Ringship Discretion (24 page)

Doc spoke up. "Hey! What the hell is this?! Can we see if the ship works and make sure we aren't going to actually die out here in the middle of nowhere?" Helen, feeling the mood of the room, gave him a pinch and he let out a squeak.

The captain's face detached from Amelia's and he looked at Doc and back at Amelia. "Yeah, maybe we should actually test the ship out."

She nodded. "Yeah..maybe..." She gave him another quick kiss and turned back to the control panel.

The captain looked at the crew. "OK. Everyone strap in just in case."

Once everyone was in place, the captain looked over at Amelia. "OK. Go!" She tapped a few icons and the stars turned deep blue and then violet. She looked over at Attie and smiled.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and Ben said "Alright. That's fixed.  Let's eat!"

Twenty two days later the whole crew was in the cockpit as the computer got ready to cut power to the warp drive.  They all stared out the window at the deep blue star field. Amelia said "3...2...1..".

Everyone gasped as the large blue white world appeared.   Two moons, with their crescent shapes, were easily visible in the distance. The reddish parent star was off to their port and was blindingly bright.  They could all feel the warmth as it shown in on them.  Amelia quickly adjusted the window and dimmed the star. 

The captain pointed "There. That continent. The reports said it would be the most hospitable."

Everyone looked at each other in excited disbelief.  Amelia switched over to the normal drive and the thirty second alarm went off.  She looked up and they all nodded, so she overrode the alarm and began to turn the ship.  A third irregular shaped moon appeared off to the starboard.  It was much closer than the others and had deep craters all over its surface.  She aligned the ship for a descent to the continent.  They all watched excitedly as the small moon passed by them. 

Amelia said "Hold on. Bringing us around for the descent."  She slowly turned the ship 180 degrees. Attie quickly hit the aft camera control and the new planet appeared on the screen again.

As they descended through the broken cloud cover, the terrain appeared black and purple with white mountain peaks towering above.  In the distance, was the blue look of an ocean.  The two large moons were visible just over the clouds, but disappeared as they continued to descend. .  "Wow, Attie...it's so beautiful!" She almost giggled.  "Where do you want to live?  Look over there, it has..."...She stopped mid sentence and the ship started to buffet and shake.  Part's of Amelia's panel began to flash red and the alarm sounded. Amelia yelled. "Oh..Shit!"

Attie with his eyes wide opened looked over at her. "Oh Shit? Oh Shit what?!"

She yelled. "We lost the panels. I can't slow down fast enough. We are going to burn...dammit!.I'm flipping us..." And with that, they felt the g's as their world suddenly flipped upside down.  Attie felt the blood rush to his head and the ground was now suddenly above them and space below.  Attie yelled. "What the hell Amelia?"

She frantically pushed buttons and controls ignoring his request for information.  The ground began to take up the entire window and the sky disappeared from view.  Everyone began to yell at her trying to figure out what was going on.  Amelia yelled back "SHUT UP! I'm Trying to fly this damn thing!" It was suddenly quiet and the only thing they could hear was the rush of wind against the hull.

The whole crew watched out the window as the black and purple scenery started to become patchy until individual plants could be made out.  The ground began to slow.  Amelia finally said. "OK. I think I've got it." She didn't say anything else.

The captain wanted her to clarify, but didn't dare interrupt her again.  Large purple trees appeared to grow up out of the ground as they got closer.  Eventually the ship stopped about 20 meters from the ground and Amelia looked over at Attie, her face beet red. "Damn, that was not good!"

He asked "What the hell happened?"

She pointed to the deck beyond their feet. "The damn plates quit again.  But this time it was a different one than the last time.  We were going too fast and I wouldn't have been able to slow us down fast enough. We would have burned the plates off and then we would have really been screwed, so I flipped us to use the top plates, which were still working."

Attie looked out the window. His eyes felt tight from all the blood in his head. "Can we land like this?"

She said "We could, but we would destroy the upper plates."

Ben interjected. "Amelia, can we just hover like this, while we fix the bottom plates? Assuming it is the same problem?"

She nodded, but said. "I can't leave the controls though.  It keeps wanting to drift. Whatever we do, we need to do it fast, or my head is going to explode!"

Attie looked up below him. "Hmmm..shit..how are we going to get out of these seats like this?"  Then he heard AJ say "Like this!" He turned his head and AJ was standing on the ceiling.

AJ said. "I just disconnect one strap at a time and held on to them, then dropped."

Ben whispered to himself. "Sure. Easy for a young whipper snapper like you."

Next, Angela was down and she helped Helen who was hanging by her straps.  The captain unbuckled his and they helped him get down.  Next was Doc.

Then they all went under Ben. The captain said "OK.  Now that nearly all of us are down, we have enough strength to get you."

Ben said. "Ha ha." And unbuckled his straps. He flipped quickly, but everyone stopped his fall and he gently set down.

Amelia said "OK. Now get out there and fix this heap. My head is killing me!"

The captain crawled up to the window.  "Can you take us to one of the tall trees? I have an idea."

She pushed a few buttons and the ship moved toward a huge tree until there was a slight jolt from nudging the trunk.

The captain looked at Ben "OK. Come on. You too AJ. Grab some carabiners and harnesses"

They opened the inner hatch door.  Ben looked at the pressure gauges. "Its about 20% higher pressure out there, so we need to pressurize the lock."

The captain shook his head. "No. Amelia, pressurize the whole ship. No point in having a differential between inside and out."

Ben nodded agreeingly.

Once the pressure was equalized, the captain grabbed a communicator and put it on his ear.  Ben and AJ followed suit. He opened the outer door and looked down. It was about 50 meters to the lush black ground. "Whoa....Amelia, rotate the ship so we can step out onto one of those large branches." The ship rotated until the large branch hit the outer hatch door and it started to scrape. "Whoa! That's good! Stop!"  Once it stopped, he clipped his carabiner to a clamp point and looked at Ben and AJ. "Ready?". They nodded and clamped on.

The captain jumped out onto the branch and once he felt secure, he unclamped himself.  AJ jumped next.  After that, it was Ben's turn. He jumped, landed on some orange moss like substance and started to slide. He yelled as he accelerated down the branch.  He grabbed at some small vines and suddenly stopped, but didn't move. The captain yelled. "You OK Ben?!"

Ben, still facing down, said in a muffled voice "Yeah. And then while panting said "Just give me a minute."  AJ scooted down the branch until he got to Ben.  Ben looked up. "I'm good.  My muscles are already exhausted and I haven't even done anything yet."

The captain said. "It's alright. Just take it slow.  Remember we haven't been in a gravity environment for over a month. So, no hurry."  Amelia interrupted. "The hell there's no hurry! My head is going to explode!"

Attie leaned down and looked into the cockpit window giving Amelia a smile.  She stuck her tongue out at him. Ben said. "Alright. I am detached."

Attie gave Amelia the thumbs up and she descended until the bottom of the ship was just below them. Attie said. "OK. Come up about 5 meters."  The ship rose slowly. "OK...Just a little more...a little more...stop!"  Attie jumped onto the bottom of the ship and clamped on.

Ben was getting his strength back and with AJ's help, he climbed up the limb far enough to drop down onto the ship.

Attie told Amelia "OK. We are all on the underside now.  Give us just a minute to figure out what's wrong."

Ben stumbled over to the plates and looked underneath them. "Yep! Same thing! This one's broke too. Where the hell did they get these cheap ass connectors!?"

The captain said. "Well, it looks like our fix is still holding on this one.  Maybe we should just do this to all of them."

Ben nodded. "Hell yeah. I don't want to go through this again!"

Attie said to Amelia "OK. We are fixing the issue.  Should just be a minute. Tell us when you see the plate."

After a few seconds Amelia said "I got it! Although I am having trouble seeing anything now."

Ben gave The captain the thumbs up. "This one's done."

AJ said. "This one too."

The captain said to himself. "Well, I guess I better finish this one then." He wrapped the tie wrap and zipped it tight......."Alright, that should do it. Let's get back on the branch and we will rappel down to the ground.  Once we are off, you can flip the ship and land her, Amelia."

The captain walked to the edge of the ship. "Alright. Amelia, I need you to back the ship away from the tree about 2 meters and then lift the ship 2 meters."

She acknowledged, but didn't pull the ship far enough away before it started rising.  The ship caught on the branch and began to lift it while metal scraped and pieces of plant splintered. Attie yelled "Whoa! Whoa! Down!".  She moved the ship down and backed out again.

As she aligned the bottom of the ship over the branch she said. "Sorry, having a hard time concentrating and reading the displays."

Attie said. "You're doing great.  We'll just get off and you can flip her right side up." He signaled to Ben and AJ and they both jumped down.  He detached their lines and his, and jumped also. "OK. We are clear! Go!"

The ship moved 100 meters away from the tree and rose quickly.  Attie watched it rise into the sky.  Amelia asked if everyone was secure and she quickly flipped the ship.

Attie saw the ship drop as it flipped.   Then it slowed and gently touched down into the small plants 50 meters below.

Amelia came over the radio. "We're down. Oh my god! My head!"

Attie responded. "You did awesome!  We will be down in a few minutes."  He then looked out from his high branch perspective.  He could see black and purple vegetation for many kilometers and a large snow capped mountain in the distance.  Looking to his left, there was a river that lead to what looked like a  large body water.  The sky was dark looking and everything had a reddish hue.  The new sun looked deep red, like a beautiful sunset, even though it was high in the sky.  He could feel its warmth on his face.  The air smelled strangely sweet, but with a hint of...he said to himself..."Cumin?"

Ben asked "What was that Captain?" 

The captain turned. "Oh, nothing. I was just thinking the air smelled like cumin."

Ben raised his right eyebrow, but thought a minute. "Yeah...It does. Weird.  Well, you ready to get out of this tree?"

The captain nodded, and he handed his line to Ben, who had already attached his own and AJ's.

AJ was the first over and he jumped down the side of the tree yelling in excitement.  From the ground below, the three girls yelled up.  Amelia yelled. "It's beautiful!  What's it like from up there!?"

Attie yelled back "It's wonderful! Just magnificent. I see a river and a sea."

Ben was the next down and then it was finally Atticus's turn. He leaned over the edge of the branch and walked over to the trunk.  He then pushed off, dropped a few meters and met the trunk again. He jumped and almost slipped when he saw something scurry away. "Hey! There are animals here!" He paused for a minute to see if he could see it again.

Amelia yelled from below. "Come on Attie!"

The captain looked down to see everyone waiting for him. He took one last look around and rappelled down the rest of the trunk. As he touched down, Amelia ran to him and hugged him. The whole crew joined her and they all began hugging each other and excitedly yelling.  Amelia said. "Attie! We made it!" She then kissed him so hard he almost fell over.

After a few moments of adulation, Atticus put his hands up. Everyone quieted down and he spoke. "We made it. It has been one hell of a journey with all of you and I wouldn't trade the time I have spent with you for anything.  I am looking forward to sharing this next great adventure with you....my family. He waved his hands at the surroundings. "My friends, my family...We are free.  Truly free."

They had this whole new world to themselves...........for now.

14