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have coming in from
the probes below. By the time you go through these, the reality is going to be
a piece of cake.”
    Telisa
led her team into training on the simulated planet. When they died, they tried
it again. And again.
     

 
    Chapter 5
     
    The New Iridar floated down into the atmosphere of Idrick Piper V, protected
from the planet’s pull by its gravity spinner. As the spinner spooled down,
Telisa worked with Cilreth to select a landing spot. They stood near Cilreth’s
quarters within earshot of each other. The others were in their own quarters or
the mess, though linked into a common channel.
    “There’s
no place to land. Should we make a spot?” Cilreth asked.
    “Can’t
we find a clear area? Rocky plateau or anything like that?”
    “Around
here, no. Near the ice caps, maybe. These vine-ribs are growing everywhere and
of course you saw all the huge vines. There’s no clearing to land near the
tower.”
    Telisa
missed the amazing detachable feet of the Clacker . But she told herself
she now had a light, maneuverable scout ship that would attract much less
notice.
    “We
could try one of the other spots,” Siobhan said. “They have some landing spaces
cleared by the other two sites.”
    Telisa
shook her head though no one could see her. “We can send some of our attendants
to go and scout under the vegetation at some specific spots. They may be able
to find a stable area, then we can settle among vines to create a clearing if
we have to. The gravity spinner might tear the area up, but what other choice
do we have?”
    “Maybe
one...” Cilreth said.
    “Yes?”
    “It’s
kind of crazy, but I found a formation that could support our weight.”
    Cilreth
sent the team a pointer to a spot on the surface. The group took a look in
their PVs.
    On
the surface of Idrick Piper V, not far from the tower, a pattern stood out from
the random arrangement of pale spikes. Seven of the giant bone-colored
structures had grown upward, then curved in toward each other in an almost
symmetrical arrangement. Their ends came together at a distance less than the
diameter of the New Iridar .
    “Wow,”
Telisa said. “Coincidence?”
    “I
think so,” Cilreth said. “I found a few similar arrangements with four and five
spires. Their patterns are pretty random. This is just a lucky configuration, I
believe.”
    “What
if those things are hollow?” asked Caden.
    “They are hollow,” said Cilreth. “But the New Iridar has calculated
their strength. These seven spikes can hold us. They can weather the gravity
spinner, too, as long as we have it ramped down as we would on any normal
landing.”
    “Seems
dangerous,” Imanol said.
    “But
less destructive, really, than burning or dispersing a larger area of the
jungle,” Telisa said.
    “We
could be doing something sacrilegious to the natives, if there are any,”
Siobhan said.
    “We
would be out in the open, instead of hidden in the forest,” Caden warned.
    Telisa
waved them away. “Infinite possibilities like that,” Telisa said. “No way to
know which ones are meaningful. Damaging the vine forest could be just as
offensive to anyone here as landing on a unique formation. We could be doing
something insulting to natives just by walking out and breathing.”
    “Staying
hidden is meaningful to us ,” Caden said.
    Telisa
nodded. “What about the tower itself? The landing pad on the top is small, yes,
but is it strong enough?”
    “Borderline,”
Cilreth said.
    Telisa
nodded. “I don’t want to damage any artificial alien structure. These
rib-spikes are natural, and there’s millions of them. So let’s land on this
arrangement you found.”
    “Okay,
here we go,” Cilreth said. Then she smiled and transmitted a crash tube event
across the team’s link network.
    “CTE?
There are no crash tubes in this Vovokan shitpile!” Imanol growled immediately.
    Telisa
smiled despite herself. Though Cilreth was being playful, it was a solid
warning. If anyone was not on