The Second Coming of Humanity Ch. 01

The engines engaged for the deorbit burn pushing each person back into their chairs with a pleasant sensation of heaviness. The noise and vibration were not too intense in their experience, but considering that the force was greater than anything they had experienced in the last 3 months, it felt momentous and dangerous at the same time, like the crossing of a flooded river, or jumping off a cliff with a glider.

The silence after the burn ended was like an extra presence in the cabin with them. It looked at each of them, considered each of them, looked into their eyes, and then departed allowing them to breathe again. A few minutes later, a barely discernible turbulent buffeting shook the craft, while a soft red glow began to shine down on them from the small window above their heads.

The vibrations increased, and along with them the glow from the window turned orange. Occasionally the craft would be jolted by a pocket of air, or by the lifecraft thrusters making a correction. It was hard to tell which was which. Wynn was whispering to himself, with an occasional "oh" escaping his lips as he suffered through the progress towards the surface. Jax held tight onto his seat straps and kept his eyes closed only watching a small countdown clock from his receiver that told him how much longer he needed to endure this.

Alaina filled her receiver displays with all the data she could on their craft and its advance. The ionization in the atmosphere had caused her to lose communications from the other lifecraft, so she could only focus on their own ship for the moment. Fuel was slightly lower than expected. Some of the high altitude winds required more correction than anticipated. The risk of not correcting the flight path left them with a higher probability of landing on the ocean instead of the continent. They could survive a landing in water, but it was better to touch down on solid ground.

Alaina glanced out the window. Scattered light began to outshine the orange heat of reentry. The buffeting increased. They were in thicker air now. She glanced at the status display and noted the fuel level. They were below their targets. The likelihood of a safe landing was declining.

After a few more minutes, the main engines began their braking burns. Alaina, Jax, and Wynn were pushed back into their seats in a series of 5-6 second bursts. Alaina watched the glidepath indicator and saw that they had improved their position and were approaching the planned trajectory.

After another braking burn, the lifecraft lurched to the left, as the dropped through a windy layer, the thrusters correcting. Two more minutes until touchdown.

Jax mostly kept his eyes closed, continuing to hold onto his seat straps. But as he felt the braking burns begin, he directed his receiver to pull up a view of the surface below. The image was a bit blurry, though the surface was well defined. Greens and browns spread over slightly rolling terrain bordered by a blue-green ocean towards the east. In some ways it looked more like a simulation than a real landscape. After everything that had happened, he had a brief hope that this entire experience had actually been an elaborate psychological test to see which crewmembers were suitable for exploration missions.

30 seconds to touch down. The braking burns increased in frequency now. Alaina had her mind glued to the fuel readout. She held her breath. If she needed her eyes to see this, she would not have blinked. It was too low. Just barely too low. They were so close. It was too much to have it end like this.

10 seconds to touch down. The engines cut off. There was silence in the cabin, and they felt themselves in freefall. They had been so close. Alaina couldn't speak. If she could have, she had nothing to say. Maybe one of the other crews would find their lifecraft and be able to make use of what was left.

Jax's eyes opened when the engines cut off. He glanced around. Wynn mumbled, "oh no," and tried to grab ahold of the wall in addition to his seat straps. Alaina's eyes were closed. Jax tried to form a question in his mind. "What happened?" was all he got out before the lifecraft impacted the ground with enough force to shear off the bolts holding his seat to the cabin floor. The side of his body slammed into the wall of the lifecraft with disorienting pain. Everything was in darkness, and he soon lost consciousness.