Traveller - L.W. Samuelson (free e books to read online TXT) 📗

cone that would deflect the friction heat. The shield consisted of temperature resistant metal alloys with a coil meshing. These tubes were filled with circulating cryogenic fluid that further reduced the heat. The schematic showed the fluid circulating and the pod tilting to follow the correct trajectory angle for reentry.
Traveller could feel the ship slow as it left space. The atmospheric friction caused a sound resembling the wind howling. The vehicle seemed to momentarily stall as it adjusted to ever denser air particles. At 30,000 mezures above the land surface a hydraulic ram pushed the air glider back and the cone detached. A sleek white plane emerged from the pod. Two wings telescoped outward to catch the wind and buoy the craft. A rudder emerged along with two tail fins. When the turbulent air buffeted the plane, Traveller engaged the stabilizer bars to smooth the ride. Once it flew true, he pushed the lever down and descended.
The spectacular view took his breath. The sun was climbing just above the eastern horizon. A golden light bathed the evergreens that in some places dotted and in other places covered the mountains that reared up only to fall into the valley that stretched ahead. Patches of deciduous trees painted a bright yellow brought contrast to the green landscape.
The shipboard compass display indicated that Traveller was heading north when he first spotted a small settlement nestled against the mountains. A few hundred dwellings were connected by two travel tracks, a thin one running east to west with a wider one running south to north. The houses concentrated at the intersections to become sparser in all directions. There were very few to the south of the settlement where the mountains started, quite a few going east and west until the mountains loomed up again. To the north several houses dotted the landscape in the middle of circles and squares of browns and yellows.
Traveller glided over the settlement. I wonder what’s down there. Do they have aircraft? He looked north and watched terra-pods coming and going in both directions. In the distant north a heavy concentration of dwellings stretched for as far as Traveller could see. A smoky haze of pollution hung over the settlements. It reminded him of the pictures he had seen of his own planet.
Traveller elevated the glider, sped up to head north. The closer he got to the larger settlement the more travel pods there were. Again he spotted an intersection with four thick travel lines that ran in four directions. There to his amazement the pods came to a stop. They concentrated and sat. Sometimes those headed east and west would go; sometimes those headed north and south would go. Then sometimes the traffic would stop to allow the pods to turn left and right to resume their journeys in a different direction.
He became so engrossed in watching the traffic that he descended, pulled the lever to neutral, let up on the accelerator and hovered over the intersection. Now all the terra-pods stopped. Earthlings exited their vehicles to look up at his craft and point. More and more pods came from all directions to stop and watch his craft. Earthlings poured out of the buildings to look up with one hand held over their eyes. What did Porter say? Avoid contact until you’ve had time to assess the Earthlings and here I am right in the middle of them. When he realized his mistake, the glider was elevated straight up. When it gained enough height, the camouflage icon was pushed. He laughed at the Earthlings when the craft disappeared. Some rotated their heads while others scratched them. Laughter filled the cockpit when he saw how hopelessly knotted together the vehicles were. His laughter stopped suddenly. Some of the vehicles had blue smoke roiling out of the back end. They burn fossil fuels. That’s what destroyed Lemmus.
Traveller headed the ship eastward, following a main artery of traffic. The highway crossed a wide river. Just before the river several vehicles resembling his sat on a black surface.
The terrapods moved east and then north across a bridge until they came to a vein that curved around into a much larger pathway that stretched east and west. Here large transport vehicles roared across the landscape in both directions spewing dark vapors behind them.
Curious, the alien descended to see inside the vehicles. Most of them contained only one Earthling, two at most. They traveled with extreme speeds for ground vehicles. Some of the large vehicles were empty, most contained heavy loads. He could tell by the way they held to the travel path.
Traveller didn’t realize that his glider showed against the varied colored background. The outer skin of the vehicle took on the dominant color of the area surrounding it. The craft was too low to be blue. With so many other colors, his ship changed from color to color making it very visible to those below.
It wasn’t long before the traffic stopped. Earthlings stood on the side of the freeway pointing and talking to each other. The beings in the large transports stood in their doorways communicating on some device they held to their mouths.
The boy noticed a warning signal on the right half of his view screen. A flight vehicle was approaching from the west. He pulled back on the control lever and accelerated. The glider elevated at a seventy-five degree angle. When it reached ninety degrees the craft fell backward into a loop until it situated itself directly over the airplane that had come from the place by the river. The small two-seater continued on eastward zig zagging in an attempt to relocate Traveller’s craft.
More and more vehicles stopped on the travel way below. Another plane roared eastward from the settlement with yet another following close behind it. Afraid of being attacked, Traveller gained elevation until his craft blended into the blue. He turned southward and accelerated toward the snowcapped mountains. His screen indicated no pursuit vehicles.
Once again the young Benwarian followed a pathway leading into the mountains. It dissected a small settlement then carried on for four of five mezures before winding its way upward. The travel way twisted and turned through the steep terrain. He followed it south and then east again until it came to yet another small cluster of houses and buildings. When the road turned south again, Traveller followed it until it ended at the foot of the mountains. He followed the contour of the terrain as it elevated. A patch of evergreens started at the top of a ridge to form a ‘v’ downward. His glider went up and then over the v. He kept going toward the blue sky until the glider circled well above the highest peak. A small round building with a window all the way around it sat on top of the mountain. It looked like some kind of observation post.
A small dirt road emerged from the trees to intersect another larger dirt road that traveled the mountain ridge. The southward side of the ridge fell off abruptly. At its top several Earthlings were strapping themselves in to a winged contraption before they ran and jumped off the ridge. The wind caught the gliders with their colorful yellow and red wings and they shot skyward while the Earthlings hung in the air on a frame as they flew out over the valley below.
Curiosity and envy overcame the young alien. He descended to watch the three hang gliders as they soared out over the trees. The Benwarian became so engrossed as he watched the Earthlings fly that he soon found himself so close to them that they could actually see him in his spacecraft. One of them took a hand off the bar he was holding and waved what appeared to be a hello.
Traveller longed to fly with them, to be out of the confines of his ship. He could only imagine breathing real air in a real world, one with plants and animals that belonged there. He had only experienced the artificial environment provided by Ship.
One of the gliders banked to get a closer look at him. The earthling came with a few mezures of his clear view panels. The Earthling and the Benwarian stared at each other for a long time before Traveller became nervous. He banked away to the west, elevated and disappeared into the blue sky.
Traveller set a circular flight pattern above the mountains. He wanted to find a secluded place to land so he could get out and sample the planetary air. The ship’s sensors had already indicated that the atmosphere was compatible with his physiology. It hadn’t occurred to him that he didn’t know how to land. Lization! I have to think better if I’m going to survive. I’ll put the ship on autopilot. It won’t take long to do a VR simulation.
There were two ways to bring the ship down. In the first one the ship was placed in hover mode at low elevation. In the VR simulation Traveller then pressed the land icon and three thruster ports would open on the bottom of the ship. Three streams of hot air produced by the hydrogen engines would then decrease in velocity until the craft sat down ever so gently.
The second method was to make a wheeled landing without putting power to the engines. This required a smooth runway. Instead of ports, three wheels descended. In this method, Traveller would match the line of the craft to the correct landing angle. The glider would then coast to a stop.
Both methods had their advantages. The thruster landing could be used on rocky terrain or where no suitable runway existed. However, the air used to land the plane created a fire hazard and left tell tale burn marks. The thrusters also made a screaming noise as the craft moved downward.
The glider method was soundless. All power to the engines was cut. There was no heat so the craft could be landed on dry grass or on smooth terrain with flammable plants. Traveller envisioned using both methods. Gliding down to a suitable landing area, stopping the craft, and then engaging the thrusters to set down.
Although Traveller didn’t know it, late fall signaled a decreased use of the Sawtooth Recreational Area. Deer hunting season had ended; fishing season was over, and ski season didn’t start until late November. Only a few hikers, hang gliders, or mountain bikers used the area at this time of year.
Confident that he could land the craft, he now needed a secluded place to land. He circled back toward where he had last seen the hang gliders. When he brought the craft down until it was just above the trees, Traveller saw one of the Earthlings descending into what look like an opening. Flying over it, he saw the glider land behind a large dwelling. In front of the dark brown wooden structure was a deck. Several wide ribbons of brown grass led back up the mountain and away from the building. Up one of the swaths steel poles climbed the slope. They were attached by cables. The cables had what appeared to be chairs dangling from them. He followed the line of poles to find it end on the top of the mountain. A clearing contained an even smaller wooden structure with windows.
Traveller banked the plane right to go west until the trees ended. A large swath of grass clearing sat adjacent to the evergreens. A pair of tracks led into a cluster of trees that surrounded what looked like the fire pits he had read about in his ancient studies. He guided his glider back down the mountain and then back up it to follow the road into the cove. Descending to