Much to the deep, heart-dropping dismay of the newly formed crew of the Lavender 1 the ship was moving through the water and picking up speed. Neil had been the first to notice and thus was the first to panic. “It’s moving!” He declared, stating the obvious.

Alex was breathing heavily but he kept a tight grip on his senses. “Nobody panic!” He shouted putting out his hands in another soothing gesture that this time didn’t even work on himself. “There has to be a way to stop this, we just have to figure it out!”

Over in the chair, Sophia was still trying in vain to pry the helmet off of Timothy’s head but the thing was locked tight. “I can’t get it off!”

Timothy wasn’t having the most pleasant time. The second he saw the light turn green his vision blurred as an electric shock ran through his skull. For a second, he saw the most beautiful mixture of colors, some reds, aquamarines, and fittingly a few lavenders all swirled around in his vision. But as Sophia began tugging at the sides of the helmet it all faded- now he could focus on the situation at hand.

“I’m terribly sorry!” He shouted, going for the record of the most apologetic person. “I don’t know what’s happening!”

“Whatever you’re doing, just stop it, alright!” Neil’s voice sounded shaky and confused, he looked at the point of tears.

Timothy raised his hands above his head, showing that he wasn’t messing with any of the buttons or levers. “I’m not doing it; I think it’s going by itself!”

With a loud bang, the bottom of the Lavender 1 struck something hard sending Sophia, Neil, and Alex sprawling to the ground. His head forced to look forward, Timothy watched as the huge ship increased in speed, the dark murky water blazing past the dome at a rate that can only be described as ‘oh god that’s fast.’

Sophia didn’t think of herself as the type of person that would panic in a situation like this, but the thudding in her chest and the inability to think properly were proving her notion wrong. She clambered to her feet, her eyes scanning the room for anything helpful. But there was nothing, they barely figured out how to make the food dispenser in the ‘Caf’ room work and she doubted that they could figure out how to pilot the ship. “Guys, what do we do?”

Picking himself up, Alex put his hands over his eyes and started pacing up and down. This was how he thought best, the consistent up and down movement coupled with the lack of sight was a technique Alex learned a long time ago. Of course, at the time he was only trying to memorize something for a test and not how to stop an alien ship from crashing and killing them all. Needless to say, the stakes were pretty high. “The ship started moving when we put Timothy in the helmet…” He thought out loud, his friends looking to him for any inkling of hope. “The light turned green… like it accepted him… Timothy’s the key!”

“The key to what?” Neil’s whole body was shaking, he just wanted this to stop.

“No, I mean he’s like a key!” Alex explained. “We put him in and then it started, just like when you put the key in the ignition of car. Right now, the ‘car’ is started and, to continue this metaphor, is currently rolling down a hill!”

“So, we have to take him out?” Sophia asked, jumping to her feet. “I’ve tried, he just won’t budge!”

“Guys look out!” Screamed Neil as the ship barreled into the side of a giant, inconveniently placed, rock.

The machines around the edges of the dome sparked and fizzled, as machines tend to do in these situations. From deep within the Lavender 1 a loud, painful scrapping could be heard. It was the same sound that the Titanic had made when it crashed into the iceberg, but since no one present was at that event they paid the comparison no mind. However, what they did definitely mind was the giant, unspeakably large chuck of land approaching in the distance.

“Oh no,” Neil whispered to himself. “We’re going to hit it!”

Caught off balance, Alex flung himself beside Timothy’s chair. “Listen,” he said, trying to sound strong. “Maybe you’re more than just a key, it’s possible that you can do more then just turn it on!”

“You think I can drive it?” Timothy was encouraged by Alex’s calm demeanor and took a deep breath. “I can try, but to be honest I’ve never even driven a car before, I don’t think I’m going to do well!”

“Just hit some switches!” Alex said, the looming chunk of land was getting uncomfortably close, and he had no idea whether or not the ship could survive such a head-on collision. “Please, Timothy, do something! Anything!”

Timothy looked through the helmet’s little bars at all the many, many levers and buttons that plagued the sides of the chair like an invasive rash. Unfortunately, there was no button labeled, ‘for the love of god stop,’ on it- which would have been very convenient. Crossing his fingers, he chose a button to push at random, but nothing happened.

Neil watched as the landmass approached closer and closer, he knew that they had only a matter of seconds. Sophia felt helpless, there was nothing she could do in this situation, and she knew it as well as hated it. Alex watched as Timothy pushed a few buttons at random, he could feel his doom approaching from behind him as he closed his eyes and braced. Timothy decided that there was only one reasonable thing to do- which was close his eyes, clear his mind, and let his arms move themselves.

In a horrifying instant, the chuck of land covered the view of the entire dome, but in another, the ship lurched upwards sending everyone who wasn’t seated flying backwards. Timothy could feel the ship rocketing up, up and away and he was quite relieved, he would’ve hated dying so anticlimactically.

The three landed with a thump near the back of the dome, wheeling with the surprise of still being alive. “Timothy, you did it!”

Timothy didn’t respond, instead, his arms began moving rhythmically over the buttons and switches with the confidence of someone who clearly knew what they were doing. He could feel his fingers moving, pressing, and flicking the controls with ease- it was like remembering how to ride a bike but with the catch that you hadn’t touched a wheel in all your life. But as the other three stood to their feet they realized that they weren’t out of the water yet, both metaphorically and literally.

“We’re going up!” Neil exclaimed, having a knack for the obvious lately. “We’re getting out of the water!”

Sure, enough the Lavender 1 was being piloted straight upwards towards the surface. Neil had spent so long under the water that the prospect of seeing the sky again was almost terrifying- almost. A smile crept across his face, maybe he could get home again? But to meet his feeling of hope the ship itself screamed out in a metallic, harrowing cry.

The lights that dimly lit the floors and the ceilings did what they were programmed to do in these situations, which was turn red to ensure everyone knew that they were screwed. The Lavender 1 started shaking, in the same way a computer shakes when it’s about to overheat and explode.

“Something’s wrong.” Timothy declared, not sure how he knew this. “Something’s terribly, terribly wrong!”

Tired of being thrown around, Alex latched himself onto the nearest computer module. “Can you fix it?”

“No.” Timothy responded plainly. “I don’t know how I know, but what I know is that something on the ship got… hurt when we crashed back there!”

“What do we do?”

Timothy bit his tongue. “We… We leave?” He said, posing the question to himself. On the controls, his hands stopped moving, as if they were listening to some unheard directions, then started back again- this time even faster than before.

“Leave? Is there an escape pod or something?” Sophia asked, trying to find some purpose among the chaos.

“Of course, there isn’t!” Neil cried. “Trust me, I’ve looked!”

CRACK!

Just like the sound implied, a large crack spread across the dome- splintering in a spider-ish shape through the glass. “Whatever you’re doing right now Timothy, please hurry!” Sophia yelled.

To everyone’s alarm, the helmet around Timothy’s head started to pulse alive- electricity sparking out of it like the world’s worst firecracker. Timothy screamed in pain, as one is inclined to do when they are being electrocuted, and his eyes filled with tears. “It’s hurting me!”

Crack!

The crack in the dome grew larger, and a little bit of water started to pour out at the end causing some machinery to fry instantly. Sophia only needed to hear the scream to instantly be at Timothy’s side. She went to try and pry the helmet off again but was met with a shock of her own when she touched the side. “It’s like live wire!”

Timothy was currently experiencing the worst pain of his entire life, but to give him credit he was taking it rather well. “Please,” he managed to say. “Help me…” Although he was currently experiencing a sensation that only a select few hardened criminals had felt, Timothy’s hands still shot around the controls lightning fast.

Through the crack in the dome, Neil noticed that a Triangle had appeared before them- no wait, more than a dozen Triangles had shown up. Each kept pace with the speeding ship, managing to stay firmly a few paces in front of it. At first, they were all clumped together but quickly they spread out into a ring-like shape that was barely wider than the dome itself. Like they were ordered to do, the Triangles started to spin around and around- the water near them started to swirl in response.

“Mechanic required!” Timothy shouted through gritted teeth. Neil, Sophia, and Alex had only known Timothy for around half a day at best, but even they could tell that the voice that was leaving his lips wasn’t his own. “Mechanic located!”

The ship was almost at the surface, Neil could practically make out the sun on the tip of the water. But with a bright flash of blinding light, the Triangles stopped their rotation when the water in front of them parted revealing a giant hole. No, not a hole, but a portal! Without a second thought, the Lavender 1 barreled through it leaving the dark murky waters behind. The ship was suddenly somewhere else, filled with fire and brimstone- it looked exactly how one pictures hell.

“Error! Error!” Timothy’s eyes were barely open, he couldn’t breathe. “Error, Pilot Malfunction! Pilot Malfunction!”

“We have to get him out of there!” Sophia screamed. She bent down and grabbed Timothy’s limp body by the feet and tugged as hard she could, the helmet didn’t budge.

Alex ran over to help as another portal opened up in front of them. This time they found themselves drifting through an endless purple sky. A bird flew past with golden feathers and three heads, barely missing a collision with the unspeakably large vessel. Alex tried pushing down on Timothy’s shoulders, but nothing. “Neil! Neil, help us!”

Neil couldn’t move, he found his feet planted on the spot. He watched as the portal opened again and the ship immediately crashed into a large, glass tower that shattered into a hundred thousand pieces as they continued through. No! He shouted at himself inside his head. Don’t freeze now!

“Error! Error!” Timothy’s voice was weak, barely clinging onto any sound. “Survival Improbable!”

Neil found himself moving, his feet slow as if they were wading through a thick swamp. It was like all the muscles in his body were just waking up and refusing to work properly. As he approached his friends another crack shot through the dome as the Lavender 1 flew through another portal. This time they were rocketing straight through a forest, each hollow tree being ripped from its dead roots like hairs being shaved with a razor.

Timothy looked pale, deathly pale. Sophia was trying her absolute best to pull her new friend to safety, but he just wouldn’t budge. Alex looked over his shoulder and was surprised to see Neil right next to him with a chair raised above his head. “What are you doing?”

“I don’t know!” Neil screamed as he brought the chair down onto the helmet.

The helmet burst into sparks, which was enough to make Neil raise the chair a second time and slam it down. Again, the helmet sparked, but Sophia felt something come loose. “It’s losing up, hit it again!”

Using all of his strength, Neil raised the chair above his head for the third and final time and brought it down on top of the helmet. Sophia fell back as Timothy slipped free of the helmet, and the chair in Neil’s hands broke and splintered onto the floor. The Lavender 1 suddenly lurched back, the shaking stopping abruptly. The ship had only just fallen into another portal as Timothy was pulled away. The pilot now gone, the Triangles disengaged and disappeared from view. For a second all seemed well, that is until they realized where they had ended up.

If you have ever fallen off of something high up, then you know the feeling. For a brief second, you’re weightless, and the air feels good on your back. But in the next, you land hard on the ground and likely break a bone. The same feeling was happening now to the unwilling crew of the Lavender 1 as they watched the ship begin to fall from high above a green-tinted sky.

Alex couldn’t even shout ‘hold on!’ before they crashed. The impact was crushing, loud, and unpleasant. While the three who were currently cognizant enough to brace themselves did, it wasn’t enough to stop them from all being flung onto the floor when the ship crashed into the side of a mountain. Now everyone aboard the ship did not feel lucky at the moment, they couldn’t really feel anything now that I think of it. But if anyone had known that the mountain the ship was currently defacing was the only thing keeping them alive, they would’ve felt very lucky indeed.

Sometimes geography is one of the most important parts of life, while other times it’s the most boring subject in school. It just so happened that the geography of this particular mountain was shaped and sloped in such a way to provide the Lavender 1 with a sort of ramp- albeit a very bumpy and tree-filled ramp, but crashers can’t be choosers. The ship ended its crash landing by sliding into the dirt at the bottom of the poor, surprised mountain, leaving a crater in its wake.

…

Zerat-Mondul was attending to his duties as palace guard when he heard it, the loudest boom that the Great City had ever known. Quickly, like he was trained to do, he rushed towards the sound without a second thought. But he needn’t rely on his ears for long, for at that moment he beheld a great ship descending from Tallizumdul, the holy mountain that loomed over his home. The wrecked vessel had come to a stop just outside the city gates, just barely avoiding a collision.

The hull of this foreign ship was locked and secured tightly, there didn’t seem to be any way in or out of it. So instead Zerat-Mondul ordered an entry be made and tools were brought to follow this order. A sharp ray of light beamed into the ship's cracked and sturdy shell; it took many hours to make just a small door. Clutching his Oath-Blade to his side, Zerat-Mondul bravely was the first to enter.

Inside was cold, the air itself just barely unable to show itself before him. The construction was unlike any structure he had ever seen and made of the most unsavory materials. He came to a set of two bulky doors and opened them wide. Inside he found four bodies, still alive but extremely injured. Zerat-Mondul drew his blade and approached them, he had seen many enemies play dead to lure one to their doom and he was determined to not be caught off guard. But then he stopped, his eyes resting on one of the bodies and widening to an unhealthy degree. He dropped his blade and his knees promptly followed it to the floor.

“Our Deliverer!” He shouted! “Our Deliverer has arrived!”