Trapped by Snow: How Could That Happen?

Trapped by Snow:
How Could That Happen?

     Commander Vinna bent over from her seated position and scooped up a handful of snow. Her hand instantly turned from pale brown to light blue. “It’s definitely snow.” She shook the snow out of her hand. Then flexed her finger to get them back to a pale brown.

     Vinna started by looking in The Hole. That’s what they called that part of Control Central because it’s where the two pilots sat. Only they weren’t sitting. They stood neck deep in that snow. Luckily both stood tall or they would both be buried alive. Vinna looked over at a vent above The Hole. Snow still poured out of it. It’s not thick or heavy, but it was steady. “What happened to my Command.”

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     A hand broke through the snow. It made a wide circle to make the hole it came out of bigger. Once big enough Jannus first pulled his other hand out of that hole. Then using both hands he pulled himself out of that hole.

     Once out he started to crawl with what appeared to be broken legs toward a control panel barely above the snow in that room. After reaching it he had to pull himself up again. He leaned against it and scanned that panel with his eyes. Then he pushed a red pulsating button – just before he fell back through the snow again. Getting covered by it a few seconds later.

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     Still staring at that vent Vinna saw that the snow had stopped falling through it. “Thank Pooran it’s almost over.”

     Vinna first glanced down at her two pilots. They didn’t move. Next he looked at Baxon who sat frozen behind Communications. Then at her Head of Security, Gaille, directly behind her. She looked dead from the waist down, but she kept on hitting buttons on her control panel. Finally, Vinna saw who manned the Engine control panel in Control Central - Orrim. “I want to know what’s going on, and I want to know it now.”

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     Snow had reached average head height in that Corridor when it stopped. There were about twenty crewmembers there. Most had their heads barely above snow level. A couple got up to their shoulders out of that snow. Four only had their foreheads in view.

     Crawling on uneven snow Tinni reached out for a forehead only crewmember. She pulled up hard, but it didn’t budge. Two more attempts resulted in the same results. Tinni moved on to the next head.

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     “How many are trapped in the Cargo Bay?” Vinna asked.

     “Around fifty in this part of it.” A male voice sounded loud in Control Central.

     “Are they still alive?” Vinna asked.

     “Most are, but there have been a few who aren’t.” The voice sounded sad.

     “Help them as best you can,” said Vinna. “More help will get to you as fast as they can.”

     “This is a ship wide disaster.” Vinna continued after a few seconds of heavy breathing.

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     Donell stood only knee deep in a layer of snow. He scanned his Engine Room. Spotting one of his crewmember Donell walked with great difficulty over to her. Half of her laid face down in that snow. Donell turned her over. Before he could check her out she coughed up some snow.

     Seeing another crewmember leaning against a control panel Donell headed for him. Donell didn’t touch him though. He could already see he had died. Not from the snow, but from the thousand pinholes sparks that flew out of him. The engines behind him also produced sparks too.

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     “Now that everyone has been heard from we can continue helping with the rescues,” said Vinna. “There has been too much death from whatever is going on here already.”

     Vinna, Baxon, Gaille and Orrim were in The Hole helping to dig out the two pilots trapped there. “I also want to know how this happened too.”

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     “The games and equipment has been pretty much destroyed, but other than that we are okay.” Lannia spoke into a small Voice Box next to the entrance into that room. “We only got it up to our waist in here.”

     “That’s good to hear.” Came the voice of Vinna. “It seems the lower the level the lower amount of snow people had to dig their way out of – if they could do it.”

     “Do you need any help with the rescuing?” Lannia asked. “If so I know I will, and I’m sure a lot of others in here will help you out too.”

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     Vinna didn’t stop digging her pilots out of The Hole as she talked to others. “Most of the crew who can be saved have been, but thanks for your offer to help.”

     “All you need to do is ask and we will be there.” Said another male voice.

     “What I really need right now is to find a way to get rid of all this snow,” said Vinna. “I thought turning on the heat full force now that it’s been fixed, but that would just drown us.”

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     It’s been almost a week since we got rid of all that snow by flushing it out into space via the vents and the Shuttle Bays. Once we all had our Protective Skin we did it. It still almost took a day to do it, and we couldn’t eat, drink or do anything personal during that time. Everyone on board got affected that way.

     I still can’t believe all of this happened because of an accident. A weapon to be used against the black hole we were sent to check out. Only it backfired during testing. The funny part about it the weapons was supposed to create snow.

     We are almost home. Another few days and we will be back on our home planet of Pooran. Vinna thought all of that as she walked down a soggy corridor.

The Word Count, including this line, is 996