The Blue People of Cloud Planet by Brian Wolfenden Page A

evidence of large clay structures every 50 kilometres along one side of the river bank but the landers instruments were affected by the light shafts so I cannot be more precise.’
     
    ‘The same distance apart as the light shafts,’ continued Olivia, ‘even more unusual symmetry.’
     
    ‘Thank you Zec-C,’ AJ said, ‘I think we now need a plan for a night landing for ROL-1.’
     
    ‘Wait a minute!’ interrupted Steve, ‘Why is it assumed that Olivia and Scott go again? They’ve had their go, so now it’s ours.’
     
    Alison nodded in agreement and Olivia’s face darkened and she shot her a black look.
     
    ‘It wasn’t our fault that we couldn’t land and we were voted first to go down onto the planet,’ Olivia replied sharply.
     
    Scott held up his hand in mediation, ‘Zec-C, please repeat the exact words of the motion.’
     
    ‘The motion is to decide which team carries out the first landings on the planet as only one lander will be deployed at any one time,’ Zec-C confirmed .
     
    ‘First landings, plural, ladies and gentlemen,’ AJ intervened firmly, ‘the matter is concluded in favour of ROL-1.’
     
                                                                              
     
    ‘This species of tree is a softwood with similarities to the pine. Their height is limited by the ability to raise water by capillary action against the gravitational pull of Cloud Planet. Even so, they achieve up to 120 metres and with girths of 4 – 5 metres they are formidable structures. On Earth the tallest tree is the Douglas Fir which can reach 138 metres as the result of the lower gravity compared to the larger Cloud Planet.’
     

Chapter 18
     
    Night Landing
     
     
     
    ‘LifeSeeker-1 was now moved to a position 500 kilometres above sea level on the night side of Cloud Planet. This is a different world – blue grey ice caps, grey seas and the black angry mass of the cloud collar rising 50 kilometres into the inky night sky. Zec- C’s analysis showed torrential rain, swirling winds and temperatures around zero degrees in the clouds. Near the edges of the plain, high cliffs tower up to the thickly-forested mountains and these cause turbulent storms for 50-100 kilometres inland.
     
     ‘For this reason, a landing target is selected half way between the cliff edge and the equator where turbulence is less severe and they are far away from the larger of the light shafts. The central area is made entirely of clay with structures which are symmetrically distributed at the locus of each light shaft. At the time, the nature of these structures was difficult to discern because of the thick cloud and the fact that they are composed of the same material as the plain.’
     
     
     
    ROL-1 was hovering 70 kilometres above the target landing spot as Olivia and Scott looked out of the dome at the seething black clouds below them.
     
    ‘Confirm command to descend at 50 kilometres per hour.’
     
    Zec-1 requested and all of the astronauts complied in unison.
     
    ‘Good luck to both of you,’ said AJ from the starship.
     
    As the lander descended and entered the cloud, they lost their view of the outside and watched the dome displays as they showed position, height and speed relative to the target landing spot. Meanwhile Zec-1 called out height above ground at regular intervals. Considering that conditions outside were appalling, the lander made a very stable descent under Zec-1’s control and at 1 kilometre from the surface, descent speed was reduced to 10 kilometres per hour. Now the astronauts could feel the buffeting of the strong winds causing the lander to swing and yaw slightly.
     
    ‘Two hundred metres from touchdown and descent speed now 100 metres per minute.’
     
    ‘Two minutes to go,’ exclaimed Scott as the tension mounted. Olivia was staring hard at the dome desperate to see something but visibility remained