Survival Instinct: Chapter 2: Contacts
02 Jul 2017Andrew Linton
Kit saw a contact indicating manufactured materials. He drove towards it, setting his scanner to long range to get an early indication of what he was approaching. A red defensive perimeter appeared on the screen and Kit slowed down.He was startled when two sentry skimmers rose rapidly before him, the green light of their scanners probing all around. He scanned them in turn and saw that they were both 'wanted'. He felt no compunction about activating the turret of his SRV, distributing power equally between systems and weapons, and gunning them down. Only then did he remember that he was supposed to be looking after his vehicle. Fortunately no damage had been done.
He edged forwards to see what the skimmers were protecting. It was the mangled wreck of a Hauler. Jagged metal jutted from the ground and debris was scattered all about. Among the mess, which it always saddened Kit to see, there was a canister of gold and one of bertrandite and, lying a little apart, there was an occupied escape pod. Without hesitation Kit scooped up the pod, wondering what story the pilot might have to tell when they were revived. Then went back for the gold – it would go some small way to buying his next ship.
After retracting the cargo scoop, Kit turned southwards again and resumed the journey.
Soon afterwards there was a ship contact. Kit applied the handbrake, activated the turret, and scanned the skies. It was a Viper of the System Defence Force and it appeared to be flying in a small circle about three kilometres away. He raced towards it, thinking that he could ask for help. Then he noticed that there was another ground contact up ahead. Again he saw the defensive perimeter in the HUD and it became clear that the Viper was there as backup for the skimmers. There must be something very precious – or more likely highly illegal – at the site.
It was now that Kit discovered his radio wasn't working; it seemed it could receive but not transmit. He had hoped to contact the pilot to report the theft of his ship and ask for assistance, but that didn't look like an option now; he really was alone. Undaunted and resolute, Kit skirted around the site and continued southwards.
After that he saw many small ground contacts and many ships flying overhead. He decided only to investigate the contacts that fell within a small arc ahead of him; he didn't want to waste time and resources by deviating from his course. But when a ship came within range he always stopped and scanned it. There was a constant threat of piracy so Kit needed to assess the risk from each one.
Mostly people were about their business, flying alone or in small wings. Nobody seemed to notice him or bother about him if they did. There was one ship, though, that troubled him. He could see it ahead of him and it was approaching fast. The contacts panel was empty. Kit tried to target the ship from the turret but could not get a lock. He waited for what might happen.
The ship held its course and passed directly over the scarab. Kit realised that the pilot must have selected silent running, which meant one of two things; either the commander was fearful of attack by pirates, or they were wanted to go undetected because they themselves were up to mischief.
After driving for a couple of hours, Kit rested. He opened the system map and selected the planetary view for Colonia 2 A.
He was at 87 degrees north and it was dispiriting to see the short distance he had come and how far there was still to go. It reminded him of looking at the galaxy map when he made his epic journey to Jaques Station in a Sidewinder. The Outlander Challenge it was called and Kit was only the fourth pilot to have completed the voyage.
At that time he had resolved not to look at the galaxy map except to plot the route for the next kylie or to navigate around fields of non-scoopable stars. But now he was more mature and knew that with care and patience he would cover the ground. He had learnt that the answer to the question: how do you get to Beagle Point? was: one jump at a time.
Kit drove for two more hours before resting. Towards the end of that time a very strong signal appeared on the scanner. It was away to the west but Kit thought it might be worth the diversion. The landscape was rugged here; ridges of hills twenty metres high crossed his path. If he tried to travel at any speed there was a risk of becoming airborne and Kit was not yet practiced at flying in the SRV. Time to develop that skill, he thought.
Tentatively, he held down the vertical thrust control until he was four metres above the ground. He promptly crashed, and realised that that both pitch and roll controls were rigged incorrectly. He fixed this and tried again as he approached the next ridge. He kept applying thrust and found that he reached the summit of the ridge and gently bounced the wheels on the ground before making a controlled descent on the other side. He was delighted and repeated this action over the range of hills before him.
The next technique he learnt, when the wheels were on the ground, was to push the flight-stick hard forward as he crested a ridge at speed. This allowed him to see clearly what lay ahead and guided his next action.
The contact signal was getting stronger and was narrowing on the display. The hills came to an end and a wide plain stretched away to the west. At the edge of the plain Kit saw four huge black buildings. Surely he could get some help here.
As he approached he saw the gun emplacements, the sentry drones, and the defensive perimeter; if buildings could speak, this one was saying "Go away!". Kit drove around it for a while, hoping to attract someone's attention, but eventually he tired of doing that and, resigned to continuing his endeavour, he turned away.
At least the plain Kit was now on extended a long way to the south. and he decided to make full use of it. With the throttle at maximum the scarab reached thirty-five metres per second on the flat terrain. This was joyful relief after the recent struggle through the hills. It was easy to dodge around the scattered boulders and jump over the ones he didn't see until the last moment.
A huge crater appeared quite suddenly in front of him. Previously he would have slowed to drive through it, or round it. Now, he flew exuberantly over it and touched the wheels gently on the far side and with a slight bounce of the suspension he pressed on.
A dark smudge appeared on the horizon long before the scanner picked up any contact. It wasn't out of the way so Kit approached cautiously. It looked like smoke and that's exactly what it was – thick, black smoke. He was looking at the smoking wreck of what looked like a Diamondback, but whether it was an Explorer or a Scout he couldn't tell.
The ship had clearly dived out of control and ploughed deep into the regolith creating its own rough impact crater. Kit's first thought was for any survivors. The fire couldn't be very old – the moon had no atmosphere so any combustion was using up whatever oxygen was available on the ship itself. The closer he looked the sooner he came to the conclusion that there were no survivors. The flames and smoke had engulfed the whole ship. Even if the pilot was wearing his Remlok, the heat of the fire would have been too much.
Reluctantly, Kit resumed the journey.
But he was tired now and needed a break. A few kilometres south of the wrecked Diamondback he took a meal and closed his eyes. To his surprise he could still see the landscape rushing towards him; through persistence of vision it was as though his memory was replaying the journey he had just made. It took a full ten minutes for the sensation to subside after which he fell into a fitful sleep.