Rescued… (?)
Any times things appear to be going better, you have overlooked something.
“So, are you coming or not?” asked Colin.
Frank didn’t answer. He just took his glass of whisky and headed towards the window. All the vehicles outside were flying by in a hurry.
“Frank! Listen, I need you to come. This is a very important cargo I have to deliver…”
“What is it?”
“I’m afraid that’s confidential. I can only tell you it’s extremely important to deliver it in due time” replied Colin.
“And when do we leave?”
“Tomorrow. And I really need you to come. I’m asking you as a friend now…”
“And where did you say you have to take the cargo?”
“Cancri V. It’s only a 12-day trip.”
“Well, OK then. But I’m still having second thoughts you know…”
The spaceship was prepared for the long journey. The two men were heading towards it, when they heard an aerotaxi stop somewhere behind them.
“Let’s hurry! We’re on a tight schedule here!” said Colin, and he started walking faster towards the spaceship. When at last Frank entered the spaceship, the metal door closed and he immediately felt the gravitational pull, as the ship was heading towards the sky…
“Did you ever get the feeling that you’re being followed, Colin?”
“Yes, many times.”
“Well, I’m having the exact same feeling now.”
“Don’t be silly. Who would follow us here?…” replied Colin.
Three days after their departure, Colin contacted Frank in his cabin.
“Frank, could you come on the deck for a few minutes? I have to tell you something…”
Five minutes later, Frank entered the command deck.
“Oh, you came! Listen, I’ve been thinking… You don’t get to visit Cygni III anytime you want. I heard that the beach there is amazing. And we’re only two parsecs away right now. That’s the closest we’ll get to it on our way to Cancri V. So, why don’t we make a left turn and spend a few hours on the planet?…”
“I thought we were on a tight schedule here… Or at least that’s what you said when we left…” replied Frank.
“Well, yes, but what harm could a few hours do. Besides, we could tell everyone that we saw the double sunrise on Cygni III. Come on, it’ll be fun.”
“I’m not sure about that. We could come by on our way back though. I think our main priority is the cargo now…”
“I’ve calculated the time we need to deliver it and we still have about thirty hours left to do whatever we want. I think that’s more than enough to go on Cygni III, don’t you think?”
“Well, since you put it that way…”
“Look, there it is. It’s bigger than I expected. And the colours… The red giant and the other orange star are really providing us a breathtaking view. We will land in about 20 minutes.”
“Did you choose the landing place carefully, Colin?”
“Of course. We will land right there, on the mainland… That’s a very isolated place. There’s no sign of any human activity on a 400-km radius.”
“Fine.”
“Frank, the commands are not responding!”
“What do you mean?”
“I think we will experience some difficulties when performing the landing manoeuvres. The auto-pilot is not working anymore.”
“That’s great. We’ll turn back then.”
“I’m afraid we can’t… The landing sequence had already commenced when the computer reported the malfunction.”
“Then what can we do?”
“We could try a manual landing…”
“And what other options do we have?”
“I’m afraid that’s the only option we have…” said Colin.
“What?! Are you telling me that we have to land this spaceship manually?!…” Frank shouted.
“Yes, that’s right. But the problem is I haven’t done this in years. The auto-pilot can definitely manage these manoeuvres better than any human can…”
“That’s just great!”
Colin’s lack of practice (and skill) had brought the spaceship into a spin, which eventually lead to its crash. Fortunately, the two heroes of our story survived…
“Now what?” asked Frank.
“I have no idea.”
“You were very smart to look for an isolated place… Now we are stuck here, in the middle of nowhere with no means to call for help. Hey, we still have the communication device on the ship, right?”
“Well, not exactly…”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“We have it. But it’s not working anymore.”
“Great! What other things do we have left that we can use?”
“I think the food is the only thing that we could really use. The rest of the devices on the ship are down. Oh, we also have the cargo…”
“The cargo? You mean it’s still intact?! Hmm… So, can you tell me what’s in those crates now? It’s not like we have much to do around here…”
“Drugs. They contain drugs…”
“Drugs?! Where the hell were you thinking?! Drugs?!… You were transporting three tons of drugs and you didn’t tell me?…”
“I don’t think you would have agreed to come along if I told you…”
“Certainly! What made you do this foolishness?”
“Money, of course… I get 20% of the value of the cargo. And all I have to do is to take it there. But now it seems that this could now prove to be a problem…”
“And isn’t it dangerous? I mean, travelling with 3 tons of drugs onboard…”
“Of course it is, but that’s one of the risks you have to take… You see, I just have to bring the spaceship on the orbit of Cancri V. The guys there will handle the rest.”
“But you can’t do that right now, can you? No, you had to come to this stupid planet to see a stupid sunrise.”
“You see, the reason of our trip here is not the sunrise. We were being followed. Someone knew where we were heading…”
“Great! Do they know we came here instead of following the route?…”
“I don’t know. I hope not…”
“What would happen if they realised that we came here?”
“I don’t want to think about it…”
“They would kill us, right?”
“That’s the most probable thing…”
“I believe that’s the only thing that they would do…”
Six days had passed since they set foot on Cygni III. There was no sign of another human. They were alone. The food would probably last for another three months. But how long would they last? And was there anyone looking for them?…
“Six days on this crappy planet. We are just staying here, waiting for someone to find us… And if someone does find us, we could probably get killed…”
“Come on, Frank. Don’t be so pessimistic. It’ll be OK. And we also got to see the double sunrise…”
“Yes, every day…”
“Hey, look! It’s a flying vehicle…”
“Where?!” Frank asked.
“Right there!… It’s coming this way…”
The vehicle landed, and a short, bearded man got out.
“Hello, strangers! What happened here?”
“You see, we had some problems when we tried to land here, so we crashed…”
“How long have you been here?”
“Six days…”
“Well, you’re lucky I came by. You see, I own a farm somewhere in the north-east. I was just checking the land for predators, when I saw this spaceship. So, I came here right away…”
“Can you take us to the nearest city? We will pay you whatever it takes.”
“I’m afraid I can’t…”
“Why? Your vehicle seems big enough for the three of us.”
“Well, they’ve announced some bad weather coming, so I have to hurry. But I’ll call for help as soon as I get home. I’ll tell them that you are here. I’ll even tell them to come and repair your spaceship. Meanwhile, you can have this first-aid kit, if you want. I’ve got to go now…”
“Thanks. And make sure you send help as soon as possible.”
“Don’t worry!…”
“That was weird…” said Frank. “I mean, I can see that the weather is getting worse, but that’s no reason for letting us down here.”
“He’s going to ask for help, didn’t you hear?” replied Colin.
“But what if the people that followed us sent him to look for us? And now they know we are here…”
“I never thought of that.”
“That’s a pretty good reason for letting us down here.”
“Nah, I don’t think he was sent to check if we are here… I’m pretty sure that we will get rescued, and everything will be fine…”
“I doubt that…”
The next morning, a tremendous humming woke them up. They got out of the crashed spaceship and saw that a big transport ship was heading towards them. Colin started waving at the incoming ship…
“See, Frank? I told you! We’re going to get rescued!”
“Or killed…”
Meanwhile, the transport ship kept approaching…
