LETTERS FROM ISCANDAR

"Titan"

Part Two

　

Kodai found himself on the floor staring at the ceiling radar dome in absolute silence. He gradually turned his head to see the rest of his crew on the floor, motionless. Slowly, he sat upright and rubbed his head. Kodai glanced out of the main view port and watched it ice over. The Frost was penetrating the cabin, and he could already see his breath ‘misting’ before him. Kodai knew that there wasn’t much time before they all froze to death.

Kodai could hear the crew begin to come out of their slumber.

"Shinku! Kanzaki! Hishi! … Get up, we don’t have much time."

Kodai slowly rose to his feet, finding his gunnery Officer Hishi Mirimoto with a large gash on across his chest and forehead. Kodai lowered his head, he knew that Hishi was dead.

"We need to get our space suits on." Kodai announced.

The bridge crew could see there was impending danger and began to race to the rear hatchway. The crew filed through and began to descend to a lower deck. Kodai, picked up a small handset from the command console and flipped on a switch.

"Attention, this is the Captain. All crew make way to the central compression room and suit up for non-atmosphere climate. Lend a hand to anyone that needs it, Captain out."

Kodai put down the handset, looked around one last time, and made his way through the rear hatch. After making way through his broken ship, Kodai opened the hatch to the central compression room. Before him stood seven of crew suiting up in their space gear.

"Is this everyone?" Kodai inquired.

The crew looked around at each other, a single voice broke the silence.

"There’s no engine room left … I was up forward when the engine blew."

Kodai looked at his chief Engineer and could see the pain etched into his face.

"Chief Engineer. If you were aft, I would have lost you too …" Kodai reached out and placed his hand on the chief engineer’s shoulder.

Kodai looked at his remaining crew.

"We need survival packs and space gear, everyone get space helmets, rations, and anything else you can carry, we’re going to be here a while.."

The crew began collecting items from the various storage spaces, packing travel bags, and gearing up for the low atmosphere excursion.

The warmth of the craft resting on the frozen surface, had created a small moat of fluid. As the heat of the Yukikaze faded, the fluid liquefied into a smooth surface. It was easy for the crew to make their way outside, following the extensive damage in the lower hull, out through the many breaches made by Gamilas laser fire.

Kodai was first outside, feeling the brisk chill of Titan’s frozen wind. His remaining crew of six followed directly behind him. Kodai scanned the horizon, looking for any hope of shelter. He could see the Yukikaze’s sensor array had been totally destroyed, and that the ship would be covered in a matter of hours.

Kodai took another look at his crew and motioned "We’re heading this way." ... Beginning a march through the snowy tundra.

　

- End Part Two

- Edward Hawkins - 1987