The Corporate Atmosphere

Chapter 2: The Transport

My fingernails pierce the armrests, silently penetrating the foam. My panic threatens to drag me out of the space-transport, but I keep my logic in control. If I run now, I would be trapped on an uncivilized transport planet, no money, no way out. My only reasonable wish is that the Auto Pilot would take off, the longer I sit the more I want to run, throwing all rationale away.

Finally! The transports lights repeatedly flash indicating takeoff, but just as relief filters in, a more alarming thought enters my mind: How much do these transport companies care if a third class shuttle crashes...and burns...breaking to pieces? I bite my thumb hard, imagination has never been welcome edition to my mind. I press my eyes shut just as the Auto Pilot makes a announcement:

"Thank you--choosing Jablon Space Services--Earth is located--known for a rare atmosphere of oxygen."

I'm not sure if the gaps are from a faulty recording or just an effect of a rushing sound crashing against my panicked ears, but there is one thing I hear clearly:

"Estimated time of arrival is nine hours."

An impossibly long trip...Unbearable shaking comes as the transport breaks away from the light gravity of the planet. If possible, I grip my armrests tighter. The entire ship seems to be breaking apart, simply from the chaos of it all. Several screams come from passengers around me, then silence. After a couple moments my ears adjust and I notice my heavy breathing, my breathing. I look outside, but soon I turn away. Nothing to see, outside the window is a heavy black color. A sigh escapes me, my panic faded, now making a cold dripping feeling of dread clear.

I close my eyes, best just to escape it all. Hours later my eyes shoot open, disorientated by the light, I flounder around before gaining my bearings. The lights overhead have turned on, just as they do before takeoff. The shaking cabin, throwing me around, also indicates an imminent landing. After the rumbling subsides and a rough landing jars the cabin, several metallic bangs echo as each outdated clamp is secured to the transport. Now, I am only moments away from meeting Earth for the first time.