Descending Road - NEW LIFE by Dana W. Paxson

NEW LIFE

0 NC, Day 1, Hour 15

“Lander departure is one day off,” Arnell said, running her fingers through her now-greasy mop of brown hair. “I wish we could get back inside that ship once more, but we’ve run the air supply too close to the edge. I can’t risk it again.” Arnell curled back and swatted away two of the datascreens. Her eyes looked hollow. “Those cartridges were a big help. The lander engineers said their data may save us all in the descent.”

Miriam waited, her mind jumping here and there, and wanted to fidget. There would be barely enough time to find Allan‘s body.

“Parker? Are you all right?” Arnell.

“Oh. Yes, I was just thinking of that woman.”

“Remarkable, wasn’t it? I scanned the data you brought back. The technology sitting on that ship, and we can’t get at it! Not for the centuries it’ll take us to build a launch vehicle.” Arnell looked down and shook her head. “At least we were able to load the data into this ship’s archives. We’ll be able to access it after we land. The access systems are actually working.”

“Couldn’t just one of us go back?” Elena asked.

“No, absolutely not. We’re out of time. I’ve got to get down to the lander bay.” She pushed past them, turned, and coasted off.

As Miriam turned for the emergency ward, she touched the small box in her coverall pocket.

Story List	SURPRISE ME	Author Page
USER SURVEY	PUZZLE ME	MAKE ELM MARK

HOVER Lucida Bright BARE	HOVER Lucida Bright FULL	HOVER Palatino Linotype BARE
HOVER Palatino Linotype FULL	HOVER Times New Roman BARE	HOVER Times New Roman FULL
PAD Arial BARE	PAD Arial FULL	PAD Lucida Bright BARE
PAD Lucida Bright FULL	PAD Times New Roman BARE	PAD Times New Roman FULL


	NEW LIFE 0 NC, Day 1, Hour 15 “Lander departure is one day off,” Arnell said, running her fingers through her now-greasy mop of brown hair. “I wish we could get back inside that ship once more, but we’ve run the air supply too close to the edge. I can’t risk it again.” Arnell curled back and swatted away two of the datascreens. Her eyes looked hollow. “Those cartridges were a big help. The lander engineers said their data may save us all in the descent.” Miriam waited, her mind jumping here and there, and wanted to fidget. There would be barely enough time to find Allan‘s body. “Parker? Are you all right?” Arnell. “Oh. Yes, I was just thinking of that woman.” “Remarkable, wasn’t it? I scanned the data you brought back. The technology sitting on that ship, and we can’t get at it! Not for the centuries it’ll take us to build a launch vehicle.” Arnell looked down and shook her head. “At least we were able to load the data into this ship’s archives. We’ll be able to access it after we land. The access systems are actually working.” “Couldn’t just one of us go back?” Elena asked. “No, absolutely not. We’re out of time. I’ve got to get down to the lander bay.” She pushed past them, turned, and coasted off. As Miriam turned for the emergency ward, she touched the small box in her coverall pocket.