Re-Entry

A man faces the harsh reality of death in his escape pod.

                In an escape pod a man sat watching a planet as red as the blood he’d split. Cruisers and frigates had gotten him this far, but they all floated on as dead as he would be soon.  

"Least there will be something to salvage" he thought while turning and sighing as he looked at the oxygen levels in his pod. He’d burn up in the atmosphere before they’d run out. A harsh realization that he’d never thought of during training. His fate was a cruel punishment by those he’d been fighting, and yet, as he spun on in a slow perpetual bliss he couldn't help but marvel at the pale blue planet as it looked on sad as the day he left her.

            “Not Long enough” he thought as he threw the tablet computer that told him how long he had off toward his destiny.

            Mars, a beautiful planet that finally started to show signs of terraforming. The patches of green were like planetary melanoma that didn’t kill anyone. The man in the seat chuckled, and the tanks in his pod churned more air into his regulator while venting Co2 out. He watched the crystalline vapor float on alongside him shine like miniature stars. The man thought back to when he was on Earth, and breathing fresh air, not the artificial stuff that tasted stale and reminded him of the grainy texture the helium from balloons had. He had a dog he promised he’d come home to, a mother he told not to cry. He had a father he instructed to take care of his car, and a few friends he told not to get too shitfaced without him around. And then, as he felt the heat of re-entry start to wash over him like waves from an ocean, he thought about the woman he’d never get to propose too. And as the flames began to singe his suit, he placed his hand over the ring in his pocket, and closed his eyes.

Author's Note

My first real stab at science fiction.

Reviews

[Dean Kuch®]

Short, yet very, VERY intense. What a helpless feeling, being unavoidably hurtled towards Earth only to burn. The thoughts briefly going through your protagonist's mind were realistic. Such thoughts would surely go through my mind as well...before the white-hot pain set in...
Nice , brief write...

[Saichiro Wolftotem]

Terrifying! Ugh...I have nightmares like this.

[Tom Cook]

A sci-fi flash fiction piece? Hmmm interesting. The writing is very good, the use of "melanoma" tickled me. I feel a flash fiction is not for this piece, but rather prose poetry or a long verse poem. As for a first crack it is well written, take a look at the sci-fi master Philip K. Dick.