Read The Fire Crystal for Free Online

speed.
    “I thought that you said we were to take it easy, this being an old craft,” Calvan complained. He could swear that the thing was beginning to creak now.
    Tom didn’t answer; knowing the reason for his haste must have been obvious.
    He’d once seen these creatures when his father had taken him for a visit to the Palace of the Elders , on his own planet. They guarded the palace, just by being there.
    They originally came from a cold and misty swamp -world that swung on a wildly elliptical orbit. When it was a long way from it’s own star the days were short and cold, and they would hibernate. They could do this in any weather though, and could come back to life quickly. 
    “I have no idea at all what they are doing here,” Tom said, it all seems a bit crazy. Maybe the people who left this life craft also placed them here as guards.
    “But why?” Calvan asked.
    “Probably to prevent people coming too close to the store of fire crystal. It’s dangerous stuff in the wrong hands.”
    When Tom tried to run the craft on autopilot again he found problems. “I think after that we may be running low on energy, because the computer has locked us in conserve mode. I’ll have to pilot manually for the rest of the way.”
    All that night they headed towards the mountain. Calvan dozed off a few times, and woke to see Tom’s face lit by the green glow of the instruments. He was steering the craft. Dawn came and passed, still Tom did not move. At last towards mid afternoon they approached the mountain. Up this close, they saw that it was huge.
    Suddenly the craft veered to the right , and then straightened up for a while. Tom had fallen asleep for an instant. His head jerked upright, and he stopped the craft.
    “A near escape,” Calvan said. “Rest, and I’ll steer for a while.”
    At first Tom took this as a joke, but finally agreed reluctantly. He was exhausted. Before handing ov er the controls he said sternly, “just stay pointed at the mountain, and steer in a straight line while I rest for a few minutes, and don’t touch any of the controls.”
    After a few minutes of this Calvan got bored:  “What does this lever do Tom?” he asked. No answer - Tom was in a dead sleep. I’ll just pull it back a little, he thought. It might make us go a bit faster. He pulled back on the lever, but nothing happened, so he pulled further then twisted it sideways. Suddenly there was a click, and the craft leaped upwards and sideways at an enormous rate.
    They seemed to be traveling up the side of the mountain, as if in an elevator, but they were also moving towards it, and would crash into the rock face in a few seconds, then suddenly an alarm bell rung, as the computer tried to take control of the damaged autopilot circuits.
    All this noise woke Tom, and he leaped forwards to grab the controls, not knowing that he was fighting the craft’s faulty autopilot. They swerved right, then left, and completed a tight circle, pinned against their side-cushions. Increasing speed now, the craft headed straight for the mountain. The wall of rock was coming up fast. A ledge appeared on the rock face, as Tom desperately fought the controls. Then he realized, and shouted: “Computer! Release autopilot.” He suddenly had control, and the craft slowed quickly. He swung it upwards and sideways, seeking the safety of the ledge.
    It was a crash landing. They slid along the ledge as Tom fought to avoid bouncing on the rock wall, or steering directly over the ledge and into the precipice. The craft bumped against the face, and swung around . Then it came to rest rocking gently, with its tail hanging over a five thousand feet drop.
    Neither of them dared to look outside. There was a gentle rocking “I’m going to pump the remainder of the water out of the rear tank,” Tom said. “That should steady us. In the meantime, touch nothing, do nothing, and stay put!” he said angrily.
    The pump began to whir, and after a while the craft stopped