Nearly Complete Short Fiction by Theodore L. Thomas

Author:Theodore L. Thomas [Thomas, Theodore L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-08-28T16:00:00+00:00

Landfall on the planet Lipta took place without incident. The entire Section turned out to help Smithey unload and check his gear. The first item was Vehicle, Amphibious, Mapping and Surveying, M 96, abbreviated Vamas, and around it was placed all the auxiliary equipment. There was a small ceremony at the airlock as Smithey, amidst cheers and applause, took his last drink of whiskey and strode with shaking dignity down the ramp to the ground. It took a full day to tick off the items on the checklist, but it was finally done, and Smithey signed for all his equipment. He stood on a low hill and watched the ship take off a mile away. Then he turned to get to work, his step wobbling, his hands trembling, and his head beginning to ache.

There was a week of work to be done before he could start the map-making procedure. Gyroscopes needed calibration, electronic pendulums had to be zeroed, circuits had to be tuned. Smithey used what was left of the first day in packing and storing some of the equipment, placing miniature components in their tiny niches. After dark he tested his marker beam by making contact with the fast-receding ship. He could not eat food that first night, and his hands began to shake so violently he had to stop work. He lay down in the sack out in the open, but he could not sleep. He dozed and tossed and turned and fought off hideous nightmares. Frequently he got up and walked about for a few moments in the chill night air. His breath gurgled in his throat, but other than that he made no sound. He fought his battle in dogged silence.

He forced himself to eat some food at dawn, but he threw it up. He finished stowing the gear, and ate one swallow of food. He checked out the reactor motor of Vamas, and ate one swallow of food. All day he worked, checking and resting, and eating his occasional swallow of food. His head ached fearfully and there were times when his body tremors became wild gyrations. He did not sleep the second night, either, and on the third day there were times when he fell down from exhaustion. But larger quantities of food were staying on his stomach, and his muscles, aching and tired as they were, began to behave in a more normal fashion. The third night he lapsed into a deep and dreamless sleep, and when he awoke the headache was gone. He knew he was beginning to throw off the effects of the six-month bender.

Now that his mind and body were beginning to function, Smithey took up the delicate task of calibrating his surveying instruments. The vast plain on which he had been landed served as an excellent checking area. Smithey carefully donned his control belt with its intricate array of dials, knobs, and switches, and preliminarily ran Vamas back and forth over the terraine. He strapped onto his shoulders the transit helmet and laid out a rough equilateral triangle a mile on a side.

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