Rapidly spinning numbers surrounded the falling escape pods, altimeter readings counting down with worrying speed. Six escape pods to cover with only three suits.

Two pods made hard landings on a rocky mountainside, carving cherry-red scars into the landscape. The other four impacted into a large body of water. Satellite imagery suggested gale-force conditions and heavy swell.

I sent Drone Two into a high-gee manoeuvre, banking to shed airspeed for a softer ground landing near the mountain sites. That left Drone Three and myself: two quarter-tonne powered armour suits without buoyancy equipment to handle four pods. Worse, EVA thruster packs did not generate sufficient lift for sustained atmospheric flight.

Surrounded by cloud, altimeter still plummeting, I made my decision and retracted the thruster pack’s winglets in a head-first dive for the ground.