The deceleration force on the lander was easing up, and Retepin noticed the inferno of brightly glowing gas no longer engulfed the ship. The crushing G-forces had started to subside. Gergin was checking their position.
“Glad that's over. This time was worse than any I recall.”
“Same here. How long until we turn onto the final approach path?” Retepin asked.
“Still some time. Wonder how our passengers handled the G-forces.”
“You can bet that part of the descent wasn’t featured in the pep talk they got back on Tridon,” Retepin quipped. The two officers were relaxed and felt this was just another day in space.
“The New Dawn is out of radio contact. We will be down before they are over us again.”
Gergin whispered Enaida's name to switch to her channel. “How's it going back there?”
“It's been crocit! But I’m better. Am worried about some of our passengers. Some aren’t very strong.”
“We’re close to the final turn onto the approach path. So far, everything has been nominal. “ Gergin wanted to say how much he loved her, but protocol didn’t allow it.
Then he heard Retepin say, “Halkopez!”
“Enaida, I got to go. Retepin, what's wrong?”
“We’re below the flight path and coming in hot.”
“How far below?”
“1230 and increasing. Going manual. Give me the deltas.”
Gergin felt the push from thrusters firing. His eyes were on the Flight Path Deviation display, which compared actual speed, altitude, and heading with the simulator's flight plan.
“Below 1090, rising slowly, speed plus 140. Three minutes from the turn.”
“Will do the turn slowly. Then correct for the final approach,” Retepin said calmly.
“Below 828, speed plus 85.”
The vehicle's descent slowed and started a gentle turn.
“Below 262, speed plus 29. That's nominal for this beast,” Gergin announced.
“Heading?”
“Plus 9 degrees.”
Retepin turned the craft to the final approach heading and kept the craft's nose level. Both officers relaxed. Retepin now made tiny adjustments to stay on the descending flight path.
Raindrops pelted the small front windows as the vehicle passed through a heavy cloud layer.
“It would be nice to see the local terrain when we get closer. Right now, that's impossible, but hopefully, it will improve.”
Gergin pushed the button to rotate their seats back to normal so they could see through the front windows.
As they progressed down the glide path, the rain eased up for short periods. At one point, they could see a large river ahead of them. When they could see the ground, they noticed open areas surrounded by thick forest. The greenery was an encouraging sight.
Retepin was holding the lander on the angle of descent. Periodically, their airspeed increased, and he had to raise small surfaces that acted as air brakes.
“how far from touchdown,” Retepin asked.
“About 14 minutes.”
There was another slowdown in the rain, and they could see a large herd of animals grazing.
“Ever see anything like that?” Gergin asked.
“Never anything that large on Tridon. Massive heads with horns. Glad they eat grass,” Retepin laughed.
They passed over lakes and rolling hills covered with trees. The scenery almost hypnotized them. Then the rain started again, and all they could see was a grey blur.
“We’re approaching our landing zone. Unfortunately, I think we’ll have to land in the rain,” Gergin said.
“Think we should abort and try the next one?”
“The terrain hasn’t changed much, and I think we are moving into more rain,” Gergin answered.
“I can make out the ground. Let's do it here.”
Retepin slowed the craft and watched the altitude. Then, the rain returned in a downpour that blinded their view of the ground.
“Have to do a belly lan…”
A crashing sound drowned out Retepin's words. They had hit something, and the jolt sent them both smashing into the instrument panel. Something penetrated the hull and came through, grazing one side of Gergin's helmet. The vehicle tilted to one side and stopped with an ear-splitting thud. They were down!
The Commander was the first out of his seat. Then, he put his hand down hard on the crewman beside him and gestured to check the flight crew. Then, a voice command switched his helmet radio to the channel used by the leader of the Advance Team.
“Nevetsin, Perimeter team! Eteppon. Damage control.”
The Advance Team seated at the vehicle's back end had practiced several landing scenarios. Without waiting for Nireem's command, their leader was up, and one of his men had already opened the rear exit door.
“Commander,” the leader said over his helmet radio. “We are hung up in trees. Sending the perimeter team down.”
“Good. We need to get everyone out! Fast!. The crew will help,” Nireem replied. By now, pandemonium filled the vehicle as the passengers struggled to unfasten restraining belts. The lights in the walls and ceiling that created a calming ambiance were dark.
“Sir, We need medical, “ the crewman sent to check the pilot exclaimed.
The Commander nodded and spoke Enaida's name to change channels. “ Medical help up front.”
His words scared her, but she was out of her seat and moving instantly. When she saw Retepin and Gergin, her heart sank. Retepin slumped over against the instrument panel and was barely conscious. A tree limb had speared through the hull. Gergin was twisted to one side, and she could see another part of the limb had hit his leg. Gergin was alive but unconscious.
The Commander tried to speak to the passengers but found his helmet radio couldn’t connect to the vehicle's sound system. Nevertheless, the crew had practiced crash response and, without specific orders, were up helping the passengers. Tilting their seats down from the raised descent position had a calming effect. Most felt pinned down by the force of gravity despite the violent jerk when the lander crashed to a stop.
A crewman opened the middle door, letting in more light and saw the ground more than twenty feet below-- too far to jump. But, at least the rain had let up and was just a fine drizzle.
Two of the Advance Team bullied their way down the center aisle carrying a heavy rope. The men at the vehicle's rear, assigned to scout and establish a perimeter, had free rappeled to the ground. Then they pulled the thick line to angle it upward to the open door and tied it to a tree. At the middle exit, Advance Team members repeated the same rope setup. Their speed and precision revealed how carefully they had prepared.
Enaida called for help, and a crewman helped her free Gergin. She tied a crude bandage around his leg and put it in a makeshift splint. Unfortunately, anyone could see his leg was broken. Fortunately, Gergin's helmet had protected his head from the jagged tree limb, and he was coming around. Enaida suspected he had a concussion.
Members of the Advance Team were lowering passengers down on the two ropes. They attached passengers to the glide rope using a carabiner on a webbing strap sling. A light line controlled the slide down the rope incline. On the ground, one of the team removed the sling for reuse.
The other Medical specialists were checking on passengers, helping them stand up and keeping them in place until their turn came. Some wanted to get their flight bags, and some were too weak to stand up. Sadly, they found some who were unresponsive. They hadn’t survived the G-forces.
“Commander, a preliminary damage check found no dangerous chemical leaks—at least so far. However, the vehicle has no electrical power, and the trees did a lot of hull damage.”
“Can you check the outside atmosphere? We can’t stay on the portable suit tanks for long.”
“Doing that now. Eteppon was thankful the Atmosphere Composition Monitor was battery powered.”
“Thanks, and see if we can get another exit open.”
Then Nireem saw Retepin limping toward him. “Well, that wasn’t quite what we planned,” the Commander said, putting his pilot at ease.
“When that heavy rain hit, we couldn’t see anything. The trees here must be huge.”
“Sit down. We’re getting people out as fast as we can. The Advance Team has been fantastic.”
Enaida came over and asked, “Sir, what do we do with the passengers on the ground?”
“Enaida, go down and find a place away from the glide ropes. Try to keep everyone together.”
Then, after a pause, the Commander continued, “Eteppon, we need to unload the Temporary Habitat. See what your guys can do.”
“Sir, the other exit doors are blocked with trees,” said an excited crewman.
The Commander was concerned they were not getting everyone off the ship fast enough. Speaking into his radio, the Commander said, “Nevetsin, can your men set up a second rope at each door to the ground? We need to move faster.”
Seconds later, he heard. “On it!.”
A few minutes later, both doors had two glide ropes in operation. While they lowered a passenger on one line, they harnessed the next passenger on the other.
“Commander, the perimeter team reports no danger found. Have scouts deployed standing watch.”
“Thanks, Nevetsin. No danger seen.” That's a break, Nireem mumbled to himself. He was now thinking ahead to the next challenge-- how they would spend the night.
“Sir, the power latches on the Habitat Compartment don’t work without electrical power,” one of Eteppon's men reported.
“There must be a backup!”
“Sir, The only backup is manually removing the bolts holding the compartment hatches to the locking mechanism. Unfortunately, they are on the outside.”
“Nevetsin! Get some of your guys up on top of the lander. We need to open the Habitat storage compartment.” Then he told Eteppon's man to help him.
Aterga approached the Commander and said, “Sir, Nearly all the passengers are on the ground. Just a few left. What should we do with the unresponsive ones?”
“How many?”
“I counted eleven,” she answered.
“Leave them here. Tomorrow, we’ll deal with them.” He felt sorry for the passengers who didn’t survive but blamed The Planners. They should never have sent passengers in poor physical condition on this mission.
Then, he saw one of the maintenance crew members ushering the last passengers to the middle door.
The Commander called to him, “After the last passenger, send down all the flight bags. Spread the word.”
The Commander looked around the vehicle, which was now nearly empty.
Eteppon's voice came through his helmet radio. “Sir. The Atmosphere Composition Monitor shows no dangerous components and suitable oxygen levels.”
“Spread the word. No need to wear helmets. The air is good,” Nireem told everyone he could reach through his helmet radio. Then he pulled his helmet off and tossed it aside.
“Eteppon, I am going down. You have command here. Our two priorities are getting the flight bags out and unloading the Temporary Habitat Modules. Send everyone down when no longer needed here.”
“Yes, sir. Nevetsin has two guys up top working on the Habitat Compartment hatch.”
Then Nireem gave a thumbs up and descended on the glide rope. He stood on firm ground for the first time in over a year. He knew they still had a daunting challenge ahead, but he had a sense of accomplishment seeing the passengers and crew members out on an open slope. And for the first time in over a year, he sensed his legs straining under the force of gravity.
Standing on wobbly legs, Nireem looked around at Wenobek. He could now see the lander was lodged in the limbs of two massive trees on the edge of a broad, grassy hillside. The tree was part of a dense forest stretching off into the distance.
Above was a grey, cloud-filled sky. It was late afternoon, and the rain had stopped. There were wet spots and puddles as reminders. The air smelled fresh and fragrant, unlike the spacecraft's sterile atmosphere.
Over on the grassy slope near the crowd of travelers, he saw Enaida with Gergin. She was redoing the bandage on his leg. He was sitting and staring at the crude splint, still dazed from the crash. Her face showed her concern for him.
The travelers and crew were a sad-looking lot scattered across the hillside. Many had wrapped themselves in thin, thermal-reflecting blankets. Most had reclined to ease muscles already exhausted by the new burden of gravity. Everyone seemed dazed by the landing.
Nireem had accomplished his mission as Commander of the New Dawn. They had reached and landed on Wenobek! Now, he started his next challenge, surviving in this new world. Survival was imperative if their species was to avoid extinction.