He pushed the thruster lever forward. The VID-2 groaned, its landing struts retracting with a series of heavy mechanical thuds. As the ship lifted, a sudden tremor shook the cabin. A jagged plume of lunar dust erupted from a nearby fissure—a moonquake.
"Keep it together, girl," Elias whispered, gripping the flight stick. VID-2_mp4
The ship tilted dangerously as a spray of regolith pelted the underside. Warning lights flashed crimson across the cockpit. If he lost an engine now, he’d be a permanent part of the lunar crust. He rerouted emergency power to the lateral thrusters, the VID-2 roaring as it fought the shifting gravity. He pushed the thruster lever forward
With a final, violent jolt, the ship broke free of the dust cloud and surged into the blackness of the upper atmosphere. Below, the cratered ground became a distant map. Ahead, the tiny, glowing lights of New Hope Base appeared on the horizon—a lone campfire in a desert of stars. A jagged plume of lunar dust erupted from