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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