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.