Reckless Rescue Read Online Free PDF Page A

to snap on his harness just before the artificial gravity failed. He stared at the blank consoles in front of him, his knuckles going white on the control stick, waiting for the pull that would tell him the manual controls had engaged.
    It didn’t come.
    The Hylista drifted toward the planet’s atmosphere, eerily quiet. The planet grew larger and larger, until it filled the entire view screen.
    The control column bucked in his hand. He let out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding.
    With one hand, he pulled back on the stick. With the other, he reached to turn the shield back on. He watched the console.
Come on, it has to work.
The green light indicating the shield flickered. It came on then went off again. Then came back on. Tyris watched it anxiously for a few more moments to be sure it remained green.
    He checked the altitude.
    His stomach rolled. He was dropping rapidly. It was too late to pull out of the dive.  The planet’s gravity was pulling him down. The fact that the shields would protect the Hylista in the event of a crash was small comfort. Landing on this planet in any form would be a disaster.
    The thought of the side effects of anysogen exposure spurred him to action. He initialised the rocket boosters, the only propulsion system on the ship capable of escaping the planet’s gravity. Though all systems indicated that they had fired, his descent didn’t slow.
    Shudders shook the Hylista as she hit the atmosphere. Gravity caught the ship and pulled it down, and he felt like someone had landed a colony ship on his chest. His altitude was dropping far too quickly. He pulled back on the control column desperately, hoping to force the Hylista to level out. Going down was inevitable. All he could do now was try to slow his descent and minimise the damage to his ship.
    There was a loud bang behind him, sparks showered over his head, and the power cut out again, along with his shields.
    Acrid smoke filled the cockpit. Tyris coughed, waving away the smoke billowing around him. Adrenalin coursed through his body. He thrust the control column back and forth, and smashed the console in front of him. Nothing responded. Panic rose in his chest, and he fought it down. He needed to stay calm.
    The smoke alarm sounded its strident call. Typical. He lost power to the entire ship, but the damn smoke alarm still worked. What did it take to kill those things?
    The power flicked back on with a hiss, but Tyris was too busy staring out the window to react. Below him, in a large clearing in the trees… was that… buildings? And to one side, towering over the buildings, was that some sort of
spaceship
?
    Then it disappeared below him, and Tyris shook his head. It must be an old settlement, remnants from twenty years ago. There couldn’t be people here now.
    Could there?
    The Hylista shuddered as it skimmed just above the tree tops. The smoke alarm still shrieked, and the smoke irritated his throat. Sparks flew as the power went out with one last, loud bang.
    Tyris’s hand clutched the small jade dolphin hanging around his neck, and he reached for the photograph taped to the console. Milandra smiled at him, oblivious to his distress, as always. His touch dislodged the picture, sending it fluttering to the floor as the ground rushed up to meet him.

    M ARLEE HOVERED IN THE DOORWAY to the village hall, scanning the room. There wasn’t a single person here that she wanted to talk to, but she had already tried staying home and avoiding everyone.
    Her mother’s visit had convinced her that wasn’t going to work. She couldn’t wait until the first snowstorm stopped them working outside. Or even for the rest day in two days. She would rather sit at home alone and knit and sew than gather here with everyone else and endure their sideways glances and subtle digs.
    She spotted her friend Jaimma and walked across to her. Jaimma gave her a sympathetic smile, and dropped Jaidin, her current partner’s hand to reach out to