Adventures of the Manic Raven

TEASER

A DOOMED RESCUE ATTEMPT

The red light in the airlock flashed and buzzed. The air in the chamber swept out of the opening. It was like a furious wind. I felt my flight suit  flapping madly against my legs.

"All clear! Go! Go! Go!"

The troops sprinted out onto the aft pad of the freighter Krakatoa towards the open back hatch of the Manic Raven. I followed behind them. Despite the use of the pad heaters, the windless, relentless chill of space gripped me and I stopped to zip up my flight jacket. I exhaled a cold cloud of breath that quickly dissipated.

Space.

I gazed up into forever. The light from the pad cast a hazy glow that was quickly defeated by the ink darkness. I detoured toward the edge of the pad. Beyond the lower decks of the ship (that were still another forty feet down) I could see the red ground below. It looked as though I could take one step off the side and leap all the way to Mars, even though in reality it would be a million miles.

"Take pictures another time!" the shout from behind me brought me back to my senses. “We don’t have time.”

Walking toward the back hatch, the light on my chronograph illuminated to indicate a three-hour countdown. That was approximately how much time the geologists had before their protective atmosfield ran out of air. That was more than enough  time to circle Mars, find their landing beacon,  commit to entry, and pick them up.

More than enough time as long as there weren’t any complications.

I climbed into the back hatch. This was my mission. My heart pounded in my chest as I slid into the pilot’s seat next to Centric. He was clipping himself in. I grabbed my harness and did the same. As the boosters warmed up, Centric placed his flight helmet on and latched it on. Oh yeah, good idea.

The xitris drive engines whined loudly and blew wind across the pad.  The Martian sphere glowed over the side of the Krakatoa, creating a dusky ambiance. 

"RVN oh-eight, you are cleared for lift off. Plot course; lift, 45 degrees by fade, 225 degrees.  Margin set at 2. Please read." The tower read off. I adjusted the dial and hit the short wave comm. 

"This is Manic Raven. Lift, 45 degree. Fade 225 degrees. Margin set at 2."

"Roger, RVN oh-eight. Magnetic field disengaged. You are cleared to make the call."

The deck hand in the red shirt waved his arms with direction.

As the Raven lifted away,  I noticed the ship was drifting towards the magnetic crane.  The metal ties loomed dangerously close.  I let off the oscillator and cranked the proto-pedal.

The deckhand furious ly began to waved his arms out.

The back end of the Manic Raven knocked against the crane. However, I managed to gun the X-drive and we zoomed away- -extremely far off the mark that I had confirmed to the tower.

The deckhand  scurried away from the crane and then cast us an obscene gesture.

“Oops,” observed my copilot. “That’s gonna’ leave a mark.”

On the way to Mars, which really wasn’t too far off, I had the ship cruising in the Sky quest mode.  The ship began to shake as it went through Mars’ outermost magnetosphere.  The smallest detail that I had neglected to tell Centric and the captain was that I had never flown entry into a planet. I’ve landed shuttles onto the Moon, but just not Mars. I was mostly sure that it was a given. After all, out of the whole fleet, there had been only a handful of pilots who had penetrated the Martian atmosphere.

It isn’t that it’s a big deal; gravity is lower than Earth’s. However, the rugged landscape and lack of runways (at least at this point) hinder the ability to land. That, factored in with periodic gravity drifts and heavy sand storms makes each mission to Mars an experience.

We drifted in the upper-most reaches of the Martian atmosphere. The planet was so close to us that its expanse did not fit my gaze. The horizon stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction. The red terrain produced a glow at the edge of the horizon line, which floated above the planet like an aura.

We began the descent. The engines whined as I pointed the ship down. The Manic Raven buckled.