It was the moment.
They knew that they would lose power the moment they slipped through the Androski. Everything would power down, and there’d be no life support.
Once they passed through, Merks and Sam had to be fast. They only had a matter of seconds to power back up and gain control of the ship before the gravity of Planet X pulled at them.
Not that they couldn’t get out, they could, but it would use all their power.
It was a chance they could not take; they needed that power to circle the planet to find a place to land.
Everyone had suited back up, helmets on.
It was time.
“Prepare for shutdown,” Merks said through the crew-only radio system.
“Preparing for shutdown,” Sam repeated.
“On my call once we get through, fire up the engines. I’ll steer us from the pull.”
“Roger that,” Sam replied.
“Officer Pusk, I need a systems check as soon as we are through. Check for damage.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied.
“Freeman and Doc, you’ll head to the back to check on our civilians. Keep them focused. Make sure they’re alright.”
Tucker replied his agreement to the order.
“Here we go,” Merks announced.
The Androski was fully visible and there was no doubt when they went through.
Every electronics system on the ship shut down as streaming lights flashed around them outside.
The ship turned slightly sideways and for fourteen seconds they were floating, out of control.
It was the longest fourteen seconds Tucker ever experienced. His heart raced out of control, he could hear his own breathing. He tried to keep that steady.
Even though Tucker was prepared he wasn’t ready to find themselves facing the big blue planet. It was all encompassing and blocked everything from view.
As they emerged on the other side, Sam was ready. He powered the ship, the lights came on quickly and the controls returned.
“Shit,” Merks said in a calm voice and steered the ship. They tilted even more to the side, and for a moment Tucker thought they were going to hit the planet or get pulled into its gravity.
Merks relied on Sam’s help, and while it seemed like they just skimmed by and missed the planet, Tucker was sure they were farther away than it looked.
“Clear,” Merks said. “That was close.”
“Let’s you know how good Omni’s pilots had to be,” Sam replied.
“Unless they didn’t make it,” Merks said. “They weren’t wearing their helmets when they went through, we know that from transmissions. Fourteen seconds without oxygen. What are the odds they woke up in enough time to do what we just did?”
“It never dawned on me,” Sam said. “I didn’t think it would be this fast. I didn’t think the planet would be right there. It didn’t look it from the probe.”
“Now we know,” Merks said. “At least everyone coming through after us is informed.” He raised his hands to the control. “Alright everyone, you can take off the suits and do the checks.”
Tucker kept his mind on Omni-4.
He hadn’t really thought too much or for too long before that moment about them going through the Androski and what happened when they emerged.
To Tucker they went right to the planet, all well and fine. Just like they were now.
He’d lived and breathed all knowledge about that mission. Followed all the fictional episodes that some production company created and aired. Tucker had watched them so many times they actually seemed real to him. It was a scary prospect and he could only imagine the terror the crew of Omni-4 must have felt. Unlike the Robinson Mission they had no idea they would lose power. They went in blind, passed out. Waking up to see that planet.
Waking up to see just how close, how tight the pull was and how there was very little time to pull out.
All those years, Tucker believed them to be alive. All those years he waited for the day when he would meet them on the Noah.
Unfortunately, Tucker was facing the reality here: Omni-4 had crashed into Planet X, and the chance to meet them…would never come.
ELEVEN
Three of the crew, Merks, Gonk, and Jenny, hovered behind Sam as he pulled up images of the surface below. They came in fast and all Sam could do was organize them in a grid.
Jenny asked, “What are we looking at exactly?”
“Eastern hemisphere,” Sam replied. “That’s what’s below.”
“They’re so dark,” Jenny said.
“It’s night.”
“No kidding.” Jenny lightly backhanded his shoulder.
“We should be back around to the western hemisphere in about fifteen minutes,” Merks said. “We need to figure out where we are landing.”
“We need Tuck, he’s about the closest we have to a geologist,” Sam said.
“I heard my name,” Tucker said upon his entrance into the cabin. “What’s going on?”
“We’re looking at images coming in from down below,” Sam said. “We hope you know what you’re looking at.”
“Nope, haven’t a clue.” Tucker paused. “Just kidding, of course I do. Don’t you?”
“Not really,” Sam replied. “None of us do.”
“How are things in the back?” Merks asked.
“Some air sickness, some nerves. Doc is handling things. Man, can you imagine how they’ll be when they find out we’re actually on Earth again.”
“That kind of shock,” Merks said, “is what we’re trying to avoid. No Statue of Liberty moments for these people. We need to break it to them easy. And we’re looking for a place to land.”
Jenny spoke up. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear we went back millions of years.”
“What makes you know better?” Tucker asked. “Did you see something?”
“Actually…pull up that image again,” Merks instructed Sam.
Sam did. “Looks like a community. Village or something. It’s pretty large, I mean, it’s not small.”
“Can it be that we arrived after the ARC?” Tucker asked. “And that’s one of their communities.”
“It’s possible,” Sam replied.
Gonk pointed to the screen and another image. “This here was Russia, no?”
Tucker just stared at him.
Sam clarified. “It’s the eastern hemisphere, yes.”
“Then it is, what they call…” Gonk said. “Pangea?”
“Huh?” Tucker questioned, then got it. “Oh! No. No no.”
“What do you mean, no?” Sam asked. “It’s all one
