The Protogen Generation

Blind descent

“Yeah…” I responded.

She leaned over to the side of her seat and pulled out a small checklist book.

“Okay uhm, this is practically useless now. Half our systems are damaged and this doesn't tell us squat.”

“What's the good news?” I ask.

“As you said earlier, the heat shield is intact and we do have enough Hydraulic pressure to use our flight surfaces.”

“What about ground control?” I ask, “don't they know anything?”

Avera turns her head back towards me, “We still have no contact with them. If anything, I don't think we will be anytime soon.”

“...all alone.” I murmured to myself.

“Huh?” Asked Avera.

“We are all alone up here. No help from anyone.”

Avera sighs at this, “What we have is a crew of some of the smartest protogens. That's what we have and it's what we must use.”

“In that case, let's defy the odds.”

Avera Nods in agreement. “Let's get to work.”

5 minutes Later; 1 minute until re-entry.

“Is everyone buckled up back there?” Avera asked through the intercom.

“We are good back here,” Garrett replies, “We don't know how much longer Michael has though”.

I swallowed, “alright.”

Shortly after we entered over the dark side of the planet. The interior went dark, only illuminated by various panels and buttons.

“Looks like we are landing in the dark,” Avera said.

Re-entering the atmosphere in the dark isn't normally a problem, but we have no contact with ground control and no choice of where we will be landing.

The EX-5 began its re-entry. Wisps of plasma flew over the windscreen, as we started to rip through air particles. At our current nose up attitude, we wouldn't be able to see or be told where we were going. It was a blind descent.

The craft began to rattle as it encountered more air resistance in the atmosphere.

The wisps of plasma grew larger and darker, turning into large bright orange streaks. It becomes harder to breathe as the G-forces increased.

This phase of descent doesn't last very long, but it was incredibly dangerous and intense.

Please hold together… Please, I thought to myself, let us get down safely.

“How's the wing-” Avera gasped, straining her voice.

“It's staying on,” I replied back to her.

“Good, good.” She said relieved.

A couple minutes went by as we continued to rip through the upper atmosphere. As we slowed down and got lower, the plasma surrounding the EX-5 lessened. This would normally be accompanied by the reestablishing of communication with ground control. Except nobody on board was expecting to hear back from the ground after everything that has happened.

As we left the dangers of hitting the atmosphere and going through the hottest part of re entry, we found ourselves looking at new dangers.

Where are we going to land?

Not only where are we going to land, but how are we going to land in the middle of the night, likely without a runway.

“Where are we?” I asked, turning to Avera.