Starfall: Chapter 2: Any Landing You Can Walk Away From.
Usako, sitting limply in her seat is along for the ride while the cockpit section separates itself from the damaged engine compartment. Nor does she feel the ship igniting the emergency chemical engines in the cockpit section.
All so the pilot has a chance to survive if the FTL engine goes critical and turns into one of the largest explosions of mammal kind.
Her head shifts to the side, while letting out a moan of pain as the onboard computer does what it’s programmed to do. Using a signal on a widely known radio frequency as the flight computer detects a lack of pilot input, it aims the cockpit section towards the origin of the signal as it’s most likely earth.
By an odd twist of fate, the residents of this universe uses same frequency as earth-navigation-frequency-One. Allowing for resource run ships to have a constant point of reference in the sol-system.
So the computer does what it’s programmed to do, head right for it.
Usako lets out another pain filled moan while reaching up for her head. Forgetting she has a helmet on, the sound of a gloved hand smacking the side of the helmet wakes her. Just as the cockpit section slams into the upper earth atmosphere.
The flick of fire caused by the friction against the upper atmosphere showing up on her cracked monitor.
‘Wha.. Oh SHIT. Reentry knocked me clean out!’ Shaking her head, Usako first tries to clear her mind as a muddled state would make the situation worse.
[TOO LOW, TERRAIN! TOO LOW TERRAIN!] suddenly blares into the cockpit louder than the just audible sound of the atmosphere slamming into supersonic capsule.
‘Shut the fuck up I KNOW.’ Usako Silences the alarm, set to go off at the absurd altitude of the karman line. The legal boundary between what is considered the earths Atmosphere and Outer-Space.
Fighting the sudden return of gravity, the G’s being pulled by her full re-entry speed, and a killer headache Usako visually takes stock of all the gauges and readouts.
[ERROR BUSS FAULT A, ERROR BUS FAULT B…] Her systems check’s interrupted by another obvious error that she has to silence to stop head from splitting.
‘Stop pointing out the OBVIOUS. I know the cockpit section must’ve detached from the engine section!’ Mentally screaming at the computer.
‘No main batteries, just emergency power. Let’s shut you up so you can stop screaming.’ With a flick of a switch Usako turns off the main computer, silencing all alarms.
‘Okay ten minutes of power. Let’s see if I can slow this flying brick down.’ Checking the altimeter shows that in the short time it took to silence the alarms and shut the computer off she’s already dropped to just bellow eighty thousand feet.
‘Shit, parachutes!’ Reaching down to one side of the seat, opposite of the ejection lever side, is the lever to deploy the parachutes. Grabbing it with both hands and letting out a silent prayer for them to work, Usako yanks it up.
She hears the manual fuses light, the pops of the bolts. Her view and the G’s pressing her onto her shift a little to the side, yet she doesn’t feel the ‘yank’ if the parachutes had opened to slow her decent.
Glancing at the altimeter confirms this.
‘Oh come the FUCK on! Of all the things to go wrong you had to do so to!’ Glancing at the altimeter shows she’s dropped twenty thousand feet from her previous altitude in that short of a time and has settled into terminal velocity.
Usako glances to the edges of the cockpit canopy.
‘Can’t believe this is the only way I’m going to be getting out of this. Just about a minute till impact, it’s going to have to work or I’m dead.’ Usako unbuckles a couple of the straps on her seat to allow her to move faster before tearing off her gloves.
Forty seconds to impact, Usako has pulled each of the ten pins lined around the cockpit’s canopy. Arming the explosive bolts to detach it.
Tossing the pins to the floor, Usako reattaches the harness straps.
Twenty seconds to impact, She waits and tries to judge in her head to calculate the safest time to start the process.
Then the altimeter hits and passes twenty thousand feet while dropping hundreds per second. Usako grabs the ejection lever, braces her feet, and yanks it fully up.
Fifteen Seconds to impact, the explosive bolts fire and the canopy’s ripped off by the sheer force of air hitting the craft. Usako’s slammed against the back of her seat adding to the bruising and her headache.
The firing pints and her gloves get sucked out of the cockpit, the former hitting and cracking the outer glass of her helmet’s viewport.
If it wasn’t for the blast of the bolts temporarily deafening her, the roar of the wind would.
Ten seconds to impact, the bolts connecting her seat to the cockpit fire. Pieces of the bolts bruise her upper ankles.
Air pressure, gravity, the velocity of the craft do their work as the seat’s lifted off its mountings. She’s no longer connected to what’s left of the craft.
Seven Seconds, the ejection rockets in the seat fire. Usako yelps loudly as she’s shoved down into the seat while the G’s pressing her into the back-rest ease. The seat shoots up at about a hundred feet.
Exhaust from the rockets send the cockpit into a tumbling motion.
Six Seconds from impact.
At the apex of the ejection’s seat flight, it’s rocked by a pop as the parachute on the back deploys.
‘Please for the sake of Karma be high enough!’ Usako prays.
Five Seconds till impact, Usako rips off her helmet as her night vision comes in and shows the cracks spreading through the glass.
Considering the sight of the ground bellow her, she whines loudly realizing she ejected a bit too late and the parachutes did not have the time needed to fully deploy.
It’s going to be a hard landing.
Four Seconds till impact.
‘Karma, serendipity, the lamb of god, anyone? Can I please make it out of this alive?’ Frantically praying some more, she can barely spot something large in the distance, and she’s heading right for it.
Three seconds till impact, the cockpit section hits the ground first with a sickening sound of crunching metal and a thud that echo’s through the darkness.
Two seconds till impact.
The crash of the cockpit ruptures the battery cells and the chemical’s inside instantly oxidize upon hitting the metal. Fire ignites, consumes anything flammable in the cockpit section. Orange and red flames light up what the large object Usako’s head for.
‘OH FUCK YOU KARMA!’ It’s not a solid object, but of corpse of conifer and other large trees full of branches.
One second till impact, Usako braces her legs against the seat while covering her head and muzzle with her arms. The seat slams into the upper branches taking Usako along for the ride, they add more bruising across her frame.
Impact. One of the parachutes snags onto an upper branch, dangling Usako about a third to a fourth of the way up the tree from the ground.
‘Oh my god that was worse than getting kicked by that fucking coyote lady in AMCQC training. Here I thought there couldn’t be any worse pain after she decided to not take it easy on me.’ Groaning a little, usako lowers her arms, only to freeze in fear as she hears the groaning of wood from above her.
‘You’ve got to be ki….’ The branch that the parachute snagged on snaps, sending Usako to the ground as she hits most of the branches on the way.
Another branch catches the parachute, yanking the seat to the side and causing it and Usako to land onto the leaf litter covered floor on her left side.
“Huff.. heh… ha. HAHAHA” Usako can’t help laughing at the whole thing as her senses slowly come back to her.
‘All that went wrong, after everything that failed to work. I STILL made it back to earth! Let’s see that ferret do that!’ As the adrenaline starts to wear off and the high that it caused, ebbs of pain start to creep in.
‘There should be some vulpine/canidae safe aspersion in the first aid kit. I’m going to need it.’ The moment though Usako reaches with her arms to undue the ten point seat-belt on the seat, she regrets it.
A lancing pain shoots up her left arm from between the wrist and the elbow.
‘And lady Karma isn’t done fucking with me yet… She hasn’t even bought me dinner either.’ Bringing her left arm up instantly causes her to freeze up and stare.
A piece of tree-branch, six inches long and a half inch in diameter’s impaled through the center of her fore-arm. The upper tip has some of her blood on it and blood is slowly oozing around the wound and onto her suit. Lightly matting her fur inside.
She looks down at the ground as Orange firelight illuminates it.
‘Oh of course I couldn’t just get out of this with just the mother of all bruises. Sigh, at least the ground isn’t soaked with my blood. Meaning as long as I keep this in till I get help, I won’t bleed to death.’ Reaching down with her right hand, Usako feels around the wound and her left hand through her suit.
Wincing and whining involuntarily while doing so.
‘Really? I nearly die as all the systems but the last ditch one don’t work. Then I get my left arm impaled only to find it seems to have missed everything as I can still move and feel my left hand. Sigh, after all the times my grandmother dragged me to your church Karma, this is how you reward me?’ Usako looks up at the star-light sky for an answer.
Only for the momentary bright flash of the engine section detonating, lighting up the night for a few seconds.
‘Well, I hate you too Karma.’ Using the fading light from the fire of the cockpit nearby, Usako reaches over with her right arm, undos her flight harness. Unlike all the rest of the stuff today, this works perfectly, quickly dropping her the few inches onto the ground.
A loud yelp escapes her muzzle as the lance of pain shoots up her left arm.
‘Okay, that was a mistake…’ Cradling her left arm, Usako uses her feet to push herself away from the ejected seat, then to stand.
Only to fall to her knees and her right arm as a sense of vertigo slams into her.
‘Fine! Add a possible concussion to the list of injuries. Frankly, I’m just glad to be alive. Sigh, okay first thing is first, the first aid kit! Let’s see if there’s something in there to get this out of my arm.’ Slower this time, Usako lifts herself up off the ground and uneasily in her steps, walks around the seat to the back.
Except, nothing’s there besides the scissors strapped to the bottom of the first aid kit and supply case. So it wouldn’t float around in the cabin if the whole thing came loose.
‘Why am I not surprised.’ Usako looks up into the branches and the star filled night. ‘Must’ve been sheered off as I went through the trees. Great, now I have to try to make it to some place civilized.’ Ripping it off the remains of the container with her right hand, Usako looks at it then her lift arm.
‘Not going to be sharp enough to cut through the branch. Still, I won’t be able to get out of my flight suit with that there… Sigh, I’ll just have to pay them back in installments for the price of the suit.’ Using the scissors, She cuts the suit off at the upper arm on her left, then down from there in a straight line to the branch.
Wincing a bit at as it tugs the parts of it pulled into the wound before she carefully snips those parts off. From there it’s cutting the material away from the aluminum seal ring around her wrist before she can pull the whole thing of after discarding the ring.
‘Should get moving…’ Taking a few steps away from the now useless seat, Usako looks down at the scissors in her right hand.
‘No, might be a good idea to hold onto this. Just in case.’ Huffing once, she sticks it in a utility pocket and looks around before taking a narrow path leading out of the corpse of tree’s.
Away from the shielding of the branches, a nice breeze rolls over her as the sound of rustling stalks of wheat fill the air. Turning in the direction the breeze, Usako raises her head a little and sniffs.
‘Bovine? Aurochs? Well I guess I had some good luck today. I landed in someone’s farm and close enough I can scent them. I just have to follow the scent.’ Wading into the sea of wheat that comes up to her shoulders and neck, Usako lets a smile creep up onto her muzzle.
Only for it to fade soon after.
‘God dammit… Okay, I’m going to tell them that they’re going to have to put proper treads on the boots.’ Looking down at the divot she nearly tripped over.
Carefully with her right arm, as she cradles her left, Usako reaches down and removes the offending footwear. With the boots off, she has to use her right arm to part the wheat stalks, or they’d tickle her nose.
‘Okay, I’m on someone’s farm and judging by the temperature, I’m either in the Northern Hemisphere or the northern part of the Southern Hemisphere. Otherwise, I’d be freezing my tail off.’ Usako stops every so often to look around and sniff the air, tracking the bovine scent.
The fire behind her dies down to nothing by the time she sees tall fence posts and a road behind it not to far in the distance. Letting her tail wag once she puts some more effort into her pace and heads for the first sign of civilization she’s seen.
Only to come to a stop as it’s something she’s not seen before.
‘Wire in between fences? How’s that going to keep anything out? Oh well, just makes it easier for me to get thro…’ Usako yanks her right-hand back, feeling something stab into her palm the moment she grasped onto it, so she could slip in between the wires.
Looking down at the lightly bleeding wound on her palm, Usako then leans closer to examine this ‘wire’ in more detail.
‘Sharp metal prongs? What mammal puts those on a fence? Maybe it’s just a problem with how they were made.’ Walking along the fence she notes that each of the four wires in between the posts have those prongs on them.
Said prongs set in fifteen and a half centimeters using the new deca-metric system, and each are staggered so only a square of about seven and a half centimeters is free from them.
‘And Karma’s fun continues… I can’t climb the fence with my left arm like this.’ Sticking her right arm in between the wires show’s she can only get to her shoulder before the prongs touch her suit.
‘Can’t slip in between the wires while in the suit.’ Pulling her arm back, Usako stares up and down the fence line. Straining her night vision, hoping to see a gate she can use.
Only to find none, or at least one within sight.
‘Sigh, no gate either.’ Looking down at where she put the scissors before letting out a whine. ‘I’m going to have to take this whole thing off to get through to the road.’ Taking them out, Usako slowly slices open the left shoulder part of the suit.
With the opening wide enough for her slip her left arm though without touching the embedded branch, she removes it.
Repeating the same procedure on the inner shell, which she did on the outer shell. Leaving Usako in her small bra and panties.
Grumbling, she resists the urge to do a full body shake with her fur is free of the restrictive spacesuit it’s tempting.
‘I can just see the headlines now. Usako Chaosfito, first mammal and fox to go faster than light, found in some farmer’s chicken or lizard ranch in her underwear.’ Laying the ruined space-suit in a neat pile, she approaches the fence standing in her way.
Grabbing onto a portion of the second to the bottom wire with her right hand, and cradling her left, Usako sticks her head and right shoulder though.
Only to feel one of the metal prongs snag on a bra-strap.
“Oh come the FUCK on…” Backing up and out of the fence Usaku grumbles as she reluctantly removes her bra and panties.
‘Correction Usako Chaosfito, first mammal and fox to go faster than light, found NAKED at someone’s farm.’ Bundling the undergarments up into a ball, Usako reaches through the fence to drop them to the ground.
Only for the wind to choose the moment she lets go to pick up and blow to two light cotton garments down the street and into the night.
“This is for my earlier comments about you, isn’t it Karma? Well fuck you with a god-damn taser!” Usako screams at the sky while taking a deep breath, then tries again to slip in-between the wires.
With nothing else for it to catch on, the prong gives Usako a light scratch along her back while putting her right arm, right shoulder, and head through.
Next, as she cradles the left arm to her chest so the branch in it doesn’t catch on the wire before leaning forward, placing her right hand onto the blacktop bellow.
Her unrestrained bust moves forward causing her weight to shift forward as well, and with most her center of gravity on the other side of the fence. Her hips, legs, and tail easily lift off the ground.
Grunting, Usako’s right arm protests at supporting her full weight due to how bruised she is, but, bares it. Tucking into a roll while pulling the rest of her body through, only for her right leg to lift a little. Allowing one of the prongs to cut a light gash from her rear, down her leg to her upper ankle.
‘And the day continues to get worse…’ Once back up on her feet, Usako turns to look down at the new injury.
‘Well, from what I can tell, it doesn’t look or feel that deep thankfully.’ Moving her right leg up and down she notes that while moving it causes it to sting, it doesn’t hamper her movement. Confirming its shallow and won’t prevent her from walking.
‘Okay, I’m on a road, which will hopefully lead me to the owner of the property at least. It only cost me all my clothing and my dignity. Hey, at least I’m alive and not a pancake.’ letting out a sigh she looks in both directions the road leads, lifting her nose to scent the air.
‘That way. The bovine scent is stronger that way.’ Without looking back she starts walking along the side of the road in the direction her nose tells her too.
‘Heh, despite all that’s happened. It is a pretty nice night out. Just the right temperature and the breeze feels good in my fur.’ Setting a steady but not fast pace, cradling her left arm in her right Usako lets her tail twitch back and forth freely rather than cover herself.
‘Not that I’ll admit it publicly, but I can see the appeal in nice weather to be a naturalist.’ Spotting a rather large pot-hole in the road, and not wanting to test her luck any further. Usako side steps it by moving closer to the fence.
She has to step down off of the road to do so.
The sudden change in elevation, even if it’s only a few centimeters, forces her to grab onto a fence post at the small wave of vertigo along with a touch of nausea that hits her.
‘Oh right, the possible concussion… Please let help be nearby, if I lose consciousness again I may not wake up without medical help.’ As her sense of balance returns to her, she slowly lets go of the fence post, making her way back onto the blacktop.
Following the road some more, and lacking a clock, Usako doesn’t know how long she’s been walking. Only it feels like it’s been hours by the time a small hill comes into sight out of the night’s gloom.
Slowing her pace to not have a repeat of the last episode, she climbs it.
‘Northern Hemisphere. Those constellations match summer for the Northern Hemisphere.’ Cradling her left arm a bit closer as she reaches the top, she lets out a small sigh.
Taking a similar pace on the way down, she keeps her eyes on the road, so she won’t trip.
At the bottom of the hill she takes a look around and pauses at the shape on the horizon.
‘Finally! A house. Please be home, please be home…’ With her tail wagging, Usako picks up her pace a little.
By the time the house is no longer a shape on the horizon, bird-song and the sound of roosters replace the whooshing of the breeze through the fields. The purple glow of dawn also peeks out as the darkness starts to give way to morning.
‘Odd, I’m getting closer to this house, But, the scent of Bovine isn’t getting much stronger.’ Coming to a stop in front of a large metal gate with a sign saying, Big Sky Ranch and Farm, made of cast iron on top. Usako looks it over and grumbles.
‘It’s not locked, but it’s big. Obviously sized for Bovines, so I guessed right in who owns this place.’ Usako looks further down the road, just in case there’s a smaller gate, which would be easier to open in her injuried state.
Only to see none.
Looking through the gate to the house at the far end of the driveway, she tries to tell in the last vestiges of night if anyone is awake through the windows.
‘Can’t see anything from here, but they’re obviously home. A truck’s parked in front, only… Nah, I’m just exhausted and the darkness is playing tricks with me.’ Letting out a sigh. ‘No other choice then I guess.’ Walking over to the latch on the side of the gate, Usako pushes herself up as high as she can get on the tips of her toes to reach it and trigger the mechanism.
Coming back down, she steadies herself against the post for a minute to let a small bout of vertigo ebb away.
‘They may need to use that truck to take me to a hospital at this rate…’ Letting go of the post, she grabs a hold of the gate, then using her legs, she pushes against it with her full body weight, only to nearly falls flat on her muzzle. Not expecting the gate to be so well oiled and easy to push from its size.
‘I hope they just didn’t see that…’ Catching her breath, Usako forces her ears to stay up while curling her tail to cover her neither-region now that she’s near other mammals.
Cradling her left arm is doing a good job covering her bust from view, so she doesn’t give that part a second thought.
‘Okay, lets review. When they answer, I’ll tell them I’m not a Naturalist. Tell them who I am and what happened, hopefully they can get me to a hospital or get someone here to help me. Hmm not a bad looking place to be honest, has a rustic charm to it.’ Slowing her pace a bit, Usako looks over the two-story white and gray farm house.
The second story’s smaller than the first, making it look like a small box on top of a larger one. A large porch takes up most of the first floor on the side facing the driveway.
Seeing the tan early ought’s style truck in front of the house makes Usako pause mid step as she approaches it.
‘My eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. The gate is Bovine sized, yet this truck, a Bovine or any other large mammal would be able to fit in it. It seems sized for a wolf or maybe a skinny and short tiger.’ Usako tilts her head a little as she walks past the driver’s side door and sees a side badge on the vehicle’s front driver’s side quarter-panel.
‘Ford? Must be some foreign brand. Did I land in another country? That would just be my luck, I find help and I can’t speak their language.’ Huffing once, Usako continues onto the house.
‘Odd, even the stairs are for the same mammal size and aren’t fitted with smaller steps for smaller mammals.’ Climbing the steps slowly, she looks around and spots a couple of chairs and a table.
‘This is getting really weird. I smell Bovine out here and yet, nothing is sized for them.’ Usako walks up to the front door and looks up at the handle.
Perfectly placed for a wolf or a medium-sized mammal, but several centimeters above her head.
‘Okay, correction. Bovine and some weird acrid scent. Still, no need to be rude about this.’ Reaching up with her right hand, Usako knocks loudly, but politely on the door, then stands back and waits.
‘They should be awake, it’s morning. Don’t farmers all get up at the crack of dawn or before?’ Moving closer to the wooden door Usako puts an ear against it. Hearing nothing she moves back and knocks again, this time with a bit more force.
‘Come on, I walked all this way and no one is answering the door!’ Putting her ear against the door again, she lets out a sigh upon hearing nothing.
‘Fuck it. I need medical attention, and they have to have a first aid kit inside.’ Reaching up, she gently grasps the round door handle and turns it.
Smiling a little upon finding it unlocked, she pushes the door open only to crinkle her muzzle as the scent from inside the house hits her nose.
‘Oh fuck that scent is worse in here! It smells like something died. That would just be my luck that they’re dead wouldn’t it? The media will have a field day. Lieutenant Usako found naked in a dead mammal’s house, did FTL space drive her feral?!’ Shaking her head, she walks inside, turns and shuts the door behind herself.
Idly Usako lets her tail swish back and forth while waiting for a few minutes for her eyes to adjust to the gloom. All the while the light of dawn peeks through the windows.
Looking around, everything seems sized similarly to the truck and the patio furniture outside. Fit for a medium mammal, making them too large for her own comfort, further adding to her confusion.
“Hello? I’m not here to rob you. I tried knocking, but you didn’t answer. Had an accident down the road and I’m in desperate need of your first aid kit, so I’m just going to look for it.” Usako pauses for a moment.
“Or if I just woke you up, can I get a ride to the local hospital?” Calling out, hoping someone’s awake and alive here walking slowly, cautiously making her way past the living room to the kitchen.
‘Yea okay, that settles it. I’m in another country. In Anamilia this set up would be illegal. The entire kitchen’s set up for the same sized mammal with no equipment for anyone smaller. I was lucky the property owner had to foot the bill for my place in that regard.’ Carefully walking on the tiled floor, so she won’t slip, Usako looks through the kitchen and the cabinets closer to the floor.
‘Nothing down here, maybe they keep it upstairs?’ Turning around, she traces her steps back to the front of the house and the bottom landing for the stairs, which sits near the front door.
Using her right hand, Usako grabs one of the railing posts and pulls herself up a step, then repeats the process with the next one.
Taking it slow as to not aggravate her condition it takes her several minutes to get to the top of the stairs.
‘A lot smaller looking than it was from the outside, weird. If the scent means they died, then why are the two doors on the left closed?’ Shaking her head, Usako walks up to the first room on the right that has an open door and peeks in. The morning glow illuminates the space showing a master-bedroom by how the furniture’s styled.
‘Just like downstairs and the truck outside. Maybe a wolf pack bought the place and renovated it? Why the long bed though, they curl up in their sleep like I do.’ A small sigh escapes her lips while her tail twitches before backing out of the room.
‘Not going to find a First Aid kit in there… They’d have it in a bathroom, it’s where I’d put it.’ Moving on to the next room she finds a smaller bedroom, but stylized for a kit due to the Less classy furnishings, and more random nick-knacks with memorabilia on the walls.
School fliers and pendants with names she can’t recognize and posters possibly from those old ‘ape’ horror movies.
‘Well, their child seems to be a fan of the ape monster film series. Never did understand why mammals liked it other than the discovery of those fossils of the extinct hominid mammal line about a decade ago.’ Moving on to the last open room puts a grin on her face.
‘Jackpot! Odd shaped toilet though, where’s the room for your tail?’ Entering the bathroom, Usako turns around and shuts the door quietly, no need to be rude.
Well, ruder. She’s already being rude by barging in uninvited and searching through their house, even though the possibility that they may be dead weighs heavily on her mind.
‘Okay the light switch should be around the door frame somewhere…’ Reaching up with her right hand, Usako smiles when one of her fingers comes across the square nub, just like the switches in her own place.
She flicks it on with a finger.
‘FUCKING SHIT!’ The sudden shift from near complete blackness to fully lit by one hundred and twenty watt equivalent l.e.d. bulbs slams into Usako’s eyes, reigniting the headache that had before this simmered down to the point she had forgotten about it.
With the headache, the feeling of vertigo returns and it brings Nausea along with it. Sending Usako to the tiled floor while dry heaving up anything that remained in her stomach from the nonexistent breakfast she had this morning.
‘Gotta.. shut of…’ Forcing herself to get up to shut the light off is the last thought she has as she slips back into unconsciousness.
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