PYRA AND THE TEKTITES

by Rebecca Melanie Sunquist

Part 15: Shipwrecked

...in the previous episode, Pyra and Flanagan and Doctor Mairead O'Rourke of the Historical Institute have been hijacked by Taggart and forced to alter course for the Leeward Shepherd Moons of Jupiter. Pyra has tricked Taggart, and O'Rourke renders him unconscious. But Flanagan has been injured, and there is no one to pilot the Ventussa, which is now approaching the Shepherd Moons.

After Pyra and O'Rourke brought a pad from the stateroom and laid it out on the deck aft of the bridge, they gently placed Flanagan on it. He was semi-conscious, and mumbling incoherently. Against the starboard bulkhead sat Taggart, bound and grousing. From time to time he muttered vague threats about forcing them into an airlock and spacing them without outsuits.

"Pay no attention to what he says, Pyra," said O'Rourke, as they sat down at the bridge. She ran her fingers over the controls, rather as if she were about to learn how to type. "I think I can maneuver enough to avoid collisions...but landing? I just don't know..."

"We have to find help for Flanagan," cried Pyra. She glanced back over her shoulder. He was still groggy, and trying to sit up. But the bleeding from his head wound had stopped. Pyra reached for the commo unit. "We can commo someone. We should---"

"No!" snapped O'Rourke. "The only people out here are pirates."

Beside them Taggart laughed like a ghost.

Suddenly the Ventussa lurched to starboard, and Pyra yelped. Taggart sprawled forward onto the deck, cursing.

"I guess I'd better not do that again," said O'Rourke.

In the Videx an asteroid loomed larger. The directional rangefinder indicated that it was only a thousand kilometers away. Pyra pointed. "Whatever you did, now we're headed straight for it."

O'Rourke nodded. "So if I do it again---"

"Gentler touch," Flanagan whispered hoarsely, behind them. He gained his feet, then fell back to the pad with a groan. "It only takes a nudge, O'Rourke," he added.

O'Rourke's hands poised uncertainly over the joystick.

"You have to do something, Doctor," said Pyra.

"I---I can't. I don't know what to do. I've never done this before."

Pyra unstrapped herself. "Move over," she said firmly. "I'll do it."

"But you're just a---"

Pyra pointed again. The asteroid was now only 500 kilometers away. "Hurry, Doctor. I can do this." I think, she added silently to herself.

After trading places with O'Rourke, Pyra tried to recall what she had seen Flanagan do as he piloted the craft. Under her hands she found the port and starboard maneuvering thrusters and the reverse thruster that enabled the Ventussa to match speeds with a moving object, or to hover over a position and descend gradually. A gentle touch, Flanagan had said. Pyra nudged the joystick for the port thrusters and felt the craft shift direction. Now the asteroid no longer loomed in front of them.

But another asteroid had taken its place. Larger...and closer.

"Oh, razza frackin!" cried Pyra. Quickly she scanned the controls. What would Flanagan do?

Well, he wouldn't panic, she thought.

Right, then.

"We need to change direction of travel," she muttered, scanning the console for help. Finally she spotted the keypad that controlled the directional and attitudinal thrusters. Flanagan had used these to land on Europa. But how, how?

Again Pyra checked the directional rangefinder. The asteroid was now 197 kilometers away. She blinked. Could that be right? If so, the Ventussa was approaching much too fast. How fast?

Oh, why didn't I pay attention in math class?

The cruiser's chronometer, she remembered, and found it on the console. Quickly she counted seconds on the chronometer and kilometers on the rangefinder. "Let's see...one point three kilometers in fifteen seconds is...argh!"

"We have to slow down," said O'Rourke.

Pyra glanced at her. She was staring at the asteroid in the Videx, her face white and growing whiter. And she had spoken with her jaws clenched, as if she were trying not to scream.

Reverse thrusters, thought Pyra. The controls for these were located beside a small keypad for entering the desired reverse thrust. The numbers were not related to the speed of the Ventussa.

"Pyra?" gritted O'Rourke. "Do something."

Pyra keyed ten, because that sounded about right, and hit ENTER. Immediately she and O'Rourke were thrown forward as the Ventussa decelerated, but they were strapped into the captain's chairs. Taggart and Flanagan were not so fortunate. The pirate slammed into the forward bulkhead, knocking his metal nose completely off. It skittered along the deck with a series of metallic rings and finally came to rest under Pyra's feet. Flanagan slid forward and struck the back of O'Rourke's chair. He gave a little cry of pain, and fell unconscious.

"Flanagan!" screamed Pyra.

"I think he'll be okay," O'Rourke said shakily. "Watch where you're going, Pyra."

"Oh, I wish I knew math."

A smile flickered across O'Rourke's face, making her freckles dance. "Oh, I wish I had included Flight School in my curriculum."

"We're slowing," announced Pyra. "That was zero point nine kilometers in ten seconds. Wait...now it's zero point six in ten seconds."

"Then you'd better disable the thrusters."

"How?"

"I don't know," answered O'Rourke.

Suddenly Pyra became excited. "Oh, wait wait wait! I know this one. I know it. Um..." Her fingers flicked rapidly over the keypad, and she entered three zeroes. "There!"

The reverse thrusters cut out. They were floating in space toward the asteroid. Pyra felt a brief elation at having done something right. But the moment passed when her foot nudged something large on the deck under the console. Flanagan had come to rest there. And he was bleeding again.

O'Rourke climbed out of her chair. "I'll get him," she said. "You mind the con."

Pyra whirled on her, wide-eyed. "Do what?"

Gently O'Rourke tugged Flanagan along the deck toward the aft bulkhead, where she wrapped the pad around him and began securing the pad in place with lengths of nylon. "It means you have control of the craft, Pyra. You have the con. You're in charge now. You're the captain. You make decisions. Okay? Understand?"

"But I'm just a---"

"There is no one else," O'Rourke said firmly. "Besides, that was my argument, that you were just a girl. Remember? And you rejected it. You can't have it both ways, Pyra. So now you have to do it, or it will not get done. Understand?"

"But...what should I---?"

"Since I seem to be your First Officer, I'd advise trying to downdock somehow on that asteroid until we can sort out the fix we're in."

Pyra returned her eyes to the Videx, and to the gigantic rough boulder awaiting their arrival. "Yes," she mumbled. "Yes, of course. Let's see...we don't want to crash, so... Speed?" She studied the chronometer and rangefinder again. The Ventussa was now traveling at just under zero point three kilometers in ten seconds. That meant---

"Doctor O'Rourke, hold on. We have to slow way down. We're still traveling at...just a moment."

And now the math seemed so clear to Pyra. They were traveling at not quite 300 kilometers an hour. The results of a collision with the asteroid at such a speed were also clear to her. She keyed five into the reverse thrusters and hit ENTER. Once again the Ventussa lurched, slowing, and Taggart rolled forward across the deck to collide with the captain's chair O'Rourke had abandoned. Ignoring him now, Pyra studied the crimson digits on the console as they changed, slower and slower. Zero point one per ten seconds. Zero point zero eight. How much did they need? How much impact could the cruiser absorb and still survive? Zero point zero six.

"Doctor O'Rourke, what about outsuits?" she cried. "What if we suffer a hull breach? What if I can't slow us enough?"

Flanagan moaned, and his head lolled. "Whererwe?" he asked.

Zero point zero four.

"Is Flanagan okay?" called Pyra. As she whirled in the captain's chair her foot struck Taggart's metal nose and launched it across the deck of the Ventussa to strike the bulkhead near Taggart. It caromed off this and began to tumble down the gangway toward the galley...bing clink bing bang tink.

"I'll take care of Flanagan," snapped O'Rourke. "You see to the ship."

The asteroid looked enormous now. It complete filled the Videx screen. It reminded Pyra of a potato with chicken pox. Much of its dirty rust-brown surface was marred by craters and other scars, and Pyra did not find even one soft-looking spot on which to downdock.

A crater, then. The bottoms of them looked smooth enough at this distance.

The Ventussa continued to decelerate. Zero point zero two. Zero point zero one five. That sounded slow to Pyra, and she disabled the reverse thrusters. Zero point zero one three kilometers every ten seconds.

How fast was that?

Again the math was clear to Pyra. At that speed, they would strike the asteroid about like jumping off a garage roof in Standard gravity. But could the Ventussa tolerate even that much impact?

"Alignment," muttered Pyra. They were descending toward a crater, but would strike the wall of it. She had to maneuver the cruiser to port. How did Flanagan...?

The joystick...right. But gently, she warned herself, having already seen the consequences of an abrupt change of speed. Lightly she grasped the stick and tilted it just to port. The Ventussa trembled, and Pyra saw that now they would land on the side of the crater...but still on the wall.

To starboard, then.

And back to port.

And again.

Finally Pyra threw her hands up in frustration. "Razza frackin! I can't get this right."

"Close your eyes and take a deep breath," called O'Rourke. "Then try again."

Pyra growled to herself, then nodded. Slowly she opened her eyes, and nudged the ship back to port once more. A huge jagged wall appeared in the Videx: the top of the crater wall! They had just missed it!

The rangefinder indicated a descenyt of 150 meters more. Pyra called out the countdown. At six the bow of the Ventussa unexpectedly struck the crater wall. The impact jarred Pyra, who cried out. Behind her came O'Rourke's sharp intake of breath. If the impact ruptured the hull---

Slowly the stern settled onto the slope of the crater wall, and the cruiser slid down it a few meters before coming to rest. On the console a dial with orange digits changed numbers until finally settling on one. They had landed at a pitch of seventeen degrees.

Behind her Flanagan sighed. "Not bad, Skinny. Not bad at all."

And Taggart sneered, "Welcome to Pirate's Cay."

Don’t Miss PYRA AND THE TEKTITES, PART 16: 'Pirate's Cay', appearing on this site on 15 September 2003.

PYRA AND THE TEKTITES appears EXCLUSIVELY in KISSES FOR KIDS courtesy of prize-winning writer Rebecca Melanie Sunquist.