by Jeri Dion
When Tayce had returned to Organisation a while later Midge said nothing, when she told him what she had done. But he didn’t blame her. He had known her to do worse, when they were travelling alone for the three yearons together and he knew how she felt about the Vargons in general, he didn’t blame her. He could see that she felt a lot more at ease knowing that she had handled the arrival of Sallen Vargon. But he wondered what the Countess would have up her sleeve for revenge in the near future.
Crash Landing on Maldigri
Weekons passed and Amalthea was in a new sector of the Universe. Lance was busy analysing information on their orbital current surroundings, in Organisation. Duncan was now in his official position of Amaltheas Navigationalist and was watching the horizon for any unforeseen hostile arrivals. Everything was calm at present. As it always seemed to be when they entered a new sector of the Universe, they hadn’t encountered before, but was it all that it appeared to be, he thought, as he sat studying the horizon.
Tayce was with Marc and Cargo, they were in the on board Lab Garden Dome. A place that Tayce hadn’t had much time to spend in, since she’d first arrived on board three yearons ago. It had gone to ruin since she had last visited it some yearons previous, but Marc had suggested to take her mind off of the sudden arrival of Sallen in the Universe, they sort out the problems in the Dome and see about restoring it to it’s former glory. Both had been trained in keeping a Garden Dome, which was like a large botanical greenhouse. The tending and care to make it a place to sit and contemplate in times of peaceful solace, would be worth it, he thought. Many of the plants and trees had come from Traun and had been specially grown to withstand a spacial atmosphere aboard Amalthea. Marc looked up at Tayce, as she trimmed the branches of a silvery leaf tree. He stood at the bottom of the small hover platform, to make sure she was not going to fall, as she had insisted she do the job. He looked out through the curved glassene domed roof into the dark blue yonder just beyond her wondering what this sector would hold.
“You better not be thinking mischievous thoughts while in on this platform Marc Dayatso, I don’t want to fall from here,” teased Tayce in light hearted tone, she knew what he was like for pranks.
“I’m not, I’m staring at that out there,” he replied watching something strange looking that had suddenly appeared on the horizon, that hadn’t been in his sight fifteen minons ago.
“What is it?” asked Tayce glancing to where he was staring, wondering what it could be.
Out through the domed roof and into the not to distant was a bright red funnel of burning fire. It swirled and seemed to spurt balls of pure white energy out in all directions. Tayce climbed down off the platform and came to a stop beside Marc, still looking at the strange phenomenon, wondering what on Earth it could be? Whatever it was, as she stood watching, so she could see that it was moving towards them at a steady speed. She raised her Wristlink and pressed the Commun button. Midge answered.
“Activate protection shields, we have an incoming phenomenon, which I would consider hostile,” said Tayce in the true tone of command.
In the moments that followed, Marc grabbed Tayce as a ball of immense fire hurtled towards the Lab Garden Dome roof. He ordered her to run for it. They both dropped what they were doing and ran for the entrance to get back into the safety of the corridor. They had just made it out into the corridor, dragging Cargo on the way and the doors closing behind them, when the ball hit the outside Dome protection shield and dispersed itself travelling along Amaltheas outer hull, from bow to stern. Marc and Tayce fought to stay on their feet and keep Cargo on his, but the little robot toppled onto his side and rolled up against the far corridor wall and shut down. Tayce grabbed Marc’s hand and they made their way under the strange immense force that was making it difficult to move, towards the little robot, helping him back onto his feet activating him.
Outside in the Universal sector the strange phenomenon that had unleashed it’s fire balls was briskly gaining on Amalthea and as it came, was bombarding the cruiser protection shield with the pure white energy balls. On the near horizon a green and blue looking planet loomed large in front of Amalthea and it seemed that the cruiser was heading straight for it, as if under the influence of the strange phenomenon.
Tom was met by Treketa on the Level Steps coming up from the Quarters Level. She was trying to stay on her feet and hang on to the silver rail, that ran the length of the steps. Tom reached out and took her hand pulling her across into his steadying protection.
“What’s happening, what’s causing this?” asked Treketa reaching the safety of her brothers hold.
“I don’t know, but have you seen Tayce on your way up, she was with Marc in the Lab Garden Dome?” asked Tom concerned that both Tayce and Marc were hurt in the Dome, as Midge had informed him he’d lost all communications shortly after and the Dome had taken full force from a strike.
“What shall we do?” asked Treketa holding Tom’s arm to stop herself from falling down the steps.
“We better head up to Organisation wait there see if Midge can scan anything other than that phenomenon outside, we may need to rescue Marc and Tayce,” he suggested above the din of strikes off the hull.
If by shear coincidence round the bottom of the Level Steps came Marc and Tayce with Cargo, much to Tom’s relief. In between being jolted and shaken about every five minons, they all struggled up the steps with Cargo. Without warning a sudden increase in gravity began to make it impossible to fight against, for the foursome and Cargo making it on up the steps. The more they headed on up to Level 1, the harder it became. Tayce found her legs were quickly turning to lead, going numb with the immense strength of the force pushing against her. Marc held her hard, with his right hand. Cargo latched onto the rail in front of her and went up nearly blowing all his circuits, as he proceeded. All four were losing the battle to make it to Level 1 and Organisation.
Duncan and Lance were trying with the greatest of difficulty in Organisation to keep Amalthea under control. They had abandoned their normal duty positions and were now in the control seats. So far, they were failing as the white energy balls were now depleting the outside protection shield around the cruiser. Outside and looming even closer minon by minon was the blue and green planet that had materialised before Amalthea. Midge was standing by, to put emergency landing procedures into operation, to land on the planet where it looked like it was going to be their only hope for survival. Lance was an experienced pilot and was giving it all his might, but wasn’t happy to the fact Midge had just informed him that at any moment the protection shield would fail and it was going to be a lot more tougher, he would have to give it everything he could, just to bring the cruiser into land safety. The gravitational force had now reached the Organisation. Both Lance and Duncan were pulled suddenly and sharply back in their seats, much to Lances fury that he couldn’t save the cruiser. As if timing wasn’t bad enough communications restored and a call was coming in from far off in the Universe. Lance tried with every ounce of muscular strength he could muster, to reach the activation button in front of him, but with no luck it was just out of reach. Duncan reached out with his right foot and luckily kicked the button home. Jonathan Largon’s voice came through.
“Is anyone there, it’s General Largon?” said Jonathan finding that he was not getting the usual sound of Tayces voice, or any of the team coming back to him asking how could they help.
“Father it’s Lance, were going to crash…” said Lance as the planet that had been looming large before them was now looking like it was about to engulf them.
“Lance, did you say crash, what’s going on out there?” demanded Jonathan to the sound of no reply.
Amalthea went into a crash nose dive towards the planet surface. Midge activated the landing gear hoping that they would land safely, little did he know, that it would prove hopeless because of the tremendous speed that they were travelling had
frozen the landing hydraulics and the landing gear was half extended. The large cruiser dropped to the surface like a heavy object dropping from a great height, which it was.
Outside Amalthea, the cruiser impacted with the planet surface sliding out of control through tons of sand, dirt and rocks with the sound of scrapping as it slid past, denting the outside hull. It got caught up in the planetary vegetation and dragged it along sending blooms of all colours and sizes into the air and everywhere birds and animals hearing the onslaught of the vast cruiser heading their way, took to flight squawking as they went in shear fright. Smaller animals either shot down burrows or unfortunately were killed. It was an uncontrollable journey that seemed to go on and on, without anyway to stop. The Amalthea left a trail of devastation behind it. The landing gear that had half frozen had smashed back up into the cruiser, on hitting the surface, making the breaking system on board fail. Hence the uncontrollable slide to infinity, or when the cruiser ran out of force to keep going. All lights on board had failed, along with the on board power. Silence suddenly filled the air, Amalthea had stopped her journey, looking far from the once beautiful white graceful cruiser she was.
Silence and darkness filled the air on board with the sounds of creaking and moaning from impact. On the steps Tayce lifted her head slowly wondering if she was still alive, looking about cautiously, waiting for something further to occur. She couldn’t understand why the Level Steps were where the ceiling should have been, did this signify that they had come to a stop upside down, she thought? She was careful how she sat up in case she fell somewhere. There was natural daylight filtering into the cruiser from somewhere. Had they landed on a daylight world she thought? Bits of the cruisers wall were covering her uniform, making it look dusty, but she didn’t care, just as long as she was alive. Tom! She thought, as she glanced around where was he? Marc moaned beside her and made light of the moment.
“I’m going to have to give Lance some flying lessons, this landing qualifies as a definite fail!” said Marc.
“Are you okay?” asked Tayce.
“Yeah, but I think this Cruiser is a write-off,” he replied looking about, sitting up carefully, wondering what would fall on him from above first if he moved to quickly, as there was hanging debris, that looked somewhat precarious. He kept one eye on it, as he began to move.
“Why us, that’s what I’d like to know, why did that phenomenon target this cruiser?” asked Tayce unsure of why the phenomenon chose to make them target practice.
“Tom mate are you all right, we’ve landed,” assured Marc.
Tom nodded and sat up surveying the immediate wrecked area. He found looking at Amalthea upside down gave it a whole new look, that was somewhat weird to say the least. Treketa slowly sat up brushing off the grit and dust from the broken debris, from the steps. Everyone slowly got back on to their feet. Cargo was smashed to smithereens much to Tom’s disappointment. He guessed that the little robot was not meant to be. He turned his attention to Treketa and helped her back to her feet. But the moment she put weight on her right foot, pain shot straight up her leg and she immediately screamed. Tayce crossed and checked it out suggesting that she stay off it as much as possible, until they found a Medic Emergency kit, or Donaldo alive. Tom slipped his arm around Treketas waist supporting, her, helping her out of their current position. They all carefully began away from where they were. Suddenly it crossed Tayces mind, that Lance and Duncan were still up in Organisation. Were they still alive she thought, as he had called her earlier via Wristlink and told her that he was taking over control. Marc glanced across seeing her in deep alarmed thought.
“What’s the matter, you look worried?” put Marc wondering what was on her mind.
“We have to go to Organisation, Lance and Duncan are still up there, Lance told me things were getting way out of Midges capable control, so he took over, we have to see if they are alive,”insisted Tayce in urgency.
“Okay, I’ll help you, we’ll make our way carefully on up together, but it’s going to be tricky,” said Marc glancing around realising it was not going to be an easy job considering the cruiser was up side down.
“We’ll continue on, at least there’s one thing the atmosphere must be breathable where we’ve landed, as we can still breath, we’ll meet you outside when we’ve found Donaldo,” suggested Tom.
“Check that the area is safe and take handguns, just in case, see you later?” said Tayce following Marc in the opposite direction.
They both split up, going their separate ways. Both pairs found it strange walking along on the ceiling of the deck, with the cruiser being upside down. Marc occasionally took hold of Tayces hand, helping her over debris to big to step over, as they climbed to Level 1 in hoped anticipation that Duncan and Lance would still be alive.
In Organisation Lance opened his eyes and found that he was upside down. It felt weird staring at the control panel from another angle. He glanced around for Duncan. He soon found him covered in broken sight port glassene and debris from the impact, they had sustained during landing. He had to find out if he was alive. He summed up his situation and figured if he was careful, he could get out of his safety harness. He began slowly removing the harness straps and carefully manoeuvring himself, so he didn’t drop to the deck ceiling and knock himself out, he also didn’t want to be left hanging by his fingers. In the midst of him trying to get out of the control seat, Duncan began to come too, pushing off the debris. He teased Lance.
“You want to learn to fly Largon, the Generals son and you land us like this, I wonder what your Father would say!” said Duncan winding Lance up.
“Didn’t you know, this type of landing is classed as an emergency landing on the Questa text disc,” replied Lance giving as good as he was getting.
“Give us a hand, I’ve got to get down from here, if I open this harness, I’ll drop like a stone,” said Lance.
“Right, can you slowly open the harness clasp, I’ve got hold of you?” assured Duncan, taking Lances arm.
Together they worked at getting Lance safely down. Slowly Lance dropped down onto his feet, on the deck ceiling into a standing position with help from Duncan. As Duncan had already been thrown out of his chair onto the ceiling, he was able to guide Lance down to standing. They both looked up at the daylight pouring through the smashed sight port and smelt the breathable air rushing in, at least they were alive, they thought. Out in the corridor they heard Tayce and Marc calling out to them. Lance lead the way and helped Duncan out over the top of the entrance doorway into the 1st Level corridor. Marc and Tayce quickly began moving the debris that blocked Duncan and Lance from getting to them.
“What caused us to crash?” asked Duncan.
“We were forced down by that strange phenomenon, we first saw it in the Lab Garden Dome, when it first started sending out white energy balls,” said Tayce.
“We raised protection shields, when you told us, it became impossible for Midge to control the cruiser, as he was beginning to lose many of his functions so I took over for as long as I could, I tried against all odds to bring us in properly Tayce safe the cruiser, sorry,” said Lance.
“Don’t worry you did your best, whatever that thing was, it wanted us on this planet, dead or alive,” said Tayce not blaming Lance for his landing, she knew he’d tried his best, it was far from perfect conditions to land in, they were forced down out of their control, at least they were alive.
“Are either one of you hurt?” asked Marc.
“I’ve just nicked myself, nothing serious though, I think it was the sight port glassene, or some object that hurtled past me during the rolling over process, all we could do was put our hands up to shield our faces,” said Duncan.
“If we find Donaldo and he’s fine, I’ll have him take a look at you, come on we’re all meeting outside, do you have Slazers, we may need them, just in case this is not a friendly environm
ent,” said Tayce.
Both Lance and Duncan upon finding a Weaponry store, paused and retrieved two Slazers. Everyone walked on along the ceiling of the 1st Level corridor climbing over stuff and dodging cables that were swinging. Upon reaching the steps Tayce let Marc go first, then sat down and slid down behind carefully. Lance coming down behind her, then Duncan, until they reached what was left of Level 2. Going through Level 2 was not easy, but they made it. As they went Tayce thought of Midge in the fact that if they couldn’t salvage the cruiser, then she wanted Midge placed into the new one, should they get another vessel. She also felt saddened to think that their current surroundings was her first cruiser and the last vessel to be constructed on Traun, now it was gone and so was Midge unless he could be saved. She tried not to show her sadness in the fact she was holding back tears, as they progressed.
Tom and Treketa reached the Life Ability Centre, which they had found in a state of total wreckage. Donaldo could not be clearly found, there was debris everywhere. Tom pushed a Exam Bunk mattress away from the entrance, allowing him and Treketa access. After searching for what was the best part of twenty minons, Treketa spotted Donaldo. He was trapped under his desk, against the wall in his Officette. Tom quickly with what help Treketa could offer, pulled the desk away to get to him. He looked up and smiled glad to see them both. Figuring that he was probably the only one alive.
