10/31 #1
Congratulations,
@101airborn !
The story continues - Part 3
"Approaching outer planets now, Captain.'"
"Thank you, Callahan. Lt. James, what do you have on the scan?"
"Eleven orbitals. It would be a lot better to have a red star like ours, but this is it. Fair chance of at least one or two with a breathable atmosphere. Correction on planet count - make that ten with an asteroid belt: planetary debris. The outer six planets are all too cold for us, as one might expect with such a puny sun. Two are just ice balls, the other four all seem to have quite poisonous atmospheres and high gravity. Numerous moons, none of which I'd chance. It's really too bad we can't record this trip, Captain. I've never before encountered four planets in a row that all have rings."
"How about the inner planets?"
"Too far away to tell for sure, but numbers two,
three, and four all look hopeful. Long range shows three is a binary planet and relatively close to the center of the life zone for this class star."
"God, let one be good," whispered Callahan under her breath.
"Coming up now," said James. "Number four is arid, though plentiful minerals are indicated, but insufficient oxygen and gravity quite light.
Number three's larger planet appears to have an abundance of both."
"Good enough," declared O'Reiley. He turned to Callahan then and ordered, "Put it in high orbit. Let's check it for life. "
James continued to stare into the scanner. "The smaller one is without atmosphere and extremely cratered; probably just a very large moon, but with sufficient gravitational pull to call this a binary planet. The large one contains sufficient amounts of oxygen, nitrogen... well, all the elements of our own atmosphere, sir. There are a few trace elements not present in ours, however, they should be of no harm. Gravity is 0.65 norm. Other than background hiss, EM shows negative. Bioscan indicates thousands of life-types, some in minor concentrations. There may be a primitive type of cultural society, but nothing advanced enough to be either help or hindrance... hopefully."
"Recommendations?"
"Yes, sir. I suggest we maintain refraction shielding until we are assured that whatever beings are there are not hostile. "
"Agreed." O'Reiley turned to the navigator. "Callahan, are you ready with trajectories?"
"Yes, sir."
O'Reiley thumbed the intercom. "Flannery, are your people ready for landing?"
"All set, Cap. But, be gentle."
"OK, Callahan. Let's take her in easy."
The ship descended slowly into the atmosphere, totally invisible to anyone. Any noise it made driving through the lower atmosphere would be just another one of those unsolved mysteries to the beings of this planet. Good thing no one could see it; the organic ship very closely resembled a huge mushroom, and how would you ever explain a giant flying mushroom without being locked away?
O'Reiley studied the main view screen. "Looks like this planet is mostly water!" he grumbled.
"Landfall in a few moments, Captain," declared Callahan.
On the horizon appeared a brilliant emerald green island, lush with vegetation and beautiful rolling hills. The ship rushed up to it, then hovered over a large meadow.
"Check for life forms, James," ordered the Captain.
"Extreme diversity of flora and fauna. No apparent population centers within immediate scan."
"Put ‘er down, Callahan."
The ship turned on end and sat very gently on the top of a small hill at the edge of the meadow. Nothing could be seen of this activity from the outside but a gentle shimmer of the air.
"Systems check!" ordered O'Reiley.
"All systems operational with the exception of the main drivers,
batteries C, D, and F," responded James. "Looks like it's all up to Flannery's crew now."
The intercom buzzed. "Flannery here. This shouldn't take too long in this light gravity; we can hop around pretty fast. But we'll have to drop the shields to do the work. "
"Right. We'll post a lookout, just in case. Well, anyone care for a breath of fresh air?"
--- to be continued ---
Unusual early snow storm for central Orygun - first week in Oxtuba.
