Hayes had fed a modification of their course into the AI and watched as the green line of their computed course changed. The vector change at the new transition point was abrupt enough to translate into a side-loading that he could feel.
“Our initial deceleration will be much less than planned because I have to go way off axis of a direct course to the star. I’ll have to make it up with an extended deceleration period on the Forest vector. Are you seeing any radiation problem along a direct path between the star and Forest?”
Ames called down the passage, “It looks like that route will be clear for now. The anomaly is in an orbit that is at a steep angle to the local planetary plane so there are only two points in the orbit of Forest where the planet crosses the plane of the anomaly’s orbit. Unfortunately, Forest is approaching one of those intersection points; in fact, if I may be allowed to give an opinion that should properly come from a stellar physicist, it looks like we may only have eight or nine days before Forest crosses that plane. It looks like our venture will only involve one trip.”
Hayes’ jaw tightened as the Santana’s vector settled to an alignment past the star.
“Okay, short jump . . . now. And breakout in three, two, one.”
“We are past the line of flares, and I have a signal from the monitor; down-loading now.”
It took over twenty minutes to kill the excess velocity and alter their vector to a direct path toward Forest.
“Hang on; I’m going to make the jump to Forest . . . now.”
Down the familiar rabbit hole they fell again to be followed by the, now pleasant, free-fall. Fifteen seconds later, the screens filled with the bulk of Forest. The Santana swapped ends and bent their course for a sweep around the planet to kill the rest of their velocity.
“Watts is just at the terminator line heading into a new day. Today will be a day like no other; ETA 24 minutes.”
Hayes positioned himself into a more reclined position, “AI, prepare for close maneuvering.”
He kept his hands folded across his mid-section as control arms pivoted up from the sides of his chair and his head was enclosed.
Santana’s stern was pointed in the direction they were headed and away from the planet so the ring could slow them and warp their course into an arc around the planet. The display had him facing outward away from the ship as the night side of Forest rolled beneath him. Displays showed his speed dropping through 100kps and the ring pulling sixty-five percent of its rated power maximum because of the weaker effect of a cross-wise orientation with the gravity-well.
A vast, dark ocean rolled past as the Santana fell below orbital speed and entered the upper limits of the atmosphere. Hayes loved this part of flying--every pilot did. The, already spectacular, view suddenly burst with a glorious sunrise. Ahead, he saw the sunlit coastline beyond the edge of darkness.
Hayes waited until they were almost over the coastline before lowering his hands to the manual controls, “AI, suspend autopilot control.”
A chime sounded, “AUTOPILOT SET TO STAND-BY.”
He oriented the Santana sideways to the ground and applied power to the ring at a rate that had them stopped horizontally relative to the ground directly over Watts where he reduced power to zero and turned the ship’s stern toward the ground. Of course, the vertical component of their current vector was an unpowered fall.
“Lieutenant, is something wrong?” Doctor Twisst sounded nervous about the return to free-fall.
“No problem, Doc; just my standard approach.”
With his virtual view straight down at the ground from ten kilometers up, he picked out familiar landmarks; the two rail lines that headed east from the town and became the fourteen lines that ran out to the rest of their settlements, the wide, smooth dirt roads that headed out to the local countryside and farms, the massive stone bridge that crossed the river at a narrow spot a couple of kilometers upstream, and the game field on the south edge of town where he was about to land. He moved the controls with a practiced touch until the double concentric circles of the impact indicator settled exactly on the spot he wanted.
At one kilometer he could easily see Foresters starting to move about as a new day started.
“Deploy landing struts.”
He watched the four virtual pads appear around him.
“LANDING STRUTS DOWN AND LOCKED.”
His rate of descent dropped through 3mps, and he watched the ground near the end of the wide walkway that went into the town come up to meet him. As far as he could see, no one on the ground was looking up, but one of the locals that was pulling a small cart had just turned onto the path to the game field. Hayes figured he would walk right into a strut if he didn’t lift his gaze from the ground at his feet.
Contact!
“AI, all systems to immediate ground stand-by.”
“ALL SYSTEMS READY FOR IMMEDIATE LIFT.”
The local had finally noticed the obstruction in his path. He stopped and started a slow tilt backwards, further and further, until he fell backwards over the cart he had been pulling. Hayes hung in the virtual air, grinning, as the local scrambled over himself and ran shrieking into the town.
“AI, finished with close maneuvering.”
He rose from the reconfigured chair, “Doctors, the day is now yours and I believe that our presence is known.”
He unlocked the floor hatch and pivoted it back against the hull. The cargo compartment offered a close fit down the ladder but the hatch opened out and up, and the steps rotated out and down to give a maneuvering space. Hayes turned and backed down the three steps to the ground.
The air was cool and smelled rich with earth and vegetation; it
