[Original: Drabble] "Goddess of the Harvest" [G]
Title: Goddess of the Harvest
Author: Ami Ven
Prompt: (semi-late) birthday present for bobdeloyd (see full prompt under the cut)
Rating: G
Word Count: 600
Summary: When the asteroid Ceres goes rogue, the fate of the world is up to… me.
Note(s): So, this was supposed to be 300 words, but… oops? The prompt was just too cool to fit, and I didn’t even get all of it in there!
(Original Prompt)
Asteroid Ceres, the largest asteroid or dwarf planet in the inner solar system, has moved unexpectedly from its orbit and is on a direct collision course with Earth. The asteroid has been accelerating and has made mid-course corrections and is now believed to be under-control by some unknown intelligence; be it human or other. Calculation predict Ceres should arrive in Earth's vicinity in 36 hours or less if its present speed is maintained. Attempts to approach Ceres has been met with hostile laser fire destroying several ships of the line.
Your mission is to use whatever characters from any timeline, ships, and equipment you have at your disposable to annihilate this threat. The existence of Earth and its 20 billion inhabitants rests in your capable hands....!
Goddess of the Harvest
I watched the asteroid approach, knuckles white on the arms of my acceleration couch. Technically, we were approaching it, but all things are relative in space. Technically, it was also a dwarf planet as well, a thousand kilometers across.
And it was our job to blow it up.
“All set, Doc?” asked Commander Bill Donovan, my only crewmate.
I checked my console again. “Everything is green.”
I wasn’t actually a doctor, just an engineering grad student. My thesis advisor had invented a new kind of weapon and when the asteroid/dwarf planet Ceres had inexplicably begun moving from her orbit, then destroyed the unarmed probe sent to investigate, Dr. Peterson had been called in. He’d have come himself in a heartbeat, he’d said, but he was eighty-three and it wouldn’t have been safe.
Being the second-best expert on the Peterson Cascade Bomb, I had gotten drafted for the mission.
“Three minutes to target range,” said Bill.
“Beginning the start-up sequence,” I replied, then frowned. “This isn’t right.”
“What?”
“It’s drawing way too much power. There must be… I’m going to take a look.”
Our space capsule was tiny, just us and the PCB, but it was still difficult to traverse in zero-G.
“Doc!” yelled Bill. “This thing is connected to the engine!”
“What? That’s not possible!”
Confused, I opened an access panel, and a piece of paper floated out.
I am so sorry, my boy, it read, in Dr. Peterson’s handwriting. But I cannot take any chances of this not succeeding. My device is not strong enough on its own, and there is nothing else that can be done in time. You shall always be remembered.
“He’s sabotaged it,” I breathed.
“What?” said Bill. “Doc?”
I handed him the note.
“Okay,” he said, slowly, evenly. “Okay. But this will work, right?”
I did a few mental calculations. “Yes. I’ll work.”
“Okay,” said Bill again. “Strap in. New plan: we’ll aim our nose at Ceres, add our forward thrust to the-”
“Wait!”
Bill was a Navy pilot, a decorated war hero. He’d already proven that he would die for his country, his planet. And that was exactly why I wasn’t going to let him.
“I helped design the bomb,” I said. “But I also helped design the engines. We built in a failsafe, so that in an emergency, they could be jettisoned.”
“And the bomb is attached to the engines,” said Bill. “So we can jettison the whole thing.”
“Yes.”
“And we’ll survive?”
I hesitated. “Maybe.”
“I’ll take it,” said Bill. “Two minutes left. What do we do?”
It took that entire time to get things set up, then strap back in.
“Ready?” Bill asked.
“No,” I said. “But we’re going anyway.
The data from the earlier probe had been put to good use- I could hear shots hit us, but no alarms went off. Bill brought us in fast, killing the engines and firing off the starboard thrusters to spin us around. With the ship’s tail toward Ceres, I hit the release. The bulkhead between us and the engine hadn’t been made space-worthy and I prayed the ten-second weld job would hold.
“Engine-bomb is away,” said Bill. “Five seconds to detonation.”
I closed my eyes as the shock wave hit. Alarms blared around us, but we were accelerating, fast. I peeked at the readouts- we were riding the wave, like a surfer on the ocean.
“Yahoo!” Bill yelled, grinning wildly.
Ceres was nothing but dust and debris behind us, already being dragged apart by the gravitational fields of the other asteroids.
“We made it,” I gasped.
Bill grinned at me.
THE END
Current Mood:
pleased
Author: Ami Ven
Prompt: (semi-late) birthday present for bobdeloyd (see full prompt under the cut)
Rating: G
Word Count: 600
Summary: When the asteroid Ceres goes rogue, the fate of the world is up to… me.
Note(s): So, this was supposed to be 300 words, but… oops? The prompt was just too cool to fit, and I didn’t even get all of it in there!
(Original Prompt)
Asteroid Ceres, the largest asteroid or dwarf planet in the inner solar system, has moved unexpectedly from its orbit and is on a direct collision course with Earth. The asteroid has been accelerating and has made mid-course corrections and is now believed to be under-control by some unknown intelligence; be it human or other. Calculation predict Ceres should arrive in Earth's vicinity in 36 hours or less if its present speed is maintained. Attempts to approach Ceres has been met with hostile laser fire destroying several ships of the line.
Your mission is to use whatever characters from any timeline, ships, and equipment you have at your disposable to annihilate this threat. The existence of Earth and its 20 billion inhabitants rests in your capable hands....!
Goddess of the Harvest
I watched the asteroid approach, knuckles white on the arms of my acceleration couch. Technically, we were approaching it, but all things are relative in space. Technically, it was also a dwarf planet as well, a thousand kilometers across.
And it was our job to blow it up.
“All set, Doc?” asked Commander Bill Donovan, my only crewmate.
I checked my console again. “Everything is green.”
I wasn’t actually a doctor, just an engineering grad student. My thesis advisor had invented a new kind of weapon and when the asteroid/dwarf planet Ceres had inexplicably begun moving from her orbit, then destroyed the unarmed probe sent to investigate, Dr. Peterson had been called in. He’d have come himself in a heartbeat, he’d said, but he was eighty-three and it wouldn’t have been safe.
Being the second-best expert on the Peterson Cascade Bomb, I had gotten drafted for the mission.
“Three minutes to target range,” said Bill.
“Beginning the start-up sequence,” I replied, then frowned. “This isn’t right.”
“What?”
“It’s drawing way too much power. There must be… I’m going to take a look.”
Our space capsule was tiny, just us and the PCB, but it was still difficult to traverse in zero-G.
“Doc!” yelled Bill. “This thing is connected to the engine!”
“What? That’s not possible!”
Confused, I opened an access panel, and a piece of paper floated out.
I am so sorry, my boy, it read, in Dr. Peterson’s handwriting. But I cannot take any chances of this not succeeding. My device is not strong enough on its own, and there is nothing else that can be done in time. You shall always be remembered.
“He’s sabotaged it,” I breathed.
“What?” said Bill. “Doc?”
I handed him the note.
“Okay,” he said, slowly, evenly. “Okay. But this will work, right?”
I did a few mental calculations. “Yes. I’ll work.”
“Okay,” said Bill again. “Strap in. New plan: we’ll aim our nose at Ceres, add our forward thrust to the-”
“Wait!”
Bill was a Navy pilot, a decorated war hero. He’d already proven that he would die for his country, his planet. And that was exactly why I wasn’t going to let him.
“I helped design the bomb,” I said. “But I also helped design the engines. We built in a failsafe, so that in an emergency, they could be jettisoned.”
“And the bomb is attached to the engines,” said Bill. “So we can jettison the whole thing.”
“Yes.”
“And we’ll survive?”
I hesitated. “Maybe.”
“I’ll take it,” said Bill. “Two minutes left. What do we do?”
It took that entire time to get things set up, then strap back in.
“Ready?” Bill asked.
“No,” I said. “But we’re going anyway.
The data from the earlier probe had been put to good use- I could hear shots hit us, but no alarms went off. Bill brought us in fast, killing the engines and firing off the starboard thrusters to spin us around. With the ship’s tail toward Ceres, I hit the release. The bulkhead between us and the engine hadn’t been made space-worthy and I prayed the ten-second weld job would hold.
“Engine-bomb is away,” said Bill. “Five seconds to detonation.”
I closed my eyes as the shock wave hit. Alarms blared around us, but we were accelerating, fast. I peeked at the readouts- we were riding the wave, like a surfer on the ocean.
“Yahoo!” Bill yelled, grinning wildly.
Ceres was nothing but dust and debris behind us, already being dragged apart by the gravitational fields of the other asteroids.
“We made it,” I gasped.
Bill grinned at me.
THE END
Current Mood:
pleased