Moments later.

Location: Outside of Skylark Mess Hall #3

     As soon as the instructions reached our ears, my brother and I threw ourselves on the ground and against the wall. The next second, the whole ship jolted violently. The floor was still shaking ten seconds later, the constant tremors keeping us off our feet. An alarm had started blaring again, and I slowly stood up, hand against the window to steady myself. My head was spinning, and sides of my head were pulsing with pain. I looked over at Zimthose, who was still lying on the ground, shaking. “Zim… hey, Zimthose! Bro, you okay?” I stumbled over to him, still unsteady. Before I could reach out to him, my brother shoved himself off the ground and stood up like nothing happened. His violet eyes were full of rage.

     “What the crap!” he shouted. “I wanted excitement, but that was just BS! I am not kicking the bucket on this ship, not until I-” He was cut off by another tremor that rattled the ship, this time much more subdued than before. A moment later, the booming voice that had told us to brace returned from the speakers on the ceiling..

     “All hands, evacuate the Skylark immediately! The Skylark is critically damaged! Head to the Evac Stations on levels 10, 12, or 14 and take an escape pod to the planet’s surface below! This is not a drill! Again, all hands…” the voice continued, repeating itself.

     “I swear, you jinxed all this, Zim. Come on, we need to head down to level 12 and get off this thing!” I turned and started to run back the way we had come. I turned to make sure my brother was following me, and was only slightly surprised to see he had run in the opposite direction. “Umm, hello? Isora to Zimthose, level 12 escape pods are this way!”

     “Yeah, hi. This is Zimthose to Blast! Level 14 escape pods are this way!” He didn’t even stop to face me as he shouted, continuing to put distance between us. I cursed my brother under my breath, and took off after him.

     It only took us a moment to find and ascend a stairwell to the next level of the Skylark. Along the way, dozens upon dozens of knights were all making a run for the nearest cluster of escape pods alongside us. I couldn’t imagine what it must have looked like throughout the rest of the level or on the other levels with even more bodies struggling past each other. As we reached the next level on the staircase, we filed in line with the other knights making their way down the halls. Nobody seemed panicked, and nobody was screaming, but I knew inside that everyone must have been worried sick about our situation. We could only hope there were still escape pods left for the everyone at the Evac Stations

     When we got there, it was chaos. I couldn’t tell how many escape pods there were per row, but it was clear many had already launched. The pods were stacked 3 high, with ladders on the left hand side of the doors to help the soon-to-be occupants get in easier. Knights were climbing over each other, trying to get to their own pods before they were all taken. My brother and I kept running down some ways to try to avoid the traffic of knights, looking for two pods for us to use. Suddenly, with a clang, I blinked and found myself on the floor, opposite a knight in black and red armor, and a white rounded helmet.

     “Gah, sorry about that! I forgot something, go ahead and take one of those pods over there! They should be ready to go!" Without another word, the knight was up and sprinting back the way my brother and I had come. I stood up, dumbfounded, and hollered to my brother to get him to come back. I managed my way to the escape pods the red knight had pointed out. Each pod was basically a ball of metal, designed to safely hold one person each. The cabins were just large enough for an average knight to stand in. According to the general-instructions knight from last month, all pods were supposed to come with a couple days’ worth of rations and basic combat equipment. It wasn’t much, but the goal of the escape pods was simply to make sure its occupant was capable of surviving on their own for a couple of days, until they found help or help found them.

     “Let’s get going,” I told my brother as he arrived. He bolted for the ladder and pulled himself into the top pod, and I climbed into the one underneath, since the one on the bottom had already launched. I quickly took in the small cabin: a red leather seat with adjustable straps and belt in the center, a monitor above to see the current estimated altitude and current velocity towards the nearest planetary surface, a rather large strongbox built behind the seat to hold any personal items, and a series of levers to launch the pod when ready.

     I had only sat down when two boots suddenly swung down from outside the pod and landed against my helmet, dazing me. “Ow! The heck was that?” I felt a hand on my shoulder trying to pull me out of my seat.

     “I changed my mind. You take the top one.”

     I could tell it was my brother from just the voice, but my eyes were still spinning. I fell out of the seat, trying to rationalize my brother’s thinking. We are in the middle of evacuating the Skylark, with everyone scrambling for escape pods, and he decides to be picky for no reason? I heard the clicking of the belt being fastened as I stood up. I glared at my brother, and as I pulled my arm back to smack him, my hand knocked one of the pod’s levers forward. There was a soft hissing, and I turned to see the escape pod’s door raising up and locking in place.

     “The hell are you doing Blast? You know there’s not enough room for the both of us!” My brother kicked me from his seat and started spouting insults.

     “It’s not like I did it on purpose! And who was the one that had to jump into MY pod because he had a sudden change of mind?” I knew it wasn’t the time to bicker, but I was not going to let my brother ridicule me for his own stupidity. “Crap, which lever did I just pull? That should reopen the door right?” I didn’t want to accidentally launch the pod, so I resisted pulling on the levers at random. There was a knock on the pod’s door, and turning to peer through the porthole window on the pod's door, I could see the silhouette of a helmet just outside.

     “Hey, you okay? Time to launch, asap!” A muffled voice called through the door. I stood to look out the window and wave for help, but the pod’s cabin was dark and I couldn’t tell if the individual on the other side could see me. All I could make out from the window was a light hue of blue armor, and a U-shaped horn on the helmet. “Look, you’re taking too long! I’m gonna assume you’re buckled since the door is locked. On the count of three, I’ll release the pod from out here! Ready?”

     “Woah, hey wait!” I called out, hoping to stop him in time. Before I could say anything else, the tall knight immediately shouted three, and I was knocked to the ground as the escape pod jettisoned, now plummeting to the surface of the planet below.