The Descent

Chapter 17 - Disintegration

The young man, barely a teenager, had seen it coming. From the observation deck, he had watched as the transport ship arrived into space through the space portal. The ship was scheduled to take them home, back to their ordinary lives after a relaxing couple of weeks on a space resort. A symbol of the end of their vacation suddenly became a symbol of death as it disintegrated for no apparent reason. A million pieces scattered as the hull of the ship separated, sending chunks of varying sizes in all directions. 

He withdrew his eyes from the telescope and gasped audibly as his hands flew up to his mouth. He froze momentarily as he realized that they would definitely not be going home on time. It wasn't until his eyes found the eyepiece again that he realized that they might not be going back home at all.

At that same moment, the silence of the observation deck was interrupted by alarms and flashing orange lights. A voice urged all passengers to return to their habitation modules and seal them immediately. Then, brace for impact. 

Throughout the resort, where moments earlier, families had walked about, enjoying the entertainment on offer at the resort, chatting about everyday topics while their kids played around them, screams erupted. Hungry passengers, eager to have one final meal before embarking on their journey home, left half-eaten dinners behind as they rushed in random directions, suddenly unsure of where their hab modules were located.

The young man was unable to pull himself from the viewfinder. Mesmerized by the approaching chunk of debris from the ship that was no more, he understood what was about to happen. The space resort they were vacationing on was on a collision course with something big enough to cause significant damage to the station, maybe even cripple it.

It was then that he remembered. His family. He checked his watch reflexively. He was already late for the dinner he had promised his mother he wouldn't miss, a dinner that now would likely not happen at all. He stole one more glance through the viewfinder on the observation deck before he turned and ran and left his discovery behind.

He joined the throng of people moving in different directions in the corridor outside the observation deck. With the hab modules dispersed around the central hub, there were a dozen different directions that the people around him were trying to get to. Like many of them, he knew the route to his hab module by heart yet he was momentarily caught up by the chaos around him and forced to look for the signs on the walls to jog his memory.

Confident of the direction he needed to go, he pushed his way into the river of people that rushed past him, and expertly navigated through the corridors of the resort. He made it past the shopping plaza, the food stations, and the various entertainment centers while the alarms blared and the computerized voice continued to admonish the passengers to make haste.

A sigh of relief escaped his mouth as he saw the entrance to the annex his family's hab belonged to. He was almost there. He relaxed a bit, and let the surrounding crowd carry him forward.  Although danger was imminent, facing it together with his family in just a few made it feel so much less of a challenge, regardless of what happened.

He was about to cross into the annex tunnel when he was suddenly knocked off of his feet. The flailing bodies of other fellow passengers landed on him briefly on their way to the floor. The lights flickered, and he felt a rush of air from the tunnel in front of him. All loose objects suddenly became projectiles that disappeared into the darkness that had been the annex access tunnel. The flashing orange lights were now red, and the audible warning announced a hull breach had occurred. All passengers were instructed to take shelter immediately and follow the emergency protocols.

The young man felt a shiver run down his spine as he struggled to his feet and he fought the tug of the rushing air. He stumbled over to the wall and inched forward, one hand grasping for anything to hold on to, his other hand outstretched towards the darkness where he knew his family's hab module was. With only feet before he would enter the access tunnel, the access door suddenly slid shut and blocked his path. 

He fell backward, landed on his back and knocked his head on the floor. He fought back against the urge to pass out and managed to get to this feet only to find there was nowhere to go. The door was closed. He collapsed on his knees and let out a cry as tears flowed down his cheeks and his hands clawed at the door. They were in there, somewhere, and he had no way to get in, no way to save them. His body shook as he sobbed. He already knew what would only be confirmed days later. 

His family was gone. 

They were dead. 

He was all alone.

~~~

Ok, so this is a bit of a step outside of the story timeline, looking back at Denton's past. I'm not quite sure yet whether this fits really good at this point in the story or whether the point of view even works. Maybe it needs to be first person? I'd love to know what you think. Ultimately, I think this chapter will be completely rewritten, but it felt appropriate to insert with Denton falling asleep in the previous chapter.

Thoughts?