Lunar: Black Star Rising
By Thomas Knapp
Chapter Six
"Well, what have we here…?" Taras muttered as he continued to push his way through the rubble of the ruined shuttle. He picked up a small black box, complete with some torn wires and a battered reciever. "Toras SHOULD be able to fix it up, and then we will be in business."
Jean stepped over a torn piece of the shuttle's hull, and asked, "What exactly HAPPENED here?"
Taras took a deep breath, "You might not understand a lot of what happened, but try to keep up…"
Black Moon shuttle Explorer, the day before…
"There's Lunar, dear brother." Taras said as he pointed through the viewscreen.
From the co-pilot's chair, Toras nodded. "I just find it… bizarre that we are coming here for this… the chance that our calculations are wrong, even with the astral perspective we had is, is so unlikely that…"
"It's called hope, little bro." Taras chided, "If there is a chance that you and the Astronomy Association were wrong, I'd like to find out, and so would everyone else when dealing with something so potentially… final."
"I suppose… and I guess it is true that we won't get a chance to explore Lunar for another hundred years. It's just that I worked so hard to be the one chosen for this mission, and it's being preempted by that planetoid."
"I know… I worked just as hard, albeit in a different way, to get where I am, and it kinda sucks that we have this to deal with this."
The cockpit rocked violently, and there were sounds of explosion from the rear engineering section. Taras jumped to his feet, nearly forgetting he was in zero gravity. "Toras, take the controls, I'll be right back."
Opening the door, he stepped into the habitat section, and then proceeded to the next door, leading to the engine room, as soon at that door slid open, he was immediately buffeted with flames. He heard a shout of warning from the crewmen manning the engine, but over the hiss of freed gases, it was hard to distinguish.
"What happened?" Taras screamed into the smoldering hell.
One of the engineers shouted back, "One of the exterior oxygen tanks exploded, and it set of the final ignition stage!"
Taras jumped into the inferno, and quickly sidestepping some falling cinders, reached the first engineer. Slinging the wounded man onto his shoulders, Taras carried the victim into the habitat section, moments later, Taras brought the other engineer to join the first.
Rejoining his brother in the cockpit, his younger twin relayed a serious problem. "The final ignition stage that was supposed to fire on our return trip suddenly went off. Unless we can correct this trajectory, we're gonna have a much quicker landing on Lunar than we anticipated."
"Yeah… that's what the engineers told me. They're in some pretty bad straights."
"All right, load them into the escape pod, then get clear as soon as you can." Toras ordered.
"What about you?" Taras asked.
"Someone has to try an correct this trajectory, and I have some ideas as to how I can manage it."
"Are you INSANE?"
"If the equipment on this shuttle gets damaged, we're pretty much screwed."
"We're pretty much screwed ANYWAY!"
Toras whirled to face his brother, "If there is ANY chance that we are going to make it back home… we need this shuttle intact, at least enough that the engineers can at least scrap together something. Right now, I am the least valuable member of this crew, and therefore the most expendable."
"I think you've flipped. I'm not leaving you on this deathtrap!"
"TARAS, GET THE ENGINEERS OUT! THAT IS AN ORDER!"
Taras flinched, remembering that the younger twin had been given command due to his necessity for the later stages of the mission. However, Toras was right. At the moment, where the new mission was to merely survive, he was the one that the crew could most afford to lose.
With that, Taras glided off to the habitat section, and called back, "You BETTER come out in one piece, little bro. I am NOT going to scrape you off the viewscreen."
In the habitat section, Taras ripped off the sealed door that led to the small escape pod. Gently nudging his wounded counterparts into the pod, Taras himself fit his way inside. He then sealed the inside pod door, and with a slight moment's hesitation, smashed the eject panel.
There was a hiss, then a sudden jolt of movement as the tiny escape pod was forced away from the wounded shuttle. As the pre-programmed computer systems of the pod kicked in, and began analyzing its current position, Taras watched the shuttle enter Lunar's atmosphere, the heat shielding starting to burst into fire.
Taras turned away from the scene, and pulled a small picture. A young looking woman held a pair of twins, ironically; Taras's own daughters, young bundles of love and energy he would never see again, barring a miracle…
Same shuttle, present time…
"You're right… I don't understand what went wrong, but… is there any way this can be repaired?" Jean gasped.
Taras bowed his head, "Not without the engineers that died while we were re-entering. And sadly to say, there is no one on Lunar with the knowledge to be able to take their place."
"I'm so sorry…" Jean muttered, hollow condolences, but something she felt the need to say nonetheless.
Taras shook his head, and replied, "Right now, I have to focus on finishing this mission, THEN I can get depressed." He turned to the larger boxes that contained HOPEFULLY undamaged scopes and imaging units, and motioning to them, stated, "I'm going to need your help getting these outside…"
Meanwhile in Vane…
"Now, if we use the pulley mechanism I outlined earlier, we will be able to get the heavy support beams that took a legion of strongmen several minutes to bring to the higher levels to the roof of the Guild library in seconds." Toras lectured, "As I said, we can do ten times the work with the manpower we have merely available."
Lemina pointed to the sketch Toras had drawn about to ask a question about a unit he had drawn up just as Toras was bringing his own hand to explain what that same unit was. Their hands met over the object, and Toras flushed in embarrasment, quickly pulling away. Lemina smiled shyly, then said, "Go ahead… I was just about to ask about that…"
Borgan and Miria watched the reaction of the pale scientist, and frowned. However, they said nothing at the moment. This was Lemina's concern; hopefully she would recognize what was happening before it got out of hand.
"This is a general wheel mechanism that we will be able to use on all of our building assemblies. Wheeling those units from place to place rather than having to build multiple units. Saves time, materials, and most importantly, money." Toras explained with a smug smile.
"I like the sound of that…" Lemina smiled. "You are confident that you can have this done in the time you've laid out."
"I see no reason why we shouldn't." Toras stated confidently, "Don't you worry about a thing, Lemina. That asshole Ramus won't be getting his blushing bride anytime soon."
Lemina stiffened. Glancing at Toras, she realized that she'd have to explain just what was going on between herself and Ramus. However, she turned her attention back to the plans Toras had laid out. This was going to take all of her concentration to pull off…