Vessel Control

The neon lights of the spacecraft Diamond Cutter grew brighter. The ship’s commander, Rodney Carr, looked at the screen intently. The second-in-command, Melita Vereen, tapped other screens aggressively.

“They’re too far from us before they enter the Martian atmosphere,” Melita said.

“We’re not giving up,” Carr replied.

Commander Adela Aimes aboard the spacecraft Blade of Life and her second-in-command, Lisa Nick maintained their composure, even as their vessel tumbled like a child’s toy, closer and closer to Mars. The crew headed towards the red planet and saw the Diamond Cutter on the horizon.

“We can see them approaching. If they use their magnet apparatus to draw us in, we could take refuge there.”

Adela sent a text message to Carr.

“Please help us! We’re doing everything we can on our end, but we’re looking for you to use your magnets to attract our vessel so we can use your ship as our rescuer.”

Melita read the message to Carr and the rest of the crew.

“Report: Let them know we’re advancing at a dangerous speed. We may trap our ship in the same tumble as they’re in. Instruct them to shut off all systems except for analytics and comms.”

“Roger that,” Melita said.

Adela responded to the message from the Diamond Cutter. The lights on the Blade of Life dimmed. Crew member Pima Young's heart fluttered, but her mind focused. She concentrated on maintaining the comms system. A drop of sweat formed at her forehead like dew on a daffodil, but she remained steadfast.

“Set the magnets to moderate,” Carr said with an even, almost cold tone.

“Magnets set to moderate, sir,” a crewmember replied.

The rumble of the machine sounded like a hundred electric motors starting up.

The Blade of Life began to move in reverse, but not with enough strength to bring them out of their fall towards the planet.

“Increase magnets to elevated,” Carr said with the same coolness as before.

The Diamond Cutter seemed to pull from below a bit more.

Lisa studied the graphs and readouts from the ship’s analytics. The algorithm projected the ship began to slowly back away from the Martian orbit. The crew, however, did not rejoice. Their faces were stone. They studied the different levels, including oxygen and fuel. Both were running dangerously low. But the Blade of Life continued to pull back like a curtain. The Diamond Cutter remained suspended in space. It kept reaching for the Blade of Life as if it were a hand grabbing for a toy boat.

“Bring the attraction up to the highest level,” Carr commanded. He rose to his feet, and looked out the giant window before him.

The Blade of Life rocked a bit, and then kept retracting as if by Carr's commands. The magnets started humming more loudly.

“Sir, our power reserves are diminishing,” Lisa said. “The magnet apparatus is draining us.”

Carr looked around the faces of his crew. He ordered them to shut off the magnetism.

On the Blade of Life, the crew had conserved energy enough so they could send a few battery packs to the Diamond Cutter to thank the ship for saving them from certain death. The Blade of Life turned and re-activated all systems, Adela used the comms to say, “Thank you.”

“We appreciate you, Commander Carr and crew for saving our lives. We are in your debt. Please accept the battery packs as a token of our appreciation. Thank you, again.”

“It is our pleasure to assist. We wish you a safe voyage beyond this planet, and thank you for the packs. We’ve had one hell of a trade.”

“That’s for sure,” Adela said.