The sound of an explosively loud crashing sound jerked me awake from my deep sleep. The blinding lights above me flickered and went out. I felt my way over to my door and pressed the button to open it, but nothing happened. I glanced out of the window and saw the atmosphere catching fire. The ship was falling onto the planet! I rushed to the wall in order to grab the fire extinguisher and used it as a battering ram to bash the inoperative door down. Emergency lights glowed a dull red down the corridor. I began to sprint towards the part of the ship that contained life pods, my PDA and keys jingling together as I bumped up and down. I rounded the corner to the life pod bay and watched through the window as a pod was launched. I stared, horrified, as the pod was struck by debris from the ship and exploded into metal fragments. I quickly shook myself from my stupor and climbed into one of the remaining pods, manually shutting the hatch above me. The pod automatically launched as I took my seat and lowered the safety bar over my head. I looked up through the enameled glass hatch to see the ship explode into a ball of flames above the pod, the shock wave knocking the fire extinguisher from the wall and loosening a panel inside of my life pod. I watched in horror as the panel fell from the wall, crashing about as the pod was buffeted by air currents. I tried to raise my arm to protect myself, but the safety bar prevented me from moving, and the metal panel ricocheted into me, my vision flashing to black. 
My eyes seemed to blink of their own accord as I drifted into a bleary wakefulness. My gaze lazily glided to the left and I suddenly shot awake. The life pod was on fire! My finger pressed the button to release me from my seat, but nothing happened. I frantically mashed the button down over and over and then slammed my fist into it in a fit of frustration, finally jolting the wiring into action and raising the restraining bar. I fell forward out of my seat, suddenly extremely dizzy, but forced myself to clamber to my feet. I frantically scanned the small pod for the fire extinguisher, spotting it rolling near the wall. I snatched up the extinguisher and quickly put out the growing blaze before it could reach the solar cells on the wall. The small PDA attached to my hip beeped at me as it received a signal from the life pod and began to reboot in emergency mode. I lifted it to my face and idly tapped at the glass, waiting for any information it could give me. In its soft female voice the PDA revealed that the fire in the pod had knocked out the critical scanning systems, as well as the radio. It didn’t matter anyhow as the radio couldn’t send any messages without the radio mast attached to the now gone ship. The smoke inside the pod was thick, so I quickly reached into the onboard storage compartment, grabbing a flare, a water bottle, and some rations. I climbed the ladder in the center of the pod and pushed open the hatch. I watched as some sort of strange bird flew away from the top of the life pod, and scanned the horizon, dismayed. There was nothing but water in sight, and in front of me, the looming wreckage of my ship, the Aurora. I was alone on an alien planet, surrounded by water, with nothing but my mind, my PDA, a few rations, and hope to survive on. Oh well, there was no use in sitting and waiting. I was lightyears away from any systems owned and operated by Alterra, so rescue wouldn’t be coming any time soon. It was time to dive in.