First Awakenings

Chapter 1-1

1

“Warning… Oxygen level is currently at two percent,” a soft, feminine voice announced.

“Speak to me, baby,” Ash said in a sexy murmur, his eyes closed and his mind preoccupied with an amazing dream. He was hearing his current lady love’s voice while they were entwined on a beach in Hawaii.

“Commander Haze, oxygen levels are critically low. External environmental readings show atmospheric conditions suitable for human life. I hope they are, otherwise you are toast. Please prepare for capsule opening in one minute… fifty-nine seconds… fifty-eight seconds… fifty-seven seconds….”

Ashton Haze’s eyes popped open. His breathing sped up, loud in the claustrophobic space. He struggled to control it. A cold, clammy sweat coated his dark mocha skin and his left temple ached. Of course a damn good dream like that would turn into a nightmare like this. Almost worse than the words ‘I do’ and ‘I’m pregnant’! …Well… yeah, not quite as bad as that.

The continuing countdown had him frantically searching both his foggy brain and the pod for some way to halt the capsule from opening. He was dead either way, because unless he had miraculously returned to Earth, there was no way the sarcastic nerd from MIT, Erin Wise’s, calculations could be right. He knew everyone had to die sometime, it was just being ejected into space was not the way he would have chosen to go.

“s**t! I’ll take ‘I do’ or ‘I’m… preg…’ – aw hell, just give me a way to stop the top from opening, Erin,” Ash muttered, running his hands along the inside of the capsule. “Think, Haze!! Where in the hell is the control panel switch?”

“Oxygen level is currently at point five. This is Erin Wise from your MIT experiment team. It’s been a pleasure working with you on Project Gliese 581. Aloha, the top is about to open,” Erin’s voice cheerfully quipped.

“No! Cancel! Stop! Don’t pop the top,” Ash ordered, trying to think of a vocal command that would stop his impending death.

His hands shot up, abandoning his attempt to activate the control panel. His fingers splayed across the clear glass of the escape capsule as if attempting to hold it in place. All he could see beyond his hands was an inky blackness dotted with stars.

Ash drew in the last deep breath of air in the capsule. He desperately held onto the life-giving mixture inside his lungs. He wanted to prolong every nano-second of his life. The sound of the locks disengaging along the sides of the capsule echoed around him, sending an uncontrollable shudder through him as if the devil was running his bony fingers across a chalkboard. A second later, the top popped open and rose. Frigid air poured into the climate controlled capsule, wrapping its icy fingers around him. His eyes bulged as he fought the need to release the breath he was holding and draw in more.

Ash’s hands reached up and released the straps holding him down. If he was going to die, he would damn well enjoy the feeling of floating weightless in outer space while he did so. In all honesty, he was surprised that his blood had not already frozen in his veins and that his lungs had not ruptured.

Pulling up into a sitting position, Ash released his death grip on the edges of the capsule… then frowned. He wasn’t floating. It was freezing, but… he experienced worse while skiing in Colorado.

The overly loud sound of his breathing echoed around him. The stream of warm air he exhaled formed a long vapor trail in the cold air around him. Ash drew in a tentative breath, and was surprised at the clean, freshness of it. He shook his head in amazement.

“I’ll be damned! Thank you, MIT and NASA! Erin, my beautiful college nerd, you were right! I swear if you were here now, I’d kiss you,” Ash choked out on a laugh.

He blinked and took a long, assessing look around him. The capsule had landed in a desert about a mile or so from a mountain range. The landscape looked like part of Arizona or West Texas. A shiver ran through him when a stiff breeze swept across the capsule.

“How the hell did I get back to Earth? I didn’t think these things could last that long,” he muttered, twisting to gaze around the other side.

He raised a hand to touch the lump on his temple. It was still there and very tender. His fingers grazed the edge of a long, thin cut. There was no way he could have been unconscious for over a year. These things weren’t designed to function more than a few weeks, if that long. He lifted his gaze to the sky again, and froze. As he drew in a deep, shuddering breath, his stomach clenched in dismay. There were two moons.

“Aw s**t, so much for Texas,” he muttered, running a trembling hand down his face.

* * * *

An hour later, Ash folded the rest of the parachute into the capsule. It was too bulky and heavy for him to carry. He stripped everything else of use from the inside of the capsule.

“First aid kit, thermal blanket, extra coverall, emergency rations, water…,” Ash murmured as he did an inventory.

He carefully packed each item into his lightweight backpack, then pulled a large knife from its nylon sheath, unfolded it, and cut off a two-by-two meter section of the parachute. After refolding the knife, he slid it back into the sheath at his waist and wrapped the section of material around his head, covering his mouth and nose so only his eyes were visible. Almost immediately, he felt some relief from the biting cold.

Ash then grabbed the top of the capsule and pulled it shut. For several long minutes, he stood looking out over the desert. He turned in a slow circle, trying to get a bearing on his location. He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he was on an alien planet.

“I feel like I need to be skipping along a yellow brick road singing ‘I’m off to see the wizard’,” he said with a grimace as he focused on the range of mountains in the distance. “I sure hope to hell the natives are friendly.”