Angels and Wormholes

Fly-by

"Good enough, I guess. It looks like our best shot. Let's do it."

Nigel and Cassia went to work, hands flurrying over their consoles as they input the command sequence and calculated their new, multi-point trajectory.

Nigel's heart was racing. He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. "Alright, setting that gas giant as our zero."

"Sure, got it."

"Bumping four percent." They heard a loud hum as the ship's engine thrusters adjusted their approach, pulling them towards the massive, gaseous planet ahead.

"Our approach is a little off."

"That should've been perfect."

"The damage must've affected the thruster profile. I'll compensate for the discrepancy." Cassia tapped in the commands, adjusting the thruster output patterns. "Okay -let's get us on course."

"Bumping one percent." The ship hummed again, throwing off super charged particles as they veered again.

"Got it! Good job."

A brief smile flashed across Nigel's face. Up ahead, the giant ball of gas rapidly expanded in size as they approached. They were aimed just past the planet -as close as they could get to its center of gravity without crashing into its atmosphere.

"Decelerating," Nigel announced.

"Batteries at two percent."

They rocketed towards the massive planet -a huge ball, striped with beige, brown, and white lines running around its circumference. It grew larger, nearly encompassing their viewscreen, before racing out of view on the left side of the ship. The Astrid veered towards the massive planet as it passed around, pulled in by its gravity. Cassia and Nigel watched on their viewscreens as the Astrid's heading shifted, curving inwards toward the passing planet before leaving it behind.

"Yes!" Nigel shouted, smiling and pumping his fist.

"Good job -almost there."

"Yea." Nigel's smile disappeared and he dropped his hand back to the console. "Setting the next planet as our zero."

"Okay. This is the one I'm worried about."

"It'll work. I think."

"Your confidence is reassuring."

"Bumping three percent." Nigel entered the command with a slow and deliberate finger press.

"Okay. We're pointing into it's atmosphere."

"Decelerating."

"Batteries one-point-five percent."

"Should be enough." Nigel looked over to Cassia, and his eyes widened. He shouted, "are you crazy?"

"What?"

"Put on your harness!"

"Oh, right." Cassia quickly strapped herself into the seat. Ahead of them, the second gas planet came into view -a tiny blue speck, growing rapidly into large dark blue marble with wispy, light blue streaks.

"Starboard shields charging." Cassia announced.

"We just need a microsecond pulse."

"Batteries one-point-two-five percent."

The approaching planet had now transformed the black of their viewscreen into a rich painting of dark blues, teal streaks, and specks of white cloud.
"Entering exosphere... Entering thermosphere." The ship began to rumble and shake as it collided with particles orbitting high above the planet in its thermosphere.