Free Devon Blake and the Starship Crash by Douglas Warren

his own, but he often saw his passengers as his children,
     
for as long as they were on his ship. The thought of losing 35 of his children chilled him to the
bone. It was not going to happen on his watch, if he had anything to say about it.

Chapter 11
The sun shown brightly, a burning jewel set in the blue silk of the midday sky. No clouds
     
obscured the unbroken blue. The deep green of the surrounding forest was a great contrast to the
     
vivid blue set above it.
     
Devon and Flim scrambled up the hill followed closely by Jacinda and Merrell. From
     
this vantage point they could see the whole drop ship.
     
“Look at that,” Devon said as he gawked at the sight before him. All four friends stared
     
in amazement at the ship. It had plowed a furrow through the forest for as far as they could see.
     
The drop ship had come to rest against the side of a tall hill. They could not even see the front
     
end of the ship. It was either deeply buried in the hill or completely gone. Either way, it did not
     
look promising for the crew who had been there during the crash.
     
Devon pressed the talk button on his WristVid. “Mr. Jacobs, we made it outside okay.
     
We climbed up a hill next to the ship.”
     
Deke’s familiar voice came from the speaker. “How does the ship look from out there?”
     
There was concern in Deke’s voice.
     
“It looks like the entire cockpit is a wreck. The front of the ship is stuck in a hill and I
     
can’t even tell if the cockpit is still there.”
     
There was silence for a moment. “Bad news. The transponder was up there. Now I want
     
you to circle the ship. Make sure that everything else looks okay. Call me back as soon as you
     
are done, or in fifteen minutes. Whichever comes first. We have to stay in contact.”
     
Devon clicked off his WristVid. “You heard him. Let’s circle the ship and check it out
     
from all sides.”
Merrell and Jacinda responded with nods while Flim rolled his eyes and huffed. “First
     
we crash, and now we have to walk…this wasn’t in the brochure.”
     
Jacinda wiped sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. All of them were
     
sweating quite a bit in the heat of the morning.
     
From this vantage point it was obvious that the ship had settled into a basin-shaped dell
     
surrounded on three sides by a high hill. From here they got a much better look at the ship.
     
They followed the ridge of the hill around to the front of the ship. Jacinda and Devon
     
shared a knowing look when they saw the crumpled mess that had been the cockpit.
     
Suddenly, Devon began to feel a strange vibration through his feet. The ground beneath
     
him seemed to be shaking, making him feel unsteady. He looked over to the others to see if they
     
felt it too. They all exchanged quizzical looks, wondering what could be causing the shaking.
     
Bits of dirt and rock began to tumble down the hillside as the shaking increased.
     
Devon began to worry as larger pieces of the hillside began to slide down toward the
     
ship. He sat down quickly, unsure if he could keep his feet if the shaking grew any worse.
     
Without warning, the section of ridge Devon was sitting on broke away and began to slide down
     
the hill. Jacinda squeaked in alarm as he began moving.
     
Devon scrambled backward on his rear, trying to keep his place on the ridge, but it was
     
futile. It was as if he were sledding down the hill on his bottom. He gained speed as he went,
     
barely able to keep upright on top of the shifting dirt. Devon hit the bottom with a grunt, rolling
     
over once and landing in a heap. He felt stunned, but could hear his friends arguing at the top of
     
the hill.
     
Merrell’s gentle hand on Jacinda’s arm kept her from following Devon down the hill to
     
help.
“Hold on. It is too dangerous right now. We have to wait until the ground quake has
     
stopped, or you’ll just end up falling too.”
     
Jacinda tried to pull away, but