“It’s halfway up the landing legs now.”
She stared out the viewport. The only part of the colony still visible, ironically, was the flattened metal bulb of the water tower. All the gravel paths, the prefab housing, the crops, the animal pens… “We landed on a hill.”
“Yes we did. But it’s halfway up the legs anyway. About four four more feet and it’s at the bottom of the engine cones. If we’re going to lift off it’s gotta be now.”
“How much fuel do we have loaded? How far can we—”
“There’s enough for the computer to get us to the high ground to the East. After that… dunno.” He got a faraway look in his eye. “We’d have to dry out and repair the ISPP unit. Tanks should still be good, unless they get damaged by debris while they’re underwater. Then it’s a matter of getting the fuel to the new landing site. We’d have to mount the spare tank on one of the caterpillar chassis. Lot of work.”
She rubbed her eyes. “Let’s get everyone strapped in.”
“Burt and Maise are still unaccounted for, we—”
“If they’re still alive, they’ll see us. Strap in. We’re taking off.”
No comments:
Post a Comment