Different But Still The Same

Farok: A Catostrophic Event

EDIT:  I've since edited this prologue, now it only has the POV of Farok.  I feel it is explained well enough later.  Too many people were confused by it and didn't think it worked :).

~~~

I wake up suddenly because a loud noise starts beeping.  I cover my ears in agony.

The alarms are blaring throughout the ship causing a ruckus.  My heart beats along with the alarm as I try to get to the meeting area.  I sprint out of my room as I look at all the other people around me quickly emerging from their rooms.  But I try not to pay too much attention to anyone.  Who knows what could be triggering this alarm.  When you're on a ship, it's very probable you could die, so we will have to work together to fix whatever the problem is.

In just a few moments, I arrive to the meeting room which is already brimming with people.  The ship isn't very large.  Quickly, I take a glance at everyone in the room.  Panic is displayed across everyone's face.  One guy is even kneeling, praying.  Pushing people aside, I walk closer to this person to calm him down.  If anyone needs comforting, it's him.  We shippers have to stick together.

When I start to lean down to him, I realize that it's Gelnon, my good friend on the ship.

"Hey, Gelnon, it's going to be alright.  It's probably a false alarm."  When he looks up at me with teary eyes, I add, "You know what, it is false alarm."  I say, to both him and me.

"Yeah right," he says shakily.  "This time is different, it can't be a slight change in the oxygen level like usual."

I raise my eyebrow because it did seem the same as always to me.  My heart slowed a bit, clinging on to this very probable hope.

"How is this time different?  I see no change." I say, shrugging.

"Tell me where the captain is.  For every other time, he is here to tell us that it's no big deal."  He points at the small raised section of the room, indicating that the captain wasn't there like he always is during an alarm.

"And even if he's preocupied with something, the co-captain would tell us that it's no big deal.  Obviously the higher-ups are trying to settle this."  His voice is sounding weepier and weepier by the minute, and I am not doing too much better.

"Well, we can't just stand here and wait for our doom to come, we must do something," I utter, masking my horror.

"No we can't," he says, sobbing uncontrollably now.  "And besides, I'm not standing, I'm kneeling."

I manage to roll my eyes, "Now is not the time for humor.  Come on, let's go."

"But it's useless.  We're all going to die here."  He is looking pathetic, sobbing uncontrollably on the ground, but looking around, so is everyone else.  I'm one of the few remaining composed.  I have no clue how I'm not breaking down too.

I pull him up, which was a pretty easy feat.  When you live half your life on a ship, you have to remain in tip top condition.  "Come on you nit wit, we have to get out of here."  I'm usually not one to call people names, but in this circumstance, I had to.  At least it made me crack a smile.  I'll do what I have to to remain sane.

I start to drag him along through the sea of people.  "We have to check out the oxygen sensors before we do anything else," I scream over the wailing that is getting louder by the minute.

He doesn't bother answering me.  He's too busy wailing and moaning himself.  At this point, I'm inclined to join them, but I don't when I notice the small oxygen sensor through a parting of people.

My hopes raise slightly.  Maybe our oxygen is fine after all!  Maybe the captain and co-captain are just too busy to send out an announcement to our ear pieces!

Quickly, I drag Gelnon to the sensor.  What I notice causes my heart to jitter uncomfortably.  We only have thirty percent oxygen, and it's dropping one percent every ten seconds.  There's only five minutes until we all die!

Don't panic, don't panic, I tell myself.  You could help save everyone.  Now, look up where the leak is coming from.

After clicking a few buttons on the small monitor, I find out that the oxygen leakage is coming from the meeting room itself!  I look around frantically for the smallest imperfection in the pure white room, but I don't see anything.  It's useless anyway, it's the largest room in the ship!

Instead of standing around, I sprint as fast as I can with a man that can barely move himself.  I have to get to the escape pods!  But why has no one else gone to them in the first place?  The question burns in my mind until I'm at the edge of the ship holding the dozens of escape pods.

But there was one big problem.  Ginormous.  The escape pods are gone, as if they were never on the ship.  My blood starts pumping so fast that Gelnon's wails seem to soften.

Looking closer, I see that we had been impacted by some type of space debris.  But how?  The ship has state-of-the-art defense systems.  Oh well, that obviously wasn't enough.

I let myself sink to the floor, and my friend willingly reciprocates.  We sob and wail until we suck in our last breaths.

~~~

A/N: Thank you for checking out my story!  It's much appreciated.  Based on this prologue, you may think this story is really depressing.  But don't worry, it's going to be happier than this!  I hope you all liked this, because I've never written 'true' science fiction like this.  I hope I am doing okay :).