DJ Black in the House

She remembered being on her way back from a particularly long shift at the medi-bay. Dr Keto had been particularly grumpy and she was feeling tired and achy from the long day stood up. When the claxsons started blaring and the rush of people began to carry her away from her quarters, she briefly tried to fight the horde before accepting that it was pointless. She tripped and fell, curling into a ball so that she didn't get trampled. That's when Holly's warnings filtered into her exhausted brain:
"Warning Dudes. Wormhole overload. Lethal Cadmium dose imminent." Jade scrambled to her feet after the crowd had passed, obviously hearing the warning before her.

Her medical kit hung heavy by her side, jolting against her as she ran to the nearest stasis pod. There was a deep rumble in the belly of the ship, she could see the stasis pods only 400 yards away, too far. Tears sprung into her eyes at ther thought of the gruesome death. She flung herself at the pod, sliding the last few yards, hoping that the momentum would propel her faster. The door swooshed shut just as the lethal cadmium blast rocked through the corridor.

Everything went black.

***

"Hey. Hey wake up, are you alive? If not I'm going to need to jetison the pod." The tones of a South Londoner jotled her awake.

"Eh?.. Oh, my head. Yeah Holly, alive. Mild concussion though from the jolt against the wall. Why am I not in Stasis?"

"Yeah, this is an escape pod. Not a stasis pod. You would need to go down a deck to get to stasis."

"Oh no, what about...."

"All dead. Didn't make it." Holly looked remorseful. "But! I can save the few idio... People who made the same mistake as you. I've rigged up these pods to act like Stasis booths with the help of the Scutters. Once I route the power, you'll be out like a light."

"Right then. I'll get comfy." Jade lay down on the bunk in the small pod, and waited. It wasn't long.

***

The pod detached from the ship, with a creaking groan. Holly jettisoning it as he had been unable to open the doors, like so many other pods still with frozen subjects. The crazy AI had got bored or finally remembered that this pod existed and released another crew member.

Slamming into the ceiling isn't a prime way to wake up, but as the pod entered the gravity of the planet and went into freefall, that's what happened. She scrabbled for the trailing lap belt which also 'floated'. Grasping it she pulled herself to the bed and tightened the straps.

"Morrigan help me if I die today." She closed her eyes and the heat of re-entry began to buffet the tiny pod.

***

The tiny burning object entered with a boom as its speed broke the sound barrier before the retro thrusters kicked in. Jay looked up at the sound briefly and grinned at Davie who was backing away from another blue skinned beast.

"Give up now. Or i'll make you regret it." Jay said, a cocky smile on his face. The creature gave a gutteral sound a bit like a laugh and took a clawed swipe at him. "Eh, your loss."

Jay took a wide stance and began waving his arms about.

"What are you doing?!" David asked alarmed, convinced that he'd lost his mind.

"Play along. The EM field will kick in soon. We have to get it to spot us first." Jay whispered, gesturing up to Davie. Several more of the beasts loomed in on the fight before pausing at the sound.

The roar of the retros cut out. The pod having been slowed from terminal speeds began to decend at an angle towards where Jay and Davie were stood. The beasts unaware at the proximity of death from above began to look around confused at the confidence of their prey and the odd noises.

"Now!" Jay yelled, diving as far as he could out of the path of the decending object. It fell with a wet, sliding crunch, coming to a complete stop several hundred yards after the impact point.

Jade emerged from the pod and looked around. The bloody trench in the earth, the trees, the clean air.

"Where am I?"

"Yeah!" Jay whooped and punched the air.

"JAY?! Oh Gosh I've died haven't I? It went wrong and I burned up in re-entry didn't I? Is this the after-life?"

<Tag!>

OOC - Thank you for the help with my intro idea Jay. I couldn't think how to introduce myself. :) If I've got anything wrong please let me know, I'm new to PBEM's. Usually I just write stories to myself or journal entries for the RPG's that I play.