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Phil opened his eyes slowly. His mind was filled with the haze of half
consciousness where he was not sure if he was awake. The muffled background noise
turned into a low, slow, and distant rumbling as his senses came out of the haze. He stood
and stretched. Feeling refreshed he remembered the tasks that lay ahead and was anxious
to get started. Making his way through the halls, he accidentally found the compression
chambers where the accident occurred. Although not on the schedule for today, Phil
decided to get into a wet suit and SCUBA gear to investigate. Just as he was getting into
one of the chambers, there was another low, distant rumbling sound. This one was much
louder, which made him pause.
“Phil…” Corin shouted down the hall from behind.
Phil turned to see her hurrying toward him. From the expression on her face, he
could tell something was not right.
“Is everything alright?” he asked.
“I think we are seeing the first geological changes our research predicted.” Her
voice seemed confident and troubled. “Let’s find director Sapp. We have to warn
everyone on the surface to find shelter.”
They raced through the corridors to the observation deck where Sapp was
monitoring daily training activities. Sapp was not his usual calm self. He was barking
orders and flying from station to station trying to keep on top of the cataclysmic events
unfolding in front of him.
“Director Sapp…” Corin started, “How can I get in contact with the research
center or the emergency department of the government?”
Sapp turned to face them. “We’ve lost contact with the surface.” His expression
was telling. “There’s nothing we can do from here. I’m sure the emergency department is
doing its job. We need to do ours.”
“Where is my team?” Phil asked.
“They’re on board the pyramid craft.” Sapp replied. “We need to get these ships
off the ocean floor before the launch pad in compromised by shifting tectonic plates.”
Sapp pointed towards the maintenance bay doors. “Take the maintenance vehicle down
the tube to the launch pad and prepare for launch. I’m evacuating the station before it
collapses.”
Phil and Corin turned immediate toward the doors and made there way to the
maintenance vehicle. The maintenance tube runs along the floor of the ocean, from the
training sight to the launch facility. It was a clear tube with intermittent support beams.
The vehicle is automated, and floated on a magnetic levitation track that ran the length of
the tube. Half way through their mile long ride, there was a loud rumbling, and cracking
sound.
“That did not sound good”, she said.
“It looks like a small leak had sprung at the seams”, he said, as small quantities of
seawater started spraying into the tube at cracks along the seam.
They reached the launch facility and stepped out of the vehicle into a few inches
of standing water. They pushed the recall button to send the transport back to the training
facility and watched as it rushed out of sight.
“Let’s get into the pyramid craft”, Phil said while going through corridors of the
launch facility. “We’ll wait as long as we can for the others, let’s just be ready to go.”
Corin and Phil made it to their stations at the top of the Earth bound colonization
ship. From their position, they had a view from the edge of the launch pad to the training
facility. The ships where positioned in a zigzag fashion running west to east. The eastern
most part of the launch pad had the maintenance tube connected to it running off into the
distance, ending at the training facility. He could see the tube filling with water. It didn’t
look good for the crew of the training facility.
A loud, grinding noise suddenly shook the ship. Looking out towards the noise,
just past the west end of the launch pad, the fifth ship was gone. Ships three and four
were leaning westward, unable to launch. Ship two fired its thrusters and lurched upward,
cutting through the warming ocean waters.
Phil had the crew prepare for launch and gave the command. The thruster fired.
The ship rumbled, but the density of the water smoothed the accent to the surface. Once
the Ship emerged from the water, the main boosters were engaged and the ship rose
swiftly. The crew was able to get a good view of their surroundings.
The surface was scared with cracks where fault lines had given way to the
pressure from the planets core. Volcanoes were spewing rocks and fine red ash into the
air, while rivers of lava poured out covering large sections of the planet. Ship two was hit
by a fiery chunk of rock from one of the larger volcanoes, and plunged head long back to
the surface of the planet. Ship one rose through the upper atmosphere. Looking back, the
surface of the planet was no longer visible. It had been covered in a fine red dust.
Once the ship was out of danger, the crew entered their stasis chambers and began
the long journey to their new home.