Cold Mountain

The Madison Skywriter soared through the skies of Ananga, not like a carefree and majestic bird, but like a bug attempting to evade a rolled up newspaper. Blizzard winds whipped it back and forth, and blinding snow made any attempt at traditional navigation an exercise in futility. Chisato had flown into a storm.

Most of the flashing, beeping, and shining instruments on the control panel in front of her told Chisato that she was on course, but all of the shaking and wobbling still unnerved her. Ananga's welcome certainly fell in the bottom half of her list of memorable receptions.

A particularly heavy spot of turbulence rocked the ship, and Chisato grimaced as a few warning klaxons bleated at her. The pen she kept behind her left ear slipped and fell down beside her seat; she pounded the armrest in frustration. Storm debris pelted the view portal ahead of her, clearly audible but just barely visible through the snow. Another warning siren groaned at her, and she clutched her chair as tights as she could, as if holding on for dear life.

Then, an even louder crashing sound signaled the end as the ship slowed to a halt and touched down in the middle of a forest.

The trees resembled the sort of thing Chisato remembered from her childhood on Nede. They were tall and still green, even in the snow, and they made a pretty good ceiling for hiding from the elements. A few short button clicks activated the view portal's ice removers, causing a heating device to melt away all the snow blocking her view; Chisato then saw that, though there was plenty of snow piled deep on the ground outside, somewhat less of it fell through the branches above, at least at the moment. She could at least see well enough that she figured she could walk around outside, provided the accumulated snow wasn't too deep.

Perfect landing, she thought. She folded her arms behind her head and reclined in her Captain's Chair for a minute while she waited for her heart rate to slow back down to normal. When she felt up to the task, she unbuckled herself, stood up, and made for the Skywriter's storage area.

Coat, coat, Chisato said to herself. Must find a coat.

A few options presented themselves to her: her classy blue blazer; a stylish brown fleece number with her name embroidered on the breast pocket; a tacky plaid coat, given to her as a gift at an office party; and a heavy parka with extra pockets inside for protecting valuables in snowy weather. Chisato picked up the blazer and the parka and put the rest into a storage locker. She slipped the parka on over her shirt.

The rest of what she needed already sat inside a heavy duty duffel bag, ready to go. This included a modern medical kit, some writing and printing software, a few of her favorite books, her communicator, some canisters of tear gas, and a multipurpose survival tool she had picked up on the black market back on Nede. Dubbed the MultiTeX (pronounced "multi-tech"), it was more or less a fancier electronic version of a Swiss army knife and a tracking system rolled into one, with some extra tools for negotiating difficult terrain built in. The most important at the moment was the heat system, which she could use to melt through snow in case of emergency.

Two more items interested Chisato before she made her way for the exit. The first was her Electron Gun, for self defense, and the second was a small homing beacon hanging from the wall. Chisato flipped a switch on the beacon. It began emitting a monotonous beeping noise, and, less noticeably, talking to the locator equipment in the travel bag. A few wires ran from the beacon to the ship's deep space transmitter, its main computer, and its engines.

All saddled up here then. Time to head out. One small step for me…

With that Chisato pulled open the exit hatch and took her first step into a larger world.

XXX

Better than being seen, I guess. Chisato trudged for the leeward side of a large tree while fighting against the biting wind. Even in the relative shelter of the forest, the snow still came down hard enough to make the going rough for her, but it was worth it. Mountain snow wouldn't melt away, and that along with the tree cover would keep the Madison Skywriter away from the prying eyes of the locals. Landing in a blizzard was at worst a mixed blessing.

Still, it made getting down the mountain problematic. Her charts had told her that she merely had to survive a few miles to get to the foot, where she would not have far to go to reach civilization, but a few miles in a snowstorm can feel like an insurmountable obstacle.

What to do? What to do? Chisato twiddled her thumbs as much as her gloves would allow. This has to be the best landing spot, but I'll die if I stay out here too long. I don't want to risk drowning any electronic equipment, so I'd best hurry, but… Oh!

An idea struck her. It required making her way back to the ship, but that was a necessary evil. A minute of struggle later, she disappeared inside, only to emerge carrying a pair of skis and two ski poles.

Though the howling wind drowned her voice out completely, Chisato shouted aloud, "Next stop, Village of Shimo!"