Meltdown Ophilion - Book One

17_GLIMPSE

The small transport lay tilted on its left side against a boulder at the bottom of the cliff. Orion turned to look at Jenna. "That was some landing," he said seriously. "You can thank your stars you're alive."

Jenna nodded, gaining a fresh appreciation for her narrow escape.

Fel had already begun to inspect the damage. "Hey, take a look at this," he called. The rest of them came around to where Fel was crouched on the ground beside one of the grav-repellers. "The circuits are burned out," he motioned with his hand, "probably because of the wranth discharges, if they're big enough they can burn them out even from quite a distance; that's probably what happened. The newer systems have better isolation."

He stood up and walked to the rear to inspect the engine. "Engine looks good," he said after a few mecs, "we'll have to test it, but from out here it looks okay. The good news is that the repeller circuits aren't too hard to fix. Do you have a maintenance kit?"

"Yes, it's behind the back seats in the hold, but I've never actually used it. I don't know much about transports... or... any com-technology, really."

Fel pulled the box out of the hold and began looking through it. "These might do," he said, "probably have to recalibrate the power output though, could you do that, Celli?"

"Yeah. Let me know when you need me. I'll check the drive-com while you get started."

Orion helped Fel take the parts and tools around to the underside the transport. "Orion, see if you can open these lum-guages while I figure this out," Fel said.

"Com looks good," Celli called out from the control seat, "a few minor glitches," she said to herself, "but it looks like they were here from before." Celli wedged herself against the window as she worked in the tilted cockpit.

"Okay, Celli!" Fell called out after about ten minutes, "I think we got it; what does the com say?"

"Hold on... I think it'll work. Stand back just in case, I'm gonna start'em up." She pressed a few buttons and waited. A faint whirring sound came from the underside of the transport and the indicator light blinked blue. A satisfied look crossed Fel's face.

Suddenly a flash of sparks jumped out of the front left repeller and all the lights turned yellow. Fel and Orion jumped back. "Whoa! Whoa! Celli, shut it down!" Fel called. The lights went out and the motor slowed then stopped. Orion looked to Fel. He shrugged, "Let's try it again."

They worked for another twenty minutes. Jenna stood by feeling useless and amazed at the new development in her mission. She crashed her transport, but found her mission partners, a fair exchange. Maybe I've actually got a chance of accomplishing this mission, she thought.

When Fel was ready Celli punched in the commands again. Fel and Orion stood further back this time. The motor began to turn. The indicators blinked orange. Fel looked nervously at Orion. After a few seconds they turned blue. Fel exhaled but wasn't going to claim success so quickly this time. "How does it look in there, Celli?"

Celli crawled out of the control seat and joined the others as they stared at the now functioning grav-repellers. "Well," Fel said, "looks like we got it right this time. Let's try flipping it back down; either it'll work... or it won't."

The four of them heaved against the roof of the transport and slowly rolled it back into its proper position. It shuddered for a few mecs, but then settled and levitated half a relon above the ground as it was intended to. The four of them watched the transport, waiting to see if something else would happen. Jenna glanced at Fel. He shrugged. "Looks okay; except for the scratches, but as long as the mechanics and com are in order... I think we got ourselves a ride."