Chapter Ten
Hard Landings!
The sound of the explosion was barely audible inside the ship, but a large screen lit up on the forward wall showing a bright blue afternoon sky. The General began to ease a control lever forward. The ship began to rise then its starboard side dropped back to the ground with a loud BANG. The General cursed, brought the other side down, and flicked off switches. "Somethng's wrong with the starboard grav unit."
Smoke began to rise from a floor panel. "Where's the fire extinguishers?" screamed Donald.
"Those red colored things on the wall that look like spray paint cans with handles on them," the General answered. "Lay down a fog for me while I open the panel."
It took Donald a moment to figure out how the thing worked but he finally obeyed. The General slowly lifted the panel and looked inside. "Hit it hard!" he ordered. He then pulled out two cylinders, handing them to Donald.
"There's spares in that compartment over there. Bring me the same colors and same codes."
Donald hurried off. It didn't take him long to return with the spare parts. The General plugged them in.
"Fitting came loose," the General announced. "Cable fell down and fed the power right back into the control system. Let's pray none of the wiring isn't fried. It looks all right. Let's give it another try."
He slammed the panels shut and rushed back to the Commander's chair. At that moment his suit began to beep and a moment later so did Donald's.
"Ten minute warning!" the General snapped. "We're cutting this too damned close!"
He was flicking levers again and turning knobs. The ship began to rock then lifted gently and began to glide from the structure. It scraped the wall once, while exiting, then began to slowly rise skyward. The General pressed a button then began to move from station to station.
"Everything's up," he said, "Everything's running. Come on."
They made their way to the hatch and entered. The General shut it then turned on the sterilizer. He waited until it went out then removed his helmet, and began to undo his suit. Donald followed his example. "What now, sir?" he asked.
"The ship makes a gradual climb to two thousand feet," the General told him, "at which time it'll hover for a moment, and if we're still alive it'll open the hatch and we'll jump out."
The General opened the compartments holding the parachutes and tossed Donald one. He quickly began to don the other one. "How long will it be, sir," Donald asked, "until we know if we're contaminated?"
The General rubbed his hand on three of the walls. "About five seconds," he answered, staring at his hand. Donald, too, watched it and kept glancing at his watch at the same time. Five seconds passed, ten, fifteen. The General closed his hand and slapped his side. "We're clean!" he cried. "We'd be dead by now if we weren't."
There was a rush of air and the outside hatch opened. "You know something?" the General commented, "I just thought of something. I've never really used one of these things." He took a good grip on the rip cord, and with two bounding steps leaped into open space.
"What?" Donald screamed. In sheer panic he leaped after, not pulling his own rip cord until he saw the General's chute safely open. It was hard to track him in the dim light, but he stayed with him.
The General hit the ground with a pretty good roll, was struggling out of his chute when there was a bellowing roar, he was jerked off his feet, and dragged along the ground.
"What the hell....?!" Donald cried, as he struggled from his own chute and took up pursuit. Somehow he managed to catch the General, grab one strap and pull on it. Something pulled back with incredible fury, but it stopped long enough for the General to get himself out of the harness. The cord suddenly went limp and a massive snorting form came stomping out of the darkness.
"My God!" Donald cried, "It's a buffalo! Your parachute landed on a damned buffalo! After all we've been through you were nearly dragged to death by a buffalo!"
The General walked up to the snorting animal and extended his hand. "It's all right, big boy!" he said. "Sorry about that! I wouldn't want to wake up with somebody throwing something on me, either!"
The massive bull took a slow step forward and sniffed the extended hand, then its whole body seemed to relax. A great tongue lapped the hand, the General stepped forward, began rubbing the great head, and scratching behind an ear. The bull gave a contented groan, pulled away, and walked off.
Donald became aware of the other shapes in the darkness around them. "We'd better get out of the herd," the General advised, "when the helicopters get here they may stampede and this wouldn't be a healthy place."
Donald went back to gather up his OWN parachute as the General retrieved his. They found a quiet hillside and sat down to wait. The General finally saw fit to extend the antenna on his radio and call in.
"Captain! Colonel!" he called, "Anybody out there?"
"Yes sir!" an excited voice answered. "I'll have the Colonel in a minute, sir!"
There was a few moment's silence, then the Colonel's voice came on. "Are you safe, General?" he asked.
"Safe and sound," the General answered, "except for a few bruises. Can you get a fix?"
"You're fifty miles north of us, General," the Colonel answered. There's a copter on the way. We tracked her out of the atmosphere, sir. She was going straight and true! Do you think they'll make it home, sir?"
"They've got a good chance," the General answered, "and they'll have company along the way if they get in trouble. I'm signing off until the 'copter gets here, Major. I need a little rest. You can send the bomber home...all but a couple of the fighters. Send my personal congratulations to all concerned and, my well done."
"Yes sir!" the Major answered back. "I'll do that, sir, thank you."
The radio went silent and the General laid back, staring at the sky. "Well, I think our computer friend is happy now. He must've really had to stretch his programming to do what he did."
Donald looked bewildered. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"I checked the sterilization units in the hatch," the General answered. "They were all functioning, and I saw the artifact laying by one of the bodies. If the unit had operated properly it would have been thoroughly sterilized. The computer either shut it down or cut its power before the cycle was completed. It deliberately let the contamination on the ship, but it didn't count on the two crewmen still being suited, and its plan to save the Crystallines went awry.
See, computer logic is very tricky. It normally couldn't destroy its crew under any circumstances, but when the crew endangered the life of thousands of future Crystallines they gave the computer the excuse it needed to act. In computer logic five lives could readily be sacrificed.
The mechanical mind can be a very tricky thing. Even I made mistakes with it by asking the wrong questions. It's crew made a greater mistake by asking it to do a terrible thing. And they paid the ultimate price."
Donald too, looked at the stars. "Swift justice!" he said, "But I wish that old bucket of bolts well. Will they be able to salvage it?"
"If not," the General told him, "the inhabitants of the planet will be able to use it. But I think it will probably be sterilized and made use of by some kinder and gentler people that will never force it to make such hard decisions again. Would you mind keeping watch for awhile? I could really use some sleep."
"Not at all," Donald answered, climbing to his feet, "you get some rest, sir."
He stood watch over the sleeping man in the grass until the lights of the helicopter appeared in the distance. Then he gently woke him.