A Shipment Gone Array (Part VI)

A Shipment Gone Array (Part VI)

Alex was gripping the seat with white knuckles and the alarm was still going off, I tried to drone it out, focus on the approaching body of blue we were about to crash into. They already had boats assembled on a mid-lake island, a good thing, but I still had to get our nose up.

I could see someone push off from the island, it startled some type of wading bird, because they flew straight at the ship.

“No, no, no, no, no!” I yelled, Alex jumped in his seat, the birds kept a straight course for us. I couldn’t risk our landing on a few birds, I was forced to hit them head on.

Tense seconds followed, the ship jarred slightly, but a loud thunk came afterwards. The right float on the ship blueprint wasn’t glaring red anymore, but the left one was still throbbing a steady red. I got an idea, and Alex started shaking his head as I looked his way.

“No, I’m not getting out of this seat!” He cried, but I just pointed my thumb backwards. After I glared at him, he quickly scrambled back.

“Right there. Now jump, land heavily. You might be able to jar it loose.” I told him, he started jumping frantically, I kept the course but blue began filling up the windows faster and faster. “Hurry!”

He frantically jumped, landing so hard it reverberated up my seat, and finally it was too late for him to keep trying. “It’s hopeless, get back in your seat, we’re officially crash landing.”

“No, I can do this.” He was breathing heavily, and he kept on jumping.

“Get back in your seat before you get killed!” I told him frantically, we were almost over top of the water, steadily descending.

“I can do this!” He grunted with each jump, he didn’t even look up as he jumped three times, clicks sounded with each jump. I couldn’t afford to look back anymore, I had to watch our descent onto the lake.

“Get back in your seat man!” I yelled back at him, we needed to land quickly. A strangled yell reached my ears, one last jump came and then a jar as the float dropped. He rushed upwards, but I had to turn our nose slightly up, making him fall before he could fully get into his seat. He held tight to a bar underneath the seat, I kissed the water with the floats, pulling up slightly and going down again. A faint thud and a grunt was far away as I concentrated on our landing.

I set us down in the water, it was a little shaky and it made my arms vibrate with the force, but I able to get us down. The shore was a ways away, but they had boats, and we were almost to a full stop, starting to bob down into the water.

“We’re good Alex, you can get up now.” I told him as relief washed over me, looking over to where he was laying on the floor. His face was into the floor, but he wasn’t moving, and my relief was frozen into fear. The click as I undid my belt was deafening in the silence, I moved cautiously towards him, expecting him to jump up and scare me like my brothers did.

Only it never came, instead I was greeted by a trickle of blood coming from under his head. I quickly went down onto my knees, I gently moved him until he was on his back. A large bump was on his forehead, and it was his nose that bled, but I still knew it wasn’t good if he was unconscious. I set his head down, moving to the emergency compartment to get the first aid kit. I grabbed the white box, setting it down beside him. I cracked his nose back into place, a low moan escaped him, I clean it and bandaged it up. I looked down at his legs, something was wrong, the right one was off on a small but odd angle.

I prodded his thigh lightly, a bump protruded on it, I could feel the bone was broken. I sighed, he may have been brave and bright, but that didn’t mean he had any luck. His nose and leg were broken, he was unconscious and probably had a concussion, and we were in the middle of a lake. I started to notice I didn’t have much luck either.

“Fabulous, just fabulous.” I said sarcastically, it was one of those older words that wasn’t used anymore. I liked it anyways, it was my own thing to say. I could feel us slightly rock in the water, and that reminded me just where we were. Excitement welled up in me, overflowing into my limbs. I got up and ran to the door, but my hand stopped on the latch.

Should I?

My mind was already made up, I turned the latch sharply and ripped the door open, I was greeted by a spray of water cool against my skin, air that smelled so exotic compared to Ryun’s. I was in the shadowed part of the ship, but the water was still so vibrant with a reflection of the surrounding forest.

It was all so beautiful, I was still taking it all in when I heard voiced, ripples were cascading and distorting the water. People in odd boats came into view, they had the basic motors of the last technological age on Earth, ones that provided quiet both above and below water, but it was nothing compared to many of the newest models that were excelled immensely beyond their ancestors on Earth.

The boats were what caught my eye though, they were made out of organic materials, everything on them was primitive besides the motors. Even then, they used paddles to get to us. The sleek shape of a curved front, meeting at the tips to form a point that sliced through the water, was so quiet in the water I was surprised. Within moments they were starting to board the ship, and I remembered Alex.