Freak Accidents Can Be Great For Recouping Costs
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Prompt from DailyPrompt.com
It was a dream. He knew it was, because he didn’t feel cold.
Ice stretched around the ship laying wrecked behind him. The dust and frost thrown up by the crash still choking the air. He tasted them yet could breathe freely.
This fog turned the beam from his flashlight to a pearly haze which hid more than illuminated. He walked out into the unseeable alien world with only the crunch of rocks beneath his bare feet to prove his movement.
Gravel gave way to ice gave way to smooth rock gave way to ice again, but this patch was crumbly and cracked under him. He kept walking unhindered by the fact he was striding through water.
Ah. The wind was stronger here. It created a clear patch. He looked up.
Stars. A pale yellow moon. And the Money Tree haloed in reentry fire, frozen in place above him, arcing towards the crash he’d walked away from.
Lights formed in the mist and drifted towards him, as he dropped to his knees and howled-
His sleep pod was dark, and warm, and silent. A blessed relief. He closed his eyes and started to settle back to sleep.
But…
Ugh.
This was ridiculous. Needing a walk after a bad dream was so childish. Especially one that ridiculous. How would the crash even happen?
His mind refused to be silenced by logic, however, and finally he gave up and opened the pod to check on the nav unit. He knew it was fine, it would’ve been checked before everyone turned in, and there was only like one planet they needed to avoid, so…
The cockpit was washed red. Emergency lighting? But the alarms weren’t-
The security terminal read “Alarm Override”. The last entry was marked with the remote access code from company HQ.
The map on the nav unit showed them heading straight for the planet, with a flashing message “WARNING COLLISION IMMINENT” and a countdown ticking from six minutes.
He slapped himself. Again. The scene didn’t fade.
His breath was ragged. The metal floor leeched warmth from his bare feet. Dizziness forced him to grab a chair back for support.
This was real. THIS WAS REAL.
Countdown read 5:34.
He needed help. Could he lift alarms? Did he have time to fetch people?
Wait. Wait wait wait. Having pulled that stupid prank in training school might just save his life.
The intercom announcements were separate to alarms, and didn’t have a hard volume limit. It only took twenty seconds to record a short message and set it blaring on loop. Yeah, he’d be near deafened, but that was better than dead.
“EMERGENCY GET TO COCKPIT NOW!!!”
Countdown 4:48. No time to limit it to sleep quarters. Wide net better anyways.
He threw himself into the nav seat and disabled computer piloting. He had no illusions about his flying skills, but hopefully even he could avoid a planet.
When he got home, the company was in for it…
Prompt was the image.