My shipmates were in cryosleep and I saw no reason to awaken them to die.
The computer chirped, "Impact in two minutes."
"But where are we, Kla2?" It had been named after Klatu from an old sci-fi movie.
"Unknown, Captain. Readings coming in now."
I waited.
"Desert terrain. Temperature 107. Liveable. Beings nearby."
I came to full alert now. Oh great! "Kla2, if we survive, trigger cryosleep chambers to awaken. They may have a chance."
"Impact in one minute, Captain." I triggered everything that could slow down the impact and thought I saw movement below us in the dunes.
I deployed the parachutes and and locked myself down.
We hit and bounced and I could feel the ship break up around me.
We had stopped, upright. We might survive.
Cryochambers were opening and I checked myself for injuries. Nothing seemed unrepairable.
"Beings in conveyances moving this way rapidly, Captain."
"I see that and they look familiar, oddly." I heard my shipmates begin to stir.
I cued the ship speaker. "We crash landed somewhere and creatures are headed towards us."
All of my mates came to the view screen and watched as vehicles drew near.
"Are those trucks?" My co-pilot asked.
"Looks that way." Had we crashed back on Earth?
"How the hell did we get back?" The engineer asked?
We heard tapping and banging on the hull and turned on the hatch screen.
"Hey! You okay in there?" Yelled a male voice.
"Yes. Where are we?" I asked.
"Planet Earth in the Sahara Desert. Need some help." He asked.
"Stand back so I can blow the hatch." The group cleared away. The hatch exploded upward and thudded in the distance.
I was the only one dressed, so went to the hatch, thrown back by the heat.
I looked at the assembly of people. "Captain Thea O'hara."
"You guys have been missing for awhile!" Yelled one man.
She saw them use things near their ears and then talk.
"What year is it?" I had no idea.
"2014. You've been lost for almost thirty years. Call NASA or somebody, you guys." He ordered and People nodded.
My team dressed and the heat being too oppressive and the gravity too strong, a few strangers came aboard.
The temporary hatch engaged; we all stared at each other.
"What are you doing in the desert?" I asked.
"Making a movie." The leader said.
I sat hard in my command seat and shook my head, watching the strangers unwrap sandy coverings and talk into boxes at their ears again.
"Help is on the way; the Air Force is coming." I nodded.
It wasn't long before they arrived and got rid of the movie folks.
"Captain? Where have you been?" Asked one suspicious pilot.
"It's a long story and right now we all need a hospital bed." They carried us off and flew us away. I hoped the movie people had recorded the landing, but knew to hide it. I wanted to see it one day.
"What movie were they shooting?"
"Mad Max." Said a medic.
"I thought we already had that movie." I said, beginning to doze.
"It's a remake, and you have a lot to learn since you've been gone; good and bad. One thing is for sure, you are mighty lucky to land where you did."
I nodded and then passed out with a wry smile on my face thinking about what Earth had to learn from us.
No comments:
Post a Comment