Starstrike: Task Force Mars by Douglas; Dockery Niles

Author:Douglas; Dockery Niles
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Kidnapping, High Tech, Science Fiction, General, United States, Space Warfare, Mars (Planet), Human-Alien Encounters, Adventure, Thrillers, fiction
ISBN: 9780345490414
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group, proof and convertion from html to epub by DC-SLZ
Published: 2012-01-14T21:53:05+00:00

“We’re cruising at almost a thousand kph if I’m translating this indicator correctly,” Falco said with a low whistle. “Even if I got the units wrong, from what the consul told me, we are pretty much hauling ass no matter how you measure it.”

“And you can hardly feel it,” Jackson acknowledged.

Indeed, the jet transport sliced through the air so cleanly that it was only the sight of the ground flashing past that confirmed to the SEALS their incredible speed. The few tremendously tall trees provided a good benchmark as they jutted a hundred meters or more above the general forest canopy. They came into sight, whipped past, and vanished very quickly as the aircraft roared along at 500 to 1,000 meters of altitude. They flashed above some stretches of boggy marsh and crossed over one of the narrow serpentine seas they had observed from space.

Jackson gawked at the sight of a massive, coiling creature—a genuine sea serpent—sinuously working its way through those waters. He was very glad they weren’t traveling by small boat. They saw great flocks of birds rising from the marsh, some of which looked to be the size of small airplanes. The avian creatures were clearly spooked by the sound of the aircraft’s approach and had the good sense to stay out of their way.

“We are coming up on Batuu City,” Consul Char-Kane noted, looking forward.

The sprawling swath of the planet’s metropolis—the only civilized area on this world if the Shamani woman’s estimate was accurate—was so white, so purely reflective, that Jackson found himself squinting as they approached the great city. Though still a hundred kilometers away, it dominated the horizon like a small continent, stark and clean against the pure green that outlined the rest of the verdant planet.

“What about security?” the officer asked. “Will there likely be some kind of radio signal we have to countersign?”

“I think it is most likely we will be pulled in on an automated flight path. These craft move too quickly for manned posts to control the dense flight patterns over populated areas. If we relinquish the controls, the aircraft will be taken to one of the military landing sites around the city. These will typically be small posts, with landing zones on top of the tall buildings. Once there, of course, we will have to see what develops.”

“I’d like to see if there is some kind of communications center—someplace where we can try to broadcast a message to the Pegasus—even if the consul thinks it’s a long shot,” Jackson declared, thinking aloud. His eyes swept the landscape below, where the tall trees of the jungle at last had been left behind. “If we strike out, we’ll have to scout the spaceport and make a plan to steal a ship.” If the first option was a long shot, he didn’t even want to think about their chances of implementing the backup plan.

The outer band around the city, he now saw, was a swath of fields, ponds, and orchards at least a hundred kilometers across.

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