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If you are just here to read, skip past the outline.

Outline of this section:

protagonists are waiting on top of one of the sky scrapers in Nova Metropolis
they're having food, potentially cooking it over a camp fire or gas stove or whatever
Jack's watch starts to beep
- that's the alarm he set for roughly the time when moon girl should be entering the atmosphere
They get up and walk to the edge and start observing the sky with binoculars
- after a while, the escape pod becomes visible as its heat shield glows red hot
several minutes pass (ChatGPT says a space shuttle would take about half an hour so let's assume 10 to 15 min
the thing is coming down way too quickly
the rear end of the capsule breaks apart while it's (from their perspective) still far up in the sky
the capsule plummets into the city leaving a crater where it lands and taking down some buildings
- they think they just witnessed a horrible accident
after a moment, a parachute opens in the distance
- it lands between the buildings
In a hunch, one of the protagonists grabs a radio and broadcasts a message asking if the girl is okay
- very noisy but clearly affirmative response
End of story

The group sits around the pot with leftovers on the gas stove, enjoying the view of the skyline from above. They had decided to wait on top of one of the tallest sky scrapers the city had to offer to increase their odds of seeing where Emily would land. The intense light of the sunset paints Nova Metropolis in various hues of vibrant orange and the moon is already visible in the sky. They are engaged in a conversation about the mind-boggling vastness of space and all it contains.

bebebebeep bebebebeep bebebebeep bebebebeep

The alarm on Jack's watch interrupts them. He presses one of the buttons and says:
It's time. Emily will be entering the atmosphere right about now.
They get up. James pulls a pair of binoculars out of his bag. Jack does the same. Annie looks at both of them - her face clearly showing her disappointment.
Don't worry, I gotchu. says Jack as he pulls a second pair out of his bag before they start walking towards the edge.

Michelle and James are already leaning against the railing and looking towards the sky. Jack and Annie join them. Jack takes a compass out of his pocket and briefly looks at it. Then, he points in a direction in the sky and says:
The pod should appear somewhere around there.
James hands his binoculars to Michelle for a moment.
I see it! There! she exclaims before handing them back to him.

The capsule looks like a tiny, red glowing dot in the sky, slowly growing in size. For a few minutes, nothing seems to happen. The dot gets bigger and bigger turning into a black circle as the glow dims and finally disappears. The pod sheds its heat shield as it slowly comes closer.

Around the 15 minute mark, Jack notices that it has moved almost above them.
That's a bit too close for comfort - and way too fast. he says.
Parts appear to be breaking off from the pod. They watch the last couple minutes of the fall realizing that something has seriously gone wrong. It plummets into the city, shaking the ground slightly, and taking multiple buildings down with it. Nobody says anything for a while as they watch the buildings around the impact crumble and the remaining parts rain out of the sky in a mix of awe and shock.

Guys, over there! Michelle points into the sky behind them. A parachute...
reaction needed
They watch as it disappears between the buildings.

Annie walks over to Jack's bag and, on a hunch, unpacks the radio he had insisted on bringing.
Maybe, she can hear us from here...
She swiches it on and turns the frequency dial until the needle is in the position that Jack had marked.
Emily, can you hear us? Are you okay? Might benefit from proper radio protocol
They hear a slightly distorted but clearly happy response through the noise:
Yes... Yes. I'm alive... I made it.

This is the very end of the story. I originally didn't plan for anything to happen after this though I have managed to somehow already write about an event after this in ??.txt.