Kiera's Moon

Unwilling to see her death, she closed her eyes, never imagining she'd ever be hurtling towards some distant planet in an escape pod booby-trapped to kill her! The strange sound continued for several minutes, and she trembled, trying hard not to think of what happened if she made it unscathed to the planet's surface.

Where the hell was she?

Tears streamed down her face. The frying stopped, and she felt another jolt. Her eyes flew open and she braced herself against the side. The pod dropped fast toward the surface, the sight of the spinning world beneath her sickening. She was pressed against the ceiling despite the gravity controller in the pod.

There was nothing on the red planet, no signs of buildings, no life. At least, nothing she could make out as she spun faster and faster. She closed her eyes, dizzy, then stared at the computer screen, watching her speed increase as her altitude decreased. She'd not yet figured out how to convert their measures of distance to miles. She looked again at the spinning ground, waiting until she was able to make out a rock formation clearly before engaging the thrusters.

The effect slammed her downwards, and the pod spun out of control, head over tail, shaking as it fought gravity.

"C'mon, c'mon," she whispered desperately, her throat burning with acid as she struggled to hold down her stomach.

Of all the things she could be thinking about, she thought only of A'Ran. His face was in her thoughts, and the idea of never seeing him again crushed her as surely as colliding with the planet would. She didn't know what she felt for him, but he was her destiny. She belonged with him. Everything else would work itself out.

The pod stabilized upside down, and she was crammed into half of the pod, unable to move with her hands tied. The ground approach slowed drastically as the pod's thrusters roared but was still too fast for her comfort. She braced herself.

The pod bounced once and slammed into the ground. The computer blinked off, and the pod slid, stopping finally.

Bruised, she blinked as brilliant sunlight pierced the cracked door. Almost unable to believe she'd survived, she stared for a long moment, pushed the door open, and tumbled onto the ground.

She vomited, her head spinning from her trip. The air was dry and hot, as if she were in a sauna. She struggled to draw deep breaths. Sweat broke out on her skin, and she shielded her eyes against the sun before crawling back to the shade of the pod.

The landscape was open and flat, the heat making the ground shimmer.