The Ultimate ISDF Collection

Stranded - Part 2/2

He made sure the hatch was closed and put on his harness, securing himself tightly into place. It was not that he did not trust her piloting abilities, it was just that he knew her style to be quite sporty and maybe a little rough around the edges. While he did this she had gone through the pre-flight check-list and was about to power up the generator.

Contrary to the vehicles she could operate on her class one licence, this vessel came with it's own on-board fusion generator and therefore packed a lot more punch when it came to acceleration, top speed and range. She was obviously very excited and he had to remind her to remain calm as her finger hovered above the button that would prime the ion drive. Finally, she pressed the button. And nothing happened.

She pressed it again. This time her head-up display flashed red and a high-pitched beeping filled the cockpit. "Aw come on!" she yelled at the Universe in general, "what's wrong now!?"

Being much more familiar with this type of craft, he looked around and spotted the culprit after a few moments.

"Look here babes, you forgot to disconnect the umbilical," he pointed out, referring to the strand of cables and hoses that connected the vessel to the machinery allowing it to be powered up in the first place.

She quickly corrected her mistake and pressed the engine primer again. This time the cockpit was filled by a soft humming that gently became louder until it stabilised and soon became part of the regular background noise. She turned to him, looking him sternly in the eyes and said, "don't you dare make fun of me because of this."

He replied, layering his voice with as much sarcasm as possible, "I will never bring it up, ever."

She hit him on the shoulder for this comment before grasping her controls firmly with both hands and initiating the launch sequence. Moments later, the craft was expelled out of the dome through a tunnel containing a launch rail that propelled them towards the grey and rocky landscape that waited for them outside their dome.

She was enjoying herself, racing across the rugged scenery, a mere dozen metres above the ground. Meanwhile, he held on to the edge of his seat, wondering if this would be his last birthday, as the rocks and boulders that were strewn across the landscape kept zooming passed them.

"You know you are no longer restricted to flying below thirty metres with this thing," He said.

"Oh right! My instructor kept having to remind me about that!" she replied, laughing, and increased their altitude until almost reaching the lower limit of the restricted zone, beginning at 5000 metres.

"Better?" she asked while busying herself with the navigation display.

"Much better," he replied, "where are we going exactly?"

"It's a surprise," she stated with a tone making further enquiry redundant.

She kept quiet for most of the trip from that point onwards, focusing on finding the right way and thinking about her life so far. What had started out as a romance that spanned multiple light-years had become a lot more serious when he had asked her to move back to Earth with him. He was a young officer of the fleet and she was a recent graduate with honours of the exosociology course at the university of Kallaloo, one of Earth's more diverse colonies.

She had not had the chance to visit humanity's homeworld prior to their meeting and she had always dreamed of doing so. Naturally the thought of actually living there had overwhelmed her and after what many had noted to not be enough consideration she had agreed. She did not move all in one go however. Immigration rules for colonists were relatively strict and they had been required to be together a certain amount of time before she could even be considered for a visa.