Disclaimer: Please see Prologue
Part One: Flying Blind
It was the first time an alarm had gone off on the Christa for nearly a month, and the piercing noise brought an almost-forgotten sense of pain to Radu for the few seconds it took him to adjust.
Damn... I thought we might break the record that time. He thought. Guess not.
[pic]
"What's going on?" he said as he slid into the Command Post. Harlan looked over at him quickly from his position at navigation. Short, long hair, steely eyes... very quiet voice. Enter the sixteen-year-old Radu.
"I don't know. I got in here a few seconds ago and couldn't find anything wrong," he said, confusedly searching the Navigation panel for anything he had missed. The two were alone for the time being.
"Have you checked the readout from the other stations?" Radu asked, heading for the Engineering console.
"Just Engineering, there's nothing wrong at all."
Radu left Engineering, quickly searching the other panels. "There's nothing wrong!"
"There has to be something wrong."
"Of COURSE - umph - there is something wrong," said Bova, spilling into the Command Post in nothing but his pajama pants and socks. "The alarms never go off if there is not something wrong. Did you check all the panels?"
"Yes," said the other two.
"Then they are malfunctioning... the air in this ship is full of electricity." As if in agreement, Bova's antennae briefly crackled blue for a split second.
"Screen says 'everything's OK, guys, your orbit is nice and undisturbed,'" said Harlan, still fruitlessly scanning Navigation for an error.
"Orbit..." Everyone turned to Radu. "We are NOT orbiting ANYTHING!" Fear had finally replaced confusion on Radu's face as he realized his senses were telling him something different from what the screen and instruments were. "We're closing in on a gravity well the size of Earth!"
"Well what do I do!?" yelled Harlan, practically jumping from Navigation to helm.
"Well if we are falling then we are probably getting closer to the planet we were orbiting, meaning that the logical thing to do would be to fire the atmospheric jets and increase altitude. I think Radu should take helm, actually."
Radu got to the helm almost as fast as Harlan had, barely making it before the ship's gravity shifted wildly to the right, turning the floor into a thirty-degree slope. Harlan and Bova tumbled to the far wall.
"Radu, just get us to land!"
Radu said nothing. He closed his eyes, blocking out the inaccurate viewscreen picture of space and a slice of orbited planet. He felt the gravity of the ship pulling down at one gee; he felt the gravity of the planet pulling to the side almost sixty degrees from the correct plane and at one-point-three-seven-four- one-repeating gees. In is mind a picture formed of the Christa falling at an angle with the orbiting jets still running, falling down onto a flat surface, hard, uninteresting, a plain perhaps, but they were leaving. He pulled the controls with his eyes closed, righting the ship first, then moving down in an arc, returning to the flat spot they had passed. They were still falling... but falling straight instead of tilted. The ship's gravity turned off as the external gravity was registered and suddenly Radu could feel their motion in his stomach as well as his mind. The term "vomit comet" flitted through his brain as he managed to fire the retro jets once before they hit hard. Hard enough to throw and Andromedan out of his spot at helm and several feet beyond. Hard enough, actually, to knock said Andromedan into silent unconsciousness.
Part One: Flying Blind
It was the first time an alarm had gone off on the Christa for nearly a month, and the piercing noise brought an almost-forgotten sense of pain to Radu for the few seconds it took him to adjust.
Damn... I thought we might break the record that time. He thought. Guess not.
[pic]
"What's going on?" he said as he slid into the Command Post. Harlan looked over at him quickly from his position at navigation. Short, long hair, steely eyes... very quiet voice. Enter the sixteen-year-old Radu.
"I don't know. I got in here a few seconds ago and couldn't find anything wrong," he said, confusedly searching the Navigation panel for anything he had missed. The two were alone for the time being.
"Have you checked the readout from the other stations?" Radu asked, heading for the Engineering console.
"Just Engineering, there's nothing wrong at all."
Radu left Engineering, quickly searching the other panels. "There's nothing wrong!"
"There has to be something wrong."
"Of COURSE - umph - there is something wrong," said Bova, spilling into the Command Post in nothing but his pajama pants and socks. "The alarms never go off if there is not something wrong. Did you check all the panels?"
"Yes," said the other two.
"Then they are malfunctioning... the air in this ship is full of electricity." As if in agreement, Bova's antennae briefly crackled blue for a split second.
"Screen says 'everything's OK, guys, your orbit is nice and undisturbed,'" said Harlan, still fruitlessly scanning Navigation for an error.
"Orbit..." Everyone turned to Radu. "We are NOT orbiting ANYTHING!" Fear had finally replaced confusion on Radu's face as he realized his senses were telling him something different from what the screen and instruments were. "We're closing in on a gravity well the size of Earth!"
"Well what do I do!?" yelled Harlan, practically jumping from Navigation to helm.
"Well if we are falling then we are probably getting closer to the planet we were orbiting, meaning that the logical thing to do would be to fire the atmospheric jets and increase altitude. I think Radu should take helm, actually."
Radu got to the helm almost as fast as Harlan had, barely making it before the ship's gravity shifted wildly to the right, turning the floor into a thirty-degree slope. Harlan and Bova tumbled to the far wall.
"Radu, just get us to land!"
Radu said nothing. He closed his eyes, blocking out the inaccurate viewscreen picture of space and a slice of orbited planet. He felt the gravity of the ship pulling down at one gee; he felt the gravity of the planet pulling to the side almost sixty degrees from the correct plane and at one-point-three-seven-four- one-repeating gees. In is mind a picture formed of the Christa falling at an angle with the orbiting jets still running, falling down onto a flat surface, hard, uninteresting, a plain perhaps, but they were leaving. He pulled the controls with his eyes closed, righting the ship first, then moving down in an arc, returning to the flat spot they had passed. They were still falling... but falling straight instead of tilted. The ship's gravity turned off as the external gravity was registered and suddenly Radu could feel their motion in his stomach as well as his mind. The term "vomit comet" flitted through his brain as he managed to fire the retro jets once before they hit hard. Hard enough to throw and Andromedan out of his spot at helm and several feet beyond. Hard enough, actually, to knock said Andromedan into silent unconsciousness.