Survivors

 

 

Alex went over the landing checklist with Robert Charles.  He watched the fuel gauge slowly drop.  Fuel was leaking out into space and they had no way to stop it. He knew he had only one chance to get the landing right.  Alex went through the list of what they both would have to do, what each step of the landing would be.  He peered down at the planet.  He had managed to get the shuttle into an orbit, but he knew it wasn't a good one. It would deteriorate in a day or so. But, at least they weren't drifting around or falling toward the planet.  By being in orbit he could pick his spot to enter the atmosphere.

 

The desert planet had no water that he could see. Yet, he could see what looked like ice caps at the poles, just like Mars had.  He could see various mountain ranges he would have to avoid. Scooter and Brandon were doing their best to find what looked like a flat area of desert, but he knew the atmosphere would blur the details of what was on the ground.

 

He thought over the steps of the landing in his mind. He would pick out his entry point and his landing place.  When they were ready, the wings that were tucked under the fuselage would be unfolded so the "Moonduster" could fly in the atmosphere. They couldn't fly very far, and once they landed there was no taking off again, even if they had enough fuel. If they hit the atmosphere at the proper angle they would fly down to the surface. If the angle was too steep, they would burn up before he could pull them out. If the angle was too shallow, they would bounce back out, hopefully not too fast or it would overstress the shuttle’s fuselage.

 

If the entry went right, then they would quickly find their flat landing place. Alex would lower the landing runners, reverse thrust the rockets, and lower the "Moonduster" using the landing retrorockets under the hull, placing the landing runners softly on the ground.

 

Sounds real simple, Alex thought.  I did it on the simulator; I can do it here. But he knew from his days learning to fly the jet the band owned that simulators and reality were not the same.

 

They started the countdown to the landing.  Alex flicked some switches. They were thirty seconds from starting the rockets.  Robert Charles intoned the countdown.  Both boys were sweating and nervous.  The rest of the boys were strapped into their seats in the cabin. All loose items had been secured. Every boy was tense and afraid.  They understood the situation; they knew they had only one chance.

 

The countdown was down to 15 seconds.  Then 10.  Alex had his hand on the control panel ready to start the rocket engines.  He pushed a fuel button. Five seconds.  Alex's finger was over the start button.  Robert Charles got to zero and braced for the start.  Nothing happened.  Alex's finger was still poised over the button—it hadn't moved.

 

Robert Charles glared at him.  "Did you chicken out, Mr. Pilot?  Now we have to start the sequence all over again.  If you're up to it.  Do you want me to fly, big boy?"

 

Alex said nothing as he stared at the instrument panel.

 

"After all your talk, you're just a wuss, Alex.  I'm taking this over and...."

 

"Shut up, RC!  I'm thinking."

 

"That's something new."

 

"Damn it, I said shut up!!"

 

The cockpit was quiet except for the hum of the HVAC and the instruments with an occasional beep sounding.  Alex pushed the intercom button.  "Jordan, can you come here?"

 

Jordan left his seat and entered the cockpit.

 

"Jordan, what do you know about heat shields?" Alex asked.

 

Jordan stood there thinking.  Oh great, Alex thought.  Now I'm sitting here needing something from the two guys I hate on this ship.

 

"What do you need to know?"

 

"Can we enter the atmosphere with broken heat shields?"

 

"I don't know.  I heard you could if there were only a few broken tiles on it, as long as the hull was smooth."

 

Alex looked at him.  “Explain that please."

 

"Well, if the hull has a tear in it with no heat shield covering it, then the hull could overheat and burn up the ship."

 

"Shit.  We got a meteor hit. We know it had to break something because it put a hole in a fuel line.  Who knows what else it did?  We can't land this until we know."

 

"Look at the fuel," Robert Charles warned.  "It's still leaking.  We have no choice but to go."

 

"Punch in fuel leaks into the computer.  Let's see what it says.  We should have done this before, but we were in too big of a hurry."

 

Robert Charles typed in "feulleaks."

 

"Nothing there."

 

"Oh bullshit.  Let me look."  He looked at Robert Charles's monitor.  "Try spelling it right.  Fuck, get out of here until I need you.  You're wasting precious time.  Jordan, type in fuel leaks."

 

“Everybody fucks up typing,” Robert Charles snarled.

 

“Look, I don’t want to argue. Right now Jordan knows more about what to do than you and me, so I need him in your seat.”

 

Robert Charles got up, glared at Alex, and left the cockpit seat.  Jordan sat down and typed in fuel leaks, but found nothing. He tried fuel lines and found a sub-menu. One of the links read “damaged lines.” 

 

“I think I found something,” he said within seconds. Jordan had a better idea of what he was looking for than either Alex or Robert Charles; after all he had grown up on starships. Alex wondered why they hadn’t consulted him before.  

 

Alex looked at what Jordan had discovered; it looked like it might be what he was looking for.  He switched the readout over to his computer and read the instructions. 

 

The instructions showed how to cut off the fuel to one part of the fuel tank.  He started punching buttons.  Rocket fuel started being forced into the back part of the tank.  He hoped he was moving it into the right place.

 

 He looked at the fuel gauge.  It was bouncing much too to get a good reading.  He closed off that part of the tank the fuel had been moved to and checked the gauge; it was holding steady. The gauge read just under a half tank of fuel.  He watched it for five minutes and it continued to hold steady. He breathed a big sigh of relief.  He got lucky—he’d picked an undamaged section of the tank.  With the fuel situation stabilized they had time to think things over properly.

 

Alex thanked Jordon and asked him to leave, then sat there looking out into space.  Okay, now they had time.  What were they going to do with it?  He went into the cabin and asked Mike, Douglas, and Robert Charles to join him in the galley.  The rest of the boys watched them head back and wondered what was going on.

 

Alex told the three why he aborted the landing and what he had done with the fuel.

 

"That means we can do more than one try," Mike said.

 

"I figure we have up to three. It takes a lot of fuel to land this thing, and we better have a reserve in case we don’t like the look of the landing site," Alex said.

 

"So what are we waiting for?  Let's go."

 

"Mike, we don't know what the outside of the ship looks like.  If the hull has a tear from the meteor we could burn up from the extra friction, especially if the heat shield is damaged.  If the fuel was still leaking and we had to land right away, I'd say let's risk it.  But now we have time to at least take a look."

 

"How?" Robert Charles asked.  Then he paused.  "Fuck no!  I'm not going out there."

 

"Nobody asked you to," Alex said.  "I thought good leaders passed out jobs like this. Asked for volunteers and shit and then watched them do the work."

 

Robert Charles knew Alex was playing with him and he wanted to chew him out. But that would wait.  Once they landed, Alex's ass was his.

 

"So who do we send out?"  Mike asked.  "I mean what do we know about walking in space?  We're just a bunch of kids."

 

"What do we know about navigating to a planet, Mike?  Nothing.  But here we are. We have an instruction disk for space walks so we’ll learn in a hurry about what to do."

 

"I volunteer," Douglas said.

 

"Oh, the leader who won't lead speaks up," Robert Charles said.  "Or do you just like playing hero, like during the warp storm?"

 

"It has nothing to do with being a hero.  Let's figure out what we need." Douglas looked at everybody.  He half expected Robert Charles to stop him, but when he didn’t Douglas went on.  "We have to inspect the hull for damage. If there is damage then we have to see if we can fix it.  We need to take tools and heat tiles out there with us. You guys on the ship will need to get on the computer and see what we can do to fix it.  We know we have spare parts down below.  We have four space suits and I think we're gonna need them.  Travis and I both played sports.  We're pretty coordinated.  Mike is big and strong and has played sports, too. We'll need him."

 

"So who is the fourth one?" Mike asked.  He hadn't flinched when Douglas mentioned his name to go out.  He would have been at the front of the line to volunteer.

 

"Jeremy.  He's coordinated and he knows how to fix things.  So does Travis.  Now all we need to do is see what needs to be fixed."  He looked at Robert Charles.  "If that is all okay with you?"

 

"Sure.  You four can go get yourselves killed, then we'll go land.  I really don't care, because you guys don't know what you're doing, so it's not going to change anything."

 

"We're not going to fix anything first time out.  We're just going to look.  Maybe the hole is smooth and the skin is smooth. Or maybe there isn’t a hole at all. I don't know.  Let's just look and be sure," Douglas argued.

 

The boys sat at the small table in the galley and laid out a plan of action.  Robert Charles went into the cabin to tell everybody what was going on. Then Douglas took Travis and Jeremy aside and told them what he had planned. They didn't need convincing.  They were ready to do what it took to give them all a safe landing.

 

The four boys got onto the computer and inserted the space-walk instruction disk. They went down below and checked for parts. Once again, Jordan was able to help.  He had watched his father do a space walk on the voyage before this one.  Jordan would help them into their suits and was going to be their contact on the shuttle. He would be giving them instructions and taking care of problems.  Jordan had never felt so important.

 

The space suits were all the same size on the outside, but the inner padding could easily be adjusted to make for a snug fit. A small computer in the suit molded the padding to each boy’s body.

 

 Jordan reviewed the ergonomic controls with the four boys. It was one thing to study a vid, but actually manipulating the suit was a whole different matter.

 

 Mike was assigned to stay right outside the airlock and take care of their lifeline.  Douglas and Travis were going to tour the entire hull to check for damage. They changed their plans to try to accomplish everything in one space-walk. If repairs were needed, Jeremy would bring out whatever parts or tools they needed, and the three boys would take them to the damaged area.

 

Scooter came up to Douglas as he started to don his suit.  He gave him a big kiss.  "Be careful my love.  I want you back in one piece.  I love you."

 

"I love you, Scooter."  Warren and Ryan did the same for Jeremy and Travis. Alex gave Mike a look that said they both had been through it all, and this was just one more little adventure. Both boys tried to project an aura of teen cool.

 

Mike, Douglas, and Travis entered the airlock.  They closed and locked the hatch and Mike pressed the start button.  The air was pumped out, and when the light over the outside hatch went from red to green           Mike opened the outside hatch.  Douglas and Travis were all tied together by a lifeline which Mike hooked to the side of the ship.  They let go of the handholds next to the hatch and floated out into space.

 

Douglas looked down at the brown and red planet under them.  He was free of gravity and weightless for the first time.  He felt like he was falling toward the planet.  It was a long way down, he thought.  He wanted to look at the amazing sight forever, but he took his eyes off of the planet and focused them on the hull of the shuttle. He and Travis floated towards the stern of the shuttle. Jordan said that the fuel lines would be there so that was where the damage likely was.

 

 It didn’t take long until they saw a large jagged hole next to one of the main rocket engines.  It looked like a dozen or so heat tiles were missing off the shield. Douglas thought the small meteor must have glanced off the hull, hitting it enough to damage it but not getting deep enough to breach the double hull.  If they had tried landing with that many missing heat tiles, they would have burned up for sure.

 

Douglas called on his radio, telling Jordan to get Jeremy ready.  He then reported to Alex and Robert Charles what he saw and thanked Alex for aborting the landing. That decision had undoubtedly saved their lives. Alex wanted to give Robert Charles a smirk of satisfaction, but as had been happening with so much of their dispute, this wasn’t the time to argue or fight.

 

 Mike took the lifeline and helped pull Douglas back to the airlock.  By the time he got to the lock, Jeremy was taking tools, tiles, and a piece of metal out of the airlock.  They were all items found where the spare parts were stored.  Jeremy had brought out a dozen tiles. They knew there was another dozen left.  The metal patch was the only one they had. Everything they needed except for the metal patch was sealed in large metal boxes that had loops to run a lifeline through. Mike had already started running a second line through the loops.

 

Douglas and Jeremy carried everything to the damaged area where Travis was waiting for them.  The metal piece weighed nothing but was hard to move because it was big. Even though they were in zero gravity, the laws of motion were still in effect, and that meant for their movements as well.

 

Jordan told them they could only spend two hours in space at one time, so they worked hard to complete as much as they could.  Jeremy and Travis knew they had to fasten the metal patch over the gash and then glue the heat tiles over it.  The airlock was close to the stern, so it didn't take long to get everything to the damaged area, even if it did seem to take forever.

 

All four boys were awestruck by being in space. They were also properly frightened. One mistake and somebody could die.  Jeremy hammered on the bent metal of the outside hull and flattened the bent edges. He then placed the patch over the hole.  Douglas and Travis held it down while Jeremy attached it with screws. The repair vid said that the screws were only to hold a patch in place while it was being welded to the hull.

 

None of the boys were adept with tools and mechanical things, but they’d studied the disk on how to repair hull damage and felt they knew enough to drill holes, fasten screws, and apply glue. What they hadn’t counted on was how much differently everything behaved in zero gravity.

 

The surface of the hull was smoother now.  Douglas handed Jeremy a space welder.  Jeremy had never used one, but he figured out what to do pretty fast.  It put out heat instead of a flame, because a flame could act like a rocket and send the person welding flying away from the hull.  His big fear was causing something to explode.  But he soon had the metal sheet connected to the ship, making it smooth.

 

"Jordan, how much time do we have?" Douglas asked.

 

No answer.

 

"Jordan?"

 

There was still no answer.  Jordan was sitting on the floor in front of the airlock staring at the hatch.  His radio was crackling, but he was not listening. He’d had a ton of responsibility suddenly dropped on him and he was frightened. I’m only twelve, he thought, and all of a sudden I am responsible for people’s lives. Nobody has ever put me in charge of people’s lives; I’m too young for this shit, he thought. I shouldn't have this responsibility. I should have saved my bottle of vodka for this.

 

"Jordan, we need to know how much time we have," Douglas radioed again, but he got no response.  Shit, Douglas thought.  "Jeremy, how fast can you get those tiles glued on?"

 

"I have four glued already," he answered.  Travis shot the glue gun right on the tile, like he saw on the computer. The first two tiles were awkward, but Travis and Jeremy quickly adjusted and by the third tile were able to counter their movements. As soon as Travis shot the glue on the tile, Jeremy slapped it on the metal patch.

 

"Mike, you need to find out what happened to Jordan," Douglas radioed.

 

"I can't leave you guys," Mike said.  "Anything happens I need to be here to pull on the lifelines."

 

"Well, we need to know how much time we have left."

 

"I figure about a half hour."

 

"Radio Alex to find out what Jordan is doing," Douglas said.  Six more tiles left.

 

Mike tried the radio again.  Jordan heard it but said nothing. Sweat was pouring down his face and body.  Alex was in the cockpit, looking at the gauges, listening to the radio, and wishing they had a camera attached to the hull.  He wondered why Jordan wasn't responding.  He finally got up and went down the ladder to the cargo bay. When he reached the airlock he saw Jordan just sitting on the floor staring at the small control panel, tears dripping down his cheek and his hair damp with sweat. Alex grabbed Jordan's right arm and took the timer out of his hand.  Alex radioed Mike.

 

"Mike, this is Alex. I think Jordan is sick.  Douglas, you have 22 minutes left.  Is that enough time?"

 

"It is, Alex.  Jeremy and Travis only have four more tiles to glue on.  It should give us a few minutes to spare.  Thanks."

 

Douglas watched Jeremy and Travis work.  They had been good picks—they were smart and coordinated. They had developed a routine for using the glue gun and slapping the tiles on the patch, doing it with minimal extra motion as they got used to working in zero gravity.  Douglas hoped their work was good enough so that the patch and the tiles would hold until they landed. Sure, the repair job looked good, but would it hold?

 

Jeremy and Travis glued the last tile to the patch and started heading back to the airlock with Douglas behind them.  "Seven minutes," Alex reported.  They held on to the hand rails, trying to be careful and not get sent floating out into space. Even though they were held by their lifelines, missing a hand hold could lead to a lot of wasted time if they started floating away from the shuttle.

 

The going was slow, since they each had a box of tools attached to their belts.  Jeremy wanted to leave them and let them float off, arguing that once they landed they wouldn't need them, but Douglas was worried something might break away before they attempted to land and he wanted to have the tools in reserve.  Who knows what could happen in space and it didn't hurt to be ready for it.  What if they got hit by another meteor?

 

Jeremy was the first to the airlock.  "Five minutes," he heard Alex say. Mike grabbed his hand and pulled him into the airlock.  Travis was next. He handed Mike his tools, then Mike guided him into the airlock.  Douglas had the welder strapped over his shoulder.  He needed to take it off to fit into the airlock.  He pulled up on it and it tangled in his lifeline.   

 

"Four minutes," Alex intoned.  The welder was stuck and he had to let go of the hand hold for a second to push up on it. Mike reached out to help him.  Since both boys had never been in space, they didn't time their movements properly, and suddenly both Mike and Douglas floated away. Mike was hooked to the shuttle by a short line and traveled for just a few yards, but Douglas went flying straight out into space. His line had a lot of slack in it. Mike had been coiling the lifeline as he pulled the three boys in. Travis and Jeremy were already unhooked from the lifeline and all they could do was stand in the airlock and watch.

 

Douglas looked down at the planet—it really was a long way down.  He watched the "Moonduster" float away.  "Three minutes."  Mike looked on helplessly as he watched Douglas drift off.  Douglas felt like he was falling and was going to fall forever.  Mike grasped his lifeline and yanked himself back to the shuttle. He grabbed the hand rail tightly and took hold of the lifeline.  The line was almost out of control as it uncoiled. He couldn't grab it tightly enough to stop the process.

 

Douglas saw that Mike was unable to control the unwinding lifeline.  He knew the line would catch soon and pull him back.  The problem was whether their air would hold out until he got back.  Suddenly, Douglas felt a jerk—the line had caught.  He stopped floating away and started tumbling back.  Mike was able to grab the line now and started pulling so Douglas would come in faster.

 

"Two minutes," Alex said.  Douglas had no idea how long it was going to take to get back to the “Moonduster”.  He had only been floating for only a couple of minutes, so he hoped that two minutes would be all he needed. His body was tumbling out of control.

 

Mike kept pulling on the line.  He watched as Douglas closed the gap between him and the shuttle. Then he realized that Douglas was going to miss the shuttle and fly right past it. He tried tugging down on the lifeline, but it was too late as Douglas floated right over him and out of sight. 

 

"One minute," Alex said.  Douglas saw a handrail close to him and tried grabbing it, just missing.  Then he felt a tug.  Mike had finally managed to get a tight grip on the lifeline.  Now he was pulling back as hard as he could.  Luckily Douglas didn't weigh anything in space, but he still had all his inertia, which was working against him.  With no training both boys had no idea how to stop Douglas from drifting back and forth. "Thirty seconds."

 

Mike saw Douglas come back over the top, his boot just within his reach. He grabbed it.  The momentum almost pulled him away from the shuttle, but he held on.  He needed all his size and strength now. 

 

"Fifteen seconds." Douglas’s drifting and tumbling was now under control. Mike grabbed Douglas and pulled him towards the shuttle until they both fell into the airlock, the welder following in behind him.  Mike hit the close door button and the outer door closed, just as their suits ran out of air.  The door slammed shut. Mike hit the air button and the airlock filled up with precious air.  The four boys started grabbing each other's helmets, opening them, breathing in the air of the shuttle as their helmets popped off.  Mike hit the button for the inside door as soon as the light turned green, and all four of them walked in, happy and safe.

 

Scooter came up to Douglas and kissed him hard on the lips. He had been able to watch most of the drama from two of the ship’s viewports.  "Oh, Douglas, I was so scared when I saw you float off.  I thought you were gone forever.”

 

The boys got help getting their suits off.  They put the tools away and climbed up to the cabin.  Douglas saw Jordan sitting in a seat crying.  Ryan was sitting next to him trying to comfort him.

 

"What happened to him?" Douglas asked Alex.

 

"I think the pressure got to him. He feels terrible about what happened. Ryan is taking good care of him."

 

“I need to talk to him, tell him everything is okay.”

 

“Save it for later,” Alex told him. “Ryan needs to get him calmed down and back together first.”

 

"When are you going to try landing this barge?"

 

"I need a rest after all that excitement.  I'm taking a nap.”

 

“I think we all should eat first, too,” Douglas said. “Is eight hours enough time?” he asked Douglas.

 

“More than enough,” Alex answered as he breathed a sigh of relief.

 

 

Mike and Stevie picked out meals for everybody and got them in the microwaves. They heated six meals, one for each of the spacewalkers, one for Alex, and one for Jordan.  Travis, for one, wondered if this might be their last meal.

 

Alex napped on his sleeping bag in the cargo bay.  Mike was next to him, holding his hand. It had been a long, rough day, but the toughest part was going to be starting in just a few hours.

 

The boys napped while Stevie organized dinner with the help of Ryan. Stevie had the microwaves running and sent Ryan to tell everyone it was time to eat. Nobody but Matthew noticed Robert Charles sneaking Jordan’s second helping away from him.

 

An hour later Robert Charles had everyone buckled into a seat. He had Alex tell the boys what to expect during the landing process. Of course, all that Alex knew about it was what he had experienced doing simulated landings.

 

Thirteen boys squirmed in their seats waiting for the adventure ride of a lifetime. Alex and Robert Charles ran through their checklist. When they finished, Robert Charles started his countdown.

 

When the countdown reached zero, Alex didn’t hesitate pressing the start button, trusting that the space walkers had installed the patch and heat tiles properly.   It was time to land.

 

The rockets fired, the wings folded out, and Alex aimed for the entry point he had picked.  He looked at the fuel gauge—it was still sitting at the one-half mark. The "Moonduster" headed into the atmosphere.  Alex steered the shuttle, checking out his speed, his angle, and started for the planet, reaching the edge of the atmosphere.

 

"Too shallow," Robert Charles called out.  Alex agreed.  He would have to pull out by bouncing the “Moonduster” off of the atmosphere.  Trying to steepen the angle of approach would create too much stress.  He pulled up and back out into space.  He announced he was going to try again.  He looked at the fuel.  Still enough for at least three more tries, he estimated. Without Jordan figuring out how to return the fuel to the fuel tanks, they would have been doomed.

 

He turned the shuttle in a wide arc and headed for the mystery planet again, his angle a little steeper. The gauges stayed green, but he got the nose up too high and the “Moonduster” shook and bounced back into space on its own.  More precious fuel had been used.  He could see they were back to where they had been before—all or nothing, only this time he had been able to fly two practice runs. 

 

Alex had a good idea of how steep he needed his angle of approach to be. Robert Charles concurred, mostly because he didn’t have a clue and didn’t want to look stupid.  Landing for real was very different than the computer simulator. But he now had had real live practice runs and was very confident that the third run would be successful.

 

He circled around, and once again entered the atmosphere, this time a little steeper. The shuttle shimmied a little as it hit the outer atmosphere.  The hull started to heat up, but it was still within limits.  The wings turned pink from the heat, but that was something they were supposed to do.

 

Alex kept the shuttle steady and on an even course.  He was too committed now to pull back up.  Now he just had to make sure his angle didn’t become too steep.  The temperature rose, even inside the shuttle as the HVAC worked harder. Alex kept flying deeper into the atmosphere.  He started leveling the shuttle, getting ready to fly steadily and slowly to find a flat landing area. Right now they were flying over mountains.

 

Outside the shuttle the wind flowing over the fuselage was catching under the patch Jeremy and Travis attached to the hull and it started flapping.  The boys hadn’t had the skills or knowledge to make a perfect repair, but they had put the patch and tiles on strong enough to get them safely into the atmosphere. It was the wind blowing under it that started pulling it loose.  Suddenly the patch blew off and the wind came in through the hole in the hull and ripped the fuel line loose.  Rocket fuel started spraying out and the port rocket shut down.

 

Alarm bells went off and Alex felt the ship lurch to the right. He knew he had lost a rocket and was trying to get the ship to fly straight again on just one rocket.  He was not only veering off to the right he was also losing altitude.

 

He could see brown rocky mountain peaks coming at him.  He steered the ship off to one side to avoid a collision.  He was looking for a way to fly out of the mountains.  The desert had been to his left, so he pulled the shuttle that way, holding the steering column tightly.  The lone rocket roared in protest as he kept the shuttle in a tight bank.  Robert Charles warned him of a mountain peak approaching and he turned it to the right, then banked to the left again to avoid another one.  He was still losing altitude and he didn't know how to control the “Moonduster” with just one functioning rocket.  This kind of landing had not been in his computer simulations.

 

 

In the cabin the boys had their heads down on pillows like they had been instructed. All of the boys were sitting towards the rear of the shuttle, which they had also been instructed to do because it was supposed to be safer. Matthew was sitting next to a window and would raise his head to sneak looks at the ground.  He and Jordan were sitting in the second to last row of seats. He could see behind the large wing and catch glimpses of the barren mountains.

 

All of the boys heard the loud bang of the patch tearing loose, but didn't know what it was.  Jordan was next to him, white with fear.  The shuttle banked and turned one way and then another.  On a steep bank to the left Matthew could look straight down at the ground.  He saw nothing but brown mountains and hills below him, but as the ship banked steeper he thought he saw a large patch of green.  He unbuckled his belt, grabbed the arm rest and tried looking straight down.  He saw light clouds for the first time and some more patches of green. As the shuttle started to level he caught a glimpse of an erect rock formation that looked like a horse rearing. 

 

Matthew reached for his belt to rebuckle it when the ship lurched the other way, sending him across the cabin crashing into the seats on the other side of the aisle and then the wall.  Mike had been in the seat behind him.  He reached for a foot and caught hold of Matthew before he could be sent flying again.  Mike fought the lurching ship and grabbed the boy tightly. He could see blood flowing from Matthew’s head, but there was nothing he could do about it. It was all he could do to hold on to Matthew.

 

 

Alex kept fighting the shuttle, but he felt like he’d gained a modicum of control. He needed to find a flat area to land.   He dodged another peak, and then ahead of him he saw flat desert.  He maneuvered the shuttle closer to the plateau.  He heard another alarm and the fuel gauge flashed red—he had just minutes of fuel left.  He lowered the landing runners and hoped he had enough fuel to fire the retrorockets.  He hit the reverse thrusters, the single operating rocket screamed as the shuttle slowed down, rocking and twisting.

 

In the cabin the sudden changes of speed and direction pulled Matthew away from Mike and he fell into the aisle.  Mike tried to reach him and yelled at Jeremy in the seat to the front of him on the other side.  Jeremy reached out and tried to grab him from his seat.

 

Alex tried starting the retrorockets.  They fired up and slowed the ship's drop, but it was still moving ahead too fast to land.  He hit the reverse thrusters again, the ship slowed, dropped, dipped, and then all the rockets shut off as the fuel ran out.  The "Moonduster’s" nose dropped and the left wing clipped the ground. The dipping nose dug into the sand, and the shuttle leaned to the right, breaking off the left runner and crashing into the desert sand with a deafening bang, breaking off the other runner and the tail section.  A giant cloud of dust rose up around it.  After the thunderous roar of the crash, the desert turned eerily quiet—the "Moonduster" had landed.

 

 

Next: Chapter 22.  Desert Planet