Sun, Sea and Physio! pt.1
01 Apr 2018LongDistanceClara
(Ridiculously tired as I write this one, so apologies if it's a mess! I'm pretty much just killing time until my poor creaky pc finishes compositing the Chieftain model - at which point I'll be able to start texturing it and THEN I can play around with some renders of atmospheric flight/landing on an ELW, yay!
For some reason it's taking absolutely ages this time though, so fingers crossed it finishes soon! Itmt, some random ramblings)-----
Freedom!
I am a trans-galactic tourist for once, and absolutely loving it! We're cruising through the Bleak Lands on the way up to Beagle, giving the Chieftain what is now our christening ritual; and for the first time - I'm not doing the flying! Which feels really weird, having the ship jump without me in the hot seat; but by the same token it's kinda fun being able to just gawk at stuff or do whatever while she eats up the light years
Sorry, got a bit ahead of myself there! I'll back up a bit
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After all the wonderful care (interspersed with bouts of ear-melting shrieking pain!), I was finally judged to be fit for release from the medical center. I've got a ton of rehab workout stuff to do, but I could think of far better places to do that than stuck in a station! So with the doc's blessing, I was set free. Hal and Coral met me at the dock and helped me hobble on board. I'm more or less in one piece but so weak! I like to think I keep myself in pretty good shape usually but my muscles are like jelly right now, after all the damage and atrophy. So I've got a bunch of physio stuff to do - and god bless him, the doc says if at all possible, swimming is a good way to ease back into it!
Oh go on then, if you insist
With Hal and Coral at the wheel and me strapped in my bunk, we headed off; and I just want to add on the record another HUGE thanks to the guys at Panacea Medical - they are bona fide miracle workers and although I hope I never have to visit again, I can't recommend them enough.
So - I do love a nice swim
That sounds like a perfect time to go back up to that magical little earth-like we found a while back! What with one thing and another, I hadn't been back since discovering it a few months ago and now sounded like a perfect time to check it out. Plus it was en route to Beagle, we could properly shakedown the Chief, so two birds one stone - head up there, stop off for some R&R for the crew and I could do my swimming/physio on the shores of a pristine sandy beach in the toasty tropics; then relax in the evenings with a cocktail or three on the back of the Chieftain, looking out over the ocean! Definitely beats doing laps of some creepy pool in the depths of a medical facility...A quick stop off to provision and refit before we headed out. Couple of things to do first; for one, the Chieftain needed a name. Originally we were going to go with Elsa, but the name didn't really fit with her feisty attitude (what with trying to cook us alive and screaming like a banshee when you hit the throttles!). Coral said we'd need a name that was more in keeping with her being such a wildcat - aaaand done. 'Wildcat'it is!
Next, we had to fumble around in storage to fit her out (which was easy enough) and decide on her loadout (which wasn't). She's a gorgeous looking ship and great fun to fly, but not ideal for deep space stuff; no luxuries like SLF's, hull repairs and if we wanted an AFM, we'd have to drop either shields or the SRV. Given that we'd probably try and sneak in some mapping of our private paradise while we were out there, we'd need the SRVs; and Coral was going to have to get some practice doing the neutron dance. So, out came the shields, in went the AFM.
Okey dokey! Last of all - a quick nip to a nearby tourist station for a bit of shopping (beachwear and suncream aren't exactly standard for most spacefarers!). I don't usually spend that much time on these swanky stations but I'll freely admit, they're very pretty and if you're looking to spoil yourself rotten, they're purpose built. RIGHT - all set! So long bubble, there's a tropical island out there with my name on it...
Hal did most of the flying but Coral ended up taking a few legs and despite making slightly close friends with a corona-sphere or two early on, the flight went pretty smoothly. I was still very sore so I was taking it fairly easy; doing a little exercise but for the most part, I was sat in my bunk dozing or sketching plans for the home I eventually wanted to build on our secret little ELW.
The Wildcat was doing just great; no hiccups and thankfully the guys had sorted out that heating glitch, so she wasn't a total sweatbox anymore. During the evenings, we'd get to talking about her and it was clear that Coral had some ideas about customizing the stock Lakon interior, once we made it back to civilization. Sounded fun and definitely something to look forward to! But first we had a date with some sun, sea and sand...
I'll not give away the location of our special little Earth-like which I had christened "Marimba" (seemed appropriate, given that I wanted to settle somewhere on a tropical beach!); all I'll say is, it's somewhere a few k north-east of the core and it's gorgeous. I've scanned literally hundreds of ELW's but it's taken me most of my life to finally find this perfect little gem, with all its environmental attributes "just so"! Anyway, after a couple of days, we finally arrived;
It's funny; folks will look at it and go "I don't get it - just another ELW?" - and it may look like that, but this one is special to me - it's the magic one, perfect temperature, gravity, atmosphere, periodicity, seasonal variation - just perfect. And it only took me about sixty-five thousand systems to find it!
As selfish as this was, I had to be the one to "take us in" for the first time, so with a lot of help (and even more laughing!), the guys managed to help me lurch up to the cockpit and drop into the pilot seat with all the grace and élan of a beached whale. I'll admit, I got a bit misty-eyed looking at this little blue jewel from high orbit;
We ran a fair few orbits, looking for good spots to set down, before finally deciding on a few islands that formed part of a chain a hundred kilometers or so off a large continent near the equator. Now came the fun bit! Taking a ship into atmosphere isn't that tricky but it's always a little exciting the first time in a new hull. The Wildcat is quite the feisty little thing and very maneuverable but that also means she could get thrown about a lot by any strong and unexpected turbulence lower down. Discretion definitely the better part of valor then!
I started the descent but a LOT slower than usual - we'd chew through a lot more fuel but I'd rather that than come in too hot! One thing about the 'Cat I will say that spooked me a little bit was when I fired up the retros and they blasted into life either side of the cockpit canopy - the flare is pretty blinding and after days in the dark of deep space, I've never wanted a pair of sunglasses so badly...
After a very long & careful descent, we were starting to move down through the upper edge of the cloud layer and I could get a glimpse of the landing site - the third island in the chain with a mountainous ridge running down its back. There looked to be a little weather moving in but the air was clear over the island itself and it looked very inviting, a lush little paradise floating in a beautiful azure ocean!
I'm a sucker for a bit of "me-time" on a beach and I'll be honest, it was pretty difficult concentrating on the flying and not dreaming about sunbathing as we dropped down towards the ocean. It didn't help to hear Coral getting all excited as she chattered away behind me about all the features of what would be our home for the next little while! Anyway, although I'd love to keep nattering about it all, I'd better save the rest for my next log as I'm pretty tired and can feel a nap coming on - seriously, the life of a pampered convalescent space tourist, it's hard you know?
I'll be saying "aloha" for now then
Wish you were here!