The Originator: A Science Fiction Short Story by Marc Excly

Author:Marc Excly [Excly, Marc]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-07-31T04:00:00+00:00

You hear

You turn a corner and find it – a single space pod, sleek and compact, nested in a docking bay. Your heart surges, adrenaline flooding your system, dilating your pupils, tightening your muscles. Your body instinctively knows what to do. Your mind knows this is your escape. Your feet, those biomechanical wonders, carry you towards the pod, with nerves firing signals of hope and apprehension to your brain.

Mechanically, the pod is a marvel of ingenuity. With trembling fingers, you run your hands over the controls, your brain processing their function. The launch button pulses under your touch, almost alive. Your cells, reacting to your heightened emotional state, churn out hormones that fuel your body and sharpen your mind. With a deep breath that draws oxygen into your lungs, you press the launch button.

The pod comes alive. The engines thrum powerfully beneath you, a symphony of mechanical energy. The cabin is bathed in the soft glow of status lights, painting your skin in hues of green and blue. Artificial gravity takes hold, your body sinking into the seat as countless forces come into play to maintain your stability. Your heart pounds rhythmically describe the rhythm rather than tell, matching the growing intensity of the engines. A monitor displays the path your craft will take, a trajectory calculated in the microsecond by the onboard AI.

You move. The initial thrust is intense, your body straining against the acceleration. Your muscles, tense and contracted, work to keep you upright. You are propelled upwards, into the unknown. You see it, the red on top of red colored space station you deprived from, shrinking into nothingness.

The vastness of space unfurls before you. It is a sight few have seen, an expanse dotted with billions of distant suns. Your eyes, these delicate biological cameras, capture every photon of the awe-inspiring vista. Internally, your body adjusts to the unfamiliar environment. Your heartbeat synchronizes with the hum of the pod, a reminder of your delicate, yet resilient life amidst the cold, mechanical reality of your surroundings. You see it.

The Earth comes into view, a sapphire and emerald gem against the inky blackness. The sight evokes a feeling of profound longing in you, a tug deep within your cells, an instinctual call to return home. The pod's computer calculates the reentry trajectory, its processors whirring and ticking as it plots your descent.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

As you reenter the Earth's atmosphere, the temperature spikes, the friction heating the exterior of the pod to a fiery red. You can feel the intensity as the heat tries to permeate the hull, but the internal cooling systems work tirelessly to maintain a livable environment. Your sweat glands activate, beads of moisture forming on your skin as your body's own cooling system responds.

Thump. Thump, you hear it again.

Plummeting through the atmosphere, the window filled with streaks of heated air, your heart races. The g-forces press against you, but your body resists, your muscles strain, your skeleton bearing the weight. This is a biological marvel as much as a mechanical one.

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