Snippet #1690647

The sound of the crashing ship reverberated throughout the entire station, the initial impact with the man-made planet had caused some minor structural damage to the wood which sheathed its interior. The craft could not have crashed in the more sensitive area, luckily it had not compromised the outer shell of the small metallic planetoid The collision of the ship with the station did however cause several small breaks to occur, this in turn caused water from the man-made lake above to leak into the station. The collision could have been far more devastating if it had managed to damage or break the main window in the section of the station used for observation and meditation by the monks, or even worse, it could have damaged the main mirror which provided the station with light.

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Brother Winthrow and the other monks on the dining level had rushed over to the right side of the station to gaze out of one of the many observation portals which could be found strewn throughout its interior. From this vantage point the monks were able to see the crashed ship even though it was on the very top of the station, this was achieved by a series of reflectors which are mounted on the outside of the station. These reflective surfaces are arranged and aligned in such a way as to catch the reflection from the next mirrored surface; both above and below. These devices allowed a monk to see all around the outside of thestation without the use of the monitors that could be found on each level. Just as with the computer operated interior lighting the monks were forbidden to use the monitors, the monks in fact regretted their very existence, although they never got around to removing the monitors.

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Brother Striker had witnessed the approaching craft from the corner of his eye as he stood upon the gantry, but for some reason it did not fully register in his mind as a possible threat, as he had no way of knowing that the vessel was out of control and was heading directly for the station. At a certain point the vessel had vanished from sight as several of the reflective devices on the left side of the station were damaged and had not been serviced. What his eyes had failed to visualize his hearing compensated for, the sound of the ship crashing into the lake was overwhelming. It was in fact the sound that had knocked Striker off of his feet and not the actual impact. Striker immediately got up and ran to the nearest ladder, climbing all the way to the top of the station, once there he positioned himself beneath the trap door which led to a small room between the wooden interior and the metallic skeletal structure. This trap door led to the hatch of the small floodable air-chamber, which Striker then climbed into, locking the hatch behind him. Very few of the monks had ever been in this small chamber but Striker had come here quite often in the past, essentially using it as a way to escape the others and to have some time alone, as a result he was familiar with the controls was able to operate the chamber.