The Sea Rover Saga: A Space Opera Adventure Series Books 1 – 3 by C.P. MacDonald

Author:C.P. MacDonald [MacDonald, C.P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-27T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

The sailplane glided gently through the air. The battery had died after thirty minutes of use. After dropping from the tower, it didn't seem like the Kyrios soldiers had spotted them sailing away.

The only sound in the sailplane was the gentle whoosh of air over the slender wings. Calin had expertly used any updraft or thermal he could find to extend their flight. After an hour of silent sailing, they neared the coordinates he had sent Dean.

Calin gradually lowered their altitude as they approached the landing coordinates. But as they approached the ground, Calin inhaled sharply and muttered, "Uh oh."

"Um... what do you mean 'uh oh'?" Shona asked as she peered over his shoulder.

"They never designed this thing to land conventionally, only to detach and reattach to the atmo tower."

"And that means what?"

"It means this thing doesn't have any landing gear, wheels or skids." He checked his harness, "Grab whatever you can to brace yourselves back there, this may get a little bumpy."

Everyone braced their hands and feet tight against the sides of the small cockpit as the ground rose to meet them. Calin did a slow flyby of the landing zone to check for any of the usual large rocks or boulders that were common all over Mars. Dean was already there, sitting inside a Mars surface buggy. When he saw the slim aircraft fly by, he waved through the buggy's glass cabin.

With a dip of a wing in response, Calin lined up for his final approach. The hard and rocky landscape got closer and closer. He was counting on the low gravity and the lightweight craft to reduce the seriousness of his second crash landing in only two days. The sailplane skimmed above the ground, then after a light bounce, the plane skidded across the hard ground, small jagged rocks tore gouges into the skin and sparks flew out from beneath. The left wing caught on a small boulder, spinning the plane and killing their forward momentum. Once the plane came to a full stop, it leaned to the side until the right wingtip kissed the ground. A line of dust rose from their landing path and floated away in the breeze.

"Thank you for flying Martian Airlines, please put your trays in the upright position and exit in an orderly manner." Calin quipped and tried to suppress a laugh.

Shona rolled her eyes but smiled as she popped the canopy up and crawled off Nilos's lap. Nilos frantically rubbed his thighs to get the blood back to them before stumbling clumsily out of the plane.

Dean climbed down out of his buggy and rushed over. He gave hearty handshakes to Calin and Nilos, and a big hug to Shona.

She looked past Dean at the buggy and asked, "Where's Mouse?"

The Engineer looked confused, "Didn't I tell you? He walked out on me."

Calin frowned, "What? When did that happen?"

Pressing his lips together tightly, Dean said, "A few weeks ago. I thought I told you, but I've been so busy working solo I guess I forgot.

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