The Valiant - Michael Jan Friedman [106]
Turning to his instrument panel, he checked the pods rate of descent It was less than it had been, certainly, but still a good deal more than what safety demanded.
Whats the verdict? asked Daniels.
Not good, Gardenhire told him.
Were still falling too fast, said Coquillette, arent we?
The navigator nodded.
Wait a minute, said Santana. OShaugnessy couldnt move that lever at allbut when we worked together, it moved easily. Maybe we could slow the pod down the same way.
At first blush, it seemed like a crazy idea. But the more Gardenhire thought about it, the less crazy it sounded.
Lets try it, said Williamson.
Outside, the flames of their descent had completely obscured then-view of the alien sky. Soon, they would feel the temperature begin to rise inside the pod. And after that
OShaugnessy will be our point again, said the navigator, since he did such a good job last time.
Without a moments hesitation, the engineer closed his eyes. All right Im picturing the underside of the pod. We need to push against it, to slow it down
Linking his mind to OShaugnessys, Gardenhire could see the flat titanium surface. Surrounded by the four thruster apertures, he pushed up against it. He wasnt alone, either. He felt the others with him, around him and inside him, adding their strength to his own.
At first, he didnt perceive any difference. Then their efforts began to pay off. The pod began to slow down.
Breaking contact with OShaugnessy for a moment, the navigator darted a glance at his instruments. They confirmed itthe escape vehicle was falling at a slower rate than before.
Keep it up , Gardenhire told the others.
They did as he asked, continuing to toil against the pull of gravity with all the telekinetic power at their disposal. And little by little, the pod continued to decelerate.
He glanced at the observation portal. The shields were all but gone, but so were the flames that had blocked his view. He could see clouds again. And through them, patches of blue.
If he and the others had had enough time, they might have teamed up with the thrusters to stop their descent altogether. Unfortunately, they didnt have that much time. Gardenhire could see that all too clearly on his monitor, the harsh truth expressed hi cold mathematical certainties.
The planets surface was rushing up eagerly to meet them. And when it did, it would crack them open like an egg.
The injustice of it pierced the navigators heart like a dagger. To have come this far, to have tried this hard, only to be crushed on a hard and unfeeling alien landscape
Then he saw a way out.
We need to do more than slow down, Gardenhire said. We need to push ourselves that way. And he pointed to the bulkhead behind Daniels.
What for? asked Williamson.
So we can splash down, the navigator explained. Or would you prefer to crack up?
Lets push , said Daniels.
What Gardenhire was asking of them was a lot more complicated than what they had done before. They couldnt push in two directions at once; they had to find just the right vector.
Somehow, they managed it.
Then the six of them pushed for all they were worth. The mingling of their talents created an unexpected level of force, one that seemed to be more than the sum of their individual abilities.
The navigator moved closer to the window and looked down. He could see land through breaks in the cloud cover. He could make out a large, blue bowl of a bay, embraced by a hilly, green coastline.
It would be a good place for a settlement, he thought, a good place to make a future for themselves. That is, if they survived long enough to think about such things.
Push , he insisted.
They poured every last ounce of their energy into the effort, nudging the pod away from the land and out to sea. Gardenhire followed their progress on his instruments, cheering inwardly with each minute alteration in their angle of descent.
Were going to do it , he told the others.
It encouraged them to keep it