Chapter 8
Whoosh!
With a loud sound, as if space itself was exhaling, Nash managed to escape the black vortex and miraculously got out of it, avoiding collapse at the last moment.
A new cosmic landscape opened up before him, one he had never seen before. Nash glimpsed an enormous planet, predominantly golden yellow in color, like a giant jewel floating in space. In the center, green and blue spots scattered clearly against the vast yellow ocean, like a small oasis flourishing in a boundless cosmic desert. It was a breathtaking sight, but he had no time to contemplate this astronomical beauty.
What he encountered as soon as he emerged from the black vortex was a pile of giant rocks, floating in front of him like a solid wall, welcoming him like a mother greeting her son coming home from school with a parent-teacher conference notice, waiting for him with a pair of slippers in her hand, ready to discipline him. The huge rocks loomed suddenly on the horizon, as if they had appeared out of nowhere, each one the size of a building, heading towards him at a terrifying speed.
"Damn it! Quickly cut off external communication with the ship's crew!" Nash cursed, his voice trembling with urgency, and immediately opened the communication channel to warn those with him of the imminent and inevitable collision. Only a few seconds separated them from disaster.
Beep!
[Einar: External communication isolation stopped. Connection restored.]
"Everyone on board!" Nash shouted quickly, his hoarse voice filling the ship, echoing in every corner, "Prepare for impact! I repeat, brace for impact!" His words carried tremendous weight, a declaration of imminent doom, as the ship hurtled toward the giant rocks.
Boom!
The ship struck a huge rock with tremendous force, shaking the entire vessel violently as if it were a leaf in the wind. Nash was unable to avoid it due to his high speed, which prevented him from maneuvering at the right moment. The rock appeared suddenly, like a ghost. The ship veered to the left, swaying dangerously, until it collided with another rock, which pushed it forcefully to the side, like a ball in a game between giants. The ship was affected by the planet's strong gravity, which pulled it down at breakneck speed, heading towards the atmosphere of the yellow planet, as if drawn to its inevitable fate.
Beep!
[Einar: Warning! Collision course confirmed!]
Beep!
[Octavia: Warning! Primary control systems failed!]
Beep!
[Einar: Warning! Entering the atmosphere! Gravitational effects increasing!]
---
"I know!" Nash shouted, his voice echoing in the dilapidated cockpit as thoughts raced through his mind like a storm. "No need to alert me!" Tension was pulling at his nerves, and every warning flash on the malfunctioning screens reminded him of the abyss they were approaching.
With a tight grip, he moved the control stick left and right, desperately trying to control the direction of the ship as it danced violently, pulled mercilessly downward by the planet's relentless gravity. The ship shook and groaned under the enormous pressure, every part of it screaming in protest.
Nash could see the glowing yellow color getting closer and closer to the front window. It wasn't just light, but a terrifying halo engulfing the horizon.
Suddenly, he glimpsed a huge gray landmass forming below, with a glowing red crater in the middle, like the eye of a giant monster staring down at them. With a quick touch on the control panel, he zoomed in at breakneck speed, magnifying the image by more than 90191%. What he saw made him freeze in place for a moment, and then his entire body shook.
"A volcano!" Nash screamed, his voice mixed with shock and horror, when he could see the catastrophic scene below him with complete clarity. Lava was moving below, and gray clouds were rising from it like the breath of a demon.
Without hesitation, and at high speed, he fired off a series of commands, his voice rising above the din of alarms and the noise of the dying ship:
"Separate the cockpit from the hull!"
"Secure the crew!"
"Distribute survival equipment to the crew!"
He hoped that the force of separation would give them a final push away from the burning rock, as the cockpit passed through the planet's multiple layers, avoiding its inevitable fate.
Beep!
[Einar: Failure to separate the cockpit from the ship's hull.
The response came from the ship's AI, its emotionless, robotic voice adding to Nash's despair.
Beep!
[Octavia: Crew secured.]
Beep!
[Einar: Collision imminent.]
Those words were like a death sentence, echoing in his ears.
--
"Damn you!" Nash shouted, rage burning in his eyes, as he began the separation manually, his fingers moving feverishly over the glowing buttons.
Every cell in his body was screaming for help, but he was determined to fight to the last breath. But at that crucial moment, he caught sight of a huge rock, the size of a small house, breaking away from the mother rock and being pulled by blind gravity, flying toward him from his left at a terrifying speed. There was no time to react.
Boom!
The ship shook violently, the sound of the collision like a thunderous explosion that shook its entire structure. The left side of the ship was torn open by the force of the impact as if a giant monster had ripped it apart with its fangs. A powerful, concentrated force began to pull everything inside the ship outwards like a hungry beast devouring its prey with insatiable lust. The fierce winds, mixed with smoke and dust, screamed as they sucked everything in their path.
"Aaah!!"
Debra was the first to be pulled out of the ship. Her terrified scream mingled with the roar of the wind, and she was pulled out of the ship's cockpit by her chair, disappearing into the cosmic darkness. She was followed by two members of the search team, their faces frozen in terror, and three members of the Seventh Commander's squad, their bodies flying helplessly through the air.
The ship's status display panel malfunctioned completely, turning into a silent black screen, as the temperature of the second propulsion engine rose catastrophically and flames erupted inside the bridge, tongues of fire dancing wildly. Zara, the military commander, tried to stop the fire with his bare hands, but due to the enormous gravitational force pulling everything downwards, the fire scattered upwards, taking the lives of two of his squad members, their last screams suffocated by the flames.
"Naash! Do something!" Zara screamed, his voice weak with smoke and despair, trying to keep the flames away from his burning body, while lamenting his incredible bad luck. All he had to do was transport Nash to the Makb galaxy and maybe kill him on the way. He wouldn't have minded if the ship had been destroyed and the entire crew killed to get him dead, but now he was with him, in this hell, and he was going to die with him. His eyes glowed with madness, seeing the end approaching, and he hated this shared fate with the man he had wanted to kill.