It would take a long time for the Xavius IV to crash.

The L-Class space cruiser was almost a half mile in length and displaced more than a million tons Earth weight. It was built of electron steel and was capable of traveling in Supertime, so it was virtually indestructible in space.

But slamming into the hard surface of a planet was a different matter.

The gigantic spaceship was falling, quickly, toward an uncharted world. It was on fire and all of its critical control systems were either failing or already dead. Because the Xavius IV was a Starcrasher, there was no chance it would burn up on entry. But once inside the planet's atmosphere, the spaceship's descent velocity would become hypersonic. It would be moving so fast when it hit the ground, it could take up to twenty miles of plowing across the planet's surface before coming to a stop. And even if the vessel did survive more or less intact, its propulsion core would explode soon after it ground to a halt because that's what prop cores did when deprived of external power.

So this was a tight spot for the spaceship's two-man crew. Be killed in the sheer chaos of one million tons of electron steel slowly breaking up all around you. Or be annihilated twenty seconds later once the propulsion core realized it was starved of power.

Neither would provide a tidy demise.

The two pilots took their hands from the controls just long enough to touch gloves. It was not a handshake, but it would have to do. They hit the top of the atmosphere hard an instant later. Plunging through thick clouds, all one million tons vibrating furiously, they were moving so fast, a trail of massive sonic booms was following them down. The control panels in front of them were blinking madly; the ship's computer was crying out so many warnings, its synthetic voice became hoarse and garbled.

With one glance below, the pilots knew fate had picked the wrong planet for them to crash into. The world beneath them was made up of towering mountain ranges, broken up only by the occasional stretch of open space, small oceans that had dried up long ago. The stricken vessel was heading right toward a particularly nasty group of jagged peaks. With one last effort, the pilots turned hard to port, hoping to make some relatively flat desert beyond. The nose came up. They braced for impact. The sonic booms were so intense now, their ears began to bleed.

When they hit the ground a few seconds later, the impact was so powerful, a small electrical storm crackled to life above their tail. The huge ship bounced once, then began its long skid. One mile, two miles, three . . . Hundreds of attachment modules were being torn away from its fuselage. Tons of dirt and rocks were flying in its wake. Still the spaceship did not slow down.

Four miles. Five. Six . . .

The spaceship's exterior skin quickly became a mess of shredded secondary metal and severed power lines. The flight compartment canopy finally shattered. Millions of white-hot glass shards filled the cockpit, tearing away at the pilots' spacesuits.

Seven miles, eight miles . . .

They went right through a small mountain. With the glass shield gone, the debris poured into the flight compartment unimpeded. They hit another mountain. Flames burst from the main control panel.

Nine miles, ten . . .

The pilots could barely breathe now, they were being choked by all the smoke in the cockpit. Then the ship hit another large mountain and its needle nose began to crumple. Once it tore into the planet's crust in earnest, the ship began slowing down. In a great storm of dust and debris, it finally ground to a bombastic halt, two miles later.

Both pilots were barely conscious by this time. Dazed and bleeding, they were also hopelessly trapped. The cascade of dirt and crushed control columns had pinned them to their seats. They could not move their arms or legs. Unbuckling themselves would be impossible.

Not that it made any difference. A dozen computer voices were screaming throughout the wreck now, adding to the cacophony of hissing, crackling, and the sound of many things burning at once. But above it all, one artificial voice was very clear. It said the spaceship's propulsion core was going to blow up in exactly twenty-two seconds. . . .

A stream of sparks began raining down on the pilots. The cockpit ceiling started to glow, dissolving the partially crushed cabin roof not two feet above their heads. The smoke became thicker. They could hear flames coming through the tubes. The ship would go through one last convulsion before it blew up for good. Both pilots just slumped back in their seats and waited for the end.

That's when a piece of the cabin ceiling fell in on them . . .

The pilot named Erx never saw the hands that grabbed him by the shoulders and lifted him out of the dirt and debris. He was pulled through a hole in the ceiling and out of the spaceship completely. He could not see beyond his helmet visor. Blood was flowing into his eyes, blurring his vision. He felt himself being pushed into the back of a small, hovering aircraft. Then the hands finally let him go.

"Ten seconds to core detonation," the computer voice announced nervously.

"Go on without me!" came the human voice from below. "Go, I say!"

Erx almost smiled. It was his fellow pilot, Berx, crying out. They were going to be blown up in a few seconds -- himself, Berx and this valiant, doomed rescuer. Still, Erx appreciated his partner's last show of valor. He and Berx had flown in space together for nearly a hundred years. Never did he think it would end so soon.

"Five seconds to core detonation. . . ."

The next thing Erx knew, Berx was falling on top of him. His colleague's head landed so hard onto his stomach, it knocked what little air he had in his lungs right out of him.

And then suddenly, they were moving.

Very fast.

Three seconds to detonation . . . two . . . one. . . .

Copyright © 2001 by Mack Maloney