Chapter Text
Heavy footsteps thundered against the metal ground as alarms blared. Red lights bathed my vision as I got closer to the escape spacecraft. I could hear the others of my species yelling for me to stop, but I drowned them out with the pounding of my heart.
I was well known on my planet, but not for the greatest reasons. It’s not like I tried to disobey their overbearing rules, but I just didn’t understand how everyone else seemed to remember them all! Just yesterday, I believed that I was doing nothing wrong, but it turns out that I was breaking ten of their dumb rules. That’s when I decided I should escape this God-forsaken planet.
Unfortunately, Spacecrafts were one of the many things that I had never dared to learn. They had so many buttons, yet only some would actually help me to escape. I kept telling myself that I would learn before I attempted to run away, but I procrastinated so much that there was no time.
As I ran into the spacecraft, I slammed the door shut and locked it. Fists pounded against it as I sighed. Now I just needed to figure out how to fly this darned thing before they broke in or manually unlocked it. The lights of the spacecraft flickered to life, filling the room with a quiet, high-pitched whine.
I slowly made my way towards the cockpit, breathing heavily as sweat dripped down my forehead. As I sat down, a small hologram appeared in front of me.
“WELCOME ABOARD. WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRAVEL TODAY?” It said in a robotic voice.
“The furthest planet from here that supports my species,” I replied, still slightly out of breath.
“ONE PLANET FOUND: EARTH. IS THIS THE DESIRED LOCATION?”
There was a loud creaking noise as the voices on the other side of the door got louder. They were almost breaking in.
“Yes! Yes!” I yelled, “Go now! Quick!”
“STARTING JOURNEY…”
Before I knew it, the spacecraft sped into the deep darkness of space, presumably towards whatever planet the hologram had mentioned. I looked towards my planet behind me as it shrunk into the darkness. It was just a miniscule circle amongst a void of distant stars and other planets. It looked… beautiful… in a way, at least.
After a while of travelling, a planet slowly came into view ahead of me. It was covered in lush greens and deep blues. On the half that was hidden from its respective star, there were small specks of light. It was even more wonderful than I had imagined.
“NOW APPROACHING PLANET: EARTH. I HOPE YOU ENJOYED YOUR FLIGHT. AUTOPILOT: OFF.”
So this is “EARTH”. What a magnificent name for a magnificent planet- wait. Autopilot turned off. My eyes widened as I looked back at the hologram, seeing it was gone.
“No! Uhmm… Autopilot on? Autopilot?!” I stammered, “Autopilot! Turn back on!”
The spacecraft continued to grow closer to the planet while the hologram refused to turn back on. I pressed a few buttons, hoping one of them was for the autopilot. Red lights flashed and filled the spaceship as warnings popped up from every angle. I tried fixing them, but with every warning gone, five more would appear.
The lush green of the planet gradually got more defined as the spacecraft approached. Large trees covered the land, small bushes, rocks, and sticks paving the ground beneath. I slammed my head onto the control panel. I had gotten so far. Now I was going to die on some alien planet. The hologram flickered back to life.
“CRASH IMMINENT. AUTOPILOT: NOT AVAILABLE. EJECT: POSSIBLE. PROCEED?”
“Yes!” I smiled, lifting my head up. Maybe I would survive after all! Maybe I would get to live on this amazing and beautiful planet where none of the old rules could choose what I could and couldn't do!
“EJECTING IN: 3.”
The planet continued to grow closer, the red lights seemingly dimming. I was too overjoyed to notice anyway.
“2.”
The hatch above me opened, and I could feel the fresh air of the planet rushing in. It smelled of nothing I’d ever smelled before. I couldn’t even describe it, but it was just as heavenly as the planet looked.
“1.”
Even if I didn’t survive this, at least I had gotten the freedom that I felt I deserved.
“0. EJECTING…”