Chapter Text
The door to Jonas’ pod violently swings open.
“Duuuuudeeee…” Dondó sings.
“Duuuuuude…” Wuan harmonises with him.
“DUUUUUDE!!” Dondó sings higher.
Jonas rolls over, briefly considering killing everybody on this ship. “WHAAAAAT!?”
“Good news!! Good news!! Good ne-e-ews!!” They sing, crowding around Jonas’ bed.
“Nooow we're finally landing… Now weeeee're finally landing…!”
Wuan grabs Jonas’ arm and pulls him out of bed. He hits his head on the hardwood floor. “FUCK!”
“M1's started scanning for the source of a radio frequency we've received!” Wuan sings sweetly.
Dondó and Wuan interlock their hands and begin to spin around. “Now weeee're finally landing! Now we'reeeee finally landing! Get your stuff together ‘cos now we're finally gonna land!”
“How long?” Jonas deadpans.
“Uh,” Dondó hesitates. “Three hours?”
He sighs.
Jonas hesitantly rises to his feet. Three hours. Just three hours and this will all be over with. Then he can finally go home, and when he gets home he'll have all sorts of national attention… News crews coming to his house to interview him, his entire family will be calling him -- his friends too… The girls will be all over him when he gets back. Maybe even the guys too.
“Dude.” Wuan turns to Dondó. “We should drink alcohol together to celebrate.”
“Bro.” Dondó glances at Wuan. “I kinda don't wanna be drunk for the aliens.”
Wuan stiffens up visibly. “Oh. W-well, um, there's- there's probably not even gonna be any aliens anyway.”
“I'm not risking it.”
Wuan stares at his feet uncomfortably for a moment.
Dondó diverts his attention to the captain. “Jonas, you should go visit everyone else. We barely see you anymore.”
“Yeah, you should leave your pod more often.” Wuan agrees.
“Yeah, Jonas.” Dondó adds for no particular reason.
“...Okay.”
Jonas picks up his glasses from the nightstand and leaves the room.
He steps out into the hallway, pausing momentarily to mentally prepare himself for talking to the others. What should he even say to them? It’s not like he can talk about the weather or something. Maybe he could ask about the mission? It seems like that’s the only thing really worth talking about right now.
Jonas feels something brush up against his leg. He almost screams.
“O-oh. Hi, M1.”
The little robot gazes up at him with big, thoughtful eyes. “Hello, captain.”
Jonas crouches down to M1’s height. He reaches out and gives it a little pat on the head. M1 whirrs happily at the gesture. “Good robot.”
He continues down the hallway and into the foyer. Wuan and Dondó follow closely. He finds Maria and Laurel seated on the couch, appearing to be deep in conversation. Upon noticing his presence, they go silent. Jonas feels like he’s interrupting something important.
He takes a deep breath. “Hey, guys.”
Laurel gives a shy smile. “Hi..”
“Hello, Jonas.” Maria greets. She narrows her eyes, glaring at Dondó. “Oh. And hello to you too, I guess.”
Jonas scratches the back of his neck. He supposes that Maria must still be mad about Dondó calling her a bitch.
Dondó gives an awkward smile, waving slightly.
“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” Jonas wrings his hands.
“No, not at all.” Laurel pats the spot next to her on the couch. “Come take a seat.”
The captain begins to approach the two. He missteps and falls face-first onto the floor in a pathetic display of uncoordination.
Maria gasps. “Are you okay--”
“FINE, THANKS.” Jonas scrabbles to his feet and practically dives for the couch.
Dondó laughs heartily at the action, sitting down next to Maria. Her face scrunches up, and she immediately stands to find a better seat.
“What’d I do…?” He mumbles.
Laurel folds her hands in her lap. “We haven’t seen you in a while, Jonas. Anything specific on your mind?”
He looks at the floor. “Well, um. Wuan said we’ll be landing in a few hours?”
“Yeah. M1 picked up some radio signals coming from Nomis… I think we might actually find life.”
Jonas nods.
“What do you think this means for us?” Laurel asks.
Maria perks up. “What do you mean?”
“Like… we might be the first people to find life on another planet. First contact. That’s a huge responsibility.” She pushes her glasses up her nose nervously. “Making a good impression and all.”
“I’m sure we’ll figure it out.” Maria mumbles, sounding unsure of herself.
“Come on, guys!” Wuan interrupts, leaning back on the couch. “It’ll be fine! Stop being so negative!”
“Yeah! If the aliens give us any trouble, we’ll just shoot them up! Oh yeah! Guns!” Dondó pumps his fist into the air.
Maria rolls her eyes. “Shut up, Dondó.”
Dondó crosses his arms. “You’re just mad I’m right.”
“Oh, stop it, you two.” Laurel scoffs.
The rest of the Betsy II crew continued to converse without Jonas, like they completely forgot he was there. It was humiliating, to say the least. The captain of the ship, the one leading the whole mission… and he can barely even communicate with his own crew. You’d think they’d have picked someone with better social skills to be the captain. If he was any more alienated from them, he’d have to grow a pair of antennas.
Jonas sighs. He looks out one of the windows miserably. A sinking, foreboding feeling had settled deep in his gut. Something horrible was about to happen to them, he was sure of it. Maybe the aliens will kill all of them. Maybe they’ll be locked up in a cell and forced to become lab rats for them. Maybe there’ll just be nothing at all. Maybe M1 picked up one of their own radio signals.
Jonas digs his nails into his arm. He’s overthinking again.
“How about you, Jonas?” Maria questions.
“Uh…”
M1 bursts into the room, its screen glowing an urgent red.
“What is it, M1?” Jonas asks.
“We are set to land in five minutes! All hands on deck!”
Jonas shoots up from his seat and sprints into the control room. The rest of the crew follow alongside him.
The room is dark, the only source of light being the blinking lights on the console. Jonas straps himself into the pilot’s seat and mashes a few buttons.
“Okay. Landing is going to be a bit rough. …You guys should brace yourselves.” He warns, gripping the steering wheel.
The others assume their positions and buckle themselves into their seats. Except for Dondó.
“Dondó, buckle your goddamn seatbelt.” Jonas scolds.
“I don’t need it. I ain’t no pussy.”
“You won’t be saying that when you fly out of your chair and slam against the ceiling.”
“Fine.” He reluctantly buckles himself into his seat.
A countdown appears on the screen of the console. Jonas takes his hands off the steering wheel and crosses his arms against his chest.
30… 29… 28…
The walls begin to shake.
21… 20… 19…
The shaking gets worse. It’s like nothing any of them have ever felt before.
16… 15… 14…
Dondó begins to scream. “AAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!!!!! WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU’RE MAKING IT WORSE!” Maria yells back.
9… 8… 7…
The shaking begins to subside as the ship slows down.
3… 2… 1…
Touchdown!
The crew sits in silence for a moment, taking everything in. They’re really here. They’re really on an alien planet. All of their hard work has finally paid off.
Jonas is the first to move. He unbuckles his seatbelt and rises out of his chair, turning to the rest of his crew. Laurel follows after him. Then Wuan, then Maria, and lastly Dondó.
“Let's get this over with already.” He sighs.
The crew heads out into the foyer, where they are greeted by M1.
“Great job! You landed without any difficulty or error!” It praises. “We knew you were the right people for this mission.” M1 makes a gesture and leads the crew to the airlock.
The door shuts behind them automatically. Jonas wipes his sweaty hands on his jeans before putting on his suit.
It’s off-white decorated with a nice blue, branded with the Space Corps logo, the flag of his country, and four stripes on the wrists. He carefully steps into the suit, making sure not to get any wrinkles in it.
He glances at the rest of his crew. Wuan takes notice and pretends to pull the door switch. He grins, donning his helmet.
The tension in the room is palpable.
“Is everybody ready?”
The others glance around at each other, nodding.
Jonas places his hand on the door switch and pulls.