Chapter Four – Gone and Not Gone

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of it. Enough said. :)

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Both Admiral Paul Benden and Governor Emily Boll felt the first judders of atmosphere as they shot further and further away from Pern in the small sled-shuttle.

“This thing truly is tiny in comparison with the original shuttles,” muttered Emily to Paul.

“Yet handling well, don’t you think?” he replied tightly as the sled-shuttle shook again.

Doing her best to sound nonchalant, Emily asked, “Are you sure she’s meant to be shaking quite this much?”

“All shuttles tremble a bit in the atmosphere; you know that, Emily,” Paul said, his concentration firmly fixed on the task at hand.

“It seemed like a slightly better plan before we started implementing it,” she said. “All readings stable.”

“As they should be,” spoke Paul grimly.

Ezra’s voice crackled over the com unit in the dashboard. “Landing to sled-shuttle.”

Emily picked up the com mouthpiece and spoke into it. “This is Emily to Landing, reading you loud and clear.”

“Progress report. You should be near the Yoko by now,” said Ezra. There was a brief pause. “And Kimmer here wants to know how the sled-shuttle’s handling.”

“Handling fine,” grunted Paul, and Emily dutifully relayed his words to Landing.

Looking out through the thick atmospheric shield in front of them, she added, “We should be docking at the Yokohama in about two minutes. I can just about see it ahead of me.”

“Right. Well, while we’re, ah... waiting... Basil went back to the infirmary just now, to check on Ongola, you know... and he’s just come and told us – Tarvi’s not there. His bed’s empty.” Ezra sounded stressed.

Emily closed her eyes and murmured to herself, “By the suns, please don’t let him do something stupid.” She switched the com to microphone so that Paul could speak and be heard by those at Landing as well, then in a clearer tone added, “I see your point. He doesn’t know Sallah’s still alive –”

“– and now we’re worried he’ll go and do something foolish,” Ezra interjected. “He wasn’t exactly very together the last time I saw him –”

“Yes, thank you, Mr. Keroon,” Paul interrupted. “But we’re going to dock in about thirty seconds, so –”

“Admiral, I –”

“Just shut up and let me drive!” Paul growled, and there was silence from the com while Emily tried to suppress a chuckle.

“Contact Sallah, ask her to open the outer door of the airlock,” said Paul tersely to Emily.

Finding the appropriate wavelength, Emily did as she was bid. “Sled-shuttle to Yokohama,” she said. “Come in Sallah.”

“Reading you,” came her weary voice.

Emily shot the Admiral a worried look upon hearing Sallah sounding so weak. “We are preparing to dock immediately. Open the outer airlock.”

“As requested, Governor,” Sallah replied with a hint of her usual playful formality.

They saw the airlock slide open before them. Then Paul guided the sled-shuttle smoothly into the dock as automated clamps sensed the tiny spaceship, detached from the walls and steadied it. Despite being a shell of its former self, the Yokohama still had its automated docking systems running in case of an emergency such as the present situation.

The airlock closed behind them and the one in front of them that led to the rest of the ship opened. Sallah’s voice came again from over the com, “Right, now how am I getting over there to you?”

“Is there air from where you are to the docks here?” Emily asked hurriedly.

“I don’t think so. Avril shut off all the pumps, as far as I know.”

Emily pulled a bright orange bundle of material out from under her seat in the cabin, determination set on her face. “Hang on then, Sallah. I’m coming to get you.”

Tarvi – now Telgar – leaned back against the wall, hidden in the shadows behind one of the many buildings at Landing. Not a hundred metres away people were gathered around the bonfire, talking, eating, drinking quikal, laughing and generally going about their lives, Sallah’s death already shunted to one side. How can they just carry on like nothing’s wrong? Even after the riot they’d stirred up when he lit the bonfire, her death was no more than another casualty of the war against Thread, to them. Just another loss.

To him, losing Sallah was so much more than that. Not just a loss – a gaping hole, a near-fatal wound, a tear in the fabric of his universe – never able to heal. Nothing can bring her back. Telgar closed his tear-red eyes. What can I do now? I can’t just go on pretending that everything is all right. I just can’t... I’ve got to get away from here. This is no place for me anymore. And with that thought Telgar ran off, into the shadows and away from Landing.

Mairi Hanrahan watched him go with sad eyes. She considered running after him, asking him where he was going, but she held back. Let him mourn in peace, she thought – but just an hour later, she wished she hadn’t.

The tiny sled-shuttle plunged towards Pern at an increasingly dangerous speed, the outer atmospheric shields beginning to overheat and glow red.

“Admiral! We’re going too fast! The shields are failing!” Emily cried from the back of the sled-shuttle, where she was sitting with Sallah. Both women were clad in bright orange space suits.

“I know!” he growled back through gritted teeth.

Sallah chuckled weakly, though the sound was almost inaudible over the cacophony of alarms beeping. “Wouldn’t that just be perfect,” she giggled, “If we were to die anyway after all this.”

Looking even more panicked, Emily called out again, “Paul, you’d better do something quick smart – we’re losing Sallah here!” Terrified, she looked down at the aerial view of Landing becoming quickly less and less aerial.

“I’m working on it!” he roared over the noise. “The fuel pump’s karked it, we’ve lost radio contact with Landing and the brakes have gone bust – I can barely steer and I can’t slow down! If I could just go up a bit, level us out – aha!” He cried out in triumph. “Brace yourselves! This is gonna be one hell of a jolt!”

Several huge tents of material ballooned out behind the sled-shuttle, causing the little spacecraft to pull up very suddenly and jerking everyone around violently in their seats. The sled-shuttle was nowhere near under control or even slowing down much, but at that point the brakes and steering reconnected, allowing an exuberant Admiral Benden to wrench it upwards and level it out just before it hit the main building housing Ezra, Basil and Stev Kimmer.

Spinning the sled-shuttle around wildly in the air, Paul managed to miss the next row of buildings by inches, slamming into several trees side-on instead. In doing so, the parachutes attached to the back of the sled-shuttle got tangled up, pulling it to an undignified halt.

Loud whooping and laughing could be heard from the cabin. “That was the best crash landing I’ve done in my life!” hooted the Admiral, “And I’ve done a lot of crash landing!”

“Paul,” Emily said slowly, “Do you smell… burning?”

He sniffed. “No,” he said. “Why?” Just then, flames flared up on the outside of the sled-shuttle. Paul’s eyes widened and he yelled, “The residual heat of the shields has set fire to the trees! Any second now it could spread to the engine – get out! Run!”

They all scrambled to get out of the cabin before the fire blocked the exits, but when Sallah got past the doors, she crumpled to the ground. She gasped, “It’s my foot – I can’t stand! Just go on without me, save yourselves!”

“What, after all the trouble we went to getting you here alive?” Emily cried incredulously. “Fat chance! Come on!” She and Paul seized Sallah and hurried onwards as best they could, supporting her with a shoulder each.

Not ten seconds later there was an ear-shattering explosion and they were all thrown forwards as the tiny sled-shuttle became an enormous fireball behind them.

Author’s Note: Sorry it took so long to update – and seeing as no one wants to hear excuses, I won’t list any. ;) I’ll be going on holidays for a couple of weeks, so no updates for a little while. At least I managed to get this done and posted before I’m going! :D As always, thanks to those who read and review!