Crash Landing (8 page)

The next day, the shuttle hangar was already abuzz as John stepped out of the TravelTube with Emmie and Kaal. Students clustered around the shuttle, shouting, sharing jokes, and rummaging through the packed lunches that had been delivered with their breakfast tray.

“Ugh,” moaned Gobi-san-Art in his low, gravelly voice. ”I’ve got granite bars. I
hate
granite bars. Anyone want to swap?”

“Hey, Riley,” said Lishtig, slapping John on the back. “That’s twice you’ve made Doctor Slobber look like an idiot. Nice work. What’s next? Going to push her into a volcano?”

“Good idea, but I was planning to spend the trip hiding under a seat,” replied John with a grin.

“
Excellent
, you’ll be doing us all a favour,” drawled a voice behind him.

“Oh
very
witty, young Master Talliver,” droned another voice.

“Shut your big mouth, Mordant. And tell your pathetic droid to shut up, too,” snapped Emmie, whirling round.

“Gosh, that really put me in my place. You’re
so
clever, Tarz,” sneered the black-haired boy. “I heard the headmaster was lying about the supermassive black hole. The real reason he changed course was so that we could get your pet Earthling off the ship as soon as possible.”

“At least I won’t have to look at your face any more,” John snapped back. “Though I’ll probably have nightmares about it for years.”

“Maybe you should take your pals with you,” replied Mordant. “They’d fit in well among the lower life forms.”

“Oh
bravo,
Master. Your wit is as sharp as a Gargon battleblade today,” intoned G-Vez.

“Why don’t you just take Emmie’s advice and shut it for once, Talliver,” interrupted Kaal in a low growl. “Everyone was having a good time until you and your freaky droid showed up. It’s an adventure, you know.”

An adventure
? John thought to himself. Was this what Lorem had meant when he said that Hyperspace High still had an adventure in store for him? As Mordant opened his mouth to reply, a wet-sounding voice bellowed, “
Siii
-lence!” from the TravelTube. The doctor had arrived. Slapping two tentacles together, she quickly ordered the class to form a neat line.

“Out of my way,” hissed Mordant, pushing students aside to get to the head of the queue.

“Watch where you’re going,” snapped Queelin Temerate, as she was shoved backward by a tentacle in the chest.

“I said
silence
, Temerate,” blubbered the teacher, as she slithered towards the shuttle’s door, “Ahh, Mordant, you’re first in line. It makes me very happy to see such a keen student.”

Once her students finished jostling for the best seats, the doctor engaged the shuttle’s autopilot and ordered her pupils to take out their ThinScreens. “In your message boxes,” she said, “you will find an excellent article on Zirion Beta I wrote for
Intergalactic Geographic Journal
. We have a long flight ahead of us, so even the slower students will have time to read it.” She gave Emmie Tarz a meaningful glance.

Quiet groans filled the shuttle as screens were switched on. John rolled his eyes as he read the first line of what looked like a very long essay:
As many readers will know, I was recently awarded the prestigious Sarbola Prize for my groundbreaking work on volcanic planets...

“Loves blowing her own trumpet, doesn’t she?” whispered Kaal in the next seat.

“Still doesn’t know what the biggest continent on Earth is, though,” said Emmie, staring angrily at the back of Graal’s huge head. “Maybe John should get the Sarbola Prize.”

Engine humming, the shuttle lifted off the deck and out through the hangar bay doors. Picking up speed, it swooped once around Hyperspace High and out into space. John tore his eyes away from the star-strewn view outside the window and tried to concentrate on Graal’s article. The “adventure” wasn’t starting too well, but he had to admit that the idea of seeing a whole planet of volcanoes erupting was pretty exciting. It would be another sight no other human would ever witness.
Maybe Lorem was right
, John thought to himself, pulling his knees up and resting the screen against them,
This could still be an amazing adventure.

The shuttle cruised through space, silent apart from the rustling of packed lunch bags, muffled snorts of laughter, and whispered conversations that Graal quickly silenced with a red-eyed glare. For four hours, John struggled through the article. A small part of him wondered why he was bothering when he would soon be back on Earth, trillions of miles away from Doctor Graal.
She’ll probably give a quiz later
, he reminded himself.

“Approaching planet Zirion Beta. Orbit in two minutes,” the shuttle’s computer broke in eventually.

“At last,” breathed Kaal, switching off his ThinScreen and tucking it in a bag at his feet. “I was about to actually die of boredom.”

“I understood the first sentence. After that it might as well have been written in ancient Helvian,” complained Emmie.

Doctor Graal squirmed her way to the front of the shuttle and pointed a tentacle to a small brown and orange ball ahead. “Zirion Beta,” she said with a burp. “By my calculations, there should be just over two hours before the Mega-Eruption begins. Once we have entered orbit, we will pass the time with a quiz on my article before lunch.”

Again, several students groaned.

“Establishing low orbit one hunderd and thirty kilometres above the surface of planet Zirion Beta,” announced the shuttle’s computer.

John looked out the viewing window, realizing he’d been lucky to get a seat on the left side of the craft. The planet’s surface filled the window like a huge model of the alien world. He would be one of the few to have a completely clear view. The windows across the aisle showed only space.

A second later, John wasn’t quite so certain of his luck. Students from the other side of the aisle crammed over for a better view. “Hey! Back off, Werril,” he grunted, as one of the Klopian’s horns jabbed him in the side of the head.

“Sorry, John,” murmured Werril, pulling his head away a little.

John returned his gaze to the viewing window. Below, the planet spun slowly. It was a brown, craggy, threatening place, with no suggestion that life might exist on its surface. Great cracks ran across a rough landscape; vast volcanoes belched smoke that quickly whipped away on high winds. Molten lava was already running down the slopes of many peaks, forming lakes of fire.

“Return to your seats!” shouted Graal. “There will be plenty of time—”

She never finished the sentence. An enormous crash sent the shuttle spinning. Screams and shouts filled the air. Squealing, Doctor Graal tumbled around the craft, along with the students who had released their safety harnesses.

“
Whaaaa
!” shrieked the teacher, as another
thud
set the shuttle whirling in the opposite direction.

“Warning: Asteroid strike. Warning: Asteroid strike,” the computer droned loudly, its alarm blaring.

Eyes wide, John glanced out the window. Outside, space whirled crazily. One second the planet’s surface filled the screen, the next, stars. From the corner of his eye, John caught sight of a football-sized rock spinning towards the craft. Fresh screams filled the shuttle as the asteroid hit with a dull thud, followed by the shriek of breaking metal.

“Autopilot error. Orbit failing. Emergency stabilizers online,” warned the computer. “Abandon shuttle. Abandon shuttle.”

As the jets suddenly stopped roaring, the craft stopped spinning. A hatch hissed opened at the rear. Shooting a quick look out the window while he unfastened his harness, John saw more rocks tumbling towards them. His face paled. Another rock might hit the craft at any moment, and if one of the viewing windows was smashed, everyone inside would be sucked out into space instantly.

“Let me through! Let me
through
!”

John’s head whirled at the sound of the croaking shriek. Doctor Graal was fighting her way along the central aisle, tentacles curling around crying students and thrusting them out of her path. “The escape pod!” she screamed. “We must get to the escape pod! Everyone form a queue behind Mordant.”

Shoving two students out of her path, the teacher squeezed her bulk through the hatch. “I’m trained for these situations,” she babbled. “I’ll just enter the launch code. Everyone line up behind Mordant.”

John frowned. Surely Doctor Graal shouldn’t be boarding the escape pod ahead of her students. The panicking teacher was hardly setting a good example.

Mordant forced himself down the aisle through a mad scuffle. “You heard her!” he screeched. “I’m first. Everyone behind me.”

John could see the Gargon inside the pod, jabbing wildly with her tentacle at a control panel. Instantly, the hatch hissed closed. With a metallic crunch, the pod detached from the shuttle and blasted away to safety.

“Escape pod away,” droned the computer. “Autopilot error. Orbit failing. Collision with planet Zirion Beta in two minutes.”

“She left us!” screamed Queelin Temerate. “Doctor Graal’s left us to
die
.”

“It must have been an accident!” wailed Mordant above the screams. “She would never leave us.”

“Shut up, Talliver! Graal’s gone and we’re going to crash,” spat Lishtig.

There was a flurry of activity in the seat next to John. “Not if I’ve got anything to do with it!” shouted Emmie grimly. “I just need to get to the manual override.”

As she stood up, Mordant lunged forward and pushed her back into her seat. “
No
. Doctor Graal
is
coming back for us!” he screamed into her face. “She’ll be back any second.”

“Graal’s not coming back, you idiot,” grunted Kaal, exploding out of his own seat and flinging Mordant across the aisle.

As Mordant crashed against the window, his droid immediately buzzed over and started straightening his clothes. “If you wish to fight the Derrilian again, sir,” it said, sounding as unflappable as ever, “may I suggest a quick punch to the jaw followed by a flurry of sharp jabs.”

Mordant’s only answer was a sob of anguish.

By now John, too, was on his feet. “Listen!” he bellowed into the screams. “Emmie’s the best pilot here. If anyone can get us down, it’s her. But we have to be calm and let her through.”

His words had the desired effect. Every student clutched at the tiny branch of hope that John was holding out. The screaming died down.

With a grateful glance over her shoulder, Emmie dived for the front of the shuttle, students hurrying out of her path.

“Collision with planet Zirion Beta in ninety seconds,” the ship’s computer announced.

With John close behind, Emmie stabbed at a red button by the shuttle door. A panel slid back at chest height, revealing a small control stick and flight panel. She instantly punched at a panel marked “distress beacon”.

“Need any help?” panted John. Ahead, the planet loomed even larger than before. He tried not to look at the rocky volcanic surface spinning beneath, its gravity pulling the struggling shuttle ever closer.

“No. Just keep them quiet,” Emmie said without looking at him. Her eyes fixed on the large viewing window ahead, Emmie curled her fingers around the control stick while her other hand pressed “emergency manual override”.

The craft shuddered and seemed to threaten to begin spinning again. Yanking at the control stick and cursing under her breath, Emmie fought to stabilize it. “Entering the atmosphere,” she muttered.

As the shuttle bucked and shuddered, the screaming began again. John whirled around. Halfway down the aisle, Kaal was looking after Rantoo, who was moaning and clutching her head. Even from a distance, John could see yellow blood trickling down her face.

“It’s
OK
!” yelled John. “We’ve just hit the planet’s atmosphere, it’s going to get bumpy. Stay calm and we’ll all get through this.”

Behind him Emmie cursed again. This time John heard fear in her voice. “Engine’s hit,” she gasped. “There are only stabilizers. I can’t slow her down.”

The floor beneath John’s feet jumped and heaved. Staggering, he shouted, “Get back in your seats. Strap yourselves in.”

“Impact in sixty seconds,” droned the computer.

“Come on,
come on
!” Emmie shouted. Knowing there was nothing else he could do, John threw himself into the seat Graal had left empty, pulling the harness over his shoulders. The red indicator line on the temperature gauge quivered at the very end of the dial. Ahead of John, Emmie wrestled with the controls, fingers punching at the screen, trying to restart the spaceship’s main engines. “Impact in thirty seconds.”

Steam and smoke streamed past the viewing window. Emmie wrenched desperately at the stick. The shuttle lurched to one side, setting off more screams. John’s fingers clutched, white-knuckled, at the armrests, as the lip of a huge lava-spewing crater swept past within metres of the window.

“Impact in ten seconds.”

A voice was shouting, “
You can do do it, Emmie!
” With a jolt, John realized it was his own.

“I can’t!” she screamed. “We’re going to crash!”

“Brace for impact!” Emmie roared.

The front of the shuttle lifted as the underside hit the planet’s surface with a stomach-wrenching crash. Torn metal and rock spun past John’s window. He gripped the arms of his seat and forced himself to breathe.

The shuttle bounced back into the air. Stabilizer jets screamed.

Emmie punched at the controls desperately as the ground hit the bottom of the shuttle again. This time the craft rolled wildly. John barely heard the screaming behind him; his eyes were fixed on Emmie. With a low shout, she lost her grip and was tossed backward. John grabbed her arm as she fell, pulling her into him. “Hold onto me!” he bellowed in her ear.

In front, the viewing window was now a boiling mass of brown dust as the shuttle ploughed through the surface of Zirion Beta. Barely slowing, it hit a larger rock. There was a loud explosion, then jagged cracks appeared across the window. Emmie tightened her grip around John’s neck and buried her head in his shoulder. With the delicate cut-grass smell of her silver hair in his nostrils, John squeezed his own eyes closed and hung onto her for dear life.

Gouging a long scar into the planet’s surface, the shuttle crashed and rolled across Zirion Beta. As John and Emmie clung to each other, they could hear the screams of their terrified classmates. Gradually – so gradually, it was barely noticable – the shuttle slowed. Using only the stabilizer jets, not designed for emergency landings, Emmie had somehow managed to steer the small craft onto a flat plain. The shuttle finally rolled to a halt.

“You did it, Emmie,” John said as the shuttle exploded into cheers.

“
Brilliant,
Tarz!” shrieked Lishtig, leaning over the back of the seat. “That was
awesome
.”

“Is anyone hurt?” John shouted, releasing Emmie and standing up. “Everyone check the person next to them is OK.”

Quickly, the students took stock. Apart from Rantoo’s gashed head, Kritta’s four black eyes, and a few bruised tentacles, there were no serious injuries. Emmie, meanwhile, ran back up to the shuttle’s control panel for a damage report.

“It’s bad!” she shouted back. “Even the stabilizer jets are gone now. The auxiliary scanners are still functioning, but that’s about it. If they didn’t build these ships to survive pretty much anything, we wouldn’t even have those.”

“Have you checked the scanner for other ships?” asked John, leaning over her.

“Doing that now,” Emmie replied, jabbing at the screen. “No readings from any ships, but I am getting a beacon from a scientific station a few kilometres away.”

She paused and turned back to face the ship with an unexpected grin on her face.

“We’re in luck!” she yelled excitedly. “There’s a Galactic Council science outpost just under four kilometres from here. It’s unmanned, but Council protocol says every post must have an emergency shuttle. We can use it to fly back to Hyperspace High.”

“Don’t be a total fool, Tarz!” screamed a new voice. Tear-stained and deathly pale, Mordant stood. Glaring at her, he spat, “It may have escaped your stupid little head, but the Mega-Eruption is going to start any moment. If we go outside, we’re dead.”

“Uh, I hate to say it, but Mordant’s got a point,” growled Gobi-san-Art. “Aren’t we better off waiting here for help to arrive? At least the shuttle will give us some protection.”

“Thanks for getting us down, Emmie,” said Rantoo through teeth clenched in pain. “But, just to check, you did send out a distress signal, didn’t you?”

Emmie nodded. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, of course I did.”

“Well, then,” said Mordant. “That settles it. Hyperspace High will be sending out a rescue party right now. We’ll stay here until it comes to get us.”

John, meanwhile, had been doing some maths in his head. “Hang on!” he called, holding up his hand. “The shuttle took four hours to get here, and Graal said there was just over two hours until the eruption began. That was about fifteen minutes ago.”

At the mention of Doctor Graal’s name, several students began muttering among themselves.

“She took the escape pod and left us to die,” said Bareon, scowling. “Lorem should let her stay in it for ever.”

“No, she didn’t!” screeched Mordant, sounding half-mad with terror. “It
must
have been an accident. Doctor Graal would
never
—”

“For crying out loud, you really
are
teacher’s pet, aren’t you?” Queelin shouted, the antennae on her head thrashing furiously. “Your precious Doctor Graal was only concerned with saving her own skin.”

Although John agreed, arguing about it wasn’t going to get them back to safety. Shaking his head, he continued, “What I’m saying is, there are just two hours left until the whole planet blows. A rescue mission won’t have time to reach us. Not even the ship itself could change course and get here that quickly.”

“I’m not getting off this shuttle!” yelled Mordant stubbornly. “G-Vez, check again for other ships in the area.”

Emmie looked at him calmly. “There’s nothing. John’s right – if we stay here, we’ll be caught in the Mega-Eruption. If we start walking now, there’s a good chance we’ll make it to the science outpost in time to get off the planet.”

Several students called out their agreement.

“We
can
breathe out there, right?” asked Werril.

Emmie punched a few more panels. “Yes,” she said a few seconds later. “The atmosphere’s got enough oxygen to keep us alive. There are some poisonous gases, too, but we’ll all be able to breathe it for at least a few hours.”

“Don’t listen to her!” Mordant shouted, his voice trembling with rage and fear. “She’s the stupidest girl in school; why would anyone listen to what she says? She’ll get us all killed. We’ll stay here. It’s
safe
on the shuttle.”

Unable to stop himself, John took a step towards the whining boy, fists clenched in rage. “Shut up, Mordant!” he shouted. “You’re a coward, and your cowardice will get us all killed.”

“There’s no way this shuttle will withstand an entire planet erupting around it,” added Emmie loudly. “It’s barely in one piece as it is.”

“They’re lying. Trying to be heroes,” Mordant babbled, desperation in his voice. He looked around the shuttle for support from someone besides G-Vez. “Who put them in charge anyway? We should stay here and wait.”

“I say we go,” Lishtig cut in. “We’re all OK to walk and there’s nothing to carry. At a good pace we can easily cover a kilometre every twenty minutes. That gives us plenty of time.”

“I believe the boy’s calculations are correct,” buzzed G-Vez. “You could all easily—”

“Oh, shut up!” snapped Mordant.

The metal ball hovered silently.

“But what if a rescue party comes and can’t find us?” Gobi asked.

“Lorem will get here on time. He would never let his students get hurt.”

“You don’t
know
they’ll get here in time, Werril. Emmie landed us safely; she can get us off the planet, too.”

Suddenly everyone on the shuttle was shouting at the same time.

“
STOP!
”

There was a note of urgent authority in Kaal’s thunderous shout that brought the shuttle to an immediate hush. Everyone turned to look at the green Derrilian.

Kaal pointed to the viewing window. “Zirion Beta’s already made the decision for us,” he said quietly. “The shuttle’s sinking. We have to get off, and we have to get off
right now
.”

John craned his neck to look through the window. Along the length of the shuttle students gasped as they did the same. Kaal was right. Beneath the shuttle was the surface of a lava lake. Under his feet, he felt a small movement as the craft sank a little further.

For a second John stared through the viewing window, stunned. A second ago they had been safe, at least for the moment. Now they were being sucked down into a pool of deadly molten rock.