Excerpt: Nine miles

The safety foam smelled like some kind of stale and chemical vomit. Olly could smell it through her helmet vents. She coughed, trying to breath through her mouth, but the heavy scent still seemed to fill her sinuses. She'd been held for hours now in the foam's wet and spongey embrace, and only now was the fire-resistant material beginning to melt into a sticky goo. She guessed there'd been some hotspots outside on the wreck, and the foam with all its good intentions had been keeping her safe until it had died down.

She scrabbled her arms through through the soupy liquid, clearing a space, and pushed forward over the dashboard. Her helmet broke free into open air - the release of the safety foam had opened the canopy. Thank christ that had worked at least, although she couldn't see a thing with the yellow muck smeared over her visor. Just wanting to be free of it, Olly slithered outside and over the blackened hull and landed in a stinking heap in the mud.

Mud. She unlocked her helmet, wrenched it off and threw it into a nearby bush. Now the stink of the foam really hit, and she bent over to retch, before kicking the side of her crushed shuttle.

"You stupid fucking stupid thing!" she yelled, before hopping in a circle.