The Short End: Broken Galaxy Book Four by Phil Huddleston

Author:Phil Huddleston [Huddleston, Phil]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-01-31T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Ashkelon System - Planet Ridendo

Near Point Alpha-Sixteen

<Ten seconds to capsule disintegration> the suit AI called.

Jim closed his eyes again. This was the second major test of the drop. If the capsule failed to properly disintegrate around him, freeing him from its embrace, he’d be screwed. It would be impossible for him to fight his way out of the close-fitting capsule.

Everything depended on the systems and the AI.

<Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Zero>

Suddenly there was tremendous airflow all around him. He was spun violently, first one way, then another. Pieces of the capsule padding slammed against his suit like soft shrapnel, their impact at this speed stinging like hell.

A second drogue chute - this one attached to his envirosuit - opened with a bang. His body was jerked up hard. He felt like someone had hit him in the small of his back with a sledgehammer.

But he was alive. Gasping for breath, he realized he was stabilized.

Those damn Dariama engineers really need to work on their parachutes, he thought. That drogue chute opening was ridiculous.

The holographic display had malfunctioned from the shock. It had disappeared. He had no idea of his altitude or path. It was pitch-black - there were no visible lights on the ground. The sharp granite peaks below him were completely invisible.

Without the holographic display, he had no way of knowing where his target was on the ground. His path was now out of his control.

Get it together, jarhead. There’s a backup altimeter. You can do this.

Glancing at his wrist, he read off the altitude from an old-style wrist altimeter.

3,500 meters. 11,480 feet.

If the suit AI was still working properly, the main chute would open automatically at 3,000 meters.

And even as the thought entered his mind, he was jerked hard as the main chute deployed. The rush of air diminished, and he found himself swaying gently under the larger canopy.

Now his problem was navigation. The holographic display should have shown him a representation of the ground below, allowing him to steer his parachute to the narrow cleft that was his target. But he had no hologram. He couldn’t navigate.

The mission instructions called for radio silence as he approached the ground. But he had to take a chance. Without some kind of help, he was going to smash into the razor-sharp rocks below in a totally uncontrolled crash. There would be little chance of survival.

He keyed his radio and made the emergency call that would let Ollie know he had lost navigation.

“Tango, Tango, Tango.”

He waited, scanning below him for any kind of light. Ollie would have a light that - hopefully - only Jim could see from his higher altitude.

There was no response.

“Tango, Tango, Tango,” he called again.

There! A flicker of light showed off to one side. Jim pulled his chute risers hard. If that was Ollie, then he was far off course. It wasn’t certain he could get back to the spot in time. The light flickered again, then shone steadily for ten seconds. Jim worked the parachute for all he was worth.

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