Air pressure punches the inside of my ears
with a mechanical squeal,
brain flinches to bloodshot eyes.

Choke on this sluggish moment,
and drown in stale air caught
packed in a dense environment.

gasp

Air pumps come on-line.
A flood of oxygen rushes
into a deep breath.
Mind opens to wide eye accuracy.

Seven rows back a man wheezes.
His sad heartbeats struggle to pass.
He wont last long after we land.

Almost non-audible
anti-gravity magnets
confidently hum in rotation.
An effortless glide away from dock.

New tech has pollution in the past,
still the planet suffocates on its remains.
Floating machines filter toxic air

below

White flashes of air push us out to space.
Engines gurgle to life and guzzle
the deep frozen black atmosphere.

Stars stream together in flight.
Look back at the planet’s glow.

Lights flicker to fade through
the waves of a hungry acidic nebula.
Graveyard of the suns.

My shoulder tattoo from the old planet
glows through my sleeve.
Reflections ride across layers of glass.

She peeks at me through her curls
while I clean my weapon.
That wheezing man will be the first
to go.

© Henry Chambers