ShareTheBook.com-The Shuttle Saucer Accident

Page 3

Chapter 1 - Going Home

   Jasen and the other passengers began to feel the vibration as a storm of power rumbled below their seats. Then came the noise of vibrating metal on board the ship. Jasen felt himself sink slowly and gently into his seat as the engines started to move the saucer-shaped pod out of its lunar orbit and into open space. The engines would burn for about three minutes, setting the ship in a motion that would carry it toward the earth and Gamma Space Dock.
    The tears no longer floated inside Jennifer's helmet. Instead, they made their way into her hair and ears. She began to sit more comfortably as the feeling of weight returned. She pulled the visor up so she wouldn't feel so closed in.
    Jasen looked over at the puffy-eyed face of the girl and suddenly felt a little ashamed. He could tell that she had been crying and figured he might have been wrong to think what he did without even knowing her.
    Jennifer looked toward Jasen and frowned. "What are you looking at, you @#$%!"
    Jasen turned red at what he'd just been called. "I...." He started to answer, but guessed he was better off not saying anything. He turned to look at the passengers to his left. He hadn't heard many girls talk like that. He felt even more embarrassed now.
    The three-minute burn would end shortly. After the engines shut off, the saucer would start to spin. The passengers would feel as though they were lying on the floor with their feet on the couch, until the seats automatically "sat up." "Down" would be to the outside of the saucer disk's spin. "Please prepare for pod reorientation. Engines will cease in thirty seconds," the compu-voice explained.
    The ten-second countdown began twenty seconds later. " . . . Three! Two! One! Engine stop!" finished the compu-voice. The background sound and vibration suddenly fell silent--or did it? Three fourths of the sound was gone. But some still lingered, troubling Jasen. That wasn't right!
    A second or two later, red lights around the cabin came on signaling everyone to stay seated and buckled in. A warning bell also began to sound and the electronic compu-voice said, "Malfunction in engine fuel unit three." It wasn't an excited voice, but the passengers around Jasen all gasped.

  "What's wrong? What's going on?" Jennifer's voice sounded upset.
    "Not sure," Jasen shot back. "One of the engines isn't working right."
    "I heard that, you moron!" she snapped back.
    Jasen's face flushed again but he tried to remain calm. "Well, one of the engines is still firing. Maybe the hydrogen valve froze." He paused and added, "And my NAME is Jasen Ketch!"