All-Patron Reward: Early Draft of Castaway Peril, Chapters 52-53

As noted previously, the original title for what became Castaway Resolution was Castaway Peril, and dealing with hard-edged science is always  a danger. The models and sites I had accessed gave me a particular view of what would happen towards the end -- a view that turned out to be quite wrong and in need of correction. 

But it took several chapters before even my beta readers were able to recognize it and start helping me figure out where I was going wrong. So we continue, here, with another section of the Castaway books that wasn't... but could have been..

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Chapter 52.

"WHIPS! WHIPS, NO!"

Sakura felt as though her throat was tearing, her own shriek piercing her ears, seeing that hideous implacable wall bearing down on them at a speed she couldn't even imagine.

But she also knew that it was too late for screams or pleading. I have to hold us steady, somehow. Have to get us out of this. How? How?

"Holy Mother of God," breathed Campbell.

Radar screamed insanity at her, sonar's waves compressed to nothing in the face of the oncoming shockwave, an eight hundred sixty meter wedge of water seventy and more kilometers wide and uncounted meters high streaking towards them with the speed of a combat jet.

It will be like hitting a wall! We're dead!her brain screamed at her, and she thought it was right, but then she thought not, that maybe there was one insane chance, as a leading wave, a tiny thing, eighty meters high at the outside, roared towards them in silence.

She spun Emerald Maui away from the oncoming cataclysm, ignoring what that might do, might have already done, to her best and most beloved friend, commanding the fragments of smart alloy on each side to become stubby, streamlined wings, reshaping the tail, made sure the protective shutters were locked shut, and kicked Emerald Maui to full drive. "HOLD ON!"

LS-88's rear engine roared a challenge to all of Lincoln, kicked the ship forward across the water like a skipping stone. Each skip went longer, higher, and suddenly Sakura felt the rear of Emerald Maui lifting. The air was compressed ahead of the wave, unable to entirely get out of the way. For a split second, Emerald Maui was clear of the water entirely.

With a prayer, Sakura touched a control she'd never thought they'd need.

Emerald Maui lunged skyward with absolute force as her rear rockets bellowed. Sakura felt the ship accelerating even more than the engine and rockets could manage and knew that – for better or worse – she'd been right. The air before the wave was itself almost a solid thing, and it was now tearing at them, dragging them forward. Her vision was darkening, she couldn't imagine the level of acceleration they had attained, something sped by below them, that's the first wave, oh, God…

And then the main wave hit.

Chapter 53.

In the last few hectic seconds, Campbell grasped what Sakura was trying, and he nearly laughed aloud because of the sheer audacityof it, the kind of brilliant insanity that would probably get them killed… but might just give them a one-in-a-million chance to survive. To use the jets and rockets, get going fast enough with the assist of the hypersonic pressure wave riding ahead of the wave to maybe, just maybe, not get absolutely crushed by the acceleration of air and water when it hit them.

And they were actually airborne, and Campbell did laugh then – although the massive acceleration, five g's, six, more – turned it to an appreciative gurgle. God-damn that girl's got it. Hot Pilot Kimei riding this one straight to Hell –

A sledgehammer the size of a mountain struck Emerald Mauifrom the rear, and Campbell blacked out, wondering if this was it.

But consciousness returned, slowly, wracked with pain, but returned. Alive – for now – but what's the situation?

The others were still out, heads held by the restraints but mouths slack. Sakura's hands, to his astonishment, were still gripping the stick, and there was a high, insistent screaming from outside the ship. Air. We're still in the goddamn air? Or maybe again we're in the air?

"Saki," he coughed out, then tried again. "Sakura Kimei!"

She stirred, Emerald Maui trembled. The front screen flickered, and showed a flat image; the rear camera, and one of the forward cameras, had been torn away. But that one camera was enough to show an incredible view.

Emerald Maui was hurtling through the sky, her engine still thundering uninterrupted as, below them, the rear of the great wave drew away into the distance, a third wave – perhaps half the size of the larger – following, with a succession of others behind. At this height traces of cloud were whipping by as they looked upon the monstrous wave from a mere two or three hundred meters above its crest.

"Omigod omigod omigod omigod what do I do?" Sakura said, almost babbling, as Emerald Maui wobbled dangerously.

"Just keep doin' what you were doin', Sakura," Campbell said. "Hold the stick steady. You got wings – little tiny ones, but wings. You got yourself a good tail to keep you trim. Rockets're burned out, but you got an engine that somehow kept on crankin' even when the wave hit us."

Sakura was breathing fast and hard, but he heard her pause, start trying to control the breaths as he talked to her calmly, clearly. "That's it, Saki. Calm. You're doin' great. Fantastic. Just keep it together for this last run and we're home-free."

There were others stirring, awakening to see the unbelievable sight. There were gasps, curses, and – from Laura Kimei – a proud chuckle. "That's my girl," she said quietly.

"That she is."

"What happened?" Francisco asked. "What did Saki do, why did it hurt so much?"

Sakura didn't answer – clearly now focused on keeping Emerald Maui going straight and level as it slowly began to lose altitude.

"She saved our bacon, that's what she did," Campbell answered after a moment. "Saw how fast that thing was comin' on, realized the acceleration or impact from the air shockwave ahead of it alone might kill us, even if we stayed on the surface an' didn't end up goin' a hundred meters under. So she tried to get a jump on it, make it so's the wave'd be trying to shove us forward at a few hundred kilometers per hour instead of faster'n a speeding bullet. Hit the engine and the main rockets – meant for that last bit o' delta-V you need to make an' lock down your orbit on launch – an' rode the shockwave forward. Gave us little stubby wings like a hypersonic missile, too."

"But the wave, it did catch us anyway," Tavana said. "What happened then?"

Campbell chuckled. "Doubt we can say for sure. Best guess? We were already goin' up when we got hit, so I think what happened is the wave basically pushed around and past us, still speedin' us up, and before we quite got crushed we popped out the back side of the wave, movin' along at multiple Mach, an' Saki somehow kept enough of a grip on the controls so we didn't just crash down."

"We're dropping now, Sergeant," Sakura said, not sounding exactly calm but at least in control. "We can't keep up the speed needed to fly with these stupid little wings. What do I do?"

Campbell grinned. "Hold her steady as she goes for now."

Then he unstrapped.

"Sergeant –" Laura began.

"Didn't have time to do this before, but we've got a few minutes, and I actually practiced a crashland once or twice," he said. "You wanna put Saki in the hot seat trying to pull off anothermiracle?"

"Please no!" Sakura said emphatically. "Sergeant, get up here and take over!"

"Coming." In a few moments, he was next to her, holding tight to one of the braces near the control position, ignoring the swiftly-moving waterscape outside. "I'm right here, Saki. Ready for me to take the stick?"

"Can you, from there?"

"Sure can." He reached out, placed his hand on the control as lightly as a feather, slowly got his grip on it as she released it. There was only a minor wobble. "See? Easy as pie. Unstrap and let me sit down."

Sakura released her harness and got unsteadily to her feet. The ship shuddered and bounced in a moment of turbulence, but she managed to move to the empty acceleration couch and strap in.

Easing himself into the seat and strapping in one-handed while he kept Emerald Maui on the straight-and-level was no picnic. At one point he had to switch arms in order to make sure all of him got properly secured. Unfortunately there was no way the autopilot could handle this situation. It might could have if Emerald Maui had been in perfect condition, but in the shape it was in? Honestly, Campbell wasn't sure hecould handle it.

Except for the fact that he had to. Pearce, the boys, the Kimeis – they were all counting on him. They were his responsibility, and damned if he'd let them down now, after everything they'd been through.

He spared a few thoughts for Whips. Had the boy survived that? Could he have survived it? Campbell couldn't be sure, but maybe. Unlike the Emerald Maui, Harratrer of Europa was built for water, and when breathing water he'd have almost nothing compressible in his body. He could survive dives to the very bottom of Europa's ocean – which was equal to ten kilometers of depth here. He couldn't dive to the bottom of Lincoln's ocean… but he could probably survive being under even the entire height of that monster wave… as long as the acceleration, and whatever junk might be mixed up in the wave, didn't get him.

But the real job here was to land Emerald Maui one last time. Descent speed… forward speed…  he tested the controls. Mushy. Not surprising. Little wings like that ain't good for much once you drop below sonic speeds, and we've hit that point. Still better'n nothing. "Tav, Maddox, if you remove the safeties on the wing deformation, can we squeeze any more area out of 'em? I don't need wings to last years, but if I can get wings to last an hour that'll be way more than enough."

"We will see."

"You got a couple minutes before it gets critical, but not more'n that. This thing's turnin' into a streamlined brick pretty fast."

A few moments passed quietly. Then he heard Maddox say "That! That's got it!"

"Oui, Sergeant. We still can't make her a glider, but here, we will extend them as far as structural says is possible. Factor of two, instead of the much higher factor built in."

Sure enough, Emerald Maui stabilized, and the descent rate went from we're totally screwedto this is gonna hurt, which was, all things considered, a vast improvement. "Good work, boys. Everyone check your straps one more time. I'm takin' her down, and there won't be any second-guessing."

After a few more moments, Laura reported, "All strapped in and secure. Fingers crossed, Sergeant."

"As my dad said, cross everything you got two of," Campbell said. "Ready, Captain?"

"This is your show, Sergeant. Take us down."

"Yessir."

He dove, now, increasing speed a bit so he could take a flat approach with more control. The big waves finally disappeared, but the surface looks… damn. Looks like a boiling pot, or something bein' shaken from all directions. Wonder what's up with that? Turbulence from something that huge passing over? Some kind of interaction with the underlying geology? Whatever it is, it's gonna make this landing just peachy to do.

Still, it wasn't building-high waves moving at jet-plane speeds, so he figured he should count his blessings. "We're going in. I'd say hold your breath, but that ain't a good idea. Try to stay relaxed and calm, stupid as that sounds – but bein' relaxed helps. That's why drunks often walk away from crashes that kill other folks."

"I appreciate the advice," Laura said. "And it makes sense. Excuse me, everyone, but you're relaxing whether you think you can or not."

Ha! Medical nanos to assure they don't tighten up an' maybe help themselves to more trouble. Lot better'n faster than trying to get everyone drunk, which we don't have time for. "Don't dope me up, though, Ma'am."

"No fear, Sergeant," she said, her own voice coming a bit slower and lazier. "You'll have to do that on your own."

"Sure, just completely at ease here."

The waves were fifty meters below, whipping past like old-style fenceposts. Look almost like a checkerboard pattern. Interference waves? Wish we could study this, don't think anyone's ever had a chance to watch this kind of event. Hope Sherlock's got all cameras on record – this is a once in a hundred lifetimes chance.

He banked Emerald Maui slightly, aiming to take a diagonal on the checkerboard. If he could hit the intersections there might be some guidance from the water ridges on either side. Who knew? No one'd ever done this before, that was for sure.

Twenty meters, and he took a deep breath. "Goin' down, folks. One way or another, it'll be finished soon."

Ten meters. He got ready to flare her up, hopefully to skip instead of put the nose into the water. If that happened, well, only the devil's own luck was going to save them, and they'd been depending on that way too much.

Five meters. Four. Three, two, one –

WHUD!

Emerald Maui smacked the water – and bounced, just as Campbell had hoped. The impact stole some speed, but not much. The ship rose up, two, three, four meters, five, then came down again as he pulled up on the stick, WHAM!, and again she bounced, only up four meters this time, THUD THUD as the shuttle bounced off of two wave crests and wobbled. One wingtip dipped into the water and Campbell fought hard, barely brought her level again and then it was too late –

The impact smashed him forward against the restraints, and somewhere in the rear cargo area something broke free, rammed into the wall with the sound of Thor's hammer striking an anvil, and the camera view dimmed, Emerald Maui slewed sideways, then rolled, rattling over waves…

And slowed, rocking upright, skidding through the water, throwing up a fountain of water… and coming to a halt.

Emerald Maui rocked slowly in the waves, and Campbell gradually released the deathgrip he had on the control stick.

"Crew," he said, "Seems we're alive to face the next disaster after all!"