Page 4 of Craving Stardust

The ship shuddered, veering off course in a desperate attempt to avoid the enormous asteroid. As we scraped past it, the ship’s hull screamed and the entire frame groaned as if it was about to give way.

A bank of what looked like mist or fog appeared straight ahead.

“What?” I’d never seen anything like it before. Outer space didn’t have an atmosphere that could support phenomena such as rain, fog, or mist. Was this gas? I punched the dials on the control screen in an attempt to manually change the ship’s course away from it.

With a gut-wrenching lurch, the ship was sucked into the swirling oddity.

Darkness engulfed the ship. Vertigo set in as stars and galaxies blurred together, stretching and twisting as my tiny vessel was hurtled through what felt like a tight passage. A wormhole? That might explain it, though I’d never seen one like this before. Why hadn’t my computer notified me that one was near? I avoided them at all cost.

My guts wrenched sideways as the craft was ejected. It spun toward an unfamiliar blue and green planet.

“Computer, stabilize,” I cried out, gripping my armrests so tight, my hands spasmed.

Metal shrieked and heat drowned the ship as it broke through the outer atmosphere. The ship was coming in at the wrong angle. If I didn’t correct it... I didn’t want to think about that. I’d die and no one would ever know what happened to me.

Only now did I regret not seeking a mate.

“Attempting stabilization,” the computer said with a calmness that evaded me.

The ship shot through clouds, approaching the planet’s surface at too fast a rate, and I took in the blur of blue and green. A small city with buildings below. Then open land with masses in varying shades of green.

With a sickening crunch, my craft streaked across the sky. The ground came up too fast, and from the warnings flashing on the screen, the left wing and engine had sustained damage when it deflected off the asteroid. It was all I could do to control the craft’s descent.

With a jolt, I brought the ship down on a bare stretch of green land speckled with trees of various sizes, though most new growth if my experience on my home planet was anything to go by. My vessel bumped and jarred across the open area, and my teeth snapped together. The spaceship finally came to a halt when the nose crashed into a small hill.

The impact made my bones jar together. The restraints malfunctioned, and I was flung forward, my body slamming into the control panel.

My vision blurred as the ship’s engines went silent.

“Computer… report.” It was all I could do to speak. My right leg ached. I grimaced as I rubbed my lower limb. My uniform had torn, and blood seeped from various wounds, but my leg lay at an odd angle. Broken, most likely.

Stay awake!

If I passed out… I didn’t want to think of what might happen then. I didn’t know where I was or if this world supported species who were friendly or who’d be eager to capture me. The latter was much too common through the galaxies.

“Assessment of ship damage underway,” the computer said. “Location unknown.”

Yeah, I knew that. “Where are we?” I barked.

“Location unknown.”

I shifted, trying to get up. I needed to secure the ship. I needed a weapon.

Agony shot up my leg, and I crashed onto the floor, smacking my head against the hard tile.

My mind slipped away…

I woke to the hatch opening overhead and the stairs unfolding in a sky as inky as the blood of a blukmire back home.

“Computer,” I cried out.

My mind swam, and I struggled to remain conscious. If I passed out again…

What was I going to ask? I couldn’t remember. Something about securing…something. Weapons?

The damp smell of soil and vegetation filled my senses. At least I could breathe on this world.

I tried to open my eyes but they felt sealed shut. Finally, I pried them open and wrenched my body up into a sitting position. Flames licked up my leg, and blackness clouded my vision. I tipped my head back against the control panel, and when I opened my eyes next, I took in vegetation spiking around me, both short and tall. All kinds of green, so different from my home planet’s blue.

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