Journey to the Unknown #11. The Hope of Salvation
Greetings to you, dear readers and guests of my blog! I want to offer to your attention the continuation of my space epic called "Journey to the Unknown".
With its beginning, you can get acquainted with my blog or click on the parts links below.
Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
The Hope of Salvation
I just stood on a barely noticeable forest path, but when I just took the next step, I turned to the left a little, as I found myself in a wide tunnel, illuminated by the faint light emanating from the small torches fixed on its walls. He stretched far away and hid in a light mist, in which, one by one, the figures of people melted away. Following them, I reached the turn, and then I saw bright sunlight. It turned out that this tunnel led us to a clearing, where no one, except members of this tribe, never visited. It was here that they hid from the attacks and intrigues of enemies. Glade was small, square in shape, fenced high walls as if it was made artificially. In addition to the tunnel from which we left, I noticed one more passage in each wall.
The leader explained that these are passes to other parts of the forest, but they use them only in extreme cases. He also explained that there is also a bunker in which they hide in the cold season. After a long and worrisome transition, everyone was very tired. Many even refused to eat and immediately went to bed. For several days we enjoyed the rest and shared our impressions of what we saw on this planet, and also made assumptions about the goals with which the unexpected guests arrived. We also thought about our future. How long will we have to stay here, heard our call for help, and if they heard, then who? Friends or enemies?
We had a march transmitter, but in order for the signal to be strong enough, we would have to find a higher point. So far, however, we had to hide and wait for the right moment. A few days later, the watchmen reported that the enemy's scouts had left, leaving us at last in peace. Waiting for the fidelity for another couple of days, we moved on the way back. In front of us were scouts who checked to see if there were ambushes. When we came to the place where there used to be a village, we discovered that all the buildings were destroyed by fire. We had to linger to help our friends rebuild their homes.
At the same time, we were looking for a way to contact someone from friends or allies. Every day a group of two or three people went to a nearby hill, adjusted the transmitter and transmitted the "SOS" signal at different frequencies. At last, the day came when we heard the answer. We were informed that our signal had reached one of the ships sent to our search. From us, it was required only to specify the coordinates and inform about the situation on the planet. Sending the requested data, we heard in response that the ship will arrive about three days later.
In order not to waste time, we decided to explore the planet once again. However, this time we did not begin to divide into groups, considering that taking into account the experience we had already gained, it is better to stick together. We also wanted to find out what all the same happened to our ship, suddenly there is something useful. For two days we made a map of the nearest neighborhoods, made a description and sketches of local flora and fauna, among which, by the way, there were some curious specimens. How I wanted to take a few small funny animals with me and give them to Uncle Yiyi's zoo ... But for now, it was impossible to do it. On the third day, we moved quickly to the place of our landing, warmly bidding farewell to the aborigines who sheltered us, who helped us to survive on this planet.
From a distance, it was clear that instead of the ship that was hanging out, only a mutilated pile of metal could be discerned in the parking lot. Nevertheless, we got to the remains of our ship and wandered for a long time between his burnt wreckage, trying to find something. Found, of course, a little, but still, it is not enough for some reason can be useful in the farm. During the searches flew by the time, the hour "X" was approaching, when our rescuers were due to arrive. We could only wait.
And then suddenly we heard a terrible roar that came from the side where our enemies were. And at that very moment, we saw how the enemy space ship disappeared into the upper atmosphere ...
For a while nothing happened. We stood silently, staring intently into the midnight sky. And only after a couple of hours we saw in the dense layers of the atmosphere flashes of flame and clubs of black smoke, accompanied by a roar, from which it seemed that the ears were about to burst. And then the remains of the exploded cosmos flew to the surface of the planet.
It seemed that the huge funnel, like the one formed during the tornado, in which huge fragments of a metal-ruptured metal were spinning, bears directly upon us ...
We instinctively crouched down to the grass, realizing that this is unlikely to save us from imminent death, but, fortunately, the trajectory of the funnel's movement under the influence of gravity has shifted towards the forest. We were out of danger, although some small splinters of the ship's shell, under the influence of the centrifugal force, detached from the rotating funnel and scattered in different directions.
The raging bacchanalia that struck us, from which we literally froze, broke off just as abruptly as it had begun. The silence came, and my thoughts were tangled in my head. We had no idea what happened, the remains of whose ship fell about half a kilometer away from us, did anyone survive in this battle, do we expect help or do we have no chance at all?
As soon as we all recovered, the commander suggested that we send the search team at dawn to the place where the fragments of the spacecraft fell, and the radio operator ordered to make attempts to contact the crew of the ship, the arrival of which we so eagerly awaited. Sitting on the spot in anticipation of any news was beyond our strength, and we went with Arthur along with the search party. It's better than being ignorant of what happened to a ship that crashed.
To the place where the debris fell, we arrived relatively quickly and began to inspect. The neighborhood, where the debris fell, looked pretty depressing ...
The fallen, mutilated, scorched grass, charred remains of dead birds and small animals that had not managed to hide in the shelter ... all this made us feel anxious and desperate. Unfortunately, we did not learn too much. All that we found was covered with a thick layer of soot, scorched by heavenly fire. Among the explosive pieces of metal, we discovered a fire-deformed spacesuit in which the man was. Naturally, he was dead, and who he and where, and what happened to his ship, we could not establish.
But on the jacket under the suit we found a patch on which we were able to identify the astronaut from the ship that took off from the planet from the hostile inhabitants of this planet. This instilled in us the hope that those who flew to our aid did not suffer much, so there is a hope that they will sooner or later return for us.
To our great regret, we could not learn anything more. Laying the body of the deceased in one of the shallow funnels, we sprinkled it with earth, after which we returned to the camp and reported the results of our searches to the commander.
The rest of the camp also did not have good news, the connection with our friends has not yet been established. Then we joined the rest of the crew, occupied with the arrangement of the camp, and it was not until it got dark. At the same time it was decided to sort everything that was collected from the remnants of the ship. The work moved quickly, and by the end of the day it was almost finished.
Soon the camp was called out.
Despite the fact that everyone was excited and tired of the routine work so that it seemed impossible to fall asleep, almost the whole squad soon slept with a baby's sleep. Only the commander and the radio operator could not afford such luxury, sending again and again callsigns into space ...
I lay under the open sky in a sleeping bag, and in my head the lines were born:
Intoxicating depth and mystery of being.
I like to look at the night sky, I,
Hoping to unravel what you hide in it ...
Turning to my side, I saw that Arthur had not yet fallen asleep, and tried to share with him my inspiration which gave me new lines:
But I will not give up on my dream.
Believe me , I'll be able to leave a trail
everywhere where fate will throw me ...
Naturally, I know that they were not of any artistic value to others, they only expressed my state of mind. But Arthur, who usually supported me in everything, did not want to hear me now, nor understand my feelings. Turning away from me, he snored ...
Realizing that I did not fall asleep, I went to the tent where the radio operator was, and offered him my help so that he could rest a little. He gladly agreed, and only his head touched the pillow, as he immediately fell asleep. Well, I continued to send a silent signal to the silent broadcast, in the hope that I was just waiting for an answer ...
Closer to dawn, too, I began to sleep, which was promoted by a monotonous work, and I was ready to wake up the radio operator, as through the crackling and hissing, which were heard in the headphones, I heard our callsign! Worried about this, I jumped from my chair and began to shake the radio operator by the shoulders, who still did not want to wake up. Glory to the Almighty, at that moment the commander glanced into the tent and, realizing what was happening, at one moment woke up the sleepy operator.
I wanted to stay here until the end of the communication session, but the commander ordered me to leave the tent. Returning to Arthur, awakened and perplexed from where I was gone, I told him that the connection was restored, and we will soon know what we should expect in the near future. The news that our possible rescuers had got in touch while I was talking with Arthur flipped around the camp in an incomprehensible way, and when I went to the radio operator's tent with him, all the inhabitants gathered there waiting for the news. All of them were very excited and built a lot of assumptions.
Finally, our commander appeared from the tent, looked thoughtfully at us and announced that the ship would arrive tomorrow at dawn.
As it turned out, the reason that our rescuers did not take us away immediately was that during the battle in which they had to take part in approaching the planet, part of the ship's shell was damaged and several life support systems failed, so the cosmonauts had to return on the base, which, fortunately, is not so far away from us. The repair is almost complete, and they will soon start.
We also have time to prepare for departure, collect and pack all our belongings so that the loading of luggage does not take much time. In high spirits, happily talking and sharing our emotions, we tackled the matter. Soon the main work was over, but we did not have to bore - our friends came to visit us from the forest, together with whom we spent a lot of time on this planet and visited many alterations.
They were very worried about us when they saw the most deadly tornado that swept through the planet to the place where our camp was. The stern faces of the warriors and their leader glowed with joy because none of us suffered. In addition, they rejoiced at the news that the space pirates who helped their enemies were destroyed in the course of the battle. They brought us a gift of fruit and, oh God, a cage with a small animal, like an earth squirrel. It was about then that I was most sorry that I could not take my friend's uncle from the planet that sheltered me after the crash of our spacecraft with me for the zoo.
A sleepless night, however, made itself felt, and soon I fell asleep, despite the noise and fuss around me. Toward dawn, Arthur woke me up and informed me that the spaceship, sent for us, would land from any minute to now. I quickly put myself in order, collected the remaining things, and Arthur folded the tent. It remained only to wait until we finally left this planet.
And now we hear the roar of a starfight entering the upper atmosphere, and finally, the long-awaited and so exciting moment when it lands on the surface of the planet and the gateways were opened, from where the commander of the ship and representatives of his crew appear.
We gladly welcome our rescuers, we quickly load our luggage on the ship, we are accommodated in cabins kindly provided to us by our saviors, and now we are on our way to a planet unknown to us hitherto.
Hooray! The journey continues!
Thanks for reading.
See you again.
