Chapter : 7
Tittle : Near death experience
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Maya had finally succumbed to exhaustion, leaning back in her acceleration couch in the bridge, a soft blanket draped over her. The dim ambient lighting of the Stardust Drifter cast long shadows across the control panels. The steady hum of the ship was a lullaby after the emotional turmoil of the past day.
Suddenly, she felt a small hand gently shaking her shoulder. "Miss Maya," a small voice whispered, tinged with a childlike wonder. "Miss Maya, look!"
Maya blinked, groggily opening her eyes. Elara was standing beside her, pointing with a small, unsteady finger towards the main viewport.
"What is it, sweetheart?" Maya mumbled, still half-asleep.
Elara's eyes were wide, reflecting a bright light that was steadily growing larger in the darkness of space. "It's... a big star! It's coming closer!" Her tone was one of innocent fascination, like a child pointing out a bright toy.
Maya's sleepiness vanished instantly. She focused on the viewport, and her blood ran cold. It wasn't a star. It was hurtling towards them at an alarming speed, a massive, incandescent rock blazing through the void – a meteor on a direct collision course. The innocent wonder in Elara's voice was a stark contrast to the deadly threat it heralded.
"Eunwoo! In-Guk! Ana! Emergency!" Maya yelled, scrambling upright, adrenaline surging through her veins. The calm of the bridge was shattered by the sudden urgency in her voice.
Alarms blared to life, bathing the bridge in flashing red light. Eunwoo, who had been reviewing sensor data, jolted upright, his eyes widening in horror as he saw the rapidly approaching object on his display.
"Meteoroid! Large! Direct impact trajectory!" he shouted, his fingers flying across the controls.
In-Guk, who had been resting in the crew quarters, rushed onto the bridge, his weapon already half-raised. Ana, at her station, gasped, her face pale with fear.
"Elara... get behind me," Maya said quickly, pulling the small child close, shielding her body with her own.
The meteoroid grew larger with terrifying speed, its fiery surface filling the viewport. The Stardust Drifter, their fragile vessel, was directly in its path, and a collision seemed inevitable. The innocent observation of a child had become their only warning, a heartbeat before potential annihilation.
"Evasive maneuvers!" Maya yelled, her voice strained as she shielded Elara.
"Too late!" Eunwoo shouted back, his fingers flying across the controls, desperately trying to reroute power to the ship's thrusters. "It's too close!"
In-Guk, reacting instantly, rushed to the weapons console. "Charging particle cannons!" The low hum of the charging weapons filled the tense silence, a desperate counterpoint to the roaring approach of the meteoroid.
The meteoroid filled the viewport, a chaotic mass of incandescent rock and fire. Elara whimpered, burying her face in Maya's side. Just as impact seemed imminent, the particle cannons unleashed a blinding burst of energy.
The beam struck the meteoroid dead center. The massive rock shuddered violently, then erupted in a spectacular explosion of light and debris. For a heart-stopping moment, the Stardust Drifter was engulfed in the expanding cloud of shattered fragments.
Alarms shrieked as smaller pieces of rock slammed against the ship's shields, the impacts rocking the vessel violently. The lights flickered erratically.
"Shields holding... barely!" Eunwoo reported, his face pale with exertion.
Then, an even larger chunk of the meteoroid, still glowing fiercely, hurtled past the viewport. It was massive, easily the size of a small transport vehicle. The crew watched in horrified silence as it streaked by, missing the Drifter's outer hull by what seemed like an impossibly small distance – a mere inch. The heat radiating from the passing fragment was palpable, even through the ship's protective layers.
A collective gasp filled the bridge. The near miss had been so close, so incredibly lucky, that it left them momentarily stunned.
Maya held Elara tightly, her heart pounding in her chest. The little girl was trembling, but unharmed.
In-Guk slowly lowered his hand from the weapons console, his breathing ragged. "That... was too close."
Eunwoo slumped back in his seat, wiping sweat from his brow. "We used a significant amount of energy on that shot. Our reserves are even lower now."
Ana, who had been frozen in fear at her station, finally let out a shaky breath. "I... I thought we were done for."
The bridge was a mess of flashing lights and the lingering smell of burnt ozone. They had survived, but the encounter served as a stark reminder of the constant dangers of space and their own precarious situation. Elara's innocent warning had saved them, but their resources were dwindling, and the journey ahead remained fraught with peril.