Tag: planet fall

Space Fall – Part Seven

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Back in the sky city of Pearl, the Aeron chief guild master Kaylim was interrogating the Kiron guild master Sybil.

“What do you know of Kimberley’s plan?”

Sybil sighed heavily, “I know as much about that as you do: she intends to seal the rift.”

“What about those two freemen who helped her to escape?”

“I know nothing about them.”

“I have a witness who says that you cleared them both for entry into the parliament, and also brought them into the parliament chamber,” Kaylim raised his voice, “Why did you let them in if you didn’t know anything about them?”

“Because I hoped they would protect Kimberley when the time came, and they did.”

“You fool!  I’m going to have to kill them now, as well as Kimberley. You have three deaths on your conscience now.”

“My conscience?  You don’t need to kill any of them. That is your choice and your responsibility.” Continue reading “Space Fall – Part Seven”

Space Fall – Part Six

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The triplane started moving slowly at first, then as the engine drank in the open throttle it started picking up speed.  At the end of the tunnel the soft yellow light of the sky got bigger, faster and faster.  The landing gear hovered off the ground, landing gear that included pontoons for sea landings.  Alfred had to make quick adjustments to avoid hitting the roof as the plan started to lift.

“Where in the asteroid belt did he learn to fly a triplane?” Cried an astonished Kimberley.

Harold laughed, “Red Baron 2037,” he answered simply.

The plane zipped out of the launching tube and into a sky filled with hot air balloons.  Alfred yawed, pitched, and banked to avoid colliding with them.  He was sloppy at first but within minutes started to show confidence in his handling of the aircraft.  From the gloftoons children could be seen pointing at them and making excited ‘o’ shapes with their mouths.  The city of Pearl was shrinking away much faster than it is appeared to them when travelling there earlier that morning.

“Ok, now we’re escaped, where do we need to get to, Kimberley?” Asked Alfred.

“We need to reach a Vegani settlement, they live on the ocean surface.  So fly down and look for one, preferably with a floating runway!  They have some big trading ships that can accommodate an aircraft like this one.” Continue reading “Space Fall – Part Six”

Space Fall – Part Five

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When the Kirons opened the spatial rift they chose to open it six kilometres above the surface of Proxima Minor.  They were fearful of it being too close to any place inhabited, but also they wanted to flood a specific area with water for the test.  The Oblique Plateau was a vast shallow depression on the surface of Proxima Minor with no settlements on it as yet, and thus it was perfect for creating a new sea using the water from Proxima Major. That was the plan at least.  When the spatial rift generator was activated a perfect circle with a diameter of several hundred metres across appeared in the sky and immediately the largest waterfall in history started to gush forth from seemingly nowhere.  The water fell six kilometres in a straight, almost clear, tube  downwards and pummelled the Proximian ground with seismic force.

Since the spatial rift was a tear in the fabric of space, it had no substance.  Looking at it sideways it was so perfectly flat that it simply could not be seen.  It was not like looking at a piece of paper from the side at eye level, one can still see the paper no matter how thin: One could not see the spatial rift looking at it side one, it was perfectly two dimensional.  There was merely a solid pillar of water pouring down below, and above a clear yellow Proximian sky.  The other side of the rift was a perfectly reflective surface, like a mirror.  However, while a mirror reflects visible light, this surface reflected all wavelengths of light, and with perfect efficiency.  With an ordinary mirror one can fire a laser at it and melt a hole through it.  With the upper surface of the spatial rift one could fire a laser at it and the laser would bounce off without any loss of heat in the process.  In fact, one could drop a bouncing ball and, if it were not for the atmosphere, the ball would never stop bouncing on the surface of the rift as there was no matter there for the energy of the ball to transfer to each time it bounced. Continue reading “Space Fall – Part Five”

Space Fall – Part Three

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The capsule screamed through the atmosphere tearing a perfectly straight orange gash into the Proximian sky.  When the capsule had slowed down sufficiently from the re-entry a series of parachutes ejected from it and each one slowed the capsule down progressively; until the last and biggest parachute opened which brought the capsule safely onto the surface of the infinite Proximian ocean.  There it bobbed gently on a perfectly blue ocean and a perfectly yellow sky.

Inside the capsule the three passengers were exhausted with the excitement of the dramatic re-entry experience.  The strange woman was the first to release herself from her harness and she sank to the baggage laden floor with a soft ‘wee’ sound.  Harold and Alfred decided they had better get themselves free and instead of gently falling to the floor with a fluid motion the pair flopped down like jelly dropped on concrete.  Groans of pain soon filled the cramped space inside the capsule.  The woman was the first to get up and she immediately opened the hatch.  Fresh, and surprisingly unsalty, sea air flooded the cabin. Continue reading “Space Fall – Part Three”