Jason X: Planet of the Beast by Nancy Kilpatrick

Author:Nancy Kilpatrick [Kilpatrick, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction, Action & Adventure
ISBN: 9781844161836
Google: G3-DAAAACAAJ
Publisher: Black Flame
Published: 2005-09-14T12:00:00+00:00

EIGHT

"So, this little thing can operate independently?"

"That's right," Bill told London, grinning as only the proud owner of an antique can.

"But what about maintenance? How do you determine if it's malfunctioning, and where?"

"The pod has a self-diagnostic."

"Pretty innovative for the time," London said with admiration in her voice.

"You bet. These babies were the cutting edge at the beginning of the twenty-third century."

"It's a shame nobody liked the design enough to improve it."

"Actually, everyone loved the design, and a number of people did try to upgrade it, but there was never sufficient funding to get it good enough for mass sales. Back then the focus was amalgamation. Their idea was that you pack as many people into a ship or a shuttle as you can, and make it perform a lot of tasks. The one-man pods were designed for individuals to explore space and that just never took off as a concept but for a few eccentrics." He looked at her. "Okay, eccentrics like me."

London laughed. "So, now that I know how to use it, how to navigate it by the little primitive computer, how the hell do you land this thing?"

"Ah, well, that's the tricky part, for sure."

"That's what I was afraid of."

"It has landing gear but they're just a pair of wheels really, reinforced metal. The best approach, though it's a bit jerky, is to let the pod hover above the landing site then sit her down by just lowering her. The wheels can't take much in the way of friction, so there's no point trying to ease her into a stop along a runway."

"And take off?"

"Same thing. Let her rise up and hover 'till you're safely off the surface, then you can accelerate."

"But how's that different to a shuttle? It hovers."

Bill looked sheepish. "Well, this is where you gotta use a bit of finesse. These babies weren't made to hover, but I rigged her with a modern mechanism, well, a modified one, that lets the craft hover, but only for about five seconds. After that, she'll fall."

"Great. So you hover and hope your five seconds aren't up?"

"Naw, it's not that bad. It's pretty easy, really. You gotta think of her as a kind of extension of your body. Whatever you'd want your body to do, or not do, that's what the pod should be up to. Think of it as jumping into the air. How many seconds would you be off your feet? You just gotta not hover the pod too long."

"A pod as metaphor for real life."

They both laughed.

"Attention, station crew. Shuttle two is docking at the shuttle bay. Security and assistant medical personnel report to shuttle bay."

That was Renata's voice and Bill said instantly, "Hell, I gotta go."

"Of course. Thanks for the navigational lesson."

"No problem," Bill said, leaving the cargo bay and jogging down the hall of the doughnut hole to the shuttle bay. En route he encountered Renata.

"I said security and medical personnel," she told him sharply, running the last length of corridor herself, with Bill keeping abreast of her.

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