Hutch wished that the pilot twenty years ago had had the foresight to land at the water's edge. The river was fifty meters away. She hurried down to it, filled the container, and dragged it back. When she got to the lander, Kellie showed her a canister.
"White powder?" she asked.
"That's it."
"So what now?"
"We start the reactor." A metal cylinder about the size of her arm was attached to the side of the device. The cylinder was equipped with a small crank.
"How do we do that? Is there a switch?"
"We'll have to jump-start it," Hutch said. She shut down her e-suit and removed the Flickinger generator. "I'll need yours, too."
Kellie complied, turned off the power, and handed it over.
Hutch dug into her pack. "I have a connector cable here somewhere."
Kellie disappeared in back for a moment and returned with one. She held it up for inspection. "Two inputs?" she asked.
"Perfect." Hutch tied it to both generators and attached the other end to a post on the reactor. Then she detached the cylinder and poured a half cup of water into it. She turned the crank several times and reconnected the cylinder to the reactor. Then she added a spoonful of boron. "Okay," she said at last. "I think we're ready to go."
"Glad to hear it."
"The system has a built-in Ligon roaster. All we have to do is start it." She pressed her thumbs against the ignition switches for the Flickinger generators and pushed.
A yellow lamp on the reactor began to glow. Hutch's spirits went up a notch.
"Now what?" asked Kellie.
"Be patient. It's going to roast off a few impurities and give us enough hydrogen to run the reactor." She closed her eyes and added, to the god within, I hope.
Kellie poked her. "Hate to wake you, Hutch. But we've got a green light."
The reactor was running on its own.
Hutch squeezed Kellie's arm, went back into the washroom, poured some river water into her hands, and washed her face. "It has to charge," she said. "That's going to take a while. And there's nothing we can do to speed things up. But so far we're doing pretty well."
She went outside, and Kellie boosted her up onto the hull. Hutch knelt beside the comm pod. The laser cut was clean, but she was able to replace damaged parts with the pieces she'd recovered from the Star lander. She rewired everything and, when she was satisfied it would work, climbed back down and returned to the pilot's seat.
She waited a few more minutes. Kellie paced the cabin nervously. "We don't have a lot of time, Hutch," she said. It was getting dark.
"I know." Hutch propped her chin on her palm and scanned her instruments. "All right, Collier, if you're feeling lucky, let's see if we've got some power." She put the vehicle into a test mode. Indicators and gauges jumped. "That's my baby. Internal systems look good."
"What's next?"
"Fuel."
The rain had stopped, but the sky was still thick with clouds.
Hutch emptied the rest of the water into the fuel tank. They found a pump and hose for the tank, but the hose was only twenty meters long. "A bit short to reach the river," said Kellie.
Hutch handed her the collapsible container. "File a complaint when we get home." She removed the lander's drinking water tank, which was not collapsible, and cradled it in her arms. "We need a lot," she said.
"What's the reactor actually do to the water?" Kellie asked as they hurried toward the river.
"It electrolyzes it. Separates the hydrogen and oxygen and gets rid of the oxygen." And of course the lander would then run on the hydrogen.
They hauled water through the dark for the better part of three hours. They emptied each container into the fuel tank, hurried back to the river, refilled, and unloaded again.
When they had enough power to get some lift out of the spike, Hutch eased into her seat, murmured a prayer, and pressed a stud. Her control panel came to life, and she raised a joyous fist. "On our way, baby," she said.
She opened the command menu and pressed the green field marked Tess. Nothing happened except that the charge level dipped.
"Tess?" Hutch said. "Are you there?"
A status line appeared on the AI monitor. It was flat.
"Looks as if Tess has gone to a happier world," said Kellie.
"I'd say."
"Try again?"
"No point. It just eats up power." She extracted the control yoke from its bin and locked it into position.
Now she took a deep breath and started the turbines.
They sputtered, coughed, tried again, and finally staggered into life. She talked to them and coaxed them along until the power flow became smooth. "I do believe we're in business," she said.
"Do we have any lift?"
"Let's find out." Hutch directed power into the spike. The gauges quivered and moved up a few notches. They were getting about twenty percent. Actually not bad, considering the age and probable condition of the capacitors. Not enough to get them into orbit, of course. Not nearly enough. But enough to get them off the ground.
Hutch opened the manual start-up compartment and activated the flight systems. Several lamps blinked on, gauges that would indicate airspeed, altitude, fuel mixture, engine temperature.
She couldn't taxi across the field and take off like twenty-first-century aircraft because she had no wheels. But the spike would get her up a couple of meters, and she could take it from there.
She drew her harness down and locked it in place. The spike activator was an illuminated gold panel. She pushed on it. Lamps changed color, and the word engaged appeared on her screen. Hutch felt her weight diminish somewhat. She put the thrusters into the lift mode and fired them. The vehicle rose.
It didn't go high. She could have jumped out without fear. But it was sufficient unto the day.
Kellie planted her lips on her cheek.
She maneuvered the spacecraft toward the river and brought it down on the bank. Then she shut everything off and they hustled outside.
Marcel chose that moment of absolute joy to break in. "Bad news. The water's breaking through."
"What are prospects?"
"It's not major yet. But it's going to get worse in a hurry."
They attached the hose to the reactor tank, dropped the other end into the river, and started the pump. Twenty minutes later, they had full tanks.
They retrieved the pump and hose, waited patiently for another half hour while the reactor did its work. Then they lifted into the air and turned toward the northeast. Hutch raised her flaps and gunned it.
XXIII
Despite all these years, we have not yet found anyone smarter than homosapiens. The Noks remain caught up in their endless wars. Everyone else is dead, missing, or gone back to the woods. We are winning by default. -Gregory MacAllister, Is Anyone Listening?
Hours to breakup (est): 75
After Hutch and Kellie disappeared into the forest. Nightingale and MacAllister built a fire. Whatever adrenaline had been keeping MacAllister going now deserted him, and he sat almost motionless, eyes closed, propped against a tree. Nightingale had also reached the limits of his endurance, but he was frightened at the prospect of falling asleep, leaving nobody on watch.
He made coffee, drank it down, and felt marginally better.
Thank God the ordeal was almost over. This time tomorrow, if everything went well, he'd be out of it, back on Wildside, enjoying a hot shower, sleeping in a real bunk, ordering up whatever meals might cross his mind.
MacAllister mumbled something. His breathing fell to a regular pattern, and Nightingale listened to the wind in the trees and the hum of insects.
He looked out over the bay. Far below, large sea-colored birds flew in wide lazy circles, occasionally diving toward the water. He refilled his mug, sipped from it, put it down, dozed off, and snapped awake again when something touched his leg. It was a big bug with ten or twelve pairs of segmented legs and a vicious-looking set of claws.