How did I get here?

The world swam before Johns eyes as he looked out at the plain where the remains of the Falcon rocket smouldered. His arms and legs stung smartly as the blood from his cuts and abrasions added a dark red tinge to his thousand dollar suit. The cold air stung his nose and hinted a faintly pleasant smell as he looked over the green colored sand surrounding a oddly blue body of water. 'Oh Toto!' he thought to himself, 'I don't think we are in Kansas any more.'

John Yochanan looked around at the snow capped mountains. Despite the chill in the air he could feel the sunlight warm upon his shoulders. The brisk wind was clearing his head. It appeared that the cabin of the rocket had separated and half had escaped the worse part of the first impact, he had been thrown clear. He could see the bodies of the other passengers, at least most of them, he mentally shuddered, he had seen gore like this in his previous life while working for the national transportation safety board as a crash site engineer, before Mr Musk scooped him up.

Where was he? He couldn't remember anything before the crash, it all happened so fast. The odd thing was it had happened so soon after liftoff. He supposed the craft had malfunctioned, but where on Earth was he now. The heavily iced mountains didn't resemble any he had encountered in the past. This place resembled an old copper mine right down to the wastewater pond that must have been filled with copper sulphate.

They must be looking for me he mused. Even a civilian space expedition was heavily monitored, it was even live streamed on YouTube! Surely be now the whole world was looking for them. Them, who? the thought suddenly struck him. Dragging himself painfully up he set out toward the wreckage in search of other survivors.

.

He then realized that he had twisted his ankle, this made the going slow. The temperature was falling rapidly and he began to realize he would soon suffer from exposure if he didn't find shelter . He was approaching the outer crash site, sadly none of the bodies he approached appeared intact. He was very careful not to disturb the scene for the investigators he knew would be arriving.

A piece of space age alloy served as a suitable crowbar allowing him access to the mostly intact crew module. Sealed lightweight crates of supplies packed in aero gel didn't yield many useful items, although he did find a first aid kit complete with a foil appearing emergency blanket.

Dressing wounds and applying antibiotic cream lifted his spirits, thirst now became a priority, a large thermos of cold water built into the cabin wall was nearly full, and a roll of zero g bags was attached resembling those one would find at a grocery produce section. Filling one he drank deeply. One final need was pressing upon him. He found a tissue like box labeled bag, pilot relief. 'Aaaah! that's better.'

A search of the cabin revealed several cases or emergency rations as well as large quantities of gourmet foods reserved for the planned inaugural party, the celebration of the successful flight. He found a portable folding dolly that was used to move cargo on and off stowed on a strap in the service crew area and made quick use of it.

The emergency lights lining the aisle still functioned although he new each section has redundant power it still pleased him greatly to see it operate. The communications center only half remained. It was obvious to John the pilot area took the main impact of the mountain before jackknifing away down the mountain.

He found the emergency transceiver and tuned it to the UHF guard band, he was overjoyed at this as this would signal any aircraft or airport in the world. "Mayday, mayday, mayday this Falcon Heavy one, we require assistance." dead silence answered. He lowered the squelch adjustment and found the constant hiss of origin static reassuring. After an hour of effort he switched the set off.

The wind had picked up and the light was failing as dusk approached. The lightweight crates proved not to be very good anchors but using a screwdriver he managed to punch holes I the aluminum walls.Using the bag ties turned out to be the best way to secure the space blanket over the cabin hole. He ate a little cheese and drank a small bag of wine hoping the cheese would slow down another process. He felt a little better now. Wrapping himself in soft cloth blankets he spread out on the steward's couch placing a pillow and slept fitfully.

----- Outside the moon shown brightly as did the earth! --------

The bright sunlight steamed around the blanket and was hot against his skin. Wishing for a toothbrush he was rewarded with a small matchbook shaped package of mint dental picks buried amongst the first aid items. More water and another relief bag, he was afraid he might need this precious fluid later so he stored the two sealed bags in a crate just outside where they would freeze in the icy winds.

He decided to give the radio another try, he looked at the ancient GRC171 and thought how durable the bulky transceiver was. Looking around the cabin he found the satellite radio they used to communicate in orbit. It appeared UNTOUCHED! He pressed the toggle activating the unit and saw seeking on the LCD display, followed by locked. It worked!

"Mayday, mayday mayday this is the Falcon heavy requesting immediate assistance" no responses followed repeated attempts. Frustrated he changed the satellite, finding a news broadcast. Again the same response followed as the display read locked and the video feed buffered.

"Our top story " the bleach blonde reporter stated in her most serious tone, " The new exo planet that created so much havoc is no longer threatening the Earth." "Recovery efforts continue throughout the world as scientists predict the planets trajectory." He was shocked! Video of tsunami's and volcanic eruptions tornados and hurricane winds. What had happened?

"In other news the loss of the Falcon Heavy spacecraft on its maiden voyage remains a mystery. Video shot from a passengers camera appeared to show the approach of the new planet before being cut off for unknown reasons. Spacex control had no comment. He decided now would be a great time for a field trip.

The sun had appeared to have reached its zenith as he pulled one of the heavy blankets around his stained brown suit and lifted the door covering. The charnel house now resemble a freezer as a fine layer over the numerous body parts, the faces frozen in Halloween like death masks. Searching about he finally located his prize a go pro camera with a damaged lens.

Back in the cabin John endeavored to activate an environmental control unit, after resetting the circuit breaker on a concealed panel the unit began to weakly blow a stream of hot air.

The display on the panel showed the battery for the compartment at 80 percent, mimicking the needle of an analog meter, showing it in the green range. Yikes! the ammeter showed a 60 ampere draw. He decided to run the devices sparingly.

Warming his hands he examined. the small camera, one segment of battery showed on it's color display. A two inch USB cable was tucked behind the battery door. Between the steward couches a small USB charge port could be seen glowing with a green light. 'Well didn't Mr Musk just think of everything!' John exclaimed as he plugged it in.

After a snack and a nap John fired up the portable camera, as expected the lens was useless but the spider webbed display functioned. After getting used to the devices he started going through the various files stored on its SD card. A couple of movies he recognised, vacation footage from what looked like a Hawaiian cruise, featuring a freckled ginger woman, obviously his wife.

The last file was a rather large copy of a live stream showing the gantry and launch elevator, the feed cut for a bit during the launch, and resumed in orbit presumably because the satellite WiFi cut out. The interior of the cabin was filled with floating objects, some obviously chunks of vomit. Oh well he sighed not everyone is a born astronaut.

The scene that grabbed his attention was the final one as the camera was turned outwards into the jet black portal. A greenish white marble could be seen growing in size. What!? The earth? The camera swept down showing the enormous blue curvature of Terra, the thin layer of translucent clouds and atmosphere clearly visible.

Swinging up again the marble was now a basketball, white and green more prevalent as it grew. As it grew larger it appeared to slow, soon the ship shook violently, clouds were passing the portal, up was down, debris and blackness. He let the shocking realization sink slowly in. This wasn't Earth!