4.0 KiB
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 capsule 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 the tallest sky scraper 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 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.
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 looks at it for a second. Then, he points into a direction in the sky and says "The capsule 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 the next couple of minutes, nothing seems to happen. The dot gets bigger and bigger turning into a black circle as the glow dims and finally disappears. Slowly, it moves towards them.
Around the 15 minute mark, Jack realizes that it has moved almost above them.
"That’s a bit too close for comfort - and way too fast." he says.
They watch in horror as parts appear to be breaking off from behind the capsule. Two minutes later, it plummets into the city with a loud bang, 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 look!" Michelle points into a direction behind them. "A parachute..."
reaction needed
They watch as it disappears between the buildings.
Annie walks over to Jack’s bag and retrieves the radio he had insisted on bringing.
"Maybe, she can hear us from here..."
"So it was a good idea to bring it after all?"
They laugh for a moment while Annie switches it on.
"Emily, can you hear me? 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." Might benefit from proper radio protocol
This is the very end of the story. At this point, I don’t plan for any scenes to happen after this.