I tried so hard to listen to the captain’s orders. The rest of the crew was gone, I was the only person left on the ship. My knowledge of operating any watercraft stopped at steering a jet ski. This ship was a little bigger than a jet ski, and way more complicated. There were too many buttons and levers. And too many of them were rapidly blinking red.

He told me to find a big handle with… something… around it. My eyes scanned every button and switch until I came across a big lever encased in glass. That had to be it. ‘For emergency use only’. This definitely qualified as an emergency. The storm would swallow us whole if I didn’t do something now. I lifted the glass cover and pulled.

The red buttons were no longer blinking. In fact, every light in the room had turned off. My hand shook as I pressed button after button, hoping something would happen. My breath caught in my throat as I realized I messed up. I turned, hurriedly stumbling my way through the dark, but was met with quick footsteps as I reached the hall.

“What have you done?!” the captain shouted, breathless from his sprint. I didn’t need the lights to know the exact expression he was wearing.

“I- I don’t know, I just did what you asked! I pulled the handle!” I gestured toward the panel of buttons and levers, not thinking about the fact that he couldn’t see a foot in front of him.

He huffed angrily. “I said NOT the handle, kid. The button under it! You hit the emergency shut off!”

“But this IS an emergency!” I shouted, tears threatening to sting my windburn. “I thought that’s what you said to do!”

He yanked my arm and dragged me back up to the main deck. I shook him off as the icy sheets of rain stared to pelt me in the face. He slowly ambled to the middle of the deck, seemingly unfazed by the vengeful wind. He stood for what felt like ages, saying nothing, staring. The thick blanket of furious clouds were periodically illuminated by lightning flashes.

I grew restless, shouting “This isn’t ideal weather for stargazing, you know!” I hoped I had camouflaged the urgency in my voice. “Don’t we have to do something, like, right now?”

“There’s nothing to do.” He turned back to me, but his eyes never left the raging tempest. “After the emergency shut off has been activated, it takes several hours for everything to come back on.”

My stomach sank.

“We have minutes.”