WEP: Red or Green?

Update!

Red or Green was chosen for the Encouragement award by the WEP team. Thanks so much and congrats to the others. It was great to read new voices in the challenge this month and I hope those writers continue to join in the fun!

***

It started in her toes.

A tingle that ran from the baby toe on her right and grew across her body until it hit the final toe on the left.

The next wave reached her ankles, then legs. Each wave of tingles higher and stronger until her entire body shook with them. And it took only seconds.

When she’d lived on planet, she’d experienced earthquakes. This disorientation was similar but the specific directionality differed.

Momentum wanted Liane to move left, but the cause had to be on her right. At the rate the waves were growing, if she didn’t find and fix the cause soon, she’d be space dust before she handed over command to the next shift.

By the time she reached the engine room, the deck was buckling beneath her feet, comms were inoperative, and panic was trying to claw its way up her throat.

The door had been cracked and as she approached, the deck rolled in another wave and the door fractured into pieces.

The engine room itself was unrecognizable. Metal lifting and rolling. 

Screens shattered. And bodies trapped in the debris.

Grief and despair battled against her control but she moved forward into the chaos.

Walls weren’t supposed to buckle, floors weren’t supposed to roll.

And the engine wasn’t supposed to pulsing with an angry orange glow.

Nothing she’d seen in any of her decades had prepared her for this and Liane wasted precious seconds simply staring.

The next wave threw her into the bulkhead and brought her focus back. From this angle she could see the body of the engineer, arm outstretched toward the wall.

Crawling to the body of her friend, Liane saw he’d been reaching for a panel with two buttons.

Engineering gobbledygook covered the wall and she wished she’d paid more attention during those classes.

More waves. More cracks and breaks. More screams and anguish.

Red or green? Stop or go?

Which button was he trying to reach?

The entire ship shuddered around her.

Liane closed her eyes and pressed red.

***

This story is part of the WEP Challenge.

Click on the link to read the other entries.

Have you joined the challenge yourself? Jump on in -  the people are awesome. I've learned a ton by participating!