Kinetics

The transition from mundane to extraordinary was mind-numbingly quick, that day. I was storing a recoilless hammer back in an equipment box and when Fuel Tank 3 exploded in a blinding flash.

Before my conscious brain could process what this meant, my mammalian brain flexed my neck to preserve my vital visual senses - reducing the explosion to afterimages on the back of my retina but sending me into a spin.

I cursed my millenia-outdated reflexes and tried to regain a rotational neutral, but then the shockwave propagating up the tungsten-alumoxide spine of the ship reached my position. Radiation shielding shattered into space, propelled by outgassing from interior pressurised spaces - and continued, the devastation an observable ripple of lethality.

Remembering the event later, what really struck me was the beauty of the scene. Micro-debris twinkling with reflected sunlight. Larger chunks of metal slowly rotating on chaotic outbound trajectories.

Human bodies spinning in a deathly ballet.