind.

Using the smoke as a guide they found the wreckage with ease, although the hike to get there had not been as easy. They had to pick their way through the smoldering hunks of debris that had been scattered on impact. When they finally found what was left of the craft itself, it was immediately apparent that what they had seen fall from the sky was not a plane, its alien nature standing out like a sore thumb. "My God, it's a spaceship!" Paige gasped.

Mel was still trudging relentlessly on, carefully picking her way through the jagged debris field. Having seen more than her fair share of alien spacecraft in the past few months it did not even occur to her that this was not the norm for her friend until she climbed up to the entry hatch. Then she wondered just what manner of creature she would find inside and found herself wishing it were the Doctor following after her rather than her nervous friend.

"Mel, what are you doing?" the horrified Paige called. "We have to get out of here. If this brush catches fire that thing will blow up!"

Throwing a quick glance over at the plumb of smoke they had used as a guide, Mel saw it was rising from a large section of twisted metal several metres away. An engine, perhaps? She looked around the section she was standing on, which seemed free from any smoke. "Whoever's inside might be hurt," she said firmly. Turning back to the hatch, she muttered, "This is not the sort of spaceship I wanted to be looking at today."

The interior of what was left of the SILVER TRIUMPH was bathed in the eerie red glow of emergency lights, the devastation within a collection of jagged angles and shadows. The bulkheads were bulged and twisted, and there were great gashes in the metal. Cabinets hung open, their contents scattered everywhere.

Beneath the debris, and still secured to his seat, lay the gravely injured Prince Jason. He was not sure if he had lost consciousness on impact and was trying to concentrate to assess his situation. When he tried to move he was rewarded with several waves of excruciating pain, a sharp cry escaping him. "That was bright, Krystovan," he muttered painfully to himself. "And you a Healer."

There was a noise on the hull and Jason struggled to focus, realizing at the same time that he was lying on what should have been the side of the ship, his seat apparently having been torn free of its bolts in the crash. The exit hatch was almost directly above him, the monitor he had been using to keep an eye on the bridge jammed up under his right leg. He was still trying to make out the damage around him when the outer hatch suddenly opened and bright sunlight streamed in, illuminating the cabin and revealing the true extent of the devastation. A head appeared in the opening followed by a tentative female voice. "Hello? Is anybody in there?"

Jason's first attempt to call back was nothing more than a croak. Closing his eyes, he swallowed hard and tried again, managing to say, "Yes," although not very loud.

From above, Mel was peering into the jumble of debris. What a mess, she thought, squinting into the gloom below her. She could not tell if there had been a reply and called again. This time there was no doubting someone was within as a bloodied hand reached out into the sunlight.

"Paige, call 9-9-9!" Mel commanded.

"Don't you mean 9-1-1?"

Mel gave her an annoyed look. "Just get some help! There's somebody hurt in there." So saying she started to climb down into the debris, much to her friend's dismay.

"Mel, my cell phone's in the car!" Paige called as her friend vanished from sight.

Grateful the drop from the hatch was not very far, Mel pushed what she could out of her way as she struggled across the shattered cabin. She could not make out the owner of the hand, her eyes still adjusting from the glare of the bright sunlight outside. Knowing the sight of this injured individual would not be pleasant, she quietly repeated, "Don't scream. Don't scream," as she carefully pulled the debris away. She was inwardly grateful when she saw, not a monstrous alien creature, but an apparently human male still secured to his seat. He wasn't a very large man, and looked in his mid thirties, which was probably a good thing. As badly hurt as he was, Mel doubted someone old and frail could have survived the impact let alone the injuries this man seemed to have suffered.

"Don't try to move," she instructed, getting down beside him. "My friend is calling for help. We'll get you out of here."

"My crew," Jason said softly, indicating the way to the bridge.

"How many others are there?"

"Three."

Mel nodded and went in the direction indicated. She could see where the door out of the cabin should have been, but all that remained was a mass of twisted metal. She looked through a gash, seeing more twisted metal on the other side. If there had been a room there, it was long gone now. She decided not to tell the gravely injured man the truth as she returned to his side. "It's blocked. They'll have to cut through." The man nodded, his eyes rolling slightly in his head. He struggled to keep them open, looking straight at her. "Mustn't sleep."

"What?"

"I mustn't…sleep. May have…a head injury. Dangerous."

"So is shock," Mel replied, taking in his injuries more fully. His legs were pinned by an enormous piece of twisted bulkhead and were very likely broken. His right arm was caught in a tangle of wires near his head and from its position, Mel could tell it was badly broken, too. She searched the cabin for something to cover him with and found several blankets hanging from one of the damaged lockers. As Mel pulled more of the debris away to make room for the blankets, she was horrified to see a piece of metal about a centimetre in diameter had actually pierced the man's side, literally pinning him to his seat.

Seeing the look on her face, Jason looked down at himself and groaned. "That's all I need," he muttered darkly, thinking this was just the icing on the cake. He had no way of knowing the wormhole had actually been a temporal distortion. Nor did he know that it had not only aged his human crew, but also the ship itself, pushing the metal tolerances well beyond their capabilities to protect him. Had it not been for l'X'el's interference, the passenger cabin would have been in as many pieces as the rest of the ship.

Mel covered him as best she could and tried to make him comfortable. "I don't even know your name," she said, hoping to get his mind off of his devastating injuries. "I'm Melanie Bush, Mel to my friends." She took hold of his left hand, which seemed to be the only part of him that had survived undamaged.

"Mel, then," Jason said with a small smile. "I'm…Ambassador Krystovan. Jason…to my friends."

"Ambassador? On an important diplomatic mission, I take it?"

He gave a smile of irony. "You could say that."

"Where to?" The reply was not what Mel expected.

"Earth. Looks like…I'm not going to make…the opening ceremonies."

Mel could think of nothing to say and was saved by a call from Paige. "I'll be right back," she assured and struggled back up to the hatch. She saw her relieved friend standing a few metres away, cell phone in hand. "I told them a plane went down," she informed the moment Mel's head popped out of the hatch. "They'd think I was a nutter if I told them the truth."

"How long will it take for them to get here? He's badly hurt," Mel informed.

"I don't know." Paige took a tentative step forward. "Is he…weird looking?"

Mel actually laughed. "No. He's just a man like—" She broke off, sniffing the air. "Do you smell that?"

A horrified look came to Paige's face. "Oh God, I knew it. It's going to explode."

"Paige, don't get hysterical. Didn't you say something about the brush catching fire?" Mel asked logically. "Go check and see if anything's smoldering near the ship. I'll see if I can find a fire extinguisher in this mess." Not waiting for a reply, she ducked back into the relative gloom of the ship's interior.

Having overheard the conversation, Jason was ready for the question before Mel even asked it. He had already survived the crash. The last thing he wanted was to be burned alive on the ground. "Can you get to the panel…to the right of the hatch?" he asked as firmly as he could manage.

"The one with the big red lever on it?" Mel asked.

"Yes. Pull it. There's…an extinguisher of sorts…in there."

Mel didn't think she like the of sorts part. She pulled open the panel, finding several odd looking tubes within. Fortunately it was obvious how they were to be used. There was a short nozzle protruding from the top, a large red button directly behind. "Be right back," she said again as she clambered out of the hatch.

Paige had found a couple of smoking areas around the ship, which had been fortunate enough to crash in one of the few moist areas for miles in the drought ridden countryside. Mel handed her reluctant friend one of the extinguishers and together they made certain that the ship and surrounding brush would not go up in flames before help arrived.