Eye of the Cortex Part 1

The Eye of the Cortex

His heavy ship jettisoned the first stage fuel cell stage, its metal core spiraling towards the planet disappeared rapidly behind him. The additional thrust pushed him further into the concussion cockpit seat he was already strapped into. Despite having the best training the United States Air Defense Federation could have given him, none of it prepared him for what he experienced now. A heady, delicate blend of violent, abrupt sensations, mixed with the elusive beauty of finally escaping his birth planet's torrid atmosphere. He would have held his breath, had the pressure not forced him to do so.

Jeremiah Cortex gripped the control wheel tight with one hand, and desperately tried to find the switch with his other. The view screen, in his tightly compact cockpit, glowed blue and red, as he felt the second stage engines cut in, nailing his body even deeper into the chair. He gritted his teeth to cracking point as he fought the intense G-forces exerted upon his large frame. The control switch he desperately sought would engage the ship's artificial gravity, offering relief to Jeremiah and his precious cargo.

He felt the ship lurch as an exterior heat shield panel flew off. This was followed by the roar of the engines,it was as though the hideous vibrations cut his body in two. He felt as if the molecules of his body were being blasted together as if he were trapped in a terminal microwave beam.

His mouth opened, but the scream only filled his ears in the vacuum. Blood
trickled from his left ear, as he again stretched his suited limb to the control stud. His mind began to glaze over and he desperately fought to maintain consciousness, there were no back up systems should he fail. A jolt from behind shot him forward, only the harness held him in place, but it gave him the reach he needed to throw the switch on. It initiated complex machinery which established an artificial gravity, and then everything went quiet.

Jeremiah's body suddenly felt heavy, and he felt relieved.

His eyes, trained to be alert for warning signs, scanned the controls for anything unusual. His head still swam from the after-effects of the gravity well, but the drug control unit installed in his suit kicked in and brought his mind back fully under his command. Everything shone normal, all the lights and gauges hummed in various shades of green. A dim red light changed to amber, then yellow and finally a pale green, flashing gently to his left.

He felt the ship's autopilot activate, and begin a slow sweeping manoeuvre to the right. The cockpit suddenly went dark as it curved its way past the sun's glare, shrouding the ship in the moon's shadow, falling under the sphere of influence of the long-dead planetoid.

He unbuckled his seat harness, checked the air pressure gauge of the suit and ship. When they were in equilibrium, he unhooked his helmet, and breathed in the fresh filtered air from the afterburner engines.

He took off his heavy gloves, storing them safely with his helmet into a locker above his seat. Punching another button on his control panel, it righted the chair, and slid with a gentle motorised drawl, effortlessly towards the main control decks.

Swathed in changing glows of colours emanating from the displays, Jeremiah ran a firm hand through his grey hair. Although only just thirty, he had gone grey by the age of twenty-five. His face was wet with perspiration, it had been quite a ride.

"Document locker kay-twelve is now ready for use.", came a metallic woman’s voice from the ships speaker system.

He got up and checked his course, felt the ship righten itself, and watched the ship yaw and head for the next planet beyond Earth. All the stars, twinkling in the blackness looked the same to him, he had to trust the navigation computer to do its task, and he had to trust mission control on Earth to ensure his journey wasn’t a waste of human life.

He stepped down from the control booth, and followed a pulsing red line lit on the floor towards the rear of the cockpit. A door slid upwards which he stepped through, sideways. These ships were designed for smaller crew members, and not his six foot frame.

It was his own sheer good fortune that had seen him on this ship, by rights he should be at home on his father's ranch enjoying the late summer heat.

It was my own sheer stupidity too, he thought.

A little Moonlighting on the Side

I spent a day travelling to and from Liverpool for a training course, and found the time to shine up some of my writing that I did on the Orchid. I think I am as happy as I can be at the moment with the prologue. It says everything I need to at the moment, but Im not 100% sure of the way I said it.

Whilst in Liverpool in my hotel room, I was able to get out of my head and onto paper about another 1,000 words. No great shakes or milestones, but Im getting ever closer.

Still planning on going to Dragonmeet this coming Saturday (December 1st 2007), and hoping to snag a signed copy of the Starblazer RPG and get a signed copy of Games Night by jonnynexus.