Chapter 10

Dear Jim,

This morning we all got this message on our pads:

Cluster 6 was successfully deployed last week. After wrapping things up on the Zephyrus the doctors will therefore be deployed to the surface. Please keep clear of the coordinates below until all pods have arrived. From now on only a skeleton crew will remain aboard the Zephyrus. Personnel will be exchanged regularly.

Around noon we were alerted again to expect the arrival of the doctors any time now. Soon we could make out the glowing hull of a pod high up in the blue sky. It was visible even in the bright midday sun. Then the parachute opened, which slowed the falling pod abruptly.

During the descent, something suddenly went terribly wrong. The pod started to tumble. The parachute seemed not to be properly inflated anymore. Barbara gasped and jumped up from the stairs. The pod was not far from the ground; moments later, some of the parachute ropes must have snapped or come loose from the pod, rendering them useless. The parachute was now streaming behind the pod like an orange flag: the pod was in free fall.

Seconds later there was a loud 'THUMP!' and a dust cloud rose into the air. Barbara let out a little shriek. I had to close my eyes for a second. Then we jumped up and started running. In the high grass we were slower than we wanted to be. With her longer legs, Barbara was soon far ahead of me.

When I arrived, Gerald and Ryker were already there. Mr Pollak was coming towards us at an awkward jog, and Arthur and Maia were right behind us. The dust cloud was still settling, but we could already see the doctors' pod in the center of a small crater in the ground. The legs of the pod had failed to extend to lift it up from the ground and the door had apparently not unsealed itself. The parachute covered most of the hull.

Our dear Cluster Coordinator Mr Pollak waved his arms.

'Well, do something!' he shouted at us helplessly.

This was not at all necessary, as Arthur was already trying to climb up on the pod and finish uncoupling the parachute to get it out of the way. Unfortunately I could not stop him in time. He soon discovered on his own that the hull was still very hot from its descent through the planet's atmosphere. Arthur screamed and clutched his hand in pain. Ryker ran to him to check if there was anything a dog could do to help.

Maia had brought an emergency med pack which was originally meant to treat the doctors in the pod in case they were injured, but now needed to be used on her husband. Meanwhile, Gerald also stepped closer to the pod, but after what had happened to Arthur he stayed a few steps away from the hull. He turned around to me.

'Can you tell where the door is?' Gerald asked me.

I frowned, then slowly walked around the pod, looking at the hull. To the untrained eye it looked completely uniform, but I was sure I could find the place. When I reached the parachute, Gerald helped me by holding it up with his arms. As I am much smaller than he is, it was like being in a tent. After a few meters I stopped and stepped closer to the hull. In the orange light under the parachute I could see fine lines in the hull, which was still emitting heat.

'I think it is here, but I will have to get my tools,' I told Gerald.

He nodded and it was obvious that his arms hurt from holding them up. When we emerged from under the cloth, all the others of our little community had already arrived. Candy's camera drones were buzzing through the air. Today she had rainbow hair and bubblegum pink lipstick. As usual Dough was close-by, looking bored and waiting for his sister's orders. I did not linger but ran home as fast as I could, disturbing various critters, which fled from me through the tall grass.

When I returned, Laszlo was already up on a ladder and cut the remaining ropes of the parachute from the pod with a large knife from his tool belt. Then, everyone helped to drag it away from the pod – except for Arthur, whom Maia had sat under a tree. He was ordered to stay there and keep a cold pack on his hand. Ryker kept him company, which at least meant that nobody would fall over him.

I felt slightly uncomfortable as the others formed a half-circle around me and watched as I rummaged in my tool box. I felt even more uncomfortable when Candy stepped closer so she could be in the picture with me, but I did not fulfill her wish to comment about what exactly I was doing. I found the meta-wrench in my box and found the door's locks. I modulated the frequency several times but they would not budge. I know I should have been worried about the occupants of the pod, but I mostly felt embarrassed for not managing to do my work.

Suddenly I heard steps behind me and then felt a large, rather heavy hand on my shoulder. I turned slowly and looked up into Laszlo's kind eyes. He nodded at me reassuringly, then gently pushed me to the side.

'I think they must have deformed on impact,' I mumbled as an excuse.

Laszlo took a large hammer and a chisel from his tool belt and started to work on the narrow gap around the door with heavy blows. I packed up my tools and moved further away, feeling quite useless. The clangs of Laszlo's hammer sounded across the land. I sat down in the high grass, opened a bottle of water which I had brought with me and waited to see if I was still needed.

After a while the sound of the hammer subsided. Someone called for Nisha and asked if there was anything in her chemistry lab which could help. Someone else asked whether anyone could hear noises from inside the pod. Everyone went quiet for a few seconds.

It seemed like they heard nothing, so for a few minutes the clanging continued. I turned around when I heard Nisha coming back. She was carrying a small box in front of her chest and was obviously very careful not to shake it too much while walking.

Nisha put the box gently on the ground and opened it. As everyone was blocking my view, I could not see what was inside it. I walked around the others, who were still grouped around the pod door. I found an opening between Peter and Susana. When he noticed my presence, Peter let me through to the front so I could see.

Nisha put on her safety glasses and took several containers out of the box. She mixed a few chemicals, producing a green and gooey mass. This she carefully put on the places where Laszlo's work had managed to damage the hull. Then, she told us all to step back, which we did. This caused me to stumble against Peter and Susana. Fortunately they caught me before I could actually fall. I therefore missed what exactly had happened, but there were several loud bangs. Startled birds fluttered from a nearby tree and flew high in the sky, screeching loudly.

That was the outer hull taken care of. The actual door of the pod was now visible about half a meter off the ground. Nisha was still taking off her safety glasses when Loreley let out a little shout and pointed at the door of the pod. We saw a face behind the small round window in the door. We couldn't tell who it was. They were thumping their fist against the door, which obviously did not open from the inside.

Laszlo, who seemed to have taken command over this undertaking, beckoned me to come over again. It took me only a few minutes to loosen the mounts around the door, but I had to get Laszlo's help to reach the ones at the top. In the end Laszlo and Gerald pushed the door open together.

Seconds later they helped out a woman in a blue-striped medical uniform. I noticed she was the grey-haired doctor I had seen back on the ship. She had a wound on her head and had obviously hurt her foot. I quickly gathered my tools and retreated away from the door again.

'Frode, he's still in there,' I heard the woman say weakly.

The woman was sat down in the grass and immediately Maia went to her with her emergency med pack. Loreley joined her and Mr Pollak pushed everyone aside to seem busy and important. He introduced himself loudly to the injured woman. A second later he was joined by Crystal, who talked at the poor doctor without any regard for her situation.

Laszlo, Gerald and Tom meanwhile went into the pod to look for its second occupant. We could hear sounds from inside of the pod, like the three men were moving large things. Then, there was a scream of pain. I could not tell which of the men had cried out. Soon Gerald appeared, hurriedly jumping out of the door, then waiting beside it nervously. Behind him came Tom, carrying a man by his shoulders. He was also wearing a blue-striped uniform and looked not much older than me. His dark-blonde hair was sweaty and sticking up in all directions and he appeared to be unconscious.

After Tom followed Laszlo, who carried the man's legs, and Gerald helped them to get out of the pod and down to the ground. Only then could we see the state of the man's right leg. There were exclamations of dismay as people saw how badly he was hurt. There was lots of blood. I can't and won't describe it in more detail: I still feel sick just thinking about it. I saw Candy approach the man: she ran away and threw up in the grass. There were calls for a stretcher: people were running around in all directions. I suddenly felt very dizzy. If Peter hadn't helped me sit down, I am sure I would have just fallen into the grass like a log.

When I got to my senses again I was leaning against the tree next to Ryker and Arthur, who explained that he wasn't very useful with his burnt hand. The others told him to watch me. He offered me a bottle of water. Ryker had his head in my lap and wagged his tail when I stroked him. Most of the others had left by now and both of the doctors had been moved somewhere else. I could see Laszlo was carrying a crate out of the pod and Barbara and Peter opened it to search for something. When I felt well enough to get up they were just heading off, giving me a short wave on the way.

Arthur, Ryker and I went in search of the others and found them at the meeting place. I heard that there seemed to be some kind of operation taking place in the tent and we should all stay back. Then we noticed that a shuttle approaching from across the plains. This was a surprise, because as you know we only have two of those and they are only used in emergencies. This had to mean that things were grave.

Arthur and I watched the shuttle land at the meeting place. Two people in blue-striped uniforms came out. They hurried into the tent, carrying suitcases. It was at this point that I decided to go home and get some rest. I am sure I will find out more tomorrow.

Love
Sarah

Tavaron

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