Five-Minute fiction - 10:41-10:46
Scant thumbed the drive into action just as the klaxons signalling an imminent landing began to wail. He adjusted his hearing protection and waited for the series of red lights in front of him to flip over to green. Numbers ticked by somewhere overhead and he fought the urge to look at them. That was always the urge to look away from your station to confirm that you should, in fact, be looking at your station. It was a mistake a lot of novice operators made. Scant wasnt a novice, but hed scrubbed his fair share of landings.
The drive cycled up to maximum just as the first red light ticked over to green. He shifted position and slammed the control sticks forward. There was a thunk and the green light flickered for a moment before turning off, just as another of the red lights flicked into green. He yanked bag and shoved the sticks forward again. There was another thunk and the light went out immediately.
One by one the lights turned from red to green before going out. He was sweating by the end of it. The out-dated control sticks were stiff and unwieldy, so unlike the current equipment that filled most the mining ships that frequented this sector of the Belt. But it wasnt his place to say. You did the job that was in front of you, with the tools that were provided, thats what his old mentor had always said
Scant thumbed the drive into action just as the klaxons signalling an imminent landing began to wail. He adjusted his hearing protection and waited for the series of red lights in front of him to flip over to green. Numbers ticked by somewhere overhead and he fought the urge to look at them. That was always the urge to look away from your station to confirm that you should, in fact, be looking at your station. It was a mistake a lot of novice operators made. Scant wasnt a novice, but hed scrubbed his fair share of landings.
The drive cycled up to maximum just as the first red light ticked over to green. He shifted position and slammed the control sticks forward. There was a thunk and the green light flickered for a moment before turning off, just as another of the red lights flicked into green. He yanked bag and shoved the sticks forward again. There was another thunk and the light went out immediately.
One by one the lights turned from red to green before going out. He was sweating by the end of it. The out-dated control sticks were stiff and unwieldy, so unlike the current equipment that filled most the mining ships that frequented this sector of the Belt. But it wasnt his place to say. You did the job that was in front of you, with the tools that were provided, thats what his old mentor had always said