Hadrian's Colony: Chapter Three, Part One

 Notes: Let's go down, folks! But not in the fun way, sorry ;)

Title: Hadrian's Colony, Chapter Three, Part One

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Chapter Three, Part One

 

Naturally, the day they arrived would be the day that the storms concentrated over the area where the colony had been. The electric interference was so intense that Catie could barely get a topographical read of the surface of the planet, even after they sent out tiny satellites to take up positions and help bounce the signals around.

“Sorry, Daddeee, sorry Kieron,” she said dejectedly as they looked over the information she was able to glean from the readings. Garbled signs of plant and animal life, none clear enough to parse out into individuals—the plant life wasn’t that much of a concern, but the concentration of animal life near the colony headquarters made Kieron think that a pack of reptilians had made it into a new home cavern for themselves.

“It’s fine,” Kieron told her, giving her nearest wall a pat. “We were planning on starting at the creche anyway. A few more days and the storms will pass enough for us to take another look. Lizzie, do you mind keeping up with the satellite feeds while we’re down on the planet?”

“I cannn do it!” Catie insisted.

“But we’re going to want you to focus on the immediate surroundings when we’re down there,” Elanus said soothingly. “There’s no need to overstretch your sensors when Lizzie can tap into the satellite feeds and handle those just fine. Right, honey?”

“Yes, Elanus,” Lizzie said, sounding only a little bit smug. Eh, it was what she deserved after being the one who got left behind in all this. “I can do that for you.”

“Good girl.”

“I can do it,” Catie muttered.

Kieron gave her another pat. “You’re going to have plenty to do,” he promised. “For now, let’s focus on the creche. How detailed can you get with the terrain around it?”

“Not verrry,” she apologized. “I found the plateau, and I can seeeeee the rock formation you mentioned that maaakes up the back of the building, but the rest of the ground isn’t responding well to my pinnng.”

“Do you think you can land safely?” If she couldn’t, there was no point in even contemplating going down there until the weather cleared. Kieron wasn’t about to risk Catie’s safety.

“I can,” she assured him. “My target landing zone is sufficient to suppport me. I’m petite.”

“What about power reservoirs in case we have to make an emergency exit back up here?” Elanus asked.

“Power is at ninety-sevennn percent, Daddeee.”

That was pretty good, considering how consistently they’d been pushing her engine. Kieron stared at the image on Catie’s vidscreen of the surface. He could just make out the edges of the creche, brief flickers of straight lines in the otherwise wavering, watery live feed.

“What do you think?” Elanus asked him quietly.

“It’s up to you,” Kieron replied, rubbing his hands together briskly to keep himself from picking at the edges of his clothes. “You know her flight capabilities better than I do. If you and she think she can do it, I believe you. Her safety comes first, though.”

“Mmhmm.” Elanus glanced down at Kieron’s busy fingers, and Kieron immediately stopped moving. He was giving himself away.

Sure, fine, he wanted to get down to the surface as soon as possible. Maybe, yes, he would be a giant ball of impatience and internalized angst up here while they waited. Okay, fair enough, he was more than a little tired of being in such close quarters for over three standard weeks and would love the chance to stretch his legs and lift his arms over his head without touching the roof, but. Elanus had a foot and a half of height on him, and he wasn’t complaining about the tight conditions.

Because he’s not a whiny little bitch like you.

Elanus turned abruptly toward the control panel. “We’ll go down,” he said. “But carefully. Watch out for the ice in the high atmosphere, and route all the extra power you can to your buffering system, okay?”

“Yes, Daddee.” Catie’s voice sounded a bit long-suffering.

“None of that,” he said in a sharp tone. “I know you’ve done all the sims, but this planet isn’t like anywhere you’ve ever been before. There’s no backup for us if we get into trouble, not for weeks, and that puts the burden of everyone’s care primarily on you, baby. It’s a big deal and I need you to treat it like one, all right?”

“Okay,” she said, sounding more subdued this time around.

“Okay. Initiate landing procedures and find the best angle for entrance.”

Catie began to run her program, and as Kieron got into the copilot’s chair and strapped in he murmured, “You were a little hard on her.”

“I have to be,” Elanus replied. “For her safety and for ours. This is a dangerous situation for everyone, and we need to be on guard.”

Kieron clenched his jaw. I should never have made you come here. This isn’t safe. This whole fucking planet is the worst. He didn’t say anything, though—Elanus probably already knew what he was thinking, the fucker, and the last thing he wanted was to distract Catie while she plotted their course.

Elanus reached over and squeezed his shoulder anyway. “It’s all right,” he said with a little smile that looked way too attractive on him. “This is a good challenge for her. She’s run hundreds of thousands of simulations on this kind of thing; I’m sure she can pull it off.”

Kieron nodded tightly, and a second later they began their descent into the planet’s atmosphere. He was surprised when they didn’t get the normal flaming flare he was used to around their ship. “If the atmosphere is so cold, how is it that the planet isn’t one big ball of ice?”

“The marvels of nature,” Elanus said dryly. “Or in this case, consistent volcanic activity that results in a heated layer between this higher level and the surface. It’s part of what makes the storms so dramatic, I think—ice accumulates in the upper atmosphere until it’s too heavy, then it falls, but it’s got to make it through the tumultuous mid-layer before it gets to the ground. You’ll feel the effects of that in—”

“Prepare for turrrrbulence,” Catie interjected, and a moment later—

Well. If Kieron hadn’t been strapped in, he would have flown right into the roof. As it was, everything in the cabin banged and shifted as Catie was thrown into a barrel roll.

“Ease up on the throttle,” Elanus shouted. “Catie, you’ve got to slow down!”

“I’m tryyyying!”

“Reverse thrusters!”

“Already fiiiiring, stabilization in three, two—”

A second later Catie burst through the mid layer and into a driving rainstorm. The wind was fierce, but it was nothing like as overwhelming as what they’d just come through. It was dark beyond the vidscreen, but Catie’s sensors appeared to be operating better than ever. She projected an image of the approaching ground up for them to look at.

“Time to landing site one minute and thirty-two seccconds,” she said briskly. “Landing zone is withiiiin two meters of the buildinnng. Exterior temperature is twenty-one degrees Celsius, visibility is very poooooor, we are currently in the third hour of the eleven hourrrr day.”

“Very good,” Elanus said, relaxing in his seat a bit. “Set down wherever is best for you. Kieron and I will figure it out from there.”

“Yes, Daddeee.”

“Good job,” Kieron said with only a slight creak in his voice.

“Thank youuuu!”

Well. At least one of them was happy. He took a deep breath. Don’t make this trip for nothing.

He’d try. It was all he could do, after this.