Predation by SJ Parkinson

Author:SJ Parkinson [Parkinson, SJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SJ Parkinson
Published: 2012-08-04T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16 – Descent

Time seemed to pass dreadfully slowly. Only the drone of air recycling motors was constant. Conversation around Blake was non-existent. Everyone isolated themselves in their own thoughts. Two or three had obvious airsickness bags tucked into their webbing. No one had used them yet, but Blake knew it only took one person to release a torrent from many. Second Lieutenant Wicks’s head nodded as he unconsciously agreed with what he overheard on his headset. He brought his hand out and gestured with it. His finger pointed at the floor, and he made a spiral motion while looking at Blake. Then he changed it to a thumbs-up sign. Here we go, Blake thought.

Dozens of lighters were positioned so that they were not only flying backwards, but also inverted in relation to their orbital direction. Until the order to land had been given, they kept their assigned positions and enjoyed the view of the planet above them. They all ignited their engines within seconds of each other, using the thrust to counter their orbital velocity. As they decelerated, the gravitational pull of the planet below drew them closer. The lighter crews now concentrated on their flight instruments. Each had a precise path to steer to get to its proper landing coordinates. Little margin for error existed, as spacing between the descending ships was minimal. Small maneuvering jets made incremental adjustments in position as required.

Even with computer assistance, upside-down and backwards was an unnatural way to fly. As long as everyone followed their computer-generated paths, there would be no collisions— in theory. Each vessel dropped lower gradually until it began to encounter the calculated limit of the upper atmosphere. At that stage, the main engines were turned off, and the ship was effectively coasting the rest of the way. Rearward-facing countermeasure bays on the backside of each lighter launched a pair of missiles that flew down their assigned flight paths. When the missiles were clear, the pilots twisted their lighters until their bellies were oriented with a forty-two degree nose-up angle relative to their flight direction. At that angle, the heat would be distributed evenly on all belly tiles.

Complex physics and mathematics determined the angle of attack for the craft. Reentry angles were critical and had to be kept between five and seven degrees negative inclination with respect to the planetary horizon. If a lighter came in any steeper, it would burn up. Any shallower, and it would bounce off the atmosphere like a flat rock skipped on the surface of a lake. Flight computers assisted through the process, but a pair of human hands was on the yoke the whole way, ready to take over at a moment’s notice.

On Blake’s lighter, the first molecules of Mindon-2 atmosphere brushed against the composite skin. At first he could discern no difference in the descent, but vibrations began as the air thickened. Over a few minutes, the vibrations turned to shudders, and the sergeant knew the lighter was carving its way through the thin upper atmosphere.

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