Arrival (10 page)

“Cut all forward thrust,” Lynn ordered.

Frank punched the button, cutting off fuel flow to the main engines that provided their forward momentum. Without the fuel flowing into its reaction chambers, the thrust stopped and all forward propulsion ceased. “Mains are off, three out, ninety up, speed falling.”

“Stand by to flare,” Lynn announced.

“Ten seconds, brace for landing!” Frank wanted to use the word “impact”, but decided against it, even though it was more accurate.

Lynn pulled the nose up sharply, bringing the ship to a high angle of attack, and allowing the downward thrust of the four turbines to act as braking thrusters. It wasn’t the usual way to slow their forward speed just before touchdown. That was usually accomplished with the maneuvering thrusters, but there was no more than a trickle of fuel left in their tanks. “Flaring!”

The flare only lasted a few seconds. The ship’s speed had dropped to only one hundred meters per second after shutting down the main engines, and her flare out had brought that down to less than one meter per second. Lynn pushed the nose back down to level.

“Two hundred out, twenty up, speed less than one!”

Lynn began reducing power to the turbines. “Turbines at thirty!” She could have left them as they were, since they were already falling at seven meters per second. But she wanted to get the ship down now, before they ran out of fuel.

“One-fifty out, ten up, forward point five!”

Lynn waited, motionless, until just the right moment. The red low-fuel light began flashing.

“We’re outta fuel! Three up!” Frank reported nervously.

That was the moment. Lynn knew there had to be at least a bit of fuel left in the lines, and she pushed the throttle up to seventy-five percent. The four turbines screamed as their thrust intensified, jet exhaust blasting the rain-soaked surface below them. Then, the mighty roar of the turbines dropped in pitch, their thrust disappearing as the last of the fuel ran out.

“We’re falling!” Frank braced himself as the LRV dropped the last few meters.

The LRV came down nose high. The left main gear struck the surface first in a squish of mud, rain, and grass. The right gear made contact immediately afterwards. The hydraulics in the gear absorbed most of the impact, but the relatively high force made the LRV bounce up slightly, both main wheels coming at least half a meter off the ground while the nose was still coming down. The main gear made contact a second time, simultaneously, and they continued to roll forward.

Lynn watched as the nose came down. Their angle of attack quickly went from fifteen degrees to ten, then to five, zero, and then negative five. “We’re on a hill!” Lynn realized.

The forward gear struck next, with only a slight bounce. The gear settled down and the LRV began to roll down the hill. Lynn tried the brakes, but they were of no use on the muddy surface. The forward gear locked up, and they slid down the hill.

Frank looked out the forward windows and thought he could see the ground ahead where it leveled out. Then something caught his attention as they slid down the hill. Something in the fog. “Cargo pod!”

Lynn looked up in horror. Her mind raced frantically, searching for a solution. The front brakes were already locked up. If she tried the main gear brakes, they might start sliding sideways, and possibly roll. If they only had some fuel left, she could use the maneuvering thrusters to slow them down. But that was it; she had nothing else to try.

The conical shape of the cargo pod became clear, the fog parting from around them as they slid closer. The marker strobe at the top was flashing red. She could even see the parachute lines trailing off to one side, being tugged on by the wind that was filling the pod’s chutes beyond their view.

“We’re gonna hit!” Lynn cried out.

“Brace for collision!” Frank announced over the comm-set.

The LRV slid down to the bottom of the hill, which formed into a small gully filled with water due to the heavy rains. The right forward gear struck the gully first, and the soft mud at the bottom of the gully allowed the gear to sink in and get stuck.

Frank and Lynn could hear a groan from the right forward gear as the kinetic energy from the LRV’s forward speed was instantly transferred into the gear strut, which snapped under the strain. The LRV lurched down and right, the right side of her nose driving into a small rise on the other side of the gully. The soft mud of the rise was no match for the LRV’s momentum, and they plowed right through it, sending dirt and grass flying in all directions.

The LRV pitched up and left, off the rise, causing a slight change in course to port… Just enough to miss the cargo pod. The LRV came to rest with her nose slightly to the left of the pod, which was no less than a meter off their starboard side.

Suddenly, it got much quieter. Lynn could still hear the turbines as they wound down. She could also hear the sound of the rain striking the hull, and several alarms were blaring in the cockpit. But the familiar noise of thrust spewing from the turbines was gone. The sound of exterior wind rushing past them was also gone. And thankfully, the beat of Lynn’s own pulse thumping in her ears was beginning to subside.

“Damn!” Frank exclaimed as he looked across Lynn out the starboard window at the cargo pod sitting next to them. “I can’t believe we didn’t hit that pod!”

Lynn snapped back to reality. They were down, yes, but there was still work to be done. “Emergency shutdown, all systems!” Lynn began madly flipping switches and punching buttons.

“Power to batteries, reactor to emergency shutdown mode, fire suppression systems on safe, transponder on battery.” Frank followed suit. Finally, after a few more seconds, he felt sure that all systems were safely shut down. “That should do it,” he announced. “We made it.” Frank turned and looked at Lynn. “Nice flying,” he congratulated her.

Lynn realized that Frank was back to his jolly old self again—despite all that had happened—which meant they were relatively safe…for now. She relaxed back into her seat for the first time in what seemed like forever. “Secure from red,” she told Frank softly. “And set ship’s condition to yellow.”

Frank smiled. Lynn was settling into her new role nicely. “Set ship’s condition to yellow,” Frank announced over the comms. He paused for a moment, and then continued. “And welcome to Tau Ceti Five.” Frank turned off his comm-set and pulled it from his head.

Lynn smiled, exhausted, pulling off her own comm-set and dropping it on the console next to her.

“Which pod is that?” Frank asked, gesturing toward the pod outside Lynn’s starboard window.

Lynn glanced out the window, noting the big red and gold number
four
on the side of the pod. “Pod four, why?”

“Figures,” Frank groaned as he closed his eyes and dropped his head back against the headrest. He opened his eyes again, turned his head and looked at Lynn. “We added the excavation explosives to pod four.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

* * *

There was no cheering in the passenger bay. The last thirty minutes had left them all both emotionally and physically drained. Although some of them felt a measure of relief at their safe landing, for most, the shadow of death hung over them with the loss of two of their friends.

Maria unfastened her harness and leaned forward, feeling unsteady in the unfamiliar environment of normal gravity. She turned to Adia, who had her eyes closed and appeared to be crying. “It’s okay, Adia. We’ve made it, we’re safe.”

Adia looked at Maria with wide, tear-filled eyes. She knew they had landed safely, she just couldn’t believe it.

Maria slid forward to the edge of her seat, reaching out to touch Tony’s shoulder. Her limbs felt incredibly heavy, after four months of weightlessness. It was a welcome feeling, but tiring nonetheless. She knew the gravity here was the same as it had been aboard the Daedalus, about seventy-five percent of Earth’s gravity. But it still felt different than she had expected. She wondered if it had anything to do with the implants that had been removed from all of them just prior to departure. The implants had protected them from the vertigo normally caused by the massive, rotating habitat ring on the Daedalus, so there should not have been any difference in sensation between that and the natural gravity on Tau Ceti Five. However, that question would be left for future studies. Right now, there was work to be done. “How are your hands, Tony?”

“With everything that’s been going on, I almost forgot, Doc.” Tony pulled his left dressing off. The burn pad was already beginning to dry out. Underneath, his hand was cherry-red, but without blistering. “It still hurts quite a bit, but I guess it’s not that bad.” He held it up for her inspection.

“Yeah, looks like first-degree burns, mostly. Some cream should take care of it. Let’s see your other hand.”

Mac stood up from his seat at the rear of the compartment. “Man, this feels weird!” Mac bounced up and down on his toes a few times, getting accustomed to gravity once again. “I mean, it’s like a lot of effort just to stand, you know?”

Maria turned to look at Mac. “Just take it easy, big fella. Don’t wear yourself out just yet.”

“Are you kidding? Come on, Tony. Let’s get the habitat opened up so we can start working out. It’s gonna take a few weeks to get our strength up to par!” Mac and Tony had worked out on the Icarus’s resistance gym three times a day during their journey. But training in zero gravity had never felt like training to Mac, and now he was chomping at the bit to get back to some
real
workouts.

Mac had taken off his gloves and was already bending over to disconnect his flight couch from the deck to stow it away. “Man, I can feel the burn already!”

Laura pulled off pieces of her pressure suit, wanting to get out of the uncomfortable garment as soon as possible.

Sara was also dying to get out of her suit, but for different reasons. She wanted to get cleaned up. A shower would be great, but she doubted that it would be forthcoming, especially since they were on battery power at the moment. She would have to settle for a damp towel, at best.

Frank appeared at the forward hatch. “How’s everyone doing back here?”

“We’re okay,” Maria assured him.

“What the hell kind of landing was that?” Mac teased from the back of the compartment.

“The kind you can walk away from.” Frank turned his attention to Tony. “How are your hands?”

“Minor burns,” Maria answered.

“I’ll be okay,” Tony added. “How’s the ship?”

“We were just about to go outside and take a look at her,” Frank explained. “Care to be one of the first humans to set foot on an extrasolar world?”

Tony looked at Maria with pleading eyes.

“Go ahead,” she conceded. “Just rub some of that stuff on your hands before you go out.”

Tony nearly leapt from his seat, his expression full of boyish exuberance.

“And wear some gloves to protect your hands!” Maria added.

“Yes, Mother!” Tony shouted back jokingly.

“Mac!” Frank called. “You coming?”

“You kidding?” Mac replied as he stowed his seat in its compartment beneath the deck plates.

“Everyone else, secure your suits and seats,” Frank instructed. “We’ll crack open the habitat bays once we’re sure the ship is secure.”

Mac bounded forward, squeezing between the seats, and disappeared through the forward hatch behind Frank and Tony.

“How come they get to go outside?” Sara asked no one in particular.

“You want to go outside in that?” Laura wondered, pointing at the rain beating against the side windows. Sara didn’t respond. Laura just shook her head in wonder. “You’re dumber than I thought.”

Sara was shocked at Laura’s directness, but it didn’t bother her. Laura was just one more brain-washed female as far as Sara was concerned.

* * *

It had been nearly thirty minutes since their crash landing on Tau Ceti Five. The storm continued to rage outside, although the rain had eased somewhat. The storm was now mostly wind along with the occasional lightning in the distance. Frank surmised that the weather front had passed over them and was probably headed out to sea. Of course, if Will were still alive, he could have told them for sure.

The starboard nose section of the LRV rested atop the small rise that had served to stop its forward momentum, leaving the first five meters of the ship suspended in the air out beyond the small hill upon which it rested.

The outer hatch under the starboard nose cracked open slightly, then fell the rest of the way open, striking the rise and splattering mud. A booted foot came out of the hatchway and kicked at the partly open hatch, forcing it deeper into the muddy embankment in order to open it further.

Mac wiggled through the hatch, dropping the last meter and landing on his bottom, then slid down the hill toward the base of the rise. It was a clumsy way for the first human to set foot on an extrasolar world, but it worked.

As he stood, he was overwhelmed with unfamiliar sensations. Wet mud beneath his feet. Rain and wind on his face. The smell of wet grass and foliage. The feeling of being outdoors in general was completely foreign to him. They had all been born and raised aboard a spaceship, never feeling the warmth of the sun or the chill of the night air on their faces.

Mac brushed the wet mud from his butt as he looked around, checking as best he could to see if it was safe for the others to come out. But he couldn’t see more than four meters in front of him. “Uh, I guess it’s clear out here,” Mac called as he adjusted his comm-set microphone.

“
What do you mean, I guess?
” Lynn demanded over the comms.

“I mean I can’t see squat out here!” Mac explained. “There’s nothing but smoke as far as I can see!”

“That’s not smoke, dummy. It’s called fog!” Tony chided.

“Well, whatever it’s called, it’s everywhere!” Mac looked around, squinting to see through the dense mist surrounding him. He felt a shiver go up his spine. “Is this stuff always gonna be here? Cuz’ it’s really creepy.”

Lynn was the next to drop down through the hatch, sliding down the rise and landing at Mac’s feet.