Dead plants extended down the sandy plain
as far as he could see. He took a quick
breath, and hit the button.
The ground beneath him disappeared. Or
rather, it reappeared a lot farther
away.
A robotic voice beeped “Fall initiation time: 1640 hours” as he
whistled past the wind, sparse as it was. The form fitting body suit and helmet
held him together as his eyes rolled around in his skull. Falling through the
sky was actually not that bad, he thought. Of course, the same couldn’t be said
about the huge black thing blocking out half of his downward view. The 3 ton
‘package’ strapped to him should’ve oriented correctly by now, as it dragged
him through the sound barrier and beyond, but going by the way it was beginning
to swing him around at sub-sonic speeds, it probably hadn’t. He also couldn’t get rid of it either.
Not yet.
400 metres later, he was going down twice
as fast, and zero times as around. It
was time to let go. He still hadn’t though, causing a faint sense of alarm in
the back of his head. His thoughts were of course, fiercely focussed on the
poetic “AAAAAARGH!” that was emanating from his mouth. At the same time, a
strong current pulsed around his neck, only so much weaker than a taser. Don’t
ask how he knew what that felt like.
“X301. X301. Jum. Your payload is in
position. Automatic release is non-functional. Disengage manually immediately.”
“AAAAAAAAA-“
“The
red handle marked ‘release’ on your right leg.” The feminine voice replied.
He
clutched at his thigh, hoping for this nightmare to end. It didn’t work. “You
are hurtling towards the ground at sonic speed, attached to a box that should not have weighed 3 tons, given its
size.” a voice in his mind helpfully piped as he hysterically tugged at the red
pin, praying to God that he got to see his mother again. He knew he shouldn’t
have taken this job. The company was too shady. The facility looked too clean
compared to the functional university rooms, the faces too unconcerned unlike
the tired postgrads asking him questions in the usual clinical study. But
thinking of his mama’s hospital bills, he had gone ahead anyway. Three hours
later, pushing a button out in a desert field had thrown him into the sky.
“X301.
The payload is aligned. It will enter the tunnel in 30 seconds. Twist, push and
pull.”
”Goddamn,
I forgot the push. Sorry mama.” He whispered, as he
finally managed to let go and the block fell away from him, along with the fuel
cans of the cheap jetpack that got it in position. Immediately a robotic voice
in his helmet noted, “Release time: 1641
hours. Release height: 5000 feet”. With a parachute released quickly, his
motion slowed and he swayed down the last few thousand feet, cheeks and
trousers wet like they hadn’t been in two decades. He slowly trudged to the
buggy and headed back to the control tower, feeling sick to the core.
A few kilometres away from where he landed,
a man had gotten increasingly worried until Jum’s payload was released.
“Christ, Len. This was way too close. The
kid passed all your tests! What if he had
died?” a man grumbled next to the woman on the comms, as Jum began to make his
way back.
“Our
only problem would have been retrieving the helmet, since it has all test data
and payload jetpack control system. The boy would have splattered on the
shutters, which close as soon as the payload enters the energy recoup tunnel.
So calm down, Frank.” She barked without looking up at the grizzled man’s
agitated face.
“And I assume that his life had already
been bought if we needed it?” he murmured slowly, as understanding dawned on
him.
“Yes.” she said as she offered him the
contract file. “Also, with this test the system now produces energy at 8 times
the rate it consumes. No known side effects excepting the occupational hazards.”
“Hmm. You’re as good as ever Len. I don’t
know why I ever came down here.” He smiled as he read through the details,
shuddering inwardly and making a mental note to never cross paths with the
woman.
“Told ya, Frank.” she said in a sing-song
voice.
“Keep doing what you’re doing and maybe I’ll
manage to keep the Army off your back.” he whispered as they walked off to talk
to Jum, who had returned from his ‘adventure’.
“Congratulations
Mr. Zhang. That payload you dropped just helped power a neighbourhood for the
day.” she said. Her smile was more artificial than the flowers in his mother’s
hospital room. “Want to go again? You are allowed to leave, but only because
it’s your first time.”
“Nah, I think I’ll take off.” Jum said,
already turning around.
The old man next to her yelled “Good job,
kid!”
On the bus back to the hospital, all Jum
could think of was how he had fallen from the sky without ever getting up there. Even though the pay
was pretty good, he was not sure if he would do it again. One moment he had
been sweating and hesitating, on solid ground, and the next there was no ground beneath him. That feeling
of unease continued to build up, and he couldn’t help but dwell on it since his
stupid phone was dead.
An hour later, he sat outside the hospital
room, still unable to understand how a recovering pneumonia patient had died of
cardiac arrest. The doctor had looked
appropriately sad as he explained how even though his mother had died in their care;
he still had to foot the bill. He glanced cursorily at his mother’s file, not
quite comprehending the words while seeing them.
- Unusual cardiac activity detected at: 1640 hours
- Estimated time of death: 1641 hours
___________________________________________________________________________
This was written entirely in about an hour on this prompt from r/WritingPrompts — " There's a computer that, when someone enters a specific location, will take the person exactly there. Make this only a minor part of your story and not the main focus."
This is about 900 words long,and just the bare bones. I always struggle to contain my stories to below 1500 words.
Points: 305
Reviews: 20
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