Author: | G. F. Kaye | ISBN: | 9780463131022 |
Publisher: | G. F. Kaye | Publication: | November 11, 2018 |
Imprint: | Smashwords Edition | Language: | English |
Author: | G. F. Kaye |
ISBN: | 9780463131022 |
Publisher: | G. F. Kaye |
Publication: | November 11, 2018 |
Imprint: | Smashwords Edition |
Language: | English |
Diko decided to land the scout in a likely looking pocket of atmosphere conveniently near a cluster of the odd life-form’s dwellings. All seemed to be working properly. There didn’t seem to be anything it had to particularly watch out for, so it entered a landing pattern into the autopilot and sat back to watch. Unfortunately, it’d been, after all, a very long mission. Diko, an otherwise experienced scout, was understandably tired. So was its artificially intelligent ship. Preparing to land, it forgot one simple thing; to verify relative altimeter readings with a laser bounce. So, instead of passing over the small island of rock in its approach pattern by fifty tika or so, it slammed into the very solid granite at, in the local terms of the planet it was landing on, about four hundred eighty miles per hour, scattering the quickly sinking wreckage over much of the surface of the lake with a few small pieces even reaching the shore. Its last thought pattern, on registering the crumpling of its ship, will never be known, but it was very likely the Macaran equivalent of, “Oh, crap!”
An interstellar scout in need of a vacation, and a teenaged boy with an attitude that’s recently wanted by protective services; what do they have in common?
A Mark 8 Implanted Bio-mechanical Environmental Suit - a sort of a space suit, to put it in terms an earther might comprehend.
So. What does it do?
Just about anything it wants to, especially to the poor schmuck who found it.
Diko decided to land the scout in a likely looking pocket of atmosphere conveniently near a cluster of the odd life-form’s dwellings. All seemed to be working properly. There didn’t seem to be anything it had to particularly watch out for, so it entered a landing pattern into the autopilot and sat back to watch. Unfortunately, it’d been, after all, a very long mission. Diko, an otherwise experienced scout, was understandably tired. So was its artificially intelligent ship. Preparing to land, it forgot one simple thing; to verify relative altimeter readings with a laser bounce. So, instead of passing over the small island of rock in its approach pattern by fifty tika or so, it slammed into the very solid granite at, in the local terms of the planet it was landing on, about four hundred eighty miles per hour, scattering the quickly sinking wreckage over much of the surface of the lake with a few small pieces even reaching the shore. Its last thought pattern, on registering the crumpling of its ship, will never be known, but it was very likely the Macaran equivalent of, “Oh, crap!”
An interstellar scout in need of a vacation, and a teenaged boy with an attitude that’s recently wanted by protective services; what do they have in common?
A Mark 8 Implanted Bio-mechanical Environmental Suit - a sort of a space suit, to put it in terms an earther might comprehend.
So. What does it do?
Just about anything it wants to, especially to the poor schmuck who found it.