Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“Incoming fire,” the computer informs me.
It shows the two missiles coming straight for my ship, one from each side. I grab the steering and jerk it back, stopping the ship short of the trajectory I see the missiles are on. But the missiles only change their course with mine.
Hmm.
Well, they have better technology than I thought. Still, no match for my ship, though. I only have a moment to eye my fuel level and take a measured risk before I press the button to fire the rockets off the front of my ship. There’s an explosion that lights up the dark sky when the rockets turn the missiles that were seeking me into nothing but ash.
I push the steering as far down as it will go, speeding towards the water, still holding some hope that once my ship is in the water, whoever inhabits this planet won’t be able to spot me.
Different alerts come through the speakers as I descend.
“Fuel levels are nearly depleted.”
“Brace for impact.”
“Incoming fire.”
My ship rocks with the turbulence of entering the planet’s atmosphere. I grit my teeth as I propel towards the sea of crystal blue water, missiles following me, and the fuel needle dropping to just shy of empty. The lights on the screen and panel blink and flicker, a sure sign they’re about to turn off. I fight against the gravity pushing me back in my seat to finish the beacon sequence. Just as I hit the last button necessary, I barely get a chance to see the success message before everything shuts off. I’m all on my own now, not even a ship to help me on this strange planet.
The blue rises towards me, and I wrap my hands around the straps crossing over my chest. Then, I crash into the water so hard that, if it weren’t for the safety straps, I’m sure I would have been thrown straight into the panel and screen. Water splashes over my ship, covering the window. My teeth feel as if they vibrate within my mouth even though I made sure to clench my jaw as I collided into the sea. After a few seconds, the ship begins a steady rocking with the huge waves the crash has caused.
I can barely think straight, but I know I must get away from the ship before any of the life that inhabits this planet finds me. And if their missiles are any indication, they’ll already have some idea of where I am. I unstrap myself and rise on shaky legs to go to the compartment near the exit. Reaching in, I grab the two things I need out of it, putting the bag on the floor while I place the square to my chest. I twist the mechanism on the front of the square to the right to activate the security suit I wear only when I need to leave my ship. Tendrils sprout from it, two going down to cover my groin, backside, legs, and feet. Another two go to my sides, covering my middle and wrapping around and up my back. Another two go up, crossing over my chest and expanding to my arms and hands. And the last of them goes up my neck and engulfs my face, leaving me breathless and blind as it goes around my head. The second skin tightens, conforming to my shape, sticking to me and becoming like me until it is me. Once it’s fitted itself to the contours of my face, a space opens for my mouth, nose, and eyes. Like the earpiece to help teach me the language of this planet, the suit isn’t particularly comfortable at first, and it takes some getting used to, but I quickly forget it’s there given the current circumstances.
No one looking at me would know I had on a suit at all, its thinness is totally transparent against me, but it protects me from any weapons that my kind has managed to create. Nothing sharp has cut through it. Nothing has been hot enough to burn it. The only thing that could destroy it, and me, would be a rocket the likes of which I just fired from my ship. And most importantly, no one can remove my suit but me, my thumb print being the only thing that can deactivate it.
I pick up the survival bag—a waterproof sack with a cord for me to pull it along—from the floor, giving it a shake to check the weight of it. It feels like it has everything I’ll need for a few days. I can only hope that there are some resources on this planet that I can use, like foods that I can eat and some animal I could hunt. Otherwise, my very last hope lies with the beacon I sent to my planet making it there, and them coming for me quickly.