Ceres ONE

Chapter 10: The Final Stretch

(14 Earth days later)

This was it. We would land on Ceres very soon. I kept on anticipating the landing experience on Ceres. I was too afraid that we would die without honor. Or... something like that. I didn't want to lose the people I care about on the transit. Especially, Timmy, I don't know what I'd do without him. I knew that we had a plan how to land on Ceres without colliding with the icy surface on Ceres. Mars was barely out of view and Ceres was coming close. We had spent the last 13 days preparing for this. Every day we would check in with either Owen or Mac to see if there was any information on how we would be able to land without a lander. Ceres ONE wasn't made to land by itself, so with that in mind, our chances of dying were pretty big. But I kept on hoping that this would not be the case. I do not want to die like this without living a full life. I'd rather die of old age than die very young on a crash collision on Ceres. I just... really don't want to die. 


The passengers on the transit were skeptical about landing on Ceres without the lander. They didn't believe we could do it. Some of the passengers had already started writing a will for their family members. The transit wasn't filled with laughter like it did in the beginning of the trip. No, it was full of silence and sadness.

I would be in the control room with Westfall, Jackson, and Timmy. Timmy and I would help monitor the speed and the angle of the transit while it's landing while Captain Westfall and Jackson will be controlling it. 

I walked up there with Timmy close to my side. When I entered the room Captain Westfall and Jackson had the most serious faces I have ever seen on them. Before I went to my seat, I walked over to Jackson and put my hand on his shoulder. He turned over to see me standing, and his eyes got very soft. His put his hand over mine, in reassurance with no words. I didn't want to think about dying without getting the chance to know him better. I slipped my hand from his shoulder and from beneath his hand, and walked to my seat. I hope nothing goes wrong. Timmy and I took our places. On the control board was headsets and speakers attached to them. I put mine on over my head with the headsets covering my ears snug. We hovered over a large panel with radar and trackers. We sat down in our seats, trying to get comfortable for the excursion ahead. I turned around in my seat and smiled at Jackson. He looked the most worried out of all of us. 

Captain Westfall said into the speaker, "Ladies and gentlemen we are preparing for Landing Procedure. Prepare for any impact that may be coming. Be prepared at your stations, help as much as you can." He clicked off and took a deep breath. "Here we go, guys!" He turned back around and faced forward in a sturdy position. 

Ceres was getting larger and larger with every minute. We looked out the big window and I said, "You are able to increase speed, Captain." I could start to feel the sweat forming on my forehead. Is it hot in here? No. No time for jokes. He pushed forward on the handles. Jackson was pushing buttons as Timmy and I were monitoring all the beeps and alarms. 

"Turn 28 degrees to the left." I heard Timmy say through my headset. Jackson took his control and tilted us the right way. We were starting to get a clear view of Ceres. 

"We can go faster, Westfall," I said through my headset. I tried to calm myself down by taking deep breaths. We increased our speed. As we started to increase speed the stars turned into blurs. We were getting closer, "Jackson, increase the velocity," Timmy said. We got so close I could see the craters denting the planet. "Captain, we can increase speed even more," I said.

"Sierra, if we go any faster we will crash instantly without control and we'll all die." 

"Trust me on my intentions," My voice was stern. I looked him in the eyes. He shook his head and turned. 

As we increased speed he yelled, "Prepare for impact!" The transit started to shake with each moment that we increased momentum. We got closer to the space dome and the landing pad where the Ceres ONE lander was supposed to perch upon. We got extremely close to the surface of Ceres. As we all braced for impact on the hard, icy surface, I closed my eyes in fear. Afraid that this was the moment I wouldn't see the light of day again. 

When we impacted the surface of the planet, jolt rocked everyone in the control room. I could hear screams up in the cockpit. I opened my eyes to see dust and rocks hitting and crashing on the transit, damaging its surface. We started to skim across the planet. The habitat of the Ceres was straight ahead. I could see the massive, insulated glass dome.

 "Pull up on thrusters!" I yelled. Jackson started to push more buttons as the screech of the transit slid across the planet. We could feel the pull of the thrusters trying to slow us down. We started to slow down, but only a little. 

"Pull back Captain!" Timmy shouted. He yanked back the controller. We started to spin. This isn't good. "Jackson, turn thrusters 13 degrees to the left and decrease their propulsion," I told him. He nodded and did what I said. The dizziness of spinning around got to me and I had to hold onto my chair even tighter than I was. The lights in the control room started to flicker as everything started to blur in my vision. We slowed down and the haze of the planet cleared. We were too close the habitat to do risk the chance of the thrusters messing this all up. I could feel the sweat dripping down my forehead. Finally, I felt the tip of the transit pointed down as we came to a screeching halt. We skimmed the ground as we barely dinged the edge of the habitat. I fell down from the tug of the stop. My body impacted the floor with a jolt. I groaned, lifting my head up and looked around waiting for something to happen.

"We did it," Jackson said softly. "We did it!" We all jumped up and rejoiced. We were hugging each other, grateful that today wasn't the day that we all died. Captain Westfall went over to the speaker and said, "We have landed on Ceres successfully. Welcome to your new home." He clicked out and we could hear the screams and cheers from around the transit. After I finished hugging Timmy, I turned around to find Jackson waiting for his. I gladly went into his arms, being embraced in his warmth was very comforting. he even lifted me off the ground during the process. He let go of me after what seemed like forever. I smiled broadly and walked out with all of them by my side. Everyone came running in cheering for us. Cooper, Abbie, and Douglass came running towards us. They hugged us each gratefully. "You guys did it! You really did it!" Cooper said. 

"We had your help!" Timmy patted him on the back. Captain Westfall announced that we go get all of our space suits on to walk into the habitat. We all ran and put them on as quickly as possible. We grabbed all of our stuff and headed out. As we lined up and one by one we walked into the habitat. I smiled as I walked in. It was magnificent. It had a large variety of different kinds of houses all over. There was a large body of water, just a simple lake. There were no tides or fish in it obviously. But we were surrounded by a spontaneous glass dome. It was amazing. It was a new home. 

My new life, with my new friends, on a different planet.