Lyris, Asti and Shiyne
were on the Tornado’s flight deck anxiously checking the instruments
“I can’t get a visual”
he snapped “I’m getting nothing on any of the monitors and I can’t get a fix on
the transponder”
“What about comms?”
Shiyne asked
“Nothing” Asti
replied, “It’s this damn fluxing magnetic field”
“What about you Shiyne”
he asked “are you picking up anything at all?
“There’s something,
but nothing that I can latch onto” she said, “They’re just out of reach”
“But they’re alive?”
he asked
“Yes, I’m sure of it”
she replied
“Well keep trying, I’m
going to update everyone” he said solemnly
“It’s obvious where
they’ve gone” he said to the assembled group in the mess room “But we can’t get
a fix on them because of the atmospherics and they’re going to a very unhealthy
environment, even if the pod landed safely and the seismic activity doesn’t get
them they still have to evade the “Lost Boys”“
Although it was
capable of supporting life Mangium was an unpredictable world and because of
its proximity to the worm hole it suffered from an unstable orbit and a lot of
seismic disturbances, as a result the indigenous peoples had long since
relocated to other worlds and the only people remaining on the surface were the
outcasts, the lawless and the desperate and it was these people that Lyris
referred to as the “Lost Boys”
“What if they didn’t
go to Mangium?” Bagg asked
“You’d better pray
that they did Brother, because if they didn’t we don’t have a hope of finding
that pod in the vastness of space without any effective instruments”
Vanzyl became very
excitable and clicks and whirls began to emanate from him which were clearly
directed at Pulsat
“Ok I speak” he said
and more clicks and whirls followed
“I telling, I telling”
Pulsat retorted and to the group he explained
“Vanzyl say we make
better”
Then there were more
Clicks and whirls
“I telling, I telling”
“Vanzyl say he can
help”
“How?” Parse asked
This question provoked
more Clicks and whirls
“He fix array”
Then there were more
Clicks and whirls
Make receiver… I’m
sorry I don’t know word”
Vanzyl was clicking a
whirling very loudly in frustration because they couldn’t make themselves
understood
“Do you mean modify”
Zerrad asked “enhance the strength of the array?”
“Yes, yes, exact”
Pulsat said excitedly and Vanzyl uttered a soft whistle like a plaintive flute
“You can do that?”
Parse asked urgently and Vanzyl whistled in response
“How long?” he asked
and the question provoked a much-prolonged response
“Some hour’s” Pulsat
translated “He must make before, then make array enhanced”
“Ok let’s get it done”
Lyris said “You guys give him all the help he needs”
Merri and Malena could
tell just by the temperature in the pod that they were begin their entry in to
Mangiums atmosphere.
“I hope these pods are
as good as the salesman promised” Merri said
“If they’re not you’ll
never get a refund” Malena said and they both laughed
Everyone aboard the
Tornado was really stressed and the tension was palpable because they knew that
with every minute that passed their shipmates were getting further and further
away from them and closer and closer to danger.
Once they had passed
safely into the atmosphere they felt the temperature swing dramatically the
other way and then after a few moments they felt the pods descent halt slightly
as the parachutes deployed and Merri said
“Gather the gear
together, we may have to hit the ground running”
So, they unbuckled
their harnesses and took a survival backpack each from the locker and put it on
and then they strapped side arms to their thighs, knives to their ankles and
the remaining accessories were clipped to their belts and straps.
When she was sure they
had everything, including headgear, Merri checked the altimeter and said
“Half a mile, buckle
up”
The impact came much
sooner than they anticipated as the pod fell into a densely forested area and
there was a lot of bumping and bashing as the pod bounced and tumbled through
the tree tops before finally coming to a halt with a bump.
“Well that was worth
the money” Merri said and unbuckled her harness.
It was a bright Sunny
morning, Merri looked up and could see shafts of sunlight piercing the canopy
of the Forest, and then she looked down.
“Ah” she exclaimed
“That doesn’t sound
good” Malena said as she stepped out of the pod
“Oh, we haven’t landed
yet then”
The pod had come to
rest in the hollow of a very impressive specimen of Mangium Teak which was some
30ft above the ground.
Although they had
never shared the information with each other, neither of them were brilliant
with heights even at the best of times and neither of them fancied climbing
down.
“I don’t fancy that, I
think we should go horizontally and work our way down gradually”
“That sounds like a
plan” Malena said, “But which way?”
Merri looked around
and she could see the effect the seismic disturbances had had on the forest,
there was several trees either on the ground or leaning against its neighbour
and through a gap in the tree line she could just make out some rocky cliffs.
If they had any hope
of establishing comms with the ship they would have to do it from high ground
so she pointed towards the cliffs and said
“That way”
Despite their
discomfort with heights and their apprehension at climbing they found it much
easier going than they could have anticipated.
The stand of Teak were
quite close to each other and boughs and branches intertwined and as is was
ancient woodland the branches were quite substantial.
Although Merri was
uncomfortable with heights for Malena it was much more severe although she had
never told her friend.
Quite apart from the
death defying heights of what was to all intents and purposes a Tree Top Trail
there were other incumbent hazards such as vine swings, and hastily constructed
bridges and all at a height of 30ft.
She was not good with
heights, she never had been, not that she suffered from vertigo or had an
irrational fear of being up high.
In fact, she liked
high places, after all you can’t get higher up than orbiting a planet, she also
liked flying Aircraft, and admiring the view from tall buildings, that didn’t
scare her, as long as there was something between her and oblivion.
In the final analysis
what scared her to death was gravity and the belief that it would at any moment
pull her screaming to the ground.
But she never showed
it, and wouldn’t show it, not to Merri, she had to put on a brave face for her
benefit as she was in awe of her Captain and didn’t want to appear weak to her.
So, over the next hour
they made good progress on their tree top trek beneath the forest canopy, as
they worked their way towards the cliffs and down to the forest floor as they
went.
Meanwhile aboard the
Tornado, Vanzyl and Pulsat were putting the final touches to the antenna array
while Lyris watched on anxiously and the rest of the crew waited like coiled
springs and the time hung very heavy.
When Merri and Malena
finally reached the forest floor Malena couldn’t help letting out a loud sigh
at getting back to terra firma.
“Did you not enjoy
that?” Merri asked as Malena took a deep breath
“I have a confession
to make” Malena replied
“Oh” Merri responded
“I would have enjoyed
it more if I wasn’t scared of heights” she confessed and Merri laughed
“It’s not funny”
Malena said crossly
“I’m laughing because
I was scared to death myself” Merri said and they both laughed
Vanzyl strode onto the
flight deck whistling and whirling and Pulsat followed hot on his heels and
said
“Array fixed, find
friends now”
“Well done you two”
Lyris said and then addressed Shiyne, Zerrad and Asti
“Ok you all know what
to do”
So Lyris scanned for
any signs of the pod floating in space. Zerrad started broadcasting a comms
signal, Asti scanned for the pod’s transponder signal and Shiyne used her not
inconsiderable telepathic skills to contact her friends.
“We fix mess now”
Pulsat said and led Vanzyl away
Malena and Merri were
about three hundred yards short of the cliffs, which they could just make out
through the thinning foliage, so Merri thought they needed to pick up the pace
“Come on” she said and
started running and Malena followed the Captain with her abundance of red hair
trailing behind her like a glorious mane.
It only took a minute
or two to catch and then overhaul Merri who was soon lagging behind, partly
because when she got up that morning and put on her boots she was dressing to
look good and not to go on a cross country run.
Malena was not
restricted by fashionable boots, and she was also, beneath the disguise, a much
more ethereal being, so running was effortless to her.
Malena Endia was an
Obgaron Shape Shifter and in her own natural Mercurial form of liquid silver
glass she looked very different to the slender brunette form that she was more
often seen as.
The form she took was
that of a 27-year-old human whom she met on a remote mining colony when she
first entered Legion space, that was more than 20 years earlier and she still
looked exactly the same.
Even with Merri
lagging behind they were rapidly closing the distance on their objective,
having picked up the pace and ran flat out for the cliffs and the route that
they hoped would lead them home to the ones they loved, and then without
warning two things happened, firstly there was a severe tremor and then they
instantaneously came under fire.
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