Blighted Star by Tom Parkinson Read Free Book Online Page B

realised that the rear A/Gs were gone, literally gone, vapourised by the
plasma rupture. He would have to wait until the craft rotated round again
before firing maximum thrust into the remaining two front and single central
main units. If he did this too soon  then he would merely reverse their
spin and they would stand no better chance. The rotation, which had seemed so
unbearably fast now seemed to be taking an agonisingly long time. The sky
inched out of the top of the screen and the lake crept up from the bottom,
shadows and beams of light moved crazily round the cabin, and a screaming roar
came and went as the torn rear of the craft swung forward into the airstream,
then rotated out of it again. They were about a hundred and fifty metres up and
going in at an angle of forty degrees at four hundred kilometres per hour. He
gauged his moment, then hit full emergency boost on the main central A/G, a
second later bringing in the front units as well.
    The
shuttle tried valiantly to comply, as if aware of the peril it was in. The dive
angle lessened through thirty to twenty degrees. The speed came right down to
two hundred and sixty km/h. When the front A/Gs came on the nose sprang right
back as if the craft were rearing away from the danger. Ruined tail first, she
struck the still water, and with a shriek of ripping metal panels, bounced back
into the sky by thirty metres.
    In
the cockpit Grad felt as if every muscle in his body had been pulled, and every
bone end had been bashed against every other. It took him a second to realise
that he should really feel very grateful to be in all this pain, for it meant
that he was still alive. The next thing he noticed was that the lake was once
again coming up to meet them and that the nose of the craft was way too low.
The windscreen had at last given up the struggle and had shattered in the
impact, letting in a gale of wind which was hard to keep his eyes open against.
He fired the front units again and brought the shuttle upright ready for the
next impact.
    Once
again they struck and bounced, and again the craft shrieked as if in agony. The
elasticity of the water threw them back into the sky, shedding large areas of
the airframe as they ascended. In the cockpit Grad was suddenly in the open air
as the roof, shaken loose by the tremendous jolts, bulged in the blast of air
from the broken windscreen and was peeled back and then off.
    They
fell again and slammed into the lake, this time sliding across the surface like
a hydrofoil. Grad’s door dangled in their wake and then was plucked off by the
water. Grad had a sudden vision of himself being left with only his chair,
sinking into the lake at the head of a trail of broken parts. Glancing up from
the now useless panel he watched the approach of the shoreline. They grounded
in the shallows and the wrecked shuttle slid to a halt and settled gently into
the mud. The lights on the control panel went out from right to left as if a
large hand was wiping them away. The beeping died with a strangled note.
    Grad
sat for a moment blinking in the sunlight then woke up and briskly undid his
straps. he reached for the handle of his door, then remembered and stepped out
through the side and lowered his boot into the cool water. The bottom had an
ankle deep layer of oozing  mud over a firm layer of gravel. He
sloshed  round to Jim’s side and grasped the handle of the passenger door.
He pulled open the door and it broke away in his hand. He let it fall into the
water and reached into the wrecked cockpit. He put a hand on Jim’s neck and was
reassured to find a strong pulse. He gently drew Chan out from the footwell and
collected him in his arms. He waded to the shore and laid the unconscious man
on the sand of a narrow beach. Feeling the strain in every limb, he lowered
himself down into a sitting position and began the long wait.
     
     
     

Chapter 5
     
     
    Johan
got up in the pre-dawn paleness. In many ways this was his favourite time