The first thing my mind became aware of was a sinking feeling. Perhaps my despair had become so physical that it was dragging my body down. I opened my eyes. Or perhaps my ship was plummeting out of space towards Earth. As it turned out, it was the latter. While I had seen many ships land safely before, I watched with some anxiety. There was no telling what my brother had done to the controls. To my uneducated eyes, it looked like he had smashed them with a hammer. Perhaps this was all just a ploy to both murder me and fuel the humans' ever-present suspicions about aliens.

Around the craft, the great blackness of space was slowly turning to a lighter gray. Or maybe that was just the flame wreathing my vessel as I shot downward. The vessel began to shake and toss, the force of the atmosphere trying desperately to destroy my craft.

My ears flattened against my head nervously, and I clung with all my strength to the floor of the cockpit, which was made rather more difficult due to the fact that I had no thumbs anymore. The ship tossed hard and suddenly, smashing my head so violently into the ceiling that I saw stars. I groaned, slumping back to the floor. The interior of the ship was growing unpleasantly hot, and even the stone of the floor felt warm beneath my paws.

The ship streaked on like a dying star, the flame burning around it growing more and more intense. I raised myself for another look outside. The sky was brighter, and I could begin to see shapes of landmasses down below. The whole ship rocked. I glanced behind the ship. Yes, just as I had thought, the thrusters had kicked in, slowing the ship a miniscule amount. Not enough. The surface of the Earth continued approaching faster and faster, and I sank to the floor, squeezing my eyes shut.

I had always desired a warrior's death, and being crushed in a ship crash did not seem particularly honorable to me.

I just hope that brother of mine remembered to program it to land in water, I thought.

There was a horrific crash, a massive sploosh, and then silence.