Cascade

14 - Countermeasures

14 - Countermeasures

Just as before, the slip to their destination had been uneventful, and all but instantaneous. Their location of the proper landing zone was likewise, fairly simple, since a large majority of Silva was farmland, and only a few major cities existed.

It was no difficult matter to locate the capitol. It was the only city large enough to handle the most exports. Everyone knew Silva was the food world of the system, and Cornucopia was the food capitol of Silva. If one person wanted to have the largest affect on the greatest supply of food, they would be there.

Claire began the re-entry sequence once their trajectory had been set.

“So there’s one thing I don’t get.” Jordan said.

“Only one thing?”

He gave Melissa a glare.

“What’s that?” Claire asked.

“If you all are supposed to be ultra-dangerous hyper-freaks, why don’t you all have the ability to heal anything, and have super strength, and all that?”

“It’s not quite that simple.” Claire said.

“Some of us couldn’t have been given the ability to heal quickly. Melissa can’t have an overactive immune system due to the number of bionic implants she has. Alice only has so much tissue capable of healing. Kayden was given certain cells that can’t be replaced, so regeneration would have actually made him weaker.

“Some of us didn’t need it. Harper, for instance, wasn’t designed to survive harsh environments because he would never need to enter them. Likewise, Amelia didn’t need enhanced strength to eliminate communication. It’s not like her mission was to rip out a bunch of phone lines.”

“I, on the other hand, needed to endure several minutes in direct sunlight from a sun that took up well near half the sky. Giving me partially ceramic skin would have helped, but it wouldn’t have protected my eyes from exposure, my lungs from gas, dust, debris, etcetera. Plus, I would have stood out like a cactus wearing a scarf. I needed to be able to blend in to the crowd, and become just another refugee fleeing for their lives.”

Jordan remained in thought for a moment.

“So you guys knew exactly what you were going to do years before you even set foot on your designated planet?” He asked.

“Dr. Luray knew how he was going to destroy civilization for half of his life. He just needed to manipulate eight children for most of their lives to do it for him.” Claire said.

The ship rattled and shook as it always did during re-entry. All three of them were buckled up to the fullest extent, and the shielding had been activated, turning the windows into reflective plates. Coming into atmosphere at a over a thousand miles per hour tended to generate serious heat. Sweat beaded down Claire’s forehead.

Dragonflies were equipped with some of the best heat shield and re-entry technology available, so Claire knew the heat wasn’t a problem. After all, when the hull of the whole craft reached nearly 2,000 degrees, eight minutes of some uncomfortable warmth was a small price to pay for staying alive.

The drag flaps opened and the retro-rockets fired. All their weight returned in force. Claire felt a little heavier than usual, but it came as no surprise. Gravity on Silva was slightly stronger than the standard g unit. Claire maneuvered the dragonfly to a special Nexus landing bay. Usually everything that entered or left a planet had to go thorough customs. The first planet Claire left this week was being seared to a crisp and ripped into oblivion, so customs was rather inoperative as every living soul on the planet fled for their lives. Likewise, entering Saluthien was an unorthodox process, and in the spirit of saving lives, Nexus wasn’t about to make thousands of refugees who needed medical aid, stand in big lines as they tried to declare all their items.