Rogue Command (The Kalahari Series) by A J Marshall Read Free Book Online Page A

system says that we can’t get back to a sixty-two per cent elliopheric. I’ve run the programme three times and it’s more accurate than Hera ’s – there’s no doubt. It’s the temperature gradient – all the way to the surface – it’s just too damn high. There’s no way around it; you’ll have to descend for our return or we are on a one-way mission!”
    “What orbit is the on-board system giving, Mike? The maximum that you can achieve, including a manoeuvre allowance?” responded Duval. He had selected ‘open bridge’ on the audio control.
    “You’re not going to like it . . . forty-eight per cent, sir.”
    “Shit!” Duval looked across at Alex.
    Alex shook his head. “That’s a no go!” he said. He turned back to his console and ran some figures.
    “I’m waiting Alex!”
    “Okay, okay, it’s coming.” There was an air of apprehension on the bridge. “I’ve got it.” Alex swivelled in his high-backed seat. “I can do seventeen minutes at forty-eight per cent!” he exclaimed. “That includes an allowance for all the fuel we are saving here, plus all of our reserves. Things are going to get mighty hot out there though, Commander. We are going to take one hell of a radiation hit. Seventeen minutes . . . that’s it; otherwise it’s a one-way mission for all of us.” There was no compromise in his tone.
    Duval rubbed the brow of his nose. This was a very difficult decision he had to make. He considered the implications for several seconds.
    “It’s your call, Commander. We are ready to launch. Just say the word.” Matheson’s voice cut through the atmosphere on the bridge like a hot knife through butter.
    “How much time do you need on the surface, Mike?” Duval barked. “Now that you have the surface contours mapped.”
    “Planned is six hours, but I’m aiming to do it in four – provided I can put the Lander down close to the deposit. Flight time is around thirty minutes, twenty-one for the return leg, and we need an extra allowance for docking, just in case there’s a problem coordinating concentricity. I intend to land, collect a bucketful of those damn crystals and hightail it – none of the geology experiments. I think we can do it . . .”
    “Okay . . . we go! Dispatch! Start the countdown!”

    “Thirty per cent elliopheric, Hera , all systems green . . .”
    The bridge remained silent.
    “Twenty per cent elliopheric. Approaching the transition. Final coordinates locked in. Approach path gradient computed. Systems green . . . We are go, Hera .” Drake’s voice sounded confident.
    Duval leaned over his display screen and then he looked sideways at Alex. “Looks good, Commander,” Alex said, reassuringly. Duval nodded, a smile jabbing his lips.
    “Transition complete, passing eighty thousand feet, seventy thousand, sixty thousand . . . Skin temperature stable – the Osprey is looking good. We are go, Hera !”
    Duval began tapping his finger on the console. Carol Boardman held her breadth. Alex swivelled around in his seat as he scanned his computer monitors.
    “Ten thousand feet, arresting rate of descent, nine thousand, eight, seven . . . we have a visual contact . . . we have a visual with the landing site, Hera . Four thousand feet, passing committal altitude – green, green for go, Hera .”
    “Come on, come on,” whispered Duval. He knew well enough that this was the critical phase.
    “Eight hundred feet. Combined retro thrust sixty-five per cent and increasing. Approach looks good, Hera .”
    “Commander, I’ve got a contact on radar, astern at one thousand miles . . . It’s coming up fast?”
    Duval looked up. “That’s impossible.”
    “Well it’s—”
    “Not now, Rose! You must be mistaken.”
    “I’ve double checked, Commander. There’s no mistake, there’s something out there!”
    “ Not now , Rose!” Duval looked back at his screen, shaking his head.
    “Four hundred feet . . . three