Defying Mars (The Saving Mars Series) - By Cidney Swanson Page 0,80

Jess. “And I’m okay. Well, at the moment. Please—can I talk to my brother?”

Pavel turned to Ethan, gesturing to him to speak, speak.

“Jessamyn,” said Ethan.

Again, the sound of her laughter.

“What, Eth? This doesn’t merit more than just my name?”

Not waiting for his response, she continued. “Listen, I don’t have much time. I’m hitting the atmosphere in less than an hour and it might not be pretty.”

Hastily, she told Pavel and Ethan of her circumstances and her planned EDL.

“Your plan is an excellent one considering the limitations by which you are constrained,” said Ethan, when she’d finished.

Pavel heard Jess grunt a small laugh.

“We have obtained a swift vessel,” continued Ethan. “We are flying on an intercept course to you even now.”

“I’m so glad,” she said. “You have no idea how glad I am to hear that. Listen, there’s something else. In case I don’t make it. I’m sending you a message … using the same method you employed, Eth. You can translate without your wafer, right?”

“I can,” replied Ethan.

“Okay,” said Jess. “It’s really important information. If anything should happen to me, you need to have it. Only Mei Lo knows back home, okay?”

“Very well,” replied her brother.

“Your voice sounds different, but I can tell you haven’t changed a bit, Eth,” said Jess.

“I have adapted,” replied her brother.

“I can’t tell you how good it is to hear your voice, Jessamyn,” said Pavel. Something funny was happening again between his heart and his throat.

“You, too,” she said.

“I wanted to call you, or write you, or send smoke signals,” said Pavel. “Something.”

“I wrote you letters,” said Jess.

“You did?”

“Yup. Just couldn’t send them.”

Pavel cleared his throat, blinked at a prickly feeling behind his eyes. “Would you … would you send them now?” he asked. “Just in case?”

There were several seconds of silence between the ships.

“Just in case,” she said. “I’ll send them. But you’re not allowed to read them unless … unless … If I don’t make it, you can read them.”

Pavel heard a hitch in her voice that scraped at his soul.

“You’re going to be fine,” he said. “Right, Eth? Your sister’s got this thing figured out.”

“The possibility of her successful completion of a safe landing,” replied Ethan, “If expressed in percentages, would be—”

“Don’t want to know,” said Jess, interrupting him. “Listen, Eth, I love you, okay? No matter what happens, don’t forget that.”

“I am unlikely to forget,” he said. A moment passed and he added, “I love you, too, Jessie.”

Pavel wanted to repeat Ethan’s I love you, but the words stuck in his mouth, burning white-hot upon his tongue, like a star in miniature. He had no claim on this girl from Mars, and saying he loved her at a time like this would be selfish.

“Listen, guys,” said Jess. “I’ve got to land this thing. I’ll leave the comm open, but you’ll probably lose me once things heat up.”

“We’ll find you, Jess,” said Pavel. “We’ll find you.”

~ ~ ~

Jessamyn sat in the pilot’s hot seat.

Pavel had Ethan; Ethan was okay.

She felt a warmth in her belly that threatened to draw tears.

No you don’t, she warned herself. She was going to have enough trouble seeing straight without throwing tears into the mix. She practiced a couple of abdominal clenches, remembering how her peripheral vision had hazed over the last time she’d felt high g’s. No crying, she ordered herself again.

Earth dominated her view screen, chill and blue as she remembered it. To one side of the Pacific Ocean she identified an edge of Asia; to the other she saw her own destination—a small deserted corner of the North American continental mass. The ship approached atmospheric entry within a kilometer of Jessamyn’s chosen point. She smiled to herself, her fingers itching to work the nav-screen once more.

As she descended into the atmosphere, the Galleon’s speed would depend upon the combination of two forces acting upon the ship. First, there would be Earth’s massive gravity, pulling upon the craft, inviting acceleration. But just as important would be the force of atmospheric drag, slowing her down. The Galleon was constructed with her center of mass in a different location than the center of pressure, which would give the ship a small amount of lift as she flared Earthward. Jessamyn was grateful for this. Without the slight lift, the g’s would be even higher.

With her point of entry rapidly approaching, Jess’s hands hovered over her instrument panel. She was about to initiate the burn that would nudge the Galleon into a perfectly angled descent—neither too shallow nor too