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valarltdThe little ship gasped and heaved as it plunged through the atmosphere of Algol 3. He fought to keep it mostly upright. The landing gear was a hopeless dream at this point. The trees rushed up to them and the forest canopy crackled and caught fire from the hull.
They landed hard. He checked the last functioning gauges that said the atmosphere could be breathed by earthers and popped the hatch. No sense checking back in the crew compartment. It had gone dead silent when the Space Exploration Ranger ship sent green and red lasers probing across the black depths of space, slicing through the fragile metal skin that kept them safe from the void.
He'd sealed off the cockpit before all his air could be lost, but the in-rushing oxygen of Algol 3, higher than what he'd been breathing for the last day, made his head swim.
“Air, water, shelter and defense, food,” he told himself, repeating the survival lessons he had learned as a child. He checked the charge on his blaster. That was fine, so he checked the emergency rations in his belt. Those were fine too. He could live in the ship and bleed water from the tanks. He could last a month or more on that and the emergency rations.
Fatigue overwhelmed him as the adrenaline left his system. His knees buckled and he sank back into the navigator's chair. He had the presence of mind to close the hatch before he decided to go exploring later, tomorrow morning.
He slept the sleep of the completely exhausted and never knew what came and went in the Algol night.
They landed hard. He checked the last functioning gauges that said the atmosphere could be breathed by earthers and popped the hatch. No sense checking back in the crew compartment. It had gone dead silent when the Space Exploration Ranger ship sent green and red lasers probing across the black depths of space, slicing through the fragile metal skin that kept them safe from the void.
He'd sealed off the cockpit before all his air could be lost, but the in-rushing oxygen of Algol 3, higher than what he'd been breathing for the last day, made his head swim.
“Air, water, shelter and defense, food,” he told himself, repeating the survival lessons he had learned as a child. He checked the charge on his blaster. That was fine, so he checked the emergency rations in his belt. Those were fine too. He could live in the ship and bleed water from the tanks. He could last a month or more on that and the emergency rations.
Fatigue overwhelmed him as the adrenaline left his system. His knees buckled and he sank back into the navigator's chair. He had the presence of mind to close the hatch before he decided to go exploring later, tomorrow morning.
He slept the sleep of the completely exhausted and never knew what came and went in the Algol night.
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no subject
Date: 2010-06-24 05:26 pm (UTC)Its name come from Arabic, Al Ghul, the demon. Interesting that all ancient cultures had negative names for it. In Hebrew it was Rosh ha Satan. The Greeks called it Gorgonia Prime. The Chinese called it Tseih She, Piled up corpses.
Oscar Wilde and Anita Bryant were born under it. 8)
no subject
Date: 2010-06-24 05:45 pm (UTC)Interesting history about the star though. Looking it up, its apparently a binary.