******
Quick as a wink, Roderick had Clara's throat between his hands. His hands were hot, sweating, and were gripping her throat. Her sight began blacking around the edges, making it hard for Clara to focus.
"You dirty, little, vixen!" He hissed, "whad'ya going do with that? Stab me?" He laughed sardonically, and pressed harder on her throat.
Her hands opened on her own accord, the dagger clattering to the stone floor, muffled by the cloak. For a second, Roderick pressed harder, evil flaming in his eyes. With a grunt he pushed her away roughly, then bent down for the knife.
Once he had the knife firmly in his hands, he said,"Now. You are going to do exactly as I say. Turn it off without killin' anyone. Clear?"
"Crystal," Clara breathed out, still hugging the wall.
I have to kill him to turn off the Reverser. But how? She asked herself. She didn't have time to muse on how to stop the Reverser, because already, Cannon was being destroyed.
Violent quakes and hazerdous chunks of stone were beginning to fall on them, several feet below ground. Deep rumbling drowned their ears, and dust clouded their eyes. The Reverser was locked in a perpetual state of destruction, and Clara knew it was too late to save the entirety of Cannon. Most of Cannon and it's dwellers would be dead by now, or else dying. The only way to save herself and the survivors would be to leave Cannon.
Clara thought, for just a second, she would leave Roderick behind. But she knew she didn't have a choice really.
"You are going to have to trust me! Cannon has probably already been destroyed! We have to leave now! There is no time to argue!" Clara grabbed Roderick's hand and began pulling him away from the staircase. He pulled his hand away and stopped.
"You vixen! You're trying to lead me too my death, aren't you? Admit it!" He crossed his arms, lightly tapping his foot, as if waiting for her to admit. But he didn't wait long. A large metal box , containing gold, landed on his head in a canopy of dust. The figure of Roderick crumpled slowly and dramatically to the stone floor, leaving Clara alone to escape.
Now that she was alone, the tears came rushing out, as if tired of being cramped up. Wiping tears away, she jogged, stumbled, and crawled through the labyrinth of fallen stones, spilled gold, and slippery surfaces. She was going to a small, sturdy room, the sturdiest in Cannon. If she had any chance of survival, it was there. The rumbling got louder, and just as she dashed through the door, stones, gold, mysterious chests, and other rubble blockaded the door behind her.
The sound of far away rumble kept Clara company as she surveyed the dark room. It was bare, except for metal crates against one wall and a panel of knobs, buttons, and levers on the other. She took a hesitant step forward, then another, and another. She made her way to lever panel, hoping to find a way to turn on the lights.
Instead she found, resting on the panel, a tube that flared out at the end. It had a black sliding panel on it. Clara picked it up and slid the panel up. A beam of light illuminated the room. She dropped it, surprised, but the light stayed on. A moveable light! Meekly she held it up, catching the glint of metal.
She inched towards it and tore of the first crate's lid by using a piece of rubble as a lever. Inside, tucked in cloth, were pieces of machinery. Metal plates, buttons, wires, and bolts littered the bottom of the crate. She moved to the next crate, which was filled with the same content. The next and the next and all the next carried the same thing.
Great! thought Clara I am stranded with metal and machinery but not one drop of water or a way out. She absently fingered a crate's lid. She shown the moveable light onto it and was surprised to find the ancient writing of Cannon's first dwellers.
THE ESTABLISHED ESCAPE ROUTE IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT OF THE REVERSER LOCKING ONTO CANNON. TO ASSEMBLE THE AIR CRAFT, BOLT EVERYTHING TOGETHER BASED ON THE DRAWING BELOW:
Beneath the neat text a picture of the finished aircraft was fading, worn from dust and time. Clara looked at the crates with new found gratefulness. She rushed to them, taking the crate lid with her.
For hours she bolted and tightened, sawed and screwed. The craft's inside held a bunk bed, a table, shelves, and a panel filled with levers, buttons, and wheels. Clara looked back at the crate lid. In the same careful writing a warning was printed below the picture of the craft's frame.
WARNING: FOR THE NEXT STEP, ONLY A LICENSED ENGINEER MAY ATTEMPT THE WIRING PROCESS. DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK. IF NOT DONE PROPERLY, THE AIRCRAFT MAY NOT TAKE OFF OR WILL SELF-DESTRUCT.
Clara groaned. She was definitely not a licensed engineer. Still, she followed the diagram, hooking the red wires to the blue wires and green to the yellow. She cut and snipped, pasted and connected, hoping it was assembled correctly. Finally, the last step read:
TO COMPLETE THE AIRCRAFT, FIND THE RED LEVER AND PULL IT LEFT. THE BLUE WIRE THAT IS REVEALED WILL CONNECT TO THE LEVER. TO START SAFELY, PLUG IN A BLACK WIRE TO THE LEVER AND THE FLIGHT PANEL LOCATED IN THE INSIDE OF THE CRAFT. LEAVE THE ROOM FOR TEN MINUTES FOR THE LAST STEP SO AS TO AVOID ELECTRIC SHOCK. REMOVE ALL METAL OR ELECTRICITY CONDUCTORS FROM THE ROOM. A TRAINED PILOT MAY BE THE ONLY ONE TO FLY THE FINISHED AIRCRAFT, OR ELSE THE AIRCRAFT MAY RESULT IN A CRASH, KILLING ALL ON BOARD WITH THE AUTOMATIC SELF-DESTRUCT FEATURE. TO DISABLE THE SELF-DESTRUCT FEATURE, TAKE OUT THE FOLLOWING:
-ALL GREEN WIRES
-AND ALL PINK WIRE CONNECTORS.
REPLACE THEM WITH THE EXTRA BLACK WIRES AND WIRE CONNECTORS IN THE SHELVES IN THE AIRCRAFT.
Clara began to sweat. She decided to start with the removing the self-destruct feature from the aircraft. Finding all the green wires and pink wire connectors proved to be a difficult task. Clara could not see the time, but she judged it by the rumbling of the Reverser. It had rumbled at least twice before the self-destruct feature was disabled. Why did they put that on it anyways? Did they expect that we all wanted to blow up if we crashed?
She sat back on her heels for a while, pushing back her hair that had escaped from her ponytail with a greasy hand. Clara had to move on to the next step. Already she was parched, partly from lifting the heavy metal plates and bending in in-human positions to fix the wiring.
TO COMPLETE THE AIRCRAFT, FIND THE RED LEVER AND PULL IT LEFT. THE BLUE WIRE THAT IS REVEALED WILL CONNECT TO THE LEVER. TO START SAFELY, PLUG IN A BLACK WIRE TO THE LEVER AND THE FLIGHT PANEL LOCATED IN THE INSIDE OF THE CRAFT.
Easier said than done. She bent over, whispering to herself to fill the silence that she just now noticed.
"Red lever. Red lever. Red lever. Aha! Red lever. Blue wire right here….ugh….go in you stubborn wire! There! Now a black wire…to the flight panel…check. And now connect it to the lever…done. Okay, that seems right…now wait, wrong black wire…why are there so many black wires? Finally. Done!"
She sat back, pleased. She examined the crate lid for further instructions.
TO OPERATE, PRESS THE DESIGNATED BUTTONS.(WE REQUEST YOU STEP OUT OF THE ROOM FOR BEFORE YOU TURN IT ON, TO AVOID ELECTRIC SHOCK.) (Below a diagram of the flight panel showed highlighted buttons.) TO NAVIGATE, USE THE LEVER TO TURN ON AUTO-PILOT. IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT OF AUTO-PILOT FAILING, USE THE WHEEL TO STEER. TURN IT LEFT TO GO LEFT AND RIGHT TO GO RIGHT. WE RE-INSTATE THAT ONLY A TRAINED PILOT MAY OPERATE TO REDUCE RISK OF THE LOSS OF LIVES.
Clara hoped that because she couldn't step out of the room, it would be alright for her to stay in. She closed her eyes and asked her mother, who was somehow watching her, to protect her. She climbed in, pressing the designated buttons, then sat awkwardly as nothing happened. She once a gained repeated the step, but again nothing happened.
She sighed, stepping out and getting on her knees. She rewired some of the wires, then climbed in, once again pressing the highlighted buttons. Slowly, as if it was scared, the aqua lights began blinking on, until the aircraft was fully activated.
Clara climbed back into the seat, looking for the lever that turned on auto-pilot. By a black lever, the careful writing read:
TURN THIS TO THE LEFT FOR OXEGYN MASKS IN CASE OF THE AIRCRAFT'S OXEGYN FAILING.
Another one read:
PULL FOR EMERGENCY BRAKES. WARNING: WHEN USED, SELF-DESTRUCT WILL ACTIVATE IF NOT TURNED OFF. IF TURNED OFF, PASSENGERS WILL BE THROWN FORWARD. PILOT MUST NOT USE IN CASE OF PETTY PROBLEMS.
Petty? She thought. Do they think we are dumb? That's why it's called emergency brakes.
Another said:
THIS LEVER WILL ENABLE AUTO-PILOT. USE AFTER TEN MINUTES OF TURNING ON. TO DISABLE, USE THE LEVER NEXT TO THIS. WHEN ACTIVATED, THE BUTTONS NEEDED TO BE PRESSED WILL BE HIGHLIGHTED. PRESS THEM WHEN COMMANDED.
The lever beside the auto-pilot lever had this written under it:
THIS DISABLES AUTO-PILOT. USE IN EMERGENCY OR WHEN CHANGING COURSE. ONCE YOU PLUG IN THE COURSE INTO THE GPS, THE COURSE CAN NOT BE CHANGED AS A RESULT OF AUTO-LOCK FEATURE. IF YOU MUST CHANGE COURSE, FLIP THE LEVER AND USE THE WHEELS TO STEER.
They really like Auto things. She thought to herself. I wonder why everything is a life or death situation if you turn of auto-whatever. Clara allowed herself a little giggle, which made her feel happier than she had been since a while. Since the Seven Days and the Reverser turned on. It all seemed silly now, like a dream.
And that's when she realized.
" The night that was different…the night the knock didn't come…someone had to have turned off the Reverser. But still most of it was the same. So…the Reverser is either shutting down, or broken. Which explains why I haven't had to keep replaying this night. So…it is breaking, which means…there'll probably be a…huge…explosion. Right. Come along, Pond!* We don't have all day!"
Clara flipped the auto-pilot lever. She vaguely wondered why a trained pilot had to be the one to flip the switch. It's not that hard.
Once she had turned on the aircraft, the doors automatically closed, darkening the room till an aqua screen appeared. It read:
WELCOME TO THE TARDIS INC. AIRCRAFT #56. PLUG IN YOUR DESTINATION INTO THE DALEK INC. GPS. WE HOPE YOU HAVE AN EXCELLENT RIDE.PLEASE FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS AND PREPARE FOR TAKE OFF.
Clara did as they said, plugging in the destination for a place listed number one in tourism: Earth. The engines that she, Clara, Queen of Cannon, had assembled started up. It was bumpy, and she would have been shaken from her seat if the seat belt had not been strapping her in. The writing on the screen was replaced by this:
TO VIEW THE STARS BELONGING TO THE RING'S OF AMELIA, CLICK THE HIGHLIGHTED BUTTON. TO HAVE THEM LABELED CLICK THE BLUE HIGHLIGHTED BUTTON.
She leaned forward and pressed both highlighted buttons. The dark shades magically disappeared, revealing glittering white masses of light. Stars. Clara had never seen one before, but her mother had told her stories of them. Her mother had never seen them, but her grandmother, and the grandmother before her, and all other grandmother's before her had told Clara's mother about them. They're even better than described! She exclaimed to herself.
Labels on the windows appeared, pointing to a star and giving it's name. For hours Clara looked out the window, drinking in the sight before her. Finally, maybe after passing ten or eleven other planets and galaxies, she fell asleep.
She did not notice the silent flashing red lights. Nor did she notice the writing appearing on the windows and the screen:
WARNING: SEVERE ASTEROID STORM COMING TOWARDS TARDIS INC. AIRCRAFT #56! AUTO-PILOT IS BEING DEACTIVATED. YOU MUST STEER THE AIRCRAFT THROUGH THE STORM BEFORE ACTIVATING AUTO-PILOT. ONCE AGAIN, WE REINSTATE THAT ONLY A TRAINED PILOT MAY FLY THE AIRCRAFT.
She slept, better than she had slept since the Reverser turned on. She did not wake up. She did not wake up when the writing changed, and more than one red light was flashing.
WARNING: ASTEROID LOCKED ON TO THE TARDIS INC. AIRCRAFT #56. AUTO-PILOT HAS BEEN DEACTIVATED. PLEASE TAKE OVER THE CONTROLS AND RELEASE THE OXEGYN MASKS AS THE OXEGYN MIGHT FAIL WHEN IMPACTED.
Finally, a countdown began. "9,8,7,6…" The automated voice blared through the aircraft. Clara woke with a jolt. She looked at the screen, horrorstricken.
An asteroid was racing toward the aircraft at full speed. Suddenly, just as the countdown reached "0", the aircraft dived below it, and the asteroid sailed harmlessly past. She breathed a sigh of relief, closing her eyes and thanking her mother for protecting her.
The screen's message changed.
AUTO-PILOT HAS BEEN ACTIVATED ON TARDIS INC. AIRCRAFT #56. DESTINATION IN NINETEEN HOURS AND TWENTY-THREE MINUTES. ENJOY THE REST OF YOUR FLIGHT.
When Clara had read the message, she stood up and started for the controls. As she slid into the seat and began to keep a vigilant watch, a voice spoke from the seat next to her.
"Close call, eh? I don't mean to brag, but since I like to, let me just say: If it weren't for me, you'd be flattened like a pancake under that asteroid. I've never got that saying, "flatter than a pancake." Pancakes are puffy, not flat."
She jerked her head around, so sharply she pulled her neck muscles.
There, perched on the seat in a precarious way, sat a boy, about fifteen years old.
"Hi!" He said, waving at her.
Thank you, gentle reader, for reading. "What was this piece of trash?! And the ending?! You have got to be kidding me, Scarlet!" This could be you right now. I am just going to apologize for this rather unusual ending. I decided that Clara was not yet done with adventures, so I am just gonna pick her back up in Short Story: ??? (No name,plot, anything yet)
Once again, gentle reader, thank you for reading. I have a request, could someone tell me how I did with this story? (Plot, characters, etc.) It was a bit of an experiment…You are my guinea pigs! (That should be a song, "you are my guinea pigs…" Sorry, bit sidetracked there. Moving on.)
Happy Writing!
Scarlet Willow.
Once he had the knife firmly in his hands, he said,"Now. You are going to do exactly as I say. Turn it off without killin' anyone. Clear?"
"Crystal," Clara breathed out, still hugging the wall.
I have to kill him to turn off the Reverser. But how? She asked herself. She didn't have time to muse on how to stop the Reverser, because already, Cannon was being destroyed.
Violent quakes and hazerdous chunks of stone were beginning to fall on them, several feet below ground. Deep rumbling drowned their ears, and dust clouded their eyes. The Reverser was locked in a perpetual state of destruction, and Clara knew it was too late to save the entirety of Cannon. Most of Cannon and it's dwellers would be dead by now, or else dying. The only way to save herself and the survivors would be to leave Cannon.
Clara thought, for just a second, she would leave Roderick behind. But she knew she didn't have a choice really.
"You are going to have to trust me! Cannon has probably already been destroyed! We have to leave now! There is no time to argue!" Clara grabbed Roderick's hand and began pulling him away from the staircase. He pulled his hand away and stopped.
"You vixen! You're trying to lead me too my death, aren't you? Admit it!" He crossed his arms, lightly tapping his foot, as if waiting for her to admit. But he didn't wait long. A large metal box , containing gold, landed on his head in a canopy of dust. The figure of Roderick crumpled slowly and dramatically to the stone floor, leaving Clara alone to escape.
Now that she was alone, the tears came rushing out, as if tired of being cramped up. Wiping tears away, she jogged, stumbled, and crawled through the labyrinth of fallen stones, spilled gold, and slippery surfaces. She was going to a small, sturdy room, the sturdiest in Cannon. If she had any chance of survival, it was there. The rumbling got louder, and just as she dashed through the door, stones, gold, mysterious chests, and other rubble blockaded the door behind her.
The sound of far away rumble kept Clara company as she surveyed the dark room. It was bare, except for metal crates against one wall and a panel of knobs, buttons, and levers on the other. She took a hesitant step forward, then another, and another. She made her way to lever panel, hoping to find a way to turn on the lights.
Instead she found, resting on the panel, a tube that flared out at the end. It had a black sliding panel on it. Clara picked it up and slid the panel up. A beam of light illuminated the room. She dropped it, surprised, but the light stayed on. A moveable light! Meekly she held it up, catching the glint of metal.
She inched towards it and tore of the first crate's lid by using a piece of rubble as a lever. Inside, tucked in cloth, were pieces of machinery. Metal plates, buttons, wires, and bolts littered the bottom of the crate. She moved to the next crate, which was filled with the same content. The next and the next and all the next carried the same thing.
Great! thought Clara I am stranded with metal and machinery but not one drop of water or a way out. She absently fingered a crate's lid. She shown the moveable light onto it and was surprised to find the ancient writing of Cannon's first dwellers.
THE ESTABLISHED ESCAPE ROUTE IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT OF THE REVERSER LOCKING ONTO CANNON. TO ASSEMBLE THE AIR CRAFT, BOLT EVERYTHING TOGETHER BASED ON THE DRAWING BELOW:
Beneath the neat text a picture of the finished aircraft was fading, worn from dust and time. Clara looked at the crates with new found gratefulness. She rushed to them, taking the crate lid with her.
For hours she bolted and tightened, sawed and screwed. The craft's inside held a bunk bed, a table, shelves, and a panel filled with levers, buttons, and wheels. Clara looked back at the crate lid. In the same careful writing a warning was printed below the picture of the craft's frame.
WARNING: FOR THE NEXT STEP, ONLY A LICENSED ENGINEER MAY ATTEMPT THE WIRING PROCESS. DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK. IF NOT DONE PROPERLY, THE AIRCRAFT MAY NOT TAKE OFF OR WILL SELF-DESTRUCT.
Clara groaned. She was definitely not a licensed engineer. Still, she followed the diagram, hooking the red wires to the blue wires and green to the yellow. She cut and snipped, pasted and connected, hoping it was assembled correctly. Finally, the last step read:
TO COMPLETE THE AIRCRAFT, FIND THE RED LEVER AND PULL IT LEFT. THE BLUE WIRE THAT IS REVEALED WILL CONNECT TO THE LEVER. TO START SAFELY, PLUG IN A BLACK WIRE TO THE LEVER AND THE FLIGHT PANEL LOCATED IN THE INSIDE OF THE CRAFT. LEAVE THE ROOM FOR TEN MINUTES FOR THE LAST STEP SO AS TO AVOID ELECTRIC SHOCK. REMOVE ALL METAL OR ELECTRICITY CONDUCTORS FROM THE ROOM. A TRAINED PILOT MAY BE THE ONLY ONE TO FLY THE FINISHED AIRCRAFT, OR ELSE THE AIRCRAFT MAY RESULT IN A CRASH, KILLING ALL ON BOARD WITH THE AUTOMATIC SELF-DESTRUCT FEATURE. TO DISABLE THE SELF-DESTRUCT FEATURE, TAKE OUT THE FOLLOWING:
-ALL GREEN WIRES
-AND ALL PINK WIRE CONNECTORS.
REPLACE THEM WITH THE EXTRA BLACK WIRES AND WIRE CONNECTORS IN THE SHELVES IN THE AIRCRAFT.
Clara began to sweat. She decided to start with the removing the self-destruct feature from the aircraft. Finding all the green wires and pink wire connectors proved to be a difficult task. Clara could not see the time, but she judged it by the rumbling of the Reverser. It had rumbled at least twice before the self-destruct feature was disabled. Why did they put that on it anyways? Did they expect that we all wanted to blow up if we crashed?
She sat back on her heels for a while, pushing back her hair that had escaped from her ponytail with a greasy hand. Clara had to move on to the next step. Already she was parched, partly from lifting the heavy metal plates and bending in in-human positions to fix the wiring.
TO COMPLETE THE AIRCRAFT, FIND THE RED LEVER AND PULL IT LEFT. THE BLUE WIRE THAT IS REVEALED WILL CONNECT TO THE LEVER. TO START SAFELY, PLUG IN A BLACK WIRE TO THE LEVER AND THE FLIGHT PANEL LOCATED IN THE INSIDE OF THE CRAFT.
Easier said than done. She bent over, whispering to herself to fill the silence that she just now noticed.
"Red lever. Red lever. Red lever. Aha! Red lever. Blue wire right here….ugh….go in you stubborn wire! There! Now a black wire…to the flight panel…check. And now connect it to the lever…done. Okay, that seems right…now wait, wrong black wire…why are there so many black wires? Finally. Done!"
She sat back, pleased. She examined the crate lid for further instructions.
TO OPERATE, PRESS THE DESIGNATED BUTTONS.(WE REQUEST YOU STEP OUT OF THE ROOM FOR BEFORE YOU TURN IT ON, TO AVOID ELECTRIC SHOCK.) (Below a diagram of the flight panel showed highlighted buttons.) TO NAVIGATE, USE THE LEVER TO TURN ON AUTO-PILOT. IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT OF AUTO-PILOT FAILING, USE THE WHEEL TO STEER. TURN IT LEFT TO GO LEFT AND RIGHT TO GO RIGHT. WE RE-INSTATE THAT ONLY A TRAINED PILOT MAY OPERATE TO REDUCE RISK OF THE LOSS OF LIVES.
Clara hoped that because she couldn't step out of the room, it would be alright for her to stay in. She closed her eyes and asked her mother, who was somehow watching her, to protect her. She climbed in, pressing the designated buttons, then sat awkwardly as nothing happened. She once a gained repeated the step, but again nothing happened.
She sighed, stepping out and getting on her knees. She rewired some of the wires, then climbed in, once again pressing the highlighted buttons. Slowly, as if it was scared, the aqua lights began blinking on, until the aircraft was fully activated.
Clara climbed back into the seat, looking for the lever that turned on auto-pilot. By a black lever, the careful writing read:
TURN THIS TO THE LEFT FOR OXEGYN MASKS IN CASE OF THE AIRCRAFT'S OXEGYN FAILING.
Another one read:
PULL FOR EMERGENCY BRAKES. WARNING: WHEN USED, SELF-DESTRUCT WILL ACTIVATE IF NOT TURNED OFF. IF TURNED OFF, PASSENGERS WILL BE THROWN FORWARD. PILOT MUST NOT USE IN CASE OF PETTY PROBLEMS.
Petty? She thought. Do they think we are dumb? That's why it's called emergency brakes.
Another said:
THIS LEVER WILL ENABLE AUTO-PILOT. USE AFTER TEN MINUTES OF TURNING ON. TO DISABLE, USE THE LEVER NEXT TO THIS. WHEN ACTIVATED, THE BUTTONS NEEDED TO BE PRESSED WILL BE HIGHLIGHTED. PRESS THEM WHEN COMMANDED.
The lever beside the auto-pilot lever had this written under it:
THIS DISABLES AUTO-PILOT. USE IN EMERGENCY OR WHEN CHANGING COURSE. ONCE YOU PLUG IN THE COURSE INTO THE GPS, THE COURSE CAN NOT BE CHANGED AS A RESULT OF AUTO-LOCK FEATURE. IF YOU MUST CHANGE COURSE, FLIP THE LEVER AND USE THE WHEELS TO STEER.
They really like Auto things. She thought to herself. I wonder why everything is a life or death situation if you turn of auto-whatever. Clara allowed herself a little giggle, which made her feel happier than she had been since a while. Since the Seven Days and the Reverser turned on. It all seemed silly now, like a dream.
And that's when she realized.
" The night that was different…the night the knock didn't come…someone had to have turned off the Reverser. But still most of it was the same. So…the Reverser is either shutting down, or broken. Which explains why I haven't had to keep replaying this night. So…it is breaking, which means…there'll probably be a…huge…explosion. Right. Come along, Pond!* We don't have all day!"
Clara flipped the auto-pilot lever. She vaguely wondered why a trained pilot had to be the one to flip the switch. It's not that hard.
Once she had turned on the aircraft, the doors automatically closed, darkening the room till an aqua screen appeared. It read:
WELCOME TO THE TARDIS INC. AIRCRAFT #56. PLUG IN YOUR DESTINATION INTO THE DALEK INC. GPS. WE HOPE YOU HAVE AN EXCELLENT RIDE.PLEASE FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS AND PREPARE FOR TAKE OFF.
Clara did as they said, plugging in the destination for a place listed number one in tourism: Earth. The engines that she, Clara, Queen of Cannon, had assembled started up. It was bumpy, and she would have been shaken from her seat if the seat belt had not been strapping her in. The writing on the screen was replaced by this:
TO VIEW THE STARS BELONGING TO THE RING'S OF AMELIA, CLICK THE HIGHLIGHTED BUTTON. TO HAVE THEM LABELED CLICK THE BLUE HIGHLIGHTED BUTTON.
She leaned forward and pressed both highlighted buttons. The dark shades magically disappeared, revealing glittering white masses of light. Stars. Clara had never seen one before, but her mother had told her stories of them. Her mother had never seen them, but her grandmother, and the grandmother before her, and all other grandmother's before her had told Clara's mother about them. They're even better than described! She exclaimed to herself.
Labels on the windows appeared, pointing to a star and giving it's name. For hours Clara looked out the window, drinking in the sight before her. Finally, maybe after passing ten or eleven other planets and galaxies, she fell asleep.
She did not notice the silent flashing red lights. Nor did she notice the writing appearing on the windows and the screen:
WARNING: SEVERE ASTEROID STORM COMING TOWARDS TARDIS INC. AIRCRAFT #56! AUTO-PILOT IS BEING DEACTIVATED. YOU MUST STEER THE AIRCRAFT THROUGH THE STORM BEFORE ACTIVATING AUTO-PILOT. ONCE AGAIN, WE REINSTATE THAT ONLY A TRAINED PILOT MAY FLY THE AIRCRAFT.
She slept, better than she had slept since the Reverser turned on. She did not wake up. She did not wake up when the writing changed, and more than one red light was flashing.
WARNING: ASTEROID LOCKED ON TO THE TARDIS INC. AIRCRAFT #56. AUTO-PILOT HAS BEEN DEACTIVATED. PLEASE TAKE OVER THE CONTROLS AND RELEASE THE OXEGYN MASKS AS THE OXEGYN MIGHT FAIL WHEN IMPACTED.
Finally, a countdown began. "9,8,7,6…" The automated voice blared through the aircraft. Clara woke with a jolt. She looked at the screen, horrorstricken.
An asteroid was racing toward the aircraft at full speed. Suddenly, just as the countdown reached "0", the aircraft dived below it, and the asteroid sailed harmlessly past. She breathed a sigh of relief, closing her eyes and thanking her mother for protecting her.
The screen's message changed.
AUTO-PILOT HAS BEEN ACTIVATED ON TARDIS INC. AIRCRAFT #56. DESTINATION IN NINETEEN HOURS AND TWENTY-THREE MINUTES. ENJOY THE REST OF YOUR FLIGHT.
When Clara had read the message, she stood up and started for the controls. As she slid into the seat and began to keep a vigilant watch, a voice spoke from the seat next to her.
"Close call, eh? I don't mean to brag, but since I like to, let me just say: If it weren't for me, you'd be flattened like a pancake under that asteroid. I've never got that saying, "flatter than a pancake." Pancakes are puffy, not flat."
She jerked her head around, so sharply she pulled her neck muscles.
There, perched on the seat in a precarious way, sat a boy, about fifteen years old.
"Hi!" He said, waving at her.
*************
The End!
Once again, gentle reader, thank you for reading. I have a request, could someone tell me how I did with this story? (Plot, characters, etc.) It was a bit of an experiment…You are my guinea pigs! (That should be a song, "you are my guinea pigs…" Sorry, bit sidetracked there. Moving on.)
Happy Writing!
Scarlet Willow.
Hmmm...very creative! I especially liked all those messages from the plane and Clara's responsive frustration. xD Also. The surprise ending...ooohhh!!! What is that I hear? Romance?! Muahaha!
ReplyDeleteOn another note, it seems a tiddly bit bizarre that Roderick wasn't stabbed but was crushed to death. It's a little God-out-of-the-machine, a writing technique where something just MAGICALLY happens to help the protagonist, you get what I mean?
Anyway, I liked it a ton! I can't wait to read the extra bit about that mysterious boy! Heheheheh...
Thank you so much! I was trying to figure out how to wrap it up quickly, so a plane magically appearing was the shortest way to have her escape. :D (At first a plane was already assembled, and she would just "find" it. :D) And yes, I had to have some romance! :)
ReplyDelete