Defying Mars (The Saving Mars Series) - By Cidney Swanson Page 0,83
the leader of her Seattle squadron, as if he had personally brought the intruding ship to ground. “New orders. I want the crew alive. If they have expired, prep their minds for immediate transfer. I don’t care who you have to kill to do it. I want those consciousnesses re-bodied while there’s time.”
“It is our opinion that this was not a survivable landing,” he replied.
“Your opinion?” barked Lucca. “Did I ask for your opinion? Find those bodies!”
“We have divers on their way.”
“Contact me the moment you know anything,” said Lucca.
~ ~ ~
Jessamyn watched her altimeter: Ten kilometers. Nine. Eight. At seven point three kilometers above Earth’s surface, she deployed the pod’s drogue chute. Built to withstand the higher speeds which could shred her final descent chutes, the drogue slowed her in a whiplash-inducing handful of seconds. Nauseous and blurry-eyed, she was still falling toward the Pacific Ocean at just under two hundred kilometers per hour.
Her eyes on the altimeter again, she waited. The numbers ticked down more slowly now. That would be the drogue’s work. From seven kilometers to four kilometers, she worked at regulating her breathing, clenching her abdominals. The g’s disoriented her, but she clung to an innate resistance to failure. At three and one-half kilometers, she placed her hand, shaking uncontrollably, over the instrument panel to jettison the drogue and launch the pilot parachutes.
As she descended at bone-rattling speeds, she thought of Pavel, of his idolization of Earth’s first astropilots. This was an old-school landing, all right. She remembered Lobster’s saying, “La plus ça change,” which meant, “The more things change, the more they don’t.” She thought of Ethan, her mother, her father, Mei Lo. Was this what it meant to see your life flash before your eyes? Jessamyn saw not her life, but those she had loved.
“Pavel,” she whispered.
She sped past the three-kilometer mark and deployed her remaining chutes. Despite the crushing pressure, she felt relief at the increased g’s because they informed her more certainly than her instrument panel (shaking unreadably) that she was slowing.
The last thousand meters stretched into a quiet infinity of moments during which Jessamyn repeated the names of those she loved: Ethan, Mom, Dad, Lobster, Crusty, Harpreet, Mei Lo, Pavel.
Pavel. She admitted it at last.
I love him.
Falling in love and falling to Earth melted into a single experience as Jessamyn plunged hurly-burly toward the ocean. The pod smacked water, as unforgiving as a solid surface. Jess lost all sense of up or down as the pod thrashed one direction and then another, tumbling wildly. Was this what Mars rock felt like as it was crushed into gravel for building projects? Consciousness became a thing separate from her, an entity bidding her farewell. This was dying, this was the end. Her stomach felt like she’d taken a blow to the gut. She couldn’t catch her breath; her lungs ached. Spots blurred her vision and then she saw nothing.
37
FOUND SOMETHING UNEXPECTED
Pavel soared just above the water, causing Wallace to utter odd expletives denoting terror.
“It is necessary in order to avoid detection,” explained Ethan to the cursing Scotsman.
“Aye, I’ve no doubt it’s necessary,” replied Wallace. “That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
Flying low to the water was dangerous and demanding work and it matched the feelings inside of Pavel— tumultuous, jagged, desperate.
But when they began to pass bits of the broken ship spread upon the waters, Pavel felt the cruel bite of despair. They pulled up as close as they dared, just to where Ethan could grab visual contact with Lucca’s Red Squadron Forces.
Pavel hovered the ship as the three assessed the situation.
“Only the one enemy ship, then,” said Wallace.
“More are on their way,” replied Ethan.
“Have they seen us yet?” asked Pavel.
“When they’ve seen us, I’m sure we’ll know,” said Wallace.
Ethan indicated a length of material descending from the ship. “A towing device?” he asked.
“No,” said Pavel. “That’s Davy Jones’s ladder. They’re sending divers down to search for—” He broke off, unable to finish.
“We have been detected,” cried Ethan. “We must depart, immediately.”
“We can’t just leave,” said Pavel. “That’s your sister, man!”
“Lad, we’re no good to Jessamyn once your aunt’s boys get ahold of us,” said Wallace.
“They are preparing to fire upon us,” warned Ethan.
Pavel nodded, curt, and turned the ship about, shots peppering the water as they fled. Pavel recreated in reverse the pell-mell journey along the white-flecked waves of sapphire.