Chindi

“I’d say that’s about right.”

She had reacquired the chindi. It was still several kilometers in front of her.

The wind died off, then hit her with renewed fury. It rolled her over, and she tumbled through the storm. Fans cut off and came back. Her status screens flickered. She could hear Nick saying something but was too busy wrestling the controls to worry about it.

“Hull integrity still secure,” said the onboard AI.

Hutch got the vehicle under control.

“Hutch, let it go.” Nick was trying to order her back, using a stern male voice.

The clatter against the hull was getting louder. Another of her sensors gave way. The chindi’s image faded to a spectral outline.

Starboard engine was begi

She turned on her ru

Then the wind slacked off, and she discovered she could control the spacecraft. And below, her lights reflected off the great dim bulk of the chindi.

THEY’D BACKED AWAY a few paces from the exit hatch. Outside, the storm howled and snow poured down into the interior. “Not as bad as we thought,” Tor said.

Alyx managed a laugh. She was leaning against the bulkhead, her left leg lifted gingerly off the ground.

“Hutch,” Tor asked, “can you do this?”

“Got you in sight. I’m about three minutes away.”

“Okay. We’re ready to go.”

“We’re going to want to make this quick. How’s the weather where you are?”

“Snowing a trifle.”

“No time, Tor. How’s the weather?”

Chastened, he said, “Blizzard conditions.”

“Wind?”

He went up the ladder and stuck his hand out. “About forty. Maybe a bit more.”

“All right. I’m coming up from the rear.” Pause. “But I’m not going to try to set down.”

“Okay.”

“Come out one at a time. I’ll get as close as I can.”

“We’ll be here.”

“Airlock’ll be open. You’ll have to climb in as opportunity allows. Be careful. Keep in mind you’ll be moving into zero gee. Don’t walk off the hull, or let yourself get blown off. If that happens, I may not be able to find you.”

“Okay.”

“At forty I’m going to be having a problem with control.”

“We know. Hutch, you have any idea when this thing’s going to move out?”

“Probably imminent. Just keep it still for a few more minutes.”

“We’ll do what we can.” He looked down at George and Alyx.

“You go first,” said George. “You can help Alyx.”

“I’m not going to need any help,” said Alyx.

Tor nodded. “Neither one of you guys is in very good shape. George, you’re out first.”

They’d begun to detect vibrations in the hull a few minutes before, and they were becoming more pronounced. He climbed down the ladder and got out of the way. “Okay,” he told George. “If anybody does get blown off, just get on the circuit and keep talking until we find you.”

George nodded and started up. When he reached the top, Alyx put a foot on the bottom rung and squeezed Tor’s hand. “Good luck,” she said.

Tor kissed her. The fields flashed.

George put his head outside and quickly pulled it back in. “It’s a bit brisk out there.”

“Any sign of her?”

“No.” He looked again. “Negative. Nothing. Zero.” His voice was loud. “But I can’t see more than a few meters.”

“Okay. Keep down until you see her.”

THE WIND WAS strong but it was a long way from hurricane force. Either the sheer bulk of the chindi was providing some protection, or the storm was weakening.

Hutch reactivated her scopes and put her map of the chindi’s surface on the display, marked the location of the hatch, brought up the sensor readings on the terrain immediately below, and overlaid it on the map.

The lander was here, and the exit was there, about a kilometer away on a thirty-degree heading.

She began braking.

The wind caught her and drove her down. Toward the hull. She fought the controls and heard Nick or someone in the chindi party, it was impossible to know who, mutter a prayer. The long bleak surface of the chindi rose inexorably to meet her. Alarms sounded, and the AI began to babble.

She fired thrusters, trying to break the grip of the wind, but she banged into the surface, heard the undercarriage, something, break. The jolt rattled her teeth, and she was drifting away again, turning over, spi

It was portside three. She shut it down, told Onboard Bill to keep it off-line for the duration, righted the vehicle, and staggered back on course.

“I’m okay,” she told George. “Be there in two minutes.”

The snowswept surface rolled past. She stayed close to it. Wind and snow were less intense along the hull. The cabin had grown tranquil. Occasional gusts rocked the vehicle, and her earphones were full of static.

She opened the airlock’s i

One minute. She opened the outer hatch. Snow and ice blew into the spacecraft.

“I see you,” said George.

She would have liked to waggle her wings, show some encouraging demonstration. But not in this weather.

A light appeared ahead. She looked down at the little circle of light, and at the long pair of ridges that ran beyond it, toward the bow.

“Okay,” she said. “I see you, too.” She braked. The vehicle slowed, and wind action became more severe. “You’ll need to be quick, guys. Doors are open, but I’m going to be busy. You’ll have to help yourselves.”

She tried to hold the lander just to the rear of the exit hatch, within a couple of meters of the ground. She didn’t have enough control to go closer.

The hatch was dead in front of her. A figure came out of it, stepped awkwardly onto the surface. George. Easily the biggest of the three. He got out and bent down and helped someone else out.

Alyx.

The wind died off. Perfect. Alyx was favoring a leg. She held onto George and used one foot to clear off some snow before trusting her weight to the grip shoe.

Come on, Alyx.

She limped out toward the lander while George moved just behind her, ready to help.

Tor appeared in the hatch. “Twisted her ankle,” he said.

But she was beside the lander now, ready to jump for it. Easy in zero gee.

Hutch saw that something was wrong with the landscape. It had begun to move.

Tor’s voice ripped through her earphones. “Where are you going, Hutch?”

“Not me. The chindi’s accelerating.”

She didn’t dare try to match acceleration, not with Alyx and George trying to get aboard. She heard George deliver a piece of invective and then he was tumbling past. Must have lost his footing. He hit the ground awkwardly and bounced off the surface. Tried frantically to get hold of something. Started to drift away. The snow-covered rockscape was speeding up, moving forward, taking Tor with it. Leaving George behind. Tor jumped out of the hatch and scrambled after him, made a desperate grab but there was no chance.

“I’m on,” said Alyx.

Tor, having missed George, was clinging to the exit hatch as the ship continued to accelerate.

Hutch watched the ground rippling past her, saw the rims of a low sweep of hills coming fast and coming faster. George and the lander were both in the way.

IT HAD ALL happened too quickly. One moment George was helping Alyx out of the hatch, and everything was going exactly as pla