History
Part 6. Landing
Five days the space shuttle sped
from Earth to Cyatri, seemingly making a small detour due to asteroids.
The reason for all the secrecy baffled Oisin. Who would stop them anyways?
Still the thought that the military treated this expedition like they
might get blown to smithereens, disturbed the bard.
"Oisin." Tasrin said.
"Yes?"
"Get ready for touch down. We'll be launched in a shuttle within 15
minutes toward Cyatri. I expect you to be second in command." Tasrin
smiled a predatory smile at his small act of revenge. Leaving the rest of
the expedition thinking the shuttle would safely land them had been the
only thing he had enjoyed on the trip.
"Me?" Oisin squeaked before he relaxed his throat, "Why
me?"
"Who else is there?"
"Anyone!"
"Iyru, Fairlight and Enid have never flown before and personally I'd
rather keep them away from me during flight."
"And Knux?"
"He's the navigator."
While Oisin was still trying to grasp having to actually fly a small
spacecraft, Fairlight appeared.
"Get ready." Tasrin said.
"I am." she said too sweetly for his comfort, "It's only
fair that I tell you you're going to crash."
"I've never crashed before. I can fly one of those things
myself."
"That's the attitude that will get us hurt. Remember, there's a first
time for everything." Fairlight smiled and took place in the craft.
Everything she needed she had brought, the small wooden box with an inlaid
scenery of two lovers under the moon rested on her lap. She arched her
back and placed her head between her arms, "I hope we live... for the
dragon's sake."
Iyru and Enid stepped in behind Fairlight, Enid clutching Siggie tightly
when she saw Fairlight. Iyru smirked dryly, placed herself next to
Fairlight and motioned Enid to take the same position. Touching Gaia
lightly on her metal skin, Iyru made sure the flitter was securely, yet
loosely fastened around her neck.
"Don't you know if we'll live?" she whispered to Fairlight.
"The spirits didn't get to that. Our future is blurry." she
grinned reassuringly, "But we have a destiny to fulfil. Why would we
be killed?"
"If you say so."
***
Tasrin cursed himself for being
fooled into believing, even one second, what Fairlight had said. They had
not encountered any problems yet. With only the final stage of their
descent left it seemed unlikely that anything would happen.
"Coordinates?" he asked.
"We're right on track. We should land on the rendezvous point. Two
days early, but they should see us coming." Knux answered.
"How's the weather?" Tasrin asked, looking at Oisin.
"Ehm... cloudy." the bard said, "I don't know
weather."
"Cloudy will suffice. We're looking at a bumpy ride." Tasrin
sighed. Bumpy did not mean crashing. Not yet anyway. Tasrin calmed his
nerves and returned to is seat to fasten up. Being careful never hurt.
A red light started flashing and a high-pitched siren sounded. Then chaos.
***
Fairlight stepped out the fuming
wreckage and rewarded Tasrin with a brilliant smile: "Told you
so!"
Tasrin sighed. Would he ever get back to having a nice dead end job where
no women would pester him into doing what they wanted? Unlikely,
considering they were stranded here for the time being. He went over the
females, pondering the ancient question. If stranded on an abandoned
island, which of the three to pick to ensure the survival of the human
race? Iyru? Not likely, she was his superior. Fairlight? God No! Enid?
Well, she was the best one in the lot. Considering the other two, that
didn't mean much.
"I suggest we get the eggs out of the craft to check if they're alright."
Iyru stated before anyone else *cough*Tasrin*cough* could take the lead.
She didn't wait for anyone to answer and crawled back into the craft.
"Shouldn't we worry about the thing exploding?" Enid asked
bigeyed.
"We won't be taking off with it again, but it won't go up in smoke
either." Tasrin stated, "The fuel tanks are intact."
Oisin ran after Iyru to help her. He had wanted to follow her from the
moment she had gone to the ship, but to stop or help her he hadn't known.
Not much later, Knux followed the two and one by one they carried crates
from the interior.
"The fuel might be useful still." Tasrin mused, "Can any
one of you help?" he asked, looking at Fairlight and Enid.
"I'll go." Enid said.
"I'll go explore the surroundings." Fairlight added.
"Great." Tasrin said, the farther away the better. He went
around the ship and started making an inventory of what was wrecked and
what was still usable, Enid noting down everything while juggling to keep
Siggie in her arms.
"Why do you keep carrying that thing around?" he asked.
"Well, he's upset just as we all are." Enid smiled, "I know
he isn't real if you mean that, but should that stop me from caring? I'm
not going to leave him behind." They continued the rest of the
inventory in silence before they returned to the front of the craft where
Knux had got a fire going.
"We'll have to spend the night here." Knux said, "No-one
would have seen our landing. We're stuck here."
"Not quite." Tasrin added, "How are the eggs?"
"All of them seemed to have survived the crash without problems. One
case was cracked and those eggs were thrown around a bit, but they held.
Iyru took one down to the bay. I assume to wash it." Oisin said,
holding his own inventory list.
"We found a functioning mini-heli and a motor boat with enough fuel
to get us to land, though they are too small to carry all of us.
Fairlight returned to the craft and warmed herself for a moment at the
fire. She had found nothing that indicated human presence - no big
surprise, and nothing that would suggest anything even remotely dangerous
to humans. She listened as the others talked about salvaged goods and
broken wreckage. All of it didn't interest Fairlight greatly. After all, a
shipwreck was the perfect setting for romance. She smiled slightly,
matchmaking was what she lived for.
