Alder's World Part One: Mass 17 (18 page)

Alder
’
s chair lurched
down and away from him, dragging him down by the straps. The room
around him seemed to shift in shape, almost as if all four sides
were bending down away from him.

“Autocorrection
initiated.”
 
Gibson
’
s voice rode
calmly over the storm.
“
Yaw
increasing. Pitch near redline.
”

The steadily rising rumble had become
a horrible howl. The external view was almost blotted out by the
plasma boiling over the front edge of the ring and lashing like
whips of fire against the shields.

“Twenty seconds to end of
autocorrection.”
Gibson
’
s voice was
choppy with the bouncing of the ship.

Alder wanted to speak to
Elana, but found himself instead pulling at the shoulder straps
that were digging into his flesh. Mbaka was saying something and
laughing but Alder couldn
’
t
hear him over the roar.

“Ten
seconds.
”

Alder scowled at Mbaka. Reacting
positively to stress was one thing but Mbaka seemed a little too
happy. Alder felt prepared for the risk, but he was not enjoying
having his vision go red from all the blood rushing to his head and
his straps were beating his shoulders unforgivingly.

“Coming out of auto
correct now.”
 
The howl
shrank back to a roar. The ship was still shaking and buffeting
from re-entry but it was upright, still under the
computer
’
s control.
 “
We
’
re in the pipe.
Approach is nominal to profile.”
Gibson
’
s voice was calm
showing no sign of the strain they were all under.

“Number 5 shield now at
125% of tolerance.”
 
Wei
added.
“
Power output still at
100%.
”

Alder forced a deep
breath. He couldn
’
t tell if
the room was heating from the plasma fire burning a few meters away
or if it was just the adrenaline in his system.
“
Okay. Okay.
We
’
re in the worst of it now
Elana.”
 
He reported
over the cacophony of radio chatter and the groaning of the
ship.
“
But
we
’
re still upright. If we
could see outside, the hills would be close enough to see light and
shadow sides. We
’
re running
towards twilight so we
’
d have
a nice bright view in front of us.”
 
Something in the ceiling above
Alder banged and crashed suddenly into something else.
 
He glanced up
nervously.
“
We
’
re getting close to
maximum stress, the point when our odds improve. Every second that
we stay in profile past that moment is one less second we have to
survive.
”

Alder
’
s stomach was
turning. The motion was getting steadily more dramatic. All of the
ship
’
s engines were now
running well past maximum trying to hold them upright against the
buffeting wind.
“
Hold on El.
We
’
re almost
there.
”

“Eight minutes.”
Gibson called as if on cue.

“Hey Alder.”
Mbaka called.
“
We just passed eight minutes.
”

“Yes. Maximum
stress.
”

“You said the computers
would fail at eight minutes.
”

“So?
”

“
So, A lot us have been
saying for years that we wanted to be around
when you got one wrong.”

“What?”

“My computer is still up. You’re off
by at least fifteen seconds. Ooop. Sixteen.”

Alders sputtered.
“
When we land,
I
’
m letting Ronald Midbits
into your bunk.”
 
He
shouted over the roar.

“Now
you
’
re getting it.”
 
Mbaka laughed, as he bounced
up and down in the chaos.
“
You
’
re doing great!
Wrong by twenty seconds.
”

“We are passed maximum
stress. Seven plus minutes to impact.”
Gibson reported.

“All shields over
125%
”
Wei chimed in.
“
Number five at 145%. No power
drops.
”

“All right El.”
 
Alder started talking again,
knowing full well the entire crew had heard Mbaka.
“
It will start quieting down now.
We
’
re moving into much
thicker air but our speed relative to the surface is dropping. We
should see the shields start to cool off. It will give them more
strength at impact. We
’
re
approaching mid-afternoon local time. I
can
’
t see out yet, but I
should get a glimpse before the end.”

Alder talked about the
numbers, the percent of water in the atmosphere, and anything else
he could think of as the roar retreated back to loud rumbling. The
plasma boil faded away over the next few minutes, replaced by
whistling wind. They were almost at the light/dark line of morning
when glimpses of the sky became visible over the scorched main
ring.
“
I can see the stars
El. We
’
re almost
home.
”

“Last adjustment. Two
minutes to impact.
”

The view outside swung to the left as
the ship began a flat turn on its axis. The number five shield,
having taken the brunt of the burn, was being moved to the rear of
the ship where the impact would be felt least. While the shields
were expected to fail during slide out, they had to survive at
least a few seconds after impact. Number five was expected to be
hottest after entry and therefore first to fail.

The turn was slow and dizzying. They
weren’t flying in any real sense; just falling in a controlled
manner. The leisurely spin gave the illusion that they were still
somehow in charge of their fate.

The dawn landscape came
into view speeding away behind them at a thirty degree angle. It
was close now; so close that it flitted out of sight almost before
Alder
’
s eyes could process
what he was seeing. He tried to force his vision to match the
flicker, to give him some idea of the surface but it was too close
and they were moving too fast.

“Altitude 400 meters. 900
kilometers per hours. Still in profile.
”

“This is it El. This
is
…”

“I
’
ve lost my reading.
Impact. Impact. Impact.
”

The landscape spun under
Alder
’
s eyes and his jaw
worked open and shut.
“
Elana,
I want you to know how much
…”

Blackness. Blackness and a
tiny light ringed in red. Alder focused on the light. He
didn
’
t know where he was;
somewhere dark. The light grew as he turned his attention to it. It
was a torus now, white on the inside and red on the outside. It
seemed bigger. Like it was bigger but he
wasn
’
t understanding what he
was seeing. He thought about his birds.
 
Flights of birds in order.
y=2x+1 birds. A line. Y=2x^2+1 a parabola of birds.

The torus unfolded as he
ran through the mathematical models in his mind. He was looking at
Mbaka. Mbaka
’
s head was held
upright by the neck brace he was wearing but his hands were hanging
at his sides. Well, not hanging, bouncing sort of. Everything was
bouncing.
 
He swung his
head around.
 
Wei was
there. The side of his face was covered in blood and he was digging
at something in his cheek. Gibson was in front of him. He
couldn
’
t tell if she was
moving.

The lights and computer
screens were all dark.
 
Outside, he could see a red line of molten rock stretching
out behind them. They were in slide out. The shields were holding
and their pressure against the rocks below was heating and melting
them. He couldn
’
t guess their
speed, 200 kmph maybe and slowing quickly. They were cutting a
trough the width of the ship maybe ten meters deep into the
surface. Molten rock was flying out away from them in all
directions. At the pressures they were creating, they had spent the
first few seconds sliding on a layer of plasma made from vaporized
stone.

He became aware of the
noise, enormous but dry and hard after the sounds of descent. Some
part of the ship was actually touching rock and screaming
metallically as it sheared away.
 
Sparks flew from somewhere to
his left arching high into the air behind them.
’
Three shield is
failing.
’
He
managed to process.

There was a lurch and a
crunch. A hundred meter piece of the Engineering module tore away
and pinwheeled behind them down the trough. The sound changed to
all metal against stone. At least three of the shields and the crew
maintaining them had broken away with the section of Engineering
that was gone. More pieces of Engineering sheared off in balls of
fire. The ship was moving slower now and not digging so
deep.
 
As their momentum
bled away, they were rising slowly from the end of the long channel
they had cut.

It stopped. It all
stopped. There was the clattering of something under
Alder
’
s feet. Then silence.
The monitors were dead.
“
To
the Stars Triumphant” had died. The lights, except a few battery
powered backups were dead. Several large pieces of the ship were
burning in the distance behind them, but they were alive, upright
on the ground. Somewhere in the dark of the ship behind them
someone cheered, a single voice at first, but it rose up, muted
through the bulkheads, hundreds of voices, crying and
clapping.

There was a groan and one last sway as
the last of the shields failed dropping what was left of
Engineering flat against the earth.

“What happened?”
Mbaka asked groggily.

“I let Ronald have his way
with your face.”
Alder answered, but his
efforts at humor were sideline by a sudden, terrible shaking in his
hands. He clasped them together tightly.
“
That and we survived.”
His jaw was quivering like his hands. He wanted
to unfasten himself but was shaking too badly to grip his
harness.

“It
’
s all dead.”
Wei said. He was tapping at his monitor with his
left hand while holding his face with his right.
“
We
’
ll have to see how much of it
we
’
ve lost for
good.
”

Alder vomited. It slid
down his chin and into his clothes. He
couldn
’
t lean forward because
of the harness. Again and again he heaved as his hands
shook.

“Hold on Alder.”
Mbaka said, more coherently.
“
You
’
re okay.
Lupe.”
He called to Gibson who still
hadn
’
t stirred.
“
You okay?”
Mbaka unfastened his straps and began working himself free
from the harness.
“
I need you
to answer me Guadalupe.”
She
didn
’
t respond.

“Hold on Alder.
I
’
ll come back for
you.”
Mbaka said, rising gingerly from his
chair. Wei was up too, moving unsteadily towards Gibson.

Someone was running in the
hallways behind them, shrieking with joy. Alder gasped and fought
to steady his breathing.
“
Is
she all right?”
He managed to ask
finally.

Alder
couldn
’
t see what Mbaka and
Wei saw but they shook their heads no in response to his
question.

As they worked on the unresponsive
Wei, and Alder sat holding his hands together, waiting for the
shaking to subside, a brilliant dot of light appeared behind them.
It was white hot and lit the room with a contrast maddening glare.
As Alder watched, prisms spread along the horizon and a rainbow
rose above it. It was beautiful and hypnotic. It shown down the
long trough they had cut in the earth, erasing the fading glow of
the super-heated rock and painting the hull of the Duster pale
white.