Homesick

Ian walked the corridor from his quarters, angling his shoulders to keep from hitting the doorframe as he entered the next module. He stood up and stretched in the gap between modules for a moment before entering the next compartment. The module directly forward from his housed Anderson’s quarters as well as Captain Buds.’ Forward from that was the pilot’s cone. He hesitated only briefly in front of Sally’s door before ringing the chime. He stepped back and resisted the urge to pace before the door slid open. Sally looked him up and down with mild curiosity. Her face was damp, her hair was wrapped in a towel, and she wore only a robe.

“Sorry to disturb you, Captain,” Ian said, politely averting his gaze. “I realize I’m early, but the matter has some urgency. Could we have a word?”

Sally nodded, stepping back from the door. “Come in.”

Ian stepped inside and Sally walked up the wall in search of clothing. “I’ll just be a minute,” she called back. “What’s up?”

Ian looked out the window at the planet below. “It concerns how we’re getting down there,” he said. “I’ve had the past week to work out problems with the flight plan and I think I may have a solution. The problem is, it violates a few protocols. I’ll need your okay.”

Sally walked back down the wall. She now wore the top to her internal uniform, but had also put on dark green pants and carried a pair of boots. “Protocols?” Sally repeated. “I guess I’d say they’re made to be broken, but it depends on why.”

Ian set his handheld down on her console. “May I?”

Sally nodded.

At Ian’s touch, her screen came to life. On it was a model of the planet and a rough illustration of the ship. “Before we can understand why we have to do this, let’s talk about what caused the problem in the first place.”

Sally waited, pulling on one of her boots.

“As you know, the shuttlepod is not designed to be aerodynamic in the strictest sense. It doesn’t really ‘fly’ so much as fall. It depends almost completely on rocket thrust. They’re set up kind of like an elevator, traveling in essentially a straight line.” On the screen, a line was drawn between the Kelthy and the planet. “For that reason, we pretty much have to be in geosynchronous orbit over our landing site.”

“Yes,” Sally agreed.

“As a result, much of the trip down has to do with slowing down and fine-tuning our descent. And that’s where most of the fuel is lost.” Ian tapped a button on his handheld and an image of the diamond-shaped shuttlepod appeared, making a slow descent to the planet. “Speed is the problem. The shuttlepod wants to fall and we have to slow it down to maintain control.”

“But don’t the chutes do that?”

“Absolutely,” Ian said, “but on a normal flight plan we don’t open them until we’ve already passed through much of the atmosphere. The main reason we don’t is because, once they open, the ship behaves less predictably. Without the chutes, the ship is a falling object that isn’t much affected by wind. Once we open the chutes, the margin for error begins to widen.”

“And you’re suggesting we open them earlier?”

Ian nodded. “Much earlier, as in right after we get through our initial atmospheric entry.” He tapped another button. Now the planet model grew patterns of moving clouds, swirling with indicated air currents.

“Instead of nullifying the effect of the wind, I’d like us to use it to our advantage. Rather than falling towards our landing site, I suggest we let the wind currents take us there, using thrusters only minimally.”

Sally looked at the screen with genuine wonder. “Could we do that?”

“I think so. You see, the chutes can be controlled to a limited degree. We can steer our descent by modifying drag. It’s not something we normally do very often, but the controls are there and it should work. I’m also recommending we lighten the ship and land a little harder.”

“Land harder?” Sally asked with concern.

“The wind currents will only take us so close. At some point we’re going to need to freefall the final distance and brake with the main engine. I know the tolerances of the struts. They should be able to absorb a-lot more impact than recommended. Same thing with the main motor and the rest of the ship. We land harder, we keep more fuel for the return trip. We also don’t need the struts. We can jettison them on the way up.”

Sally looked at his map. “Has this ever been done before? The chutes, I mean.”

Ian shook his head. “But that’s the other problem. We need to stop thinking of this planet like Earth. It isn’t. Because of the higher gravity, the atmospheric density is distributed very differently. Also, with no moon, the ocean currents are far calmer, and that’s reflected in the air. In our upper atmosphere, the stronger wind currents could rip the chutes to pieces. I don’t think that would be as much of a problem here. And the currents are much more predictable.”

“What about the landing?”

“It’s a risk,” he admitted. “Engineers write their specs for a reason, but they also tend to be notoriously conservative. We’ve played it by the book since we started here, but if we aren’t willing to step outside the margins we simply can’t guarantee going down there with two and coming back up with three. It just can’t be done!”

Sally nodded. “And if we wreck the ship?”

“The main engine’s the only thing I’m worried about, and it’s pretty rugged. In a pinch, we still have the other shuttlepod. I’m not saying it’s a perfect plan, but I think I can make it work. I’d also suggest we leave the hard suits behind. They each weigh a good seventy pounds. Soft suits should still protect us from airborne contaminants and they’re more maneuverable, too.”

“I agree.”

Ian took a deep breath, relieved to have her support. “To implement this, I’ll need your authorization to change our orbital position. I need to do it now to keep on schedule. I’ve worked out where we’ll need to be in order to catch that current I was telling you about.”

“Go ahead,” Sally said. “The computer will ask for my okay. I’ll give it.”

“Good.” Then Ian looked slightly uncomfortable.

“And?”

“Captain, I also strongly suggest you choose me to fly the ship down with you.”

“Already done.”

“I thought as much,” he admitted. “I’m sure Vlad’s a reasonably good pilot, but I couldn’t very well implement this plan remotely and I don’t tend to think he’d go along with it.”

“As long as we keep the schedule,” Sally added.

“We won’t even lose an hour,” he promised.

“Good, because it’s night on Earth right now, at least for mission control. If we wait too long it’s possible they might ask for a status report.”

“And scrub the rescue?”

Sally nodded. “To be honest, I’m amazed they let us put it on the table. I never told them exactly when we’d be doing it.”

Ian smiled broadly. “Protocols again?”

Sally chuckled. “Like you said, if we stick to the book, nothing would get done.”

Ian looked at his watch.

“Go on,” Sally said. “I’ll okay your flight plan from here. Then I’ll tell Vlad to clear out the hard suits while he’s prepping the ship.”

Ian nodded. But he paused at the door before exiting, looking back towards the planet. “It’ll be a hell of a ride.”

“But it won’t be our first,” Sally said with a determined smile. “And you’re the only one I’d trust to pull it off.”

Ian smiled. “Let’s hope we can make it count.” Then he gathered up his handheld, opened the door, and proceeded forward.