Astronomicon 1: Inception Point (Finished)

6 - Contact

"We're beginning to tilt," Lucy shouted, barely audible over the roar of the retro rockets.

"Not much we can do about that without power," Chris replied. "What's our lateral velocity?"

"Only eight K.P.H. now," said Lucy. "But the ground radar is reading 110 K.P.H. relative to the surface."

"Chuck needs to get up here fast. We're coming down hard. How long to contact now?"

"Retro boosters end in twenty..."

"And seconds later we land," he finished her sentence for her.

"We just lost the ground radar," she added.

"At least it lasted long enough to trigger the landing boosters."

He hit the transmit button on his handheld radio before speaking again, "Everybody brace for impact! Brace for..."

For a moment, everything seemed to get lighter. The fuel in the four landing retros expired, ending their powerful thrust and reducing the pounding pressure on the crew then, a second later, the bottom of the Command Module sideswiped the peak of a ridge of jagged rock. The wall of the module caved in as huge chunks of rock were catapulted into the air. The energy of the impact kicked the already-tilted module into a stomach-churning spin.

Elysian's twenty-four metres ended its momentary spin by slamming side-on into the downward slope of the ridge, scattering smaller rocks and ploughing nose-first down the slope, leaving a metre-deep furrow and a plume of dust behind it. Retro boosters, external cameras and even two of the huge landing feet were torn from the hull as it slowed, twisting sideways a little before stopping.

As silence fell on the whole event, the dust plume caught up with the battered, but more-or-less intact, Command Module and enveloped everything in a choking cloud.

* * *

Chris was not sure if he had lost consciousness for a time or was simply stunned by the impact. The Control Room was dark and the only sound was muffled bumping from another part of the vessel. He soon realised that the forwards pulling sensation he could feel was the gravity of Proxima C and that he was dangling from his command chair by his safety harness.

Clearly, the Elysian's Command Module was lying on its side but he could not see anything beyond a couple of red warning LEDs blinking urgently in the blackness. He was finding it difficult to breathe with the harness straps cutting into his chest but he tried to gather his thoughts and not succumb to the growing sense of panic.

After releasing the catches on his helmet, he pulled it off his head before dropping it to dangle from the air hoses from the back of his chair. It did nothing to help him see but left him better able to hear what might be going on in the ship. Faint talking and other noises from the lower decks reassured him that at least some of the crew had survived the crash.

"Are you okay, Lucy?" he called out into the dark.

"I think so," she groaned from somewhere below him.

"Where are you?"

"I'm not sure. My chair is lying on its side, against the wall."

"Which is the floor now, so you're below me?"

"You sound like you're up above me, but I can't see anything."

"Hold on, I've got an idea," he replied. It took some groping around in the dark to find his tablet computer. Thankfully, it was still attached to the swinging support attached to the arm of his chair. He flipped it over to face him and activated the screen. The resulting glow was enough to dimly light the whole room.