Page 61 of Alien Bride
Akron is my last hope.
I hit the atmosphere. The ship rumbles. An error message appears on screen.
“Harsh conditions ahead. No landing systems are available at this time. Goodbye.”
“Wait. What?” I shout, hands trembling over the hundreds of lit-up buttons. I have no idea what to press or what to say.
“Land!” I yell.
“No landing systems are available at this time. Goodbye.”
“Stupid computer,” I mutter, jumping back into my seat.
This time, I fit the belt around my body. I lock myself in place.
I’m going down. Mayday. Going down...
No one tells you what it’s like to crash in a futuristic spacecraft, but I can tell you one thing. The sound is deafening. Like a nuclear siren.
The heat from the outside burning causes sweat to form across my skin.
I close my eyes and brace. The last thing I see is the site of a vast desert, carved out with tunnels.
I feel the blow of metal against rocky earth. I’m thrown forward, but my belt catches me. The heavy sound of metal bending sends me into a state of panic.
We skid across the landscape, hitting the ground near a large mountain.
I’m sure I’m going to die, but the craft slows and comes to a halt.
The craft balances. Right on a fucking cliff.
I’m careful to breathe. “Okay,” I whisper. “This is okay...”
The craft tilts forward, sliding. Luckily it catches against a large plant. “Oh, God,” I say.
The computer’s speech malfunctions, tone drowning into a lower octave. “No landing systems are available at this time. Goodbye.”
My neck hurts like hell, but I’m okay.
Clicking my belt off, I stand and stretch. The craft starts to inch again, scraping across the rocks below.
The door opens automatically, and I jump outside as the spaceship falls off the edge. On the way down, it drags against the rock wall, shattering into pieces.
“No...” I whisper.
Great. I’m stuck here now.
Immediately, I feel the harsh heat burn my skin. I glance up and see two suns. “And here I was, thinking our Chicago summer was hot,” I whisper.
“This isn’t Chicago,” a deep voice resounds behind me.
I turn, throwing my arms up pathetically.
Akron stands, gun wielded around his shoulder. “Calm down. It’s me.”
I breathe a sigh of relief. “Akron,” I cry. “The sentinels. They came to the facility. They found us.”
He curses under his breath. “Shit. I thought you were my way out, but you fucked up that landing nicely.”
