Jace Winzor's Last Flight
JACE WINZOR'S LAST FLIGHT
By. H. Horsie
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A loud gust of air puffs out of the exaust vents of the space ship as it settles down after a rather abrupt landing. I unbuckle my seat belt and head into the back to start assessing the damage that I have taken. Hi, my name is Jace Winzor and I am a freelance pilot. I was escorting a small freighter to the Ford system when we got ambushed by group of pirates. The freighter's owers must not of been up front with me about what they were transporting because what ever they had on that ship was very valuable to the pirates. They ambushed us just as we finished the jump from Ceres IV with 5 small fighters and a cruiser. I was able to dispatch the 5 fighters with minimal damage but I took some heavy hits from the cruiser. I was forced to crash land on the closest planet; a heaping ball of ice and rock. I managed to land in the middle of open land with hardly any sensors or with the rest of my systems in shambles.
As I head back into the engine compartment and I wave away the smoke from my face, I hoped that the freighter that hired me on this stupid mission had been distroyed or the pilots held captive and tortured or something that would make them even for 1, lieing to me, and 2 nearly getting my ship blown up.
"Man... there is a lot of damage. SHIT!" I kicked the side of the wall frustration. I headed back to the cock pit and started to shut down the systems except life support. Luckly, that wasn't too damaged. I grabbed my tool belt and started to get to work. I was able to get sensors back up and part of the shield generator working too before I ran into a big hickup. The core manifold had been cracked and was leaking. I managed to weld the crack shut, but it had lost too much materia for me to even get off the ground, so I needed to go find some out on the surface. Never something I liked doing.
I went and sat down in my pilots chair and started to do a sensor sweep to see if there even was any materia out on this frozen rock of a planet. It was going to take a while with all the interference of the snow and ice, so I grabbed some rations and munched a little as I waited. The counsol beeped and I started to scan over the findings. Luckly there was some on the planet, but it looked like the nearest deposit was 12 kilometers out, due south.
"Great.... I hate the cold..." I said to myself as I looked over the charts one more time to see if I missed anything. I didn't need much, but the closest patch still was 12K out. I huffed and finished off my rations, knowing i'd probably need the energy before I headed into the back to put on my surface suit. I thanked myself for buying such a nice one with the money I got from the last job I did. My previous one was a little wore out to say the least. All set, I grabbed up the mining case and opend the door to the outside.
A large gust of air blasted into the cabin as the door opened, nearly knocking me down. I sighed, knowing that this was going to be a long, loooong trek. I stepped down the ramp and out into the snow. The door closed behind me automatically. The rather nice computer voice from inside my suit told me which way to head. I followed.
Luckly the snow wasnt too deep. In fact, it was pretty hard on the top from all the heavy wind and frozen tempretures. It took me nearly 2 hours to get to the deposit and another 20 minutes to set up the equipment. I usually worked faster, but the weather surely wasn't helping at all. The machine went to work, drilling into the surface while I paced around, keeping an eye out and keeping my blood flowing. I set the parameters for the instrument to stop a little over what I needed to get off this god forsaken planet. It finished just as the sun started to set in east. I knew I was going to have to move quickly because, i knew just from commen sence that I didn't want to be out on the surface after night fall.
I threw the parts together in the box and hurried back to my ship. My suit navi-guide kept me informed on how much farther I had to go.
"Three point four kilometers until final destination. Estimated arrival time at current speed will be 37 minutes and 21 seconds."
I started to get my hopes up. "Not too much farther now... okay..." I was huffing for breath as I hurried back with the now heavy materia case strapped to my back. After about ten minutes of walking, my navi-guide beeped a warning.
"Warning! Warning! Proxcimity alert. Warning! Warning!"
My heart sank. "From which direction!?" I shouted at the navi guide.
"178 degrees from your current direction. 489 meters and closing."
"Shit!" I said as I started to run. I looked back over my shoulder and couldn't see a thing. The wind just had to pick up at that point to hide what ever was following me. I could be nothing, but I wasn't going to take that risk. I ran as hard as I could, but the thing behind me kept closing. What ever it was, it was either big or fast, or even worse.... both.
"228 meters and closing..."
I figured I could see it by now and glanced over my shoulder. That was something I shouldn't of done because behind me was this massive thing on two legs running right at me. It screamed, its mouth opening up in four jaws almost like a squids. I didn't even have time to curse as I was now running for my life. I hit the quick release to the materia pack and it fell behind me. The relief of weight felt so good and my speed increased.
"147 meters and closing..."
"SHUT UP!! I KNOW!!" I yelled at the computer. My heart was racing as hard as I ever felt it. My lungs started to burn with exaustion and my legs felt like led weights in this cold wind. I then looked up and to my near right was my ship, maybe three or four hundred meters away. Maybe I could make it, I hoped.
"Computer! Open the door!" I shouted between breaths.
"Cannot comply... ship out of range..." It stated back camly.
"Fuck!" I ran harder and harder, as fast as I could go. Suddenly, there was an explosion of snow and ice to my right. The damn beast had jumped and and cut me off from my ship. I skidded to a stop and jumped out of the way just in time as what I guess would be its tongue lashed out at me. I ran off again, trying to circle around, but it was right on my tail; screaming and charging after me.
Next thing I felt was something wrapping around my ankle, causing me to fall face forward in the snow. I rolled onto my back and looked at what it was. I yelped as I saw the massive beast about 12 yards away from me, mouth spread wide open as its long narrow tongue stretched all the way out and wrapped around my ankle. I think my heart actually stopped beating. The tongue pulled me a couple feet back towards the mouth. I frantically tried to grab, pull, snag anything on the ground to stop me, but there was nothing; just hard ice. Another pull and I was about 8 or 9 yards away now. I looked in horror at the mouth that was trying to eat me. The four jaws were spread open, revieling the red flesh and rippling muscle contracing and pulling me into a small circular opening where the tongue was coming out of. Each pull brought me closer and closer and it seemed not matter what I did, it kept pulling me in. I reached down and in a panic tried to unwrap the end of the tongue around my ankle but it's grip was like steel and it was slippery like greese. It screamed again, forcing me to look up right into its mouth. The wriggling sphincter was only a couple feet away from my legs now.
The beast lurched its head back as it pulled my legs up into it's mouth. The jaws clamped down and I screamed in pain. My legs didnt break, but it hurt like hell. I kicked and flailed around, beat my fists down on its head, but I couldn't budge the jaws. I felt my feet sink into something squishy and I could only assume it was its throat. A second later, raised it head up and opend its mouth. I slid down into its mouth. I screamed again. I tried desperatly to grab onto something in its mouth. A tooth or something to stop me but it was all too slippery. I had sunk up to my waist in the creatures throat and I pushed against the tight ring of muscle around my body. I couldn't believe how strong it was. Like a squishy vice, it held me firm. Right then, the jaws snapped shut, breaking my face shield in my helmet. I was met with a pungent blast of fowl smelling breath, making me gag. Another lurch of the creatures head backwards and most of the rest of my body sank into its throat.
Only my wrists and hands were hanging outside of the creature esophogus. It swallowed faster now, quick gulps forcing my body into its belly. It was mostly dark except for a little hint of pink light through its flesh from the outside. I felt my body sink down into the stomach, the heavy folds of flesh draping over my body as I was forced into the tight confinements. I could move but not much. The air was breathable, but it felt like someone had a pillow over my face, except for this pillow was slimey and thick. I felt my body start to slide around as the creature started to walk; a gentle sway back and forth as it stepped. I tried to move again, not giving up and hopeing that I can try to force it to throw me up.
I twisted and turned, but nothing seemed to work. I heard the creature chatter something like a moan, but one of pleasure. It was enjoying my struggling. Minutes seemed to pass like hours and I started to get light headed from the lack of oxigine. I fought to stay away. I don't know why. My muscles started to get stiff and hard to move, my head was starting to spin, and I could feel myself start to pass out. Then, I blinked for the last time as I slipped unconcious. My body was slowly eaten away by the stomach and was I never heard of again.
THE END
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