Robert L. Forward - Saturn Rukh - 0812534581 by 0812534581

Author:0812534581
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

5

JOINING WITH THE FLOCK

“Reactor operational. Capsule prime power restored.”

The reassuring voice of Jeeves boomed inside the helmets of the five crewmembers outside, and echoed throughout Sexdent, with Seichi its sole inhabitant. Hanging from their windblown perches on the inside of the multistrand Hoytether, itself hanging from the leading edge of the giant wing of the rukh, they looked down at the reactor a half-kilometer below them. From their viewpoint high above, they could see the radiator fins glowing a bright red in the gathering dusk.

“Good job, men,” said Rod with relief. The two women were too tired to object to the choice of words, while the men didn’t even notice Rod’s slip of the tongue. “Let’s get back to the ship and get a well-deserved good night’s rest.” He started the hundred-meter climb up to the safety of the wingtop, the Hoytether tilting slightly as the rukh changed its course. It was now dark and the rukh had started to circle upward into the night sky, the pulsing motions of the dual windpipes along its sides increasing their thrust and tempo as the giant bird climbed. As they rose through the darkness, lit only by the red glow of the reactor below, the speed of the wind over their bodies increased. Fortunately the heavy weight of the reactor at the end of the Hoytether kept it from swinging as badly as it had during their climb down.

They finally reached the wing edge where the Hoytether collapsed from a rope tube into a crude rope ladder at the point where it touched the black canopy of feathers. They continued their climb over the curved leading edge of the wing, brushing the feather tips aside as they clumsily tried to keep their balance on the tether lines. In the darkness, they missed the place where Sandra had tied the climbing line to the Hoytether.

“We’re too horizontal!” complained Sandra as she once again fell through the open mesh of the collapsed Hoytether and had to be hauled back up by Chastity and Dan. “When I climbed the feather tree and hooked our line onto the Hoytether, the tether was nearly at a forty-five-degree slope.”

“You’re right,” agreed Rod. “Back we go. If we keep following this section of Hoytether we’ll fall off the back end of this bird.”

The strong wind over the top of the rukh’s wing was against them now and they had to take turns at the front as “wind-breakers.” They soon found the point where they had climbed up, and one by one slid down the line onto the living floor of the feather forest. Chastity, having had some mountain climbing experience, rappelled down first, then she used a spare length of line to arrange a simple sit-sling “chair” to lower the others down.

“I thought it was dark when I was up there,” said Rod as he landed next to Chastity. “But being in a forest of black feather trees is worse than being underground in a coal-pit on a cloudy, moonless night.

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