Dark Energy by carlsojos

Chapter 36

Just before sunrise, the three of us are woken up and strapped into seats inside the massive machine. Sorry for the early morning, but we want this on the hush-hush if it fails. As the sun peaked over the mountains, something lifts us up, leaving our tin can upright, us looking into the sky. Etirn is rapidly flipping through all the controls. The radio in the front is alive with someone reading through an infinitely long checklist.

Confirming that the area is now cleared. Arm rockets. A big dial starts spinning over Etirn's head, counting from ten...

Nine... Etirn opens a valve, and something starts coursing through some piping under the floor.

Eight... seven... Etirn hits a big button, and I look through the window to see white smoke silently wafting out over the morning desert.

Six... five... Ignition. A roar behind us pierces the silence.

Three... two... Suddenly, we begin to climb upwards, away from the ground. We are airborne, baby! I think there was cheering on the radio, but the world I was now in was filled with chaos, a huge rumble filling my ears and a shaking that's worse than any earthquake threatening to tear me apart. I realize that we are getting so far from the ground, that the sky is turning back to night, despite my being able to see the bright sun in my window. I look over at Ray. He has already filled a large bag with the contents of his breakfast.

L-Light! This isn't what I signed on for!

Etirn doesn't look away from the controls. Just hang on.... The can begins to turn horizontal, and continues to vibrate for several more minutes. Etirn finally hits a button, and it grows quiet inside, with the only noise being a single fan. MECO. I notice a strange sensation, like I'm falling, despite being well attached to my seat. We're exiting the atmosphere now. Go ahead, take off your safety harness. Ray undoes the straps holding him to the seat. He immediately starts floating towards the ceiling of our vessel.

What in the name of Light did you do to us, Etirn?! Ray doesn't seem to be enjoying this new found ability. I laugh, and unbuckle myself. I perform a somersault out of my seat, and land with my feet on the wall. Ray watches me intently, and I jump to the other wall. When my hands make contact, I watch in horror as my skirt keeps going up without me. I reach down to cover myself, and wind up ramming my head into the steel hull. Etirn looks over to see what happened. I give him a dirty look, and he begins laughing when he realized what happened. If I knew this was going to happen, I would've worn trousers!

The radio chimes in before I can spit venom. For your next burn, azimuth zero-four-three, pitch is zero-one-zero positive.

Etirn hits a button, and the ship rotates to face another direction. Confirm 43 degree heading, 10 degrees pitch. Do you have a bank?

Be advised, the airfoils are theoretically ineffective at that altitude. Roll is presumably irrelevant.

Etirn shrugs, and turns the ship upside down out of spite. I am amazed at how beautiful the desert planet looks from here. I play with computers, not air. What's the burn time?

Your current heading will bring you over Uzo. When you are directly over it, fire the engines. Delta time is five-eight seconds. Etirn plays with a small mechanical clock.

A few minutes go by, and Etirn starts the clock as a small island town passes under us. Suddenly, the radio starts up. Please be advised, Astronomy Department is reporting that there is a critical error in your formulae. Dezolis will be over 100,000 miles from your intended intercept. Please abort and prepare for reentry.

Etirn picks up the microphone. I understand. We will not abort. Repeat, not abort.

What?! A second, and the voice of the professor comes on. You are going to become a speck floating in the oceans of infinity! Do not burn!

I will talk to you once I'm at the destination. Pray for us.

No! Don't- Etirn turns off the radio. I nervously glance at Ray; his face appears pale.

Etirn... I fail to grab the right words for the situation.

Ray floats over to Etirn. To be lost forever?

Etirn looks at him, then me. What, you guys forget already? Those folks don't know about Zelan. I've been reading that synopsis on Mahlay's biography, and I do believe that it exists. A loud rumble and a sensation of being pulled towards the rear distracts us for a minute. After it stops, Granted, if that guy and his monkey suit wanted to kill us, this is quite a way to go...

I pick up his sentence, ...But, why would he, when he could've easily killed us south of Krup?

Ray seems to be relaxing again. I don't know. He might be bullshitting us, he might not. I guess we'll know for certain once we reach Zelan or Hell. Whichever comes first. A bit rough, but I have to admire the accuracy of his statement.

I remember, I'm supposed to go over a whole bunch of dumb things, like food rations and how to work the toilet, but I trust you guys to figure it out. It'll take a few days to intercept Zelan. The next few days revolve around sleeping, reading books, and floating around, taking care not to flash the other two. I should've worn trousers.

Next chapter

Join Phantasy Star Cave discord server and hang out with other RPG buffs. It’s free. Let’s beat quarantine boredom together!