Ell Donsaii 12: Impact! by Laurence E Dahners

Author:Laurence E Dahners [Dahners, Laurence E]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781502456175
Amazon: 1502456176
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2014-09-20T17:00:00+00:00

***

Ell stared at the dark screens showing the view from Goldie’s rocket. They provided virtually no useful information. When the lights were on they showed nothing but dust. Remembering Emma’s comment, she said to Allan, “Let’s see what we can see with infrared.”

The screens blinked and then came back with a picture in the deep reddish color that Allan used to display infrared information. Ell could see more than she could with visible light, but it still wasn’t great. The most obvious thing was Goldie slowly moving away from the rocket, evidently having forgotten that he’d set it down. “Allan,” Ell said. “Turn the rocket’s lights back on.” Then, she said “Goldie,” trusting Allan to translate it for her. “It looks like you’re going back to the cave, but you’re not going the right direction. If you’ll pick up the rocket and take it with you, we’ll be able to give you directions.”

Without saying anything, Goldie turned and shambled back to pick up the rocket. When Goldie started back towards the cave, Ell said, “The entrance is a little more to your right.”

Once she had guided Goldie safely back into the cave, Ell said, “Allan, has the rocket with the radar on it arrived at the cave area yet?”

“Yes, it’s at the north end of the ledge in front of the cave. I have some imagery obtained with its radar during its flight to the cave. Would you like to look at it?”

Allan had translated the radar imagery into false profile 3-D imagery that was fairly easy to understand. It was stunning, showing trees flattened in enormous swathes. It looked to Ell like 50-70% of the trees were down rather than the 30% that had been estimated for this kind of an impact on earth. Presumably the denser atmosphere transmitted the blast wave better, or the more slender tree trunks were less resistant to being blown over. As the rocket swept in over the meadow that lay just north and slightly higher up the mountain, the imagery showed a number of lumps in the meadow. “What are those bumps?” Ell asked. She’d seen the meadow a number of times and felt sure there weren’t any rocks in that region.

“I don’t know,” Allan responded. “Would you like me to send the rocket back out to look at them more closely?”

“Yes, fly up there and get close enough that we can confirm their shapes. Maybe they’re some of the large herbivores the teecees hunt sometimes?”

“Lifting off,” Allan said. “You should be aware that Phil Zabrisk has fallen in the Valles Marineris on Mars. Although his life is not in danger, an x-ray obtained by the colonists’ doctor shows that he has broken his hip socket.”

Ell frowned, “Will they be able to put him in a cast or whatever needs to be done?”

“Apparently, fractures of the hip socket are complex injuries normally treated with surgery. It is far beyond the capability of the colony’s doctor to repair.”

“Oh my God! Are they shipping him back to Earth then?”

“That is currently the plan.

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