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to your aunt's cherry we get an electrical fire somewhere in the
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relevant circuitry.?
Unaware of the steady cursing taking place back in engineering, the five
on the bridge went about the business of trying to set the tug down
intact and near to the signal source.
?Approaching point of origin.?Lambert studied a gauge. ?Closing at
twenty-five kilometers. Twenty. Ten, five...?
?Slowing and turning.?Dallas leaned over on the manual helm.?
?Correct course three degrees, four minutes right.?He complied with the
directions. ?That's got it. Five kilometers to center of search circle
and steady.?
38
?Tightening now.?Dallas fingered the helm once more.
?Three Idioms. Two.?Lambert sounded just a mite excited, though whether
from the danger or the nearness of the signal source Dallas couldn't
tell. ?We're practically circling above it now.?
?Nice work, Lambert. Ripley, what's the terrain like? Find us a landing
spot.?
'Working, sir.? She tried several panels, her expression of disgust
growing deeper as unacceptable readings came back. Dallas continued to
make sure the ship held its target in the center of its circling
flightpath while Ripley fought to make sense of the unseen surface.
?Visual line of sight impossible.?
?We can see that,?Kane mumbled. ?Or rather, can't see it.?The rare half
glimpses the instruments had given him of the ground hadn't put him in a
pleasant frame of mind. The occasional readings had hinted at extensive
desolation, a hostile, barren desert of a world.
?Radar gives me noise.?Ripley wished electronics could react to
imprecations as readily as people. ?Sonar gives me noise. Infrared,
noise. Hang on, I'm going to try ultraviolet. Spectrum's high enough not
to interfere.? A moment, followed by the appearance on a crucial readout
of some gratifying lines at last, followed in turn by brightly lit words
and a computer sketch.
?That did it.?
?And a place to land on it??
Ripley looked fully relaxed now. ?As near as I can tell, we can set down
anywhere you like. Readings say it's flat below us. Totally flat.?
Dallas' thoughts turned to visions of smooth
39
lava, of a cool but deceptively thin crust barely concealing molten
destruction. ?Yeah, but flat what? Water, pahoehoe, sand? Bounce
something off, Kane. Get us a determination. I'll take her down low
enough so that we lose most of this interference. If it's flat, I can
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get us close without too much trouble.?
Kane flipped switches. ?Monitoring. Analytics activated. Still getting
noise.?
Carefully, Dallas eased the tug toward the surface.
?Still noisy, but starting to clear.?
Again, Dallas lost altitude. Lambert watched gauges. They were more than
high enough for safe clearance, but at the speed they were traveling
that could change rapidly if anything went wrong with the ship's
engines, or if an other-worldly downdraft should materialize. Nor could
they cut their speed further. In this wind, that would mean a critical
loss of control.
?Clearing, clearing ... that's got it!?He studied readouts and contour
lines provided by the ship's imaging scanner. ?It was molten once, but
not anymore. Not for a long time, according to the analytics. It's
mostly basalt, some rhyolite, with occasional lava overlays.
Everything's cool and solid now. No sign of tectonic activity.?He
utilized other instruments to probe deeper into the secrets of the tiny
world's skin.
?No faults of consequence below us or in the immediate vicinity. Should
be a nice place to set down.?
Dallas thought briefly. ?You're positive about the surface composition??
?It's too old to be anything else.?The executive
officer sounded a touch peeved. ?I know enough
40 to check age data along with composition. Think I'd take any chances
putting us down inside a volcano??
?All right, all right. Sorry. Just checking. I haven't done a landing
without charts and beacon since school training. I'm a bit nervous.?
?Ain't we all??admitted Lambert readily.
?If we're set then??No one objected. ?Let's take her down. I'm going to
spiral in as best I can in this wind, try to get us as close as
possible. But you keep a tight signal watch on, Lambert. I don't want us
coming down on top of that calling ship. Warn me for distance if we get [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]