chp 1c

The rest of the journey was rather uneventful. The surprising thing was that the ship didn’t break down at all. Bert expertly brought the ship into orbit around the planet before breaking into atmosphere. The sky was unusually cloudy since this was largely a desert planet. There was one body of water that was icy cold that somehow sustained life around it like an oasis while outside of its periphery the howling winds blew hot, burning sand around the desert.

Lightning flashed in the distance as the ship skimmed above the clouds. “It looks like one of those rare thunderstorms we’ve heard about,” Ben remarked. Bert nodded in agreement. Soon he aimed the nose down a little more and began to descend into the cloud. The Nav computer began a soft beeping as it locked onto the landing signal broadcast by a beacon at the city’s landing pad.

Ben put on his headphones and fiddled with the communications equipment. “I don’t seem to be picking up any signals,” Ben announced, frowning a little. Bert was now concentrating on keeping the ship headed toward the city as it descended through the clouds. By now, the winds of the storm and the air-pockets were ensuring that their descent was a bumpy one.

The storm was very bad. As soon as the ship cleared the thick cloud cover, they were met with lightning and heavy rain. The sky was very dark now and even with the ship’s lights on, there was little visibility. Ben turned down the illumination in the cockpit so that they could see out the viewports better.

Bright flashes lit up the sky frequently and then suddenly Bert jerked on the controls as another flash went by the ship. “That wasn’t lightning!” They both exclaimed.

As they crested a mountain range and entered the airspace overlooking the valley where the city was, they saw the area swarming with all sorts of craft. There were spacecraft and craft designed for atmospheric flying only. Tanks and other ground vehicles were moving around on the valley floor, their presence announced by lasers and tracer shells criss-crossing the valley and the occasional shots up toward the sky.

Bert slammed on the brakes and killed the ship’s lights. The wind was making it hard to hover and the mountain peaks were craggy. Ben checked the Nav computer to see if there was a suitable landing site on the mountain range. “Come on, can’t the computer work any faster?” Bert asked, “It will only be a matter of time before somebody spots us.”

Another stray shot of laser flashed past the ship but Bert held the ship steady. The hull of the ship was painted black so even though the laser shot would have lighted her up, it might not have been noticed.

“Ok, got one good spot,” Ben announced, “I’ve fed the data into the autopilot.” Bert shook his head, saying, “Are you crazy? You’d trust the autopilot to land this thing in this kind of weather?” Still, it was better than trying to do it visually.

Bert reluctantly flipped the controls over to the autopilot and the ship immediately started to rock as the autopilot began to compensate for the buffeting by the winds. Then slowly, it began to inch forwards and downwards towards the landing spot. Miraculously, the ship’s computer landed the ship in one piece.

Meanwhile, the battle over the valley was raging on.