The crushing weight of the metal debree that lay across my body, cutting into my chest, suffocated me slowly.

I lay, unable to call out as I watch the rescue team help the last of the survivors, so they thought. I try calling, screaming, any noise that would draw them away from the plane and to me, but nothing comes. The air leaves my lungs with each noiseless scream.

The snow shifts below, si...

I can hear the crunch of the snow beneath their feet as they draw nearer. Everyone seems fairly cautious, except for one lad. He seems a bit more optimistic, maybe even oblivious to what he’s stepping into.

In another life I would be bound by duty the strike all these men down on sight, for stepping into a structure so revered by my people. But that life passed away long ago.

The carcass of this...

The first day after the crash felt like an eternity. I can’t tell if the days are getting longer or shorter. I’ve never had this feeling before, that I can feel the smallest shift in my environment.

We are still clearing the snow around the ship and it has been two days since we crashed. You would think a group of highly educated shipmates would be able to get this done efficiently.

Luckily we h...

I heard them above, searching through the debris. They didn’t know yet that I was down in the guts of ship, pinned beneath the hyperdrive, trying to scream out for help. The casing for the hyperdrive had crushed one of my legs, the hot metal slowly cooking my ruined limb. “He-help, please,” I gasped through my bleeding lips, but I knew they couldn’t hear me yet. Galactic Search and Rescue policy d...

Are you kidding me? Damn it John! I told you we were going to need the sprocket wrench. How could you leave it on the tool bench? I even reminded you to put it in the tool crate. It’s the one tool that could help us fix this mess. We are so fired....

The cold bites harder today than usual. Even under my thick layers, I can feel it creeping into my bones as I watch from the ridge. They haven’t seen me yet—I’ve made sure of that. It’s not hard to stay hidden out here, with the blinding snow whipping around like a living thing, obscuring everything more than a few feet away.

From here, the scene below is surreal: a team of people, dressed in bri...

As he looked out the ice stained glass window, he wondered what he could have done differently. He saw all his workers, wearing red uniforms, slaving the day away. If only Mr. Icee Dump, or Ice for short, hadn’t ruined the galactic nation. He set a bunch of wacko laws and in result of the Ice Act in 2095, which restricted the use of fuel to travel at light speed, they were stuck on what Mr. Snow l...

I felt a crushing weight on my chest, like a sorcerer’s cast-iron cauldron impressed on my rib cage. Disoriented in mind and body, I wondered how my survival was even possible. The most I remembered was boarding the plane- had we crashed? Was this all a dream? I forced a painful inhale- but something restricted me- a hitman- I thought- pulling his belt in a noose around my neck. My torso felt lead...

A hand tapped on my shoulder, and I raised one side of my headphones. The heavy noise of whirring machinery cutting into dense metal assaulted my ears with a grating nerve. “They need you up at Sector Five.” My colleague, who had been working with me and other teams to disassemble the mysterious ship that crash-landed hours ago, patted my shoulder. With a heavy sigh, I checked that I was still str...

‘This is clearly a loading/unloading zone mate. I don’t care how far you’ve travelled. This thing is bloody enormous you’ve blocked 5 bays! It’s going to take my lads all afternoon just to clear this snow to get the straps round it.

‘I mean, look at it. You shouldn’t even be bobbing around in that thing mate. Look at all those scratches. It’s a blimmin’ wreck! . You’ve clearly got no idea how to...