Crashed!

[Floyd Looney]

Crashed
by me

...

“We’re all set, everyone buckled in?”

The pilot looked behind his seat to see that his twenty passengers were all buckled into their harnesses. Two long rows facing each other, everyone was ready. Smiles on most of them, this is why they paid the big bucks.

The pilot looked back to his console. Everything was working as far as he could see, but something felt wrong. This would be his seventeenth plunge, re-entry, to this planet as the top pilot of Inter-Star Travel Services. The leading Exo-Tourism company in Texas and the only one who comes to this particular world.

The vessel was flying “backwards” when the rockets fired for exactly one minute, it slowed their orbital speed by a fraction. This was enough to cause the ship to descend as he turned it over and made sure the heat shield locked down. The altitude was falling quickly, he felt the buffeting of the official atmospheric entry.

“This is where it gets interesting folks” he told the passengers. Fire now erupted on the bottom of the ship. Ablative shielding was burning off, they could see this from their viewports. They all had rather wide eyes. Probably their first real re-entries.

Soon enough it was over and the sound level was down to nearly nothing but the sound of the wind whistling past. When the altitude of their falling craft reached 40,000 feet, the pilot hit the release mechanism. A large shroud shot out of the top of the craft, a giant paraglide wing emerged.

Looking ahead the pilot was a bit concerned. They were a bit off course and he had to check the computer to see where the LZ was. Twenty-two miles, damn. We weren’t going to make that, we might get very close but these people didn’t pay good money to hit the ground before reaching the runway. The company won’t like that.

Suddenly the ship veered violently to the starboard, almost on its side. The pilot fought the controls with everything he had. Soon the nose was pointing down, green filled the windshield. The passengers were starting to scream. They knew something was very wrong, the advertising discs never showed anything like this.

The ship was plummeting nearly straight down, the pilot barely got the nose up when they started skimming the top of the trees. The ship was thrown violently several times and then began to tumble. The last thing the pilot remembered was falling, he was outside, where had the ship gone?

He laid where he landed. His eyes wouldn’t open but he could feel a lot of pain. He felt sharp pain in his jaw, lower right chest, left leg around the knee, his right ankle. He was trying to replay the last seconds of the event in his mind. He couldn’t. He only knew that his job was probably gone and that there were people hurt. The first aid kits were under the seats, he tried to say but his mouth didn’t move.

[Floyd Looney]

He could hear moaning and cries of pain coming from around him, he wondered how many of his passengers were still alive. He tried to open his eyes and saw a blur. He blinked a few times before he could see anything clearly.

What he saw was a string of people lying on the ground, one of them leaning up against a tree. None of them were standing up and they all looked like they were in pain. He counted five people in his sightline. None of these looked dead though. A young woman saw his eyes open and she crawled on all fours to where he was.

“I think the pilot is awake” she said to no-one in particular. Finally she was right next to me and I could smell a flowery perfume overlaid with sweat. “Can you hear me?”.

I grimaced as she cradled my head, I really don’t think she should have been moving me but I gather she was desperate for some sort of good news. “There are First Aid kits on the bottom of the seats” I whispered. She puts my head back on the ground, or rather drops it, causing pain to shoot through me again.

I can hear seats being turned over on the ground and a few muttering voices, it sounded as if they found at least one of the kits. After a couple more minutes I gathered that I was not their first choice in the triage. I actually felt disappointed sitting there wondering how many people were being bandaged and doped up with pain meds while their pilot, who knew which direction civilization lay, was ignored.

“Mr. Douglas found a tank of water, here”. She picked up my head again, it hurt less this time. Maybe I was going numb. She put something to my lips and I drank water, good job, I had wondered if these tourists knew the difference between water and hydrazine. I guess so.

The water helped. I actually started feeling better. I start looking a little in the other directions. “Where’s the ship?”

“Everywhere” the girl answered with a grin. This is not funny, I think to myself, these tourists are going to die out here. Then I tell myself that its better to joke about it than to panic and give up. No matter how grim, you could not let yourself surrender or panic.

I also wondered if we had been helped by the slightly lower gravity or the slightly higher concentration of oxygen in the air.

Soon I felt good enough to sit up, my head swam a bit but I recovered quickly. A dozen or so survivors walked or crawled towards me. They all looked at me intently, great, I’m the great hope but not worth a little morphine from the original First Aid kit to be found. I’d get it from the next one for sure.

I look at the sky and curse the coming night, we only had a couple hours of daylight. I doubted some of us were going to be alive in the morning. Thank goodness a day on this rock was only twenty-one hours. “We need to find a place to hide” I say hoarsely.

[Attero Dominatus]

Interesting. I am curious why they need to hide. Has potential.

[Floyd Looney]

Something big and hungry this way comes?

heh.

[Floyd Looney]

A little pain killer from another first-aid kit and I felt good enough to actually try and walk standing up. I was still banged up, I'd be doing damage to the ankle at least but we were fast running out of daylight.

"Okay, we're moving to higher ground, people. We don't have a lot of time" I announced to the banged up crowd of people. They looked at me as if I had completely lost my mind. They weren't moving so I understood they needed a little more motivation.

"If you want to be alive in the morning and not die a very painful and violent death, come with me" I tried to look as intense as I could. Good, they were finally more scared of "it" than of their injuries.

They started packing up their things while I looked through the widely scattered debris. I found my old seat and soon had the metal container loose. The young woman who had given me water was standing right behind me.

"What's that?" she asked. I bet she was always this nosy, I bet her parents were happy to send her to college. They probably sent her here after she went home from college, probably just as useless as before. I knew I was being unfair, the painkillers might have been wearing off already.

"It's a gun" What could it hurt. She nodded. That's a surprise, women fresh out of college usually had a visceral fear of guns. There was obviously more to this girl than her nosiness and her whiny voice. "What is your name?"

"Silla Meaney" She said it while she stared into my eyes. Sort of daring me to laugh. I didn't. "Short for Priscilla. Meaney is an Irish name".

"Well, that's good to know. My name is..."

"Paul Alex Masters" she said, "It was in the paperwork we filled out for this trip".

So, that's my name. It did sound familiar. At least I hadn't forgotten how dangerous this place was.

"What are we going to do with the four bodies?" she asked, again I heard no fear, hurt or anything much in her voice. "We could bury them near that earthen mound or just.."

"Leave them where they are" I said. That got a reaction, at least. She was startled momentarily but she just cocked her head sideways and asked "What for?".

"The circle of life, ours. We don't have time to bury them. We have to move. Hopefully, the reason we have to move will find the bodies and stop for a snack. Maybe that will give us enough time to get to safety" I told her "Or become the main course".

"There was nothing in the brochures about..." she paused and looked back at the stragglers. "Some of them aren't going to move very well".

"Then, if it comes to that, the slowest ones get eaten first" I told her. Then I walked towards the others as I popped a morphine pill. "Okay, we walk NOW!".

[Floyd Looney]

Just a little update, I guess it really doesn't advance the story much.

[Attero Dominatus]

It is a good introduction of one of the characters (Silla Meany) though.

[Floyd Looney]

She's obviously not what he thought she was.

[Attero Dominatus]

You should have Silla discuss her history and show why she is not freaked out by guns. Usually someone who feels comfortable around them is someone who has grown up around them and knows how to use them.

[Floyd Looney]

Good idea. He thought she was some rich, spoiled trustfund brat. heh.

[Floyd Looney]

Me and the girl kept prodding some of the others to walk faster as much as we could but it was becoming hopeless for a few of them. I started looking around for a good-sized cave or some defensible spot or shelter while we moved. I didn't have high hopes at the moment.

"So, Miss Meaney, what's you story?"

"What?"

"I mean where do you come from? Just a biographical sketch is all I'm asking for" I said with a quick smile. I mentally kicked myself, that probably looked more like a snarl to her.

"I was born in Scottsdale Arizona. My parents had both inherited money but never really touched it. So I grew up like any normal girl with protective parents I suppose"

"Protective?"

"You remember the Summer of Trouble?"

Oh right. I did vaguely recall that, but I hadn't been on Earth when it happened.

"Well the riots were getting closer and closer. Every night they were taking over new neighborhoods and setting them ablaze, putting burning tires around people's heads... it was a very unpleasant time. Well, my dad had been in the Marines, he wasn't a long-timer or anything but he had also kept a big gun collection. So he taught me to use it."

"It? Which one?"

"It as in the collection" she replied. She sat on a mossy log and took a swig of water from her canteen. "I didn't have a lot of choice, none of us did. The government was too incompetent to protect people, we had to do it ourselves. Too many people died because they thought the government would save them".

She was quiet for a long moment, staring out into space. I didn't interrupt her but I was getting antsy about moving on.

"We were on the roof when they came to our neighborhood. We were ready, we saw what they did to people who weren't ready" she shook her head. "We fired and fired all night. We used thousands of rounds of ammunition but they kept coming and coming in waves, in groups, tried to sneak up solo. They just wouldn't stop..."

"I am not a killer Mr. Masters. I just did what we had to do. I'm not proud of what they made me do, but I am not ashamed to be alive because of it."

We had already started walking again and I saw a big rocky outcrop ahead and above us. It looked pretty good to me and twilight was about to fall. After getting closer I could see it was a cave, large enough for everyone.

"Get everyone in this cave. NOW people! Move it"

Silla Meaney was rounding them up as well as possible but some of them were too far down. I had thrown a bunch of sticks and stuff in a big pile on the outcrop and froze when I thought I heard a gargling, throaty roar.

"Inside right now"

"but those people are hurt..."

"It's too late, we have to save ourselves"

Then they all could hear the loud thrashing through the underbrush coming closer. People moved as fast as they could into the cave except for one elderly man who sighed and sat down against a tree.

"Hurry come on, don't give up" Silla tried to shout encouragement, but the man had already given up. I started the pile of sticks and twigs into a fire and ordered everyone to get as far back into the cave as possible.

Then me and Silla who were still near the opening of the cave saw the mass of beasts, crawling over each other to get into the lead. It was a tide of lizard-like creatures rolling in from the lowlands as they did each night. Silla stood as still as a statue, this was probably bringing back memories of humans acting nearly the same way.

The first beasts to reach the elderly man paused only for a brief moment before tearing into him. Several of the creatures got parts of him before the beasts moved on, upland, towards where we were.

I pulled Silla back deeper into the cave and hoped the fire did its job. If just a few of them got through, my gun would be sufficient, hopefully just one at a time...

A scream from the back.

The sea of them went around the cave, but there were so many. Then one dropped from above the cave opening, I heard gasps, and looked startled before getting its bearings and walking towards us. One shot through the head finished it.

"What are they?"

"We call them gremlins. They hunt upland at night and sleep in the valley by the river in the day. If you wanted to compare them with something from Earth, I guess I'd say the Monitor Lizard or Komodo Dragon. Their saliva is toxic, so the similarity is there, I guess"

Silla jumped as another, larger, creature passed the fire into the cave. It took three shots to kill this one. My biggest worry was that the fire fuel was not going to last much longer. There hadn't been time to stockpile any.

"What else is on this planet?"

"I'll get to that after the sun comes up, okay?"

Apparently the line of creatures had passed and they were all uphill from us. They'd definitely be back on their way down but it was still risky to run outside to pick up sticks. Silla seemed to be in the best shape among us, but I didn't want to send her out there. Besides, she'd be able to cover me.

[Floyd Looney]

I added more to this story too