Titans
[25] MERC

Two days later,

it hits us in the night.

Coming in rays not unlike

beams of sunrise

on the horizon: light.

We aren’t mistaken;

it’s not morning.

Starting the engines,

feeling the thrum,

hearts of three beating around

a pilot who has yet to fly,

a crew who suddenly feel too young.

That’s when the moment comes –

A jolt forward;

we go flying for the walls.

A shudder backwards;

Lilith falls to the floor.

Metal squeals,

bright red alerts.

I take the controls,

calm my nerves,

wait for the sensation to hit –

freedom and fear makes an unnerving mix.

And we fall:

A tremendous groan,

the shudder of metal grating rock,

and my stomach drops.

Gravity takes hold

and I rise in my chair

as if hovering in mid-air.

For a moment I have wings –

than reality sinks back in.

A control board, dazzling and alight,

red and orange and yellow light.

All I’ve learnt takes flight,

leaves my mind empty and panicked,

my hands floundering in fright.

“Merc!” Cal reminds,

“Now would be a good time!”

Falling ship, sinking feeling –

I’m a pilot who doesn’t know how to fly.

And it all flashes before my eyes.

“Move,” someone says,

and nudges me from my chair,

takes the controls from my hopeless care.

Atara,

with her golden hair,

using the controls as if she knows them,

as if she feels them. I watch –

her and the ship melding together,

a web of intertwining parts,

pulling us from the dark.

It’s all dark

down here, our headlights lighting

a narrow rocky path,

the walls shuddering together, apart,

dancing around us, into us, away.

There is no certain escape.

From the sky, rock rains,

narrowly missing the window panes.

“Pull us up, Atara!” Cal exclaims,

as the abyss threatens to block our way.

Atara pulls back –

the nose of the ship tilts up.

I slip back into another chair

as we shoot up, up

to freer air.

A final blow

from the shifting rock –

a jolt from the side

and the alarms turn red hot.

Atara spins us away,

curves the ship with ease.

the alarms continue to blare,

my heart continues to beat,

but once again I can breathe.

We’re free.