A Race Against Time

A Race Against Time
Meteors were everywhere. Better known as "killer junk" in space, they
were the top reasons for accidents while traveling in space. As we
dodged one narrowly on the right, another one was veering more closer
to us on the left side. With a push of a button, the disintegrator
cannon on the exterior wall destroyed the meteor into fragments. Hell,
why is it so hard to just get to planet T024? I wondered, while also
worrying about the safety of the vaccine. Gathering all my thoughts
together, the space propulsion jets fired with agony as we slowly
maneuvered through the storm, which slowly drifted to a nearby moon.
Just when we thought we were out of the danger, what we saw next
shocked us so much that we could only say," Oh god." before it hit
us.
*********************
Doctor Veela had managed to get some helpers in assisting to give out
the oxygen masks. While bandaging one of the wounds on the arms of a
fellow villager, she sighed not as a sign of fatigue, but as a sign of
exasperation. Scientists have tainted this ground with their atomic
tests to such an extent that the ground was too radioactive in nature
to support life, and the air was toxic enough to kill anyone who
breathed too long of it. "And to think that some humans respect
themselves as the oldest species alive in this universe!" She exclaimed
with an air of disgust.
Ever since joining as a planetary doctor in the Universal Health
Organization (UHO), she had often seen such sights of poverty and
sickness in countless worlds. T024 was just one of the unlucky planets
to be chosen for Man to toy with. Ending these series of thoughts, she
was about to continue her work until a sharp cry interrupted her.
"Doctor! Doctor! We have just received a emergency SOS call from space
shuttle DT36!" shouted Joshua Warren, the radio operator. It was all
that was needed to attract Veela. As Veela and Joshua rushed to the
radio station, she muttered a short prayer hoping that nothing happened
to the crew. After a few minutes, they finally reached the station and
rushed immediately to the control room. Snatching the radio microphone,
Veela spoke frantically. "This is Veela. What happened? Are all of you
all right?"
"We are under siege! I repeat! We are under siege!" the voice on the
other side shouted.
" What happened?"
" We are caught in a meteor storm...and if I'm not wrong, it's only
warming up."
"What about the vaccine?"
"It's right here. How are the patients?"
" They are okay, but they can't last any longer. The vaccine must be
delivered quickly before it is too late."
" Yah right, speeding in the midst of this storm? We'll crash for...
wait...I think I see a way out. Call you in five minutes." After this,
the voice died out.
" We can only hope that they will come back safely," said Veela, who
too hang up the radio. Sitting down in one chair, Veela and everybody
entered a moment of false silence. After months of hard work, there was
finally a vaccine developed, able to sterilize the toxic air here.
After all this hard work, was the vaccine to be wasted after all? These
gloomy thoughts hovered around everyone's mind while waiting for the
next call.
*********************
The whole crew had only seen pictures of it as it was a very rare
phenomenon, and it was only today that they finally saw it with their
own eyes. " An ion lightning. Oh god." whispered Smith, who was the
co-pilot. Breaking myself out of the shock, I quickly ordered my crew.
" Smith! Hunt! Quick! Get us out of here immediately. If that-" I did
not complete my sentence, as at that very moment, a bolt shot from
nowhere and hit the shuttle. "Damn! Smith, get the vaccine! Hunt,
prepared the emergency landing pods! We are getting out of here now!" I
barked, as the bolt produced a small tiny spark, which steadily grew
into a steady fire at one end of the shuttle. Caused by the recent
destruction of a galaxy, the lightning possesses enough energies to rip
a whole planet apart. Everything happened too fast, and it was not long
before we escaped with the pod, and with the shuttle exploding into an
orange ball of flame. Unfortunately, our joy of living was soon
shattered by the cruel twisting abilities of Fate. Shortly after we
were on the ship, Smith who was also the ship's technician came to us
with a deadly white face. "Just now that bolt not only destroyed the
ship, it also destroyed the pods. The fire it caused had made a tiny,
but still evident leak in the fuel tank. We are running out of fuel."
This piece of news shocked all of us. As we began to radio for help,
Hunt muttered to himself," May God help us all."

"Calling T024! Calling T024! Please reply! I repeat, please reply!" I
called over the radio.
"Roger! This is Veela! We hear you! Where's the ship?"
" Our ship is gone. We are now in one of the escape pods. The vaccine
is here. We're... running out of fuel. "
"What! Where are all of you all?
" Directly above T024? any bright ideas, doctor?"
" Just one. Maintain your position. I will use the tractor
beam."
"Okay, doctor. The stage is all yours now." With that, I ended the
conversation.
" What we can do now is to wait," said I.

With that, Veela quickly contacted the local authorities here and
informed them of the situation. Realizing the urgency of the matter,
they quickly activated the tractor beam machinery and pulled the pod
down. With the vaccine still active, they destroyed all the pollutants
in the air. Life was back to normal again.
*********************
Epilogue
As we returned back to T024, the people there warmly welcomed us. As we
began to talk about the whole series of happenings, I faintly
remembered that I had distinctly seen a hazy shape concealed at the
back of a moon nearby. The ion lightning occurred shortly after its
appearance. Was it responsible for the storm, and what motives did it
wish to obtain? If I had not seen it, I might have thought that the
lightning occurred naturally, or did it? Was it an enemy determined to
wipe us, or a mere accident I may never know.

Behind the moon, a large majestic ship hovered on the back of it, and
houses only a single being. The being spoke to itself." How strange the
workings of fate. If the meteor storm had not occurred, the ion
lightning I created may have allowed me to obtain the vaccine. With
that, I could have consumed T024 after it was clean again. However,
another planet must die if I were to live, until the last suns fade
into the heaven, for I am... the world-eater...Galactus."