"Our ship was heading toward the planet when the pirate shot our cabin off the freighter's side," Yorick explained, "so we're still going toward the planet, too."
Gwen looked from the one to the other. "Is that not where we wish to go?"
"Yeah, but… not so fast…" Rod answered. "Take us down… darling… slowly…"
Gwen looked about them, and finally thought to look up. She gasped. "But… there is no 'down,' my lord. There is only some great bulge above us, a curving wall of blue, with swirls of white!"
"That's… Otranto," Rod grated.
"We're not close enough for it to seem like 'down' yet," Yorick explained, "but we're moving toward it, right enough. It's just that we're moving toward what you call 'up,' just now."
Gwen stared. "But how can one fall upward?"
"Gravity," Yorick explained.
Gwen's eyes opened wide. "That's to say that when I toss a ball into the air and it falls, 'tis the earth that pulls it down."
Yorick nodded. "Yeah, that's most of it. Of course, the ball pulls, too."
Gwen smiled. "Though so small a pull, could scarce be more than a wish."
"I suppose that's one way of looking at it." Yorick sucked in one cheek. "The ball wants to come down."
"And so… do… we," Rod grated.
"The closer we get to each other, the planet and us," Yorick explained, "the stronger the pull."
Gwen stared. Then her mouth opened in a silent "O."
Yorick nodded. "So the closer we get to the planet, milady, the faster we're gonna be going."
"Very… fast… already," Rod reminded him.
"Yeah." Yorick gave a bleak smile. "We're already traveling a thousand miles per second."
"And we will gain speed as we fall?"
Yorick nodded. "Unless you can do something about it."
"Well… mayhap I can." Gwen leaned back, gazing thoughtfully up at the bulge of the planet above them.
"Do it… soon," Rod begged.
"Uh, yeah." Yorick scratched at his ear. "That's the other thing I forgot to mention, Lady Gallowglass. It's called 'friction.' You know how when you rub your hands together, they start feeling hot?"
Gwen nodded, not taking her eyes off the planet above.
"Well, we're going so fast that just our hull pushing through the air can be friction enough to cause a lot of heat," Yorick explained. "Enough to kill us."
"So," Gwen mused, "I must slow us and cool us."
Beside her, Rod nodded. "Molecules… slow 'em down…"
"Thou hast explained that to me oft enow, my lord," Gwen said, with some asperity. "I must own, 'twas thou who didst teach me what my mind did when I did stare at a branch, and made it burst into flame. Nay, I ken the slowing of these 'molecules,' as thou dost term them. And, I think, I can slow our descent enow so that we may land gently." She frowned up at the planet. "Let us begin by putting the world where it doth belong."
Slowly, the huge curve moved off to the side. There was no sensation of movement, but the sun-disc slowly slewed into the center of the hole in the ceiling.
Yorick exhaled sharply. "Yes. Everyday occurrence. Right."
Gwen nodded, satisfied. "Now we fall downward."
Across the aisle, Chornoi stared, aghast. "What are they?"
"A witch and a warlock," Yorick informed her. "But that's just the local term, where they come from."
"This isn't really magic?" Chornoi said hopefully.
Yorick shook his head. "Just psionics. These are two very high-powered espers."
Chornoi sat back, going limp. "I'm glad to hear that's all it is."
"Right." Yorick's smile soured. "It's so much less scary when you can give it a name, isn't it?"
"The pirate is gone now," Gwen informed them.
"Huh?" Yorick looked up and saw a clear sky. "Well. Guess once he saw he'd shot off our cabin, he figured we were dead."
"He had every right to," Chornoi said devoutly.
"Well." Yorick laced his fingers across his midriff and settled back into his acceleration couch. "Might as well relax and enjoy the ride."
"It may be rough," Gwen warned.
"'S okay! That's just fine, Lady Gallowglass!" Yorick held up a palm. "No matter how you slice it, it's going to be a hell of a lot better than I thought it was."
Actually, it was rather boring from that point on. Gwen was very good at slowing them down, but she had a lot of speed to kill, so it did take a little while. Every now and then, things did begin to get a little too warm, and Gwen had to frown in deep concentration until they cooled off. Yorick did some exploring, and found a couple of emergency oxygen generators, but even so, Rod was worried that he might have to try to precipitate the carbon out of the carbon dioxide in the air, and he wasn't exactly burning to have black dust all over the glowing brocade of his new doublet.
At one point, Rod said, "Dear… the planet… is turning… under us. Match… velocities…"
"That means matching the spin of the planet," Yorick explained. "'Velocity' is how fast something's going in any given direction. Just make sure we're moving at the same speed as the world's surface."
"How am I to do that?" Gwen asked.
"Find some landmark," Yorick explained. He glanced at the viewscreen. "Can't do much with that, the power cut off as soon as we broke away from the ship. All we've got is a little emergency power for lights, air, and heat, nothing left over for sight-seeing."
Gwen frowned at the screen, and it burst into life. A landscape reeled across it, blurred by speed, obscured by darkness.
Yorick stared. "How did you do that?" Then he squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. "Never mind—I don't think I want to know. But try to pick out some big landmark, Lady Gallowglass, and slow us down until it stays put in the middle of the screen."
The landscape began to slow. Moonlight outlined ridges that were chains of hills, showing a groove that must have been a valley.
In its center, pricks of light glittered.
"Civilization!" Chomoi cried. "That's gotta be a city! Only people make that kind of light! Quick, Lady Gallowglass, put us down there!"
Gwen concentrated harder on the screen. "I will essay it…"
Chornoi leaned over to Yorick. "How come she can talk while she's doing it, and he can't?"
'"Cause she's better at it than he is." Yorick spread his hands. "What can I tell you? She's been practicing since she was born, and he only found out he had power three years ago."
Chornoi reared her head back, looking askance at him. "How come you know so much about them?"
"Friend of the family," Yorick assured her, "and if you met their kids, you'd want to be friendly, too."
"There." Sweat beaded Gwen's brow. "Master Yorick, is that as thou didst wish it?"
"Beautiful," Rod mumbled.
Yorick looked at the screen. It was as rock-still as though someone had hung a map at the front of the cabin. He blinked. "How the hell did you do that? I didn't feel a thing!"
"I slowed us folk as I slowed the vessel."
Yorick stared at her. "Right." He shook himself. "Sure. Inertia—what's that? just a frame of reference, right?"
"Then refer to that frame." Gwen pointed at the screen. "That square of darkness in the center'—what is it?"
Yorick leaned forward, squinting. Then he shook his head. "Can't tell yet, Lady Gallowglass. When we're closer, maybe."
The tiny square started growing. It swelled until it filled the screen. Moonlight silvered the dark square, revealing textures.
"Treetops!" Chomoi exclaimed.
Yorick stared. "Did you drop us lower, or did you just make the picture get bigger?"
Chornoi pointed. "See that silver thread straggling kitty-corner across it? Has to be a stream."