Kristy looked down as they swooped in over the coast. The bright blue sea was replaced by mottled brown and grey rock. Once she could have sworn she saw a patch of green, but when she turned to look back there was a hill blocking her view. She checked her instruments. “Twenty kilometers to LZ,” she called.
Jason started a banking turn around the LZ. He let out a gasp as they came over some hills and the alien artifact site lay below them. “Damn, look at the size of that alien ship,” he said excitedly as he pointed out the alien ship where it lay beside the buildings. “I want one of those.”
Kristy stared at the site in fascination. She looked up as Jason pulled the nose of the lander up to shed speed. He increased the engines power and pivoted the exhaust gimbals down until the lander was settling belly first toward the ground. She could see the crew ascent ship about five hundred meters away.
Jason brought the lander to a hover about a hundred meters off the ground. “Lowering landing struts,” he said.
There were two clunking sounds from the rear of the lander. Kristy looked at her instruments. “Front gear is not indicating down,” she said.
“I didn’t feel it go down either,” said Jason. “I’m going to cycle the gear up and then down again.”
Kristy looked at her display. “About two minutes fuel left.”
Jason nodded and activated the landing struts again. There were two thuds from the rear of the lander and that was all. “I’m still not showing nose gear down.”
“I concur,” said Kristy.
“I’m going to set her down anyway. We can’t stay up here indefinitely. Everybody hold on.”
Jason backed off the throttles and let the lander settle to the ground. When the rear struts touched the ground he rapidly shut down the throttles and the nose of the lander pitched forward and slammed down onto the ground. Several alarms starting going off as the jet engines sucked in dirt and dust from the ground. The turbines exploded as the precision machined turbine blades were hit by small rocks and pebbles that were being sucked into the engines intakes. Many of the blades were ejected from the engines, tearing though the frame of the lander. Jason hit the emergency engine shutdown just as there was another loud explosion and the sound of tearing and screeching metal. One of the women in the back of the lander started screaming.
As the shaking from the suddenly misbalanced turbines came to a stop it became quiet except for the multitude of warning alarms from the ships controls. Kristy silenced the alarms, unbuckled and stood to look back into the cabin. There were several gaping holes in the roof of the lander where turbine blades had shredded the turbine casings and sliced through the landers body at several times the speed of sound. Doctor Doucette was sobbing uncontrollably and Brianna appeared to be in shock. The two women were seated in the very rear of the cabin and the turbine blades had shredded the cabin not five feet behind them.
“Is anyone hurt?” Kristy asked. She was relieved when everyone shook their head no.
Doctor Vaughn stood and took off his helmet and unplugged the life support line to his suit.
Kristy yelled at him. “Doctor Vaughn, the cabin is breached. Put your helmet back on until we test the atmosphere.”
Frederick started to laugh hysterically. “Commander Nichols. We’re going to be here for four years, if the air isn’t breathable we’re as good as dead anyway, am I not correct?” He took a deep breath. “The air stinks like burning jet fuel; I think we need to get out of here quickly.”
Chief McGill unbuckled and jumped up. “I‘ll get the hatch!”
Kristy looked at Jason who was shutting down his pilot displays and unnecessary equipment. “Do we still have communications with the Pierce?”
“We’ve lost telemetry but I can still talk to them on radio,” he said.
“Let them know what happened and that we’re all unhurt,” she ordered. Somebody help me out of this damn suit.”
…
Hank watched the cabin video feed from the lander as Jason took manual control of the lander. He nodded his head in approval as he saw what Jason was doing to slow the ship. The computer must have lost contact with the speed sensors and was not adjusting the landers pitch to slow the ship as it dropped toward the ground.
Allan Greco was standing anxiously right behind Hank cheering his brother on. There was another video feed, this one off of the crew ascent ship. The feed was breaking up from time to time due to the effects of the solar storm and approaching flare but the imager locked onto the lander as it descended to the small flat valley not far from the ascent ship. They all watched as the lander came to a hover and the landing gear lowered.
Allan pointed. “The nose gear isn’t down!”
Hank felt dread as they watched the gear go back up and then back down. The nose gear still did not lower.
“They’re in trouble,” gasped Allan. “If he lands with no nose gear then the intakes will hit the ground and eat dirt. When that happens, the turbines will shred themselves!”
They watched helplessly as the lander sank onto its rear landing struts and the nose came slamming down. There was flash of light and dust and smoke billowed up from the lander. The video feed from the cockpit was lost.
“We’ve lost telemetry,” said one of the communications Petty Officers.
The video imager from the ascent ship showed the lander lying with its nose on the ground. Smoke was rising from the area of the turbines but there was no explosion or apparent fire. After a few minutes they saw the access hatch open and someone’s head poked out.
“Captain, we have radio contact with the lander. Lieutenant Greco reports there are no injuries. They’re going to evacuate the lander.”
“Very well,” said Hank. Send a message to Alpha Control they’re down safe. We’ll give them an update as soon as possible. They’ll be getting rather excited back on Earth when that video feed reaches them in twenty minutes or so.”
“Lieutenant Greco, man your VR station. There’s enough daylight left to get one robotic lander down today. The others will have to wait until tomorrow.”
Chapter 28
April 25th, 2047
Elpis Landing Zone
Chief McGill and Petty Officer Chamness struggled to get the debarkation ladder down. They were having difficulty because the nose of the lander was resting on the ground and the ship was tilted nose down at a thirty degree angle. They ended up unbolting the ladder at the top and just leaning it up to the hatch. The two men stood back from the access hatch and made way for Commander Nichols after they had lowered the ladder. She stood looking down at the grey soil about two meters below her that had never felt the footsteps of humans upon it.
Master Chief Sims called from behind her in the lander. “I hope you have a speech for the history books Commander. Remember all the controversy about what Armstrong really said when he was the first to walk on the moon.”
Kristy shook her head. “The hell with that, Master Chief, go down that ladder and make sure it’s steady. You’re going to be the first one to set foot on the ground.”
“No way, Commander. That’s your privilege as the commander of this expedition,” he replied.
“That’s a direct order, Master Chief, down the ladder,” Kristy demanded.
Master Chief Sims growled at her, then swung over the top of the ladder and climbed down. He removed his helmet and looked around the area below the ladder. He then looked up at the others who were crowding around the hatch waiting for him to say something.
“Where the hell is the nearest bar?” he yelled up. “I need a beer!”
The enlisted crewmen erupted in laughter and Christy flushed red with anger. “Nice speech there Master Chief, history will remember you fondly for those words of inspiration.”
The Master Chief just shrugged, and went to inspect the damage to the lander.
“Everybody out,” ordered Kristy. “We can’t stay here and wait for the robotic landers. We’ll hike over and wait in the crew ascent ship
.”
Everyone descended to the ground as Jason and Chief McGill threw out the supplies that were supposed to last them a day until the robotic supply landers came down. Jason was the last one down. “Captain Jenkins says they are sending the first supply ship down now. We need to get over to the ascent ship and take shelter,” he called as he came down the ladder.
They distributed the water bladders and rations from the lander among themselves and started the hike over to the ascent ship. By the time they covered the half kilometer trek they were all gasping for breath.
Doctor Doucette spoke up. “We’ll need to take time to adjust to the planets gravity and the lower oxygen levels. I suggest that we schedule our physical activity carefully for the next few weeks.”
“I agree wholeheartedly,” said Doctor Albert Abernathy. “I used to think I was in pretty good shape.”
Doctor Frederick Vaughn, who was an amateur mountain climber back on Earth, laughed at them. “Ahhh, the air here is fine. It’s much thinner than this on some of the mountains I have been on.”
“Speak for yourself,” said Brianna. Even though she was the youngest member of the expedition, she was short of breath also.
Jason activated the controls on the ascent ship’s landing strut and a hatch opened about fifteen meters up the side of the ship. He started popping out the recessed ladder rungs as he climbed up the ladder. He disappeared into the ship’s hatch for about fifteen minutes and then stuck his head back out. “The first lander is about thirty minutes out. You guys need to come up or take cover somewhere.”
“There’s no way I can climb up there right now,” said Albert.
“Me either,” agreed Petty Officer Sarah Mullen.
“We can’t stay here. The dust and debris from the landers exhaust will be dangerous,” said Kristy. “All of you need to climb up.”
“Commander Nichols, having a heart attack and falling from fifteen meters up is also dangerous. We have no medical facilities at the moment. I suggest that those that cannot climb up simply go over the top of the hill here and place the hill between us and the lander as it comes down,” said Albert.
Kristy was frustrated at their refusal to climb up into the ship. “All right, over the top of the hill only. Do not go down into the alien site. Now hurry. Master Chief, you take charge and keep everyone together. I’ll be in the ascent ship with Lieutenant Greco. Now, hurry!”
Kristy started up the ladder. When she was halfway up she looked and saw the rest of the expedition party trudging up the hill. A glint of reflected light in the sky and an approaching contrail showed the imminent arrival of the first supply lander. She hurried on up the ladder and entered the hatch. When she finally made it inside the cabin, she was breathing so hard that she wished she had gone with the rest of the party over the hill. She climbed on up the cabin ladder and managed to dump herself into the co-pilot seat beside Jason.
Panting for breath, she said, “If I fall over with a heart attack, you’re in charge Lieutenant. I’m so out of shape I think I’m going to die!”
Jason grinned at her. “Ten weeks in one quarter gravity on the transfer ships will do that to you. Hell, the gravity here is only eighty percent of Earth’s. We’re lucky it’s not full Earth gravity. Heads up, here comes the first supply ship. I have the Mike Pierce on comms if you want to update Captain Jenkins.”
…
Up in orbit on the Mike Pierce, Lieutenant Allan Greco was sweating in his VR Helmet again. Landing the supply ships was quite different from landing the crew ascent ship. The supply ships were huge capsules nearly twelve meters across. They entered the atmosphere and fell unpowered until they were about fifteen kilometers above the LZ. Then five huge parachutes opened to slow the capsule until it was about a kilometers above the ground. At that point, Allan assumed control. Depending on how far the capsule was from the LZ, he could jettison the parachutes and ignite the capsules landing engine. He could then maneuver the ship approximately anywhere within a one kilometer radius while the ship slowly approached the ground. The supply ship had very limited fuel and timing was essential to get them as near as possible to the LZ. This first supply capsule held the ground transports that the crew would need to use to recover equipment from any of the supply ships that came down any significant distance from the LZ.
Allan watched his instruments carefully. He was getting sporadic interference on his VR command circuit due to the solar storm. The ionized particles colliding with the planet’s magnetosphere and the Mike Pierce’s EM field were causing him problems. As the capsule approached the parachute release altitude he saw it was a little over two kilometers away from the LZ. He frowned, there was no way he could fly it laterally that far so he would just have to get it as close as he could. He ignited the engine and released the parachutes. As the supply ship lowered itself toward the ground on a pillar of blue flame he slid the ship though the air horizontally toward the LZ. When the capsule was about a hundred meters from the ground he lowered the landing struts and set the ship down. It settled on a slight slope and he shut the engine down.
He pulled off the VR helmet and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Two ships in one day. This was going to kill him. He had to land four more ships in the next two days. The original plan had him landing the ships over a two week period. Next to him, he noted that Captain Jenkins was in conversation with Commander Nichols on the ground. He unbuckled, floated up out of his seat, stretched his back and went to get some chow. Hank gave him thumbs up as he pulled himself up the ladder.
…
On the planet’s surface, the landing party, with the exception of Kristy and Jason were standing on the hill watching the supply lander come down. When it became apparent that it wasn’t going to make it all the way to the landing zone, Chief McGill went trotting down the hill.
“Where the hell you going?” yelled Master Chief Simms.
“We can use the chutes,” he yelled as he pointed toward the sky.
Floating toward them in the wind were the five massive parachutes that had been released by the supply ship. The party went running down the hill after Chief McGill. They were all huffing and puffing as they ran to catch the parachutes. They pulled them down and bunched them up so the wind could not catch them and blow them away.
“We can make a temporary shelter under the ascent ship with these and not have to climb up and sleep in the seats in the ascent ship tonight,” Chief McGill explained.
“Fantastic idea, David,” said the Master Chief.
They gathered up the parachutes and dragged them back to the base of the ascent ship where they wedged them under the landing struts with piles of small rocks.
Master Chief Sims looked up at the sky. “It looks like we may have about three hours daylight left. Let’s cut these cords and make a tent.” He pulled a survival knife out from his jumpsuit and started cutting the parachute cords off. Save the cord, this synthetic line may be very useful later.
Doctor Doucette looked around. “Where’s Albert?”
They all looked around. “He was sitting on a rock at the top of the hill the last time I saw him,” said Petty Officer Chamness.
“Chamness, you and Doctor Vaughn go find him and haul his butt back down here.” The rest of us will keep working on getting this tent up before it gets dark.”
Donald and Frederick started back up the hill. When they reached the top, Doctor Abernathy was nowhere in sight.
“Albert, where are you at?” Donald yelled as he spun in a circle looking around.
Frederick gave a piercing whistle. They heard a faint yell and saw Albert waving at them. He was walking around the alien excavation crawler down in the artifact site at the bottom of the hill.
“Oh shit,” said Donald. “Kristy told us specifically not to go down there.”
Down below them, Albert was walking around the alien crawler peering up under it and examining its tracks. He was totally ignoring Donald and Frederick back on the hilltop as he went back to his
inspection.
“Stay here, Doctor Vaughn. I need to let the Commander know that Doctor Abernathy has entered the artifact site,” Donald said as he started down the hill again to the ascent ship.
Frederick stood and watched Albert. Albert had moved over to one of the smaller dome shaped buildings and was walking around its perimeter. From time to time he would reach out and touch the iridescent surface of the dome.
The rest of the party, including Kristy and Jason came panting up the hill after a few minutes.
“Dammit it,” cursed Kristy. “I said no one was to go down there.” She glared at the Master Chief.
“Hey, I thought everyone came down the hill to catch the parachutes,” he exclaimed.
“Master Chief, Petty Office Chamness, come with me. The rest of you stay put,” Kristy snarled.
The three of them started down the hill toward the artifact site. When they caught up with Doctor Abernathy he was peering closely at the indented mechanism beside the door on one of the small domes. Just as Kristy was about to shout at him, he reached in the indention, squeezed, and turned the handle. The three of them froze in place as there was sliding noise and a rush of wind. The iris feature was opening and air rushed into the cavity of the building. The individual leaves of the door slid and rotated apart as it dilated. When the pressure in the dome equalized with the atmospheric pressure outside, the rush of air subsided.
“Everyone get back up the hill now!” Kristy ordered. “That means you too, Abernathy. Master Chief, get him out of here.”
As they turned to hurry back up the hill, Kristy glanced inside the building. Although the sun was setting behind it and the interior was in shadow, she thought she could see canisters and containers stacked within. She turned quickly and ran up the hill after the others.
When they reached the top, she grabbed Doctor Abernathy’s arm and spun him around. “What the hell do you think you were doing? You’re imperiling this whole expedition by going down there. We have no idea what type of dangers or traps we may encounter down there.”
Blue Planet Rising (Pebbles in the Sky Book 2) Page 16
