Read Online Castaway Planet by Eric Flint, Ryk E Spoor - Free Book Online Page B

quiet. They didn’t need to see her worry. And she couldn’t do this with Hitomi screaming or worrying in her ear.
    Gingerly she tested the controls as she began the final approach. They were exceedingly responsive—almost too much so. She nearly spun LS-5 out before getting a feel for the ship’s performance. Fortunately, Hitomi took it as a fun stunt rather than thinking something was wrong.
    Then the two island key points went yellow again. “What the—?”
    “What is it, Sakura?” asked Caroline.
    “Lost lock on two of the guide points! That makes no sense. It’s just a geometric relationship.” She swallowed, forcing the acidic bile that was trying to rise from her stomach back where it belonged. “No . . . no problem. We’re close now, I can tie the display to the radar and focus on where we’re going.” A glide path calculated to the nominal surface appeared, guiding her like a pathway. It was a lot better than nothing, telling her the right ratio and where she needed to think about changing modes to land.
    Suddenly the ship bobbled, jolted; there was a rattle from the forward viewport. Storm . . . entering the fringes. That was sleet or something. Radar showed it shouldn’t be too bad, though it was larger than she’d thought; it would be raining for a while.
    In visible light, it was dark gray outside, and at this altitude mostly fog and rain; hints of terrain, maybe trees or something, began to appear as they descended. If she’d been relying on eyesight she would have panicked. But LS-5 wasn’t limited to visible light; in infrared and radar, the clouds and rain were practically gone. Wind might still push on the craft, try to distract her, but it couldn’t blind her, and that was the important thing.
    LS-5 bucked slightly, but she was getting a real feel for the controls, and she saw that she was staying pretty close to the middle of the glide path. Radar showed they were approaching the target area, clearing the higher ground in their path, dropping—
    Just about there. She could see the lagoon up ahead. Final mode change time, to VTOL. Changeover initiated . . .
    Suddenly a gust of wind struck LS-5 , sent the shuttle swaying sideways through the air, just as the mode conversion began. The jolt made her pull a little harder than she intended, but the shuttle’s dynamics had already changed. Desperately, Sakura shoved the stick back and sideways, trying to compensate, even as she heard the sergeant bellowing not fast, not fast, don’t overcompensate!
    But it was too late now, too late by far. Still moving at well over two hundred kilometers per hour, LS-5 heeled over, slammed diagonally on its tail into the alien soil of Lincoln, performed a spectacular somersault (had anyone been outside to see it), smashed back down and skidded uncontrollably, the cabin inside now filled with horrified screams and curses and cries of pain. Careening onward through the storm, LS-5 carved a trail of destruction straight down to the shore of a storm-lashed lagoon, where it dropped over a sharp incline into the water, flipped, and came to rest, tail-first, with a thunderous crash .
    Movement ceased, and the storm roared its triumph.

Chapter 8
    Despite the sledgehammer impacts, the cabin of LS-5 remained cheerfully, invariably lit as the world spun, and now, as the ship quivered to stillness, they stayed on, as though nothing had happened.
    Laura could see that Sakura, at least, was unharmed; her seat had locked properly and the girl’s one arm was visible, white-knuckled with tension. Hitomi’s sobs of terror, though heartrending to hear, were paradoxically comforting; those were cries of a frightened little girl, not one badly injured.
    The local net was readjusting, and Laura could access the biosignals. “Is everyone all right?”
    “I seem uninjured, love,” answered Akira.
    “I’m fine, Mom.” That was Caroline, the shakiness in her voice belying the casual words.
    “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I