Not as bad on time as I have been, but still a little on the later side. Okay, let’s see if I can ACTUALLY stick to 10-15 minutes and not get lost in the writing this time.
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Prompt: One person meets a stranger on a mode of transportation. Write the story that ensues.
Genre: Science Fiction
Source: 105 Creative Writing Prompts to Try Out · PrepScholar
Time Spent: 30 minutes
Word Count: 1065
Prompt: One person meets a stranger on a mode of transportation. Write the story that ensues.
I shuffled along the line to get into the shuttle, crammed shoulder to shoulder with my fellow passengers, and waiting as the ticket agent, seemingly in no rush to scan our tickets, even though there were several hundred of us waiting. My bag was starting to dig into my shoulders, I had overloaded it as always, but with the cost of checked baggage only ever going up, it was best to travel with only the carryon if one could. I tried to ignore the various small jostles of those around me as we inched forward and take deep breaths to combat the feelings of claustrophobia which I could feel starting to simmer on me. I hated these flights, but there was literally no way to reach my parents where they had retired on Mars.
At last, I got up to the ticket agent, a tired looking man who clearly hoped nothing eventful would happen on his shift, who scanned my ticket and half-heartedly wish me a pleasant flight and motioned me down the gangway. There was a brief moment of finally being able to walk properly, but the shuffle resumed when I reached the shuttle, already humming rhythmically as the core and primary engine warmed up. Jostling around with other, I found the first open space I could, stowed my bag under my seat, and sat in the seat. If there was any advantage in the safety requirements of interplanetary flights, the seats were larger and more comfortable than that of terrestrial aircraft. . .somewhat anyway. The big difference was that, until we reached orbit, we were all on our backs with our feet in the air.
I made sure that I retrieved my anxiety medication and took a dose, had my book and my tablet safely stowed in the seatback pocket for when we reached orbit, and strapped myself in. I scrolled through my phone and paid little attention to those getting on the craft, not even the man of about my age and build who took the seat immediately next to mine.
At last, the shuttle was full, the hatches sealed, and the typical announcements for safety on the trip to Mars. Once this was done, we felt the shudders of the gangways and other tubes and connections unhooking and the rumble of the engines building to full power. Soon, a countdown from 10 was piped over the comm systems. When the countdown reached zero there was a terrific roar of power and everyone aboard felt themselves pressed, hard, down and the sensation of terrific acceleration. Even with improvements in engine design and complex mechanisms to minimize the effects of inertia and g-forces, it was still an unpleasant few minutes until they reached orbit.
The left-off engines disengaged and sub light engines and thrusters sprang to life as the shuttle re-oriented itself and began to point itself in the direction of Mars. I took the tablet out of the pocket in front of me, be careful to loop the strap around my wrist so that the minimal, and sometimes non-existent, gravity in their maneuvers didn’t cause it to spin off across the cabin. My neighbor did the same thing and we exchange a few idle pieces of small talk about jobs and reasons for a trip, but soon are playing games and remaining silent again. The hubbub around us told me that many other pairs of seats were having similar brief interaction. It was probably the anxiety of the liftoff that led many of us to speak at all.
It took about two hours, not a bad time, for the shuttle to line itself up with Mars. There was no announcement of this, but anyone who had traveled interplanetary recognized the building thrum, starting deep and low and rising in strength and pitch, of the ships Jump Engines powering up. THIS was the piece that I hated. I took a deep breath, stowed my tablet and started taking deep breaths to steady myself. The man to my left began to do the same.
Like the lift off, a voice over the come system begins counting down from 10. We did not utter a word to each other, but the man to my left and I, almost instinctively, reached out to each other and held hands. We knew what was coming and we wanted all the comfort we could get. The countdown reached one.
How to describe a Warp Jump? I would describe it as feeling like a great force, much like the liftoff, pressing me hard into the seat behind me, combined with a feeling like all the world has gone into slow motion, and everything in the field of vision seeming to stretch itself out, even the light itself. This long, seemingly infinite moment, turned the head and stomach, and everything else.
At last it was over, and a voice was telling us we had reached orbit of Mars and were beginning landing maneuvers, likely to take a few more hours, Everyone onboard was breathing heavily with some first-timers crying or sobbing or retching from the experience. The man next to me and I continued to grasp each other’s hands for several moments, until we had caught our breath. We did not say anything to each other and I pulled out my book, and he is tablet, and we passed the few hours until landing in silence. The much lower gravity and thinner atmosphere on Mars make the landing a more pleasant experience.
Finally, we are on the ground. The man and I exchanged a few more idle words as we wait permission to debark the shuttle, and then climbed out of our seats, stiffly to be sure, collected our things, and made our way out. That was the last I ever saw of him, this nameless man, although I would occasionally think on who he was and what his life was like, as I did others I had run into in similar situations. Our technical skill and scientific knowledge as a species have come far, but our brains still faced many of these new modes of travel with ancient fears and terrors, thousands of years out of practical benefit. It was reassuring to know, however, that there were still kind people in the world, willing to take the hand of a stranger in those moments, and help each other get through it.
This is another one that I had fun with. Still got a little carried away, but not bad compared to some of mine.
Hope you enjoyed and that you are having a wonderful day and get to do, or experience, something creative.
– Jon
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