The Grimalkin descended on a pillar of fire, dropping towards the ground. The altitude indicator ticked down. 25 klicks. 24. 23.
„Hey, captain?“, Twitch suddenly said.
Red looked up from her console and turned slightly towards her pilot: „Yes?“
„Isn’t that a Felindar ship down there? Closed spaceport section.“
„Hm“, Red said and zoomed in. „It is.“
They sat in silence while the ship dropped down further into the atmosphere. 19. 18.
„Well captain“, Grubs remarked with a slightly sarcastic tone of voice while turning his head to the side: „You wanted the lion’s den. Doesn’t get more under everyone’s nose, does it?“
Red grimaced, her lips a narrow line. Grubs was right. This was much closer to everything than she had hoped for. She looked to the right of her screen where the altimeter was continuing to tick down, slowing slightly as the ship was breaking. 14.
„Too late to change our mind without being mighty suspicious.“, she said.
Twitch nodded and returned his attention to the descend path. Tower control had sent over the data as they entered the thermosphere. He didn’t actually have much to do, with landing approaches fully automated on all major spaceports for safety reasons. He was monitoring the ship and tower AIs coordinating a pre-planned approach plan and conducting minor corrections caused by atmospheric conditions and winds. His only job was to be ready for any highly unusual events where manual control overrides may be necessary.
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Their altitude had dropped to 10 klicks. They dropped through a thin layer of clouds. Erulas was almost completely terraformed. It had already been almost earth-like when humans first discovered it, and turning it into an almost copy of humanity’s original home was a relatively quick process, taking only 40 years. The planet was now in a period where only minor adjustments were being made to stabilize its new atmosphere, fauna and flora.
The city had come into view as the curvature of the planet slowly became almost imperceptible. 8 klicks up, then 7.
„But what if it really was Yezz?“, Grubs asked out of nowhere.
Red shook her head: „A pretty good fake, but I’ve known Yezz for more than a decade. That answer wasn’t from her. Not even from her with a gun to her head.“
Grubs grimaced: „Damn aliens.“
Red slowly nodded and sighed. „We always knew.“, she said, „That they can decrypt our communications. But I wouldn’t have guessed they have intercept stations somewhere near Bloom. We’re just a bunch of pirates.“
„Stations?“, Grubs asked, „Plural?“
„Needs to be near the transmission path.“, Twitch explained without looking up from his console, „So if you want to be sure you need a couple, depending how close you can get them.“
The altimeter had dropped to 4 klicks. The city had become a discernible mass of streets and buildings. Soon after, the monorail system stood out from the streets underneath. Wide sidewalks and narrow roadways showed the modern architecture built for few private cars and a combination of monorail trains and robot taxis to move people around.
Twenty minutes later, they were through customs and into the spaceport terminal.
„You sure the birds can’t just scan our ship?“, Grubs whispered to Red as they walked into the public part of the terminal.
„First they’d need to suspect the ship enough to make a scan. And secondly, they are higher-dimensional than us humans, but no high-dims. Unless it’s a science ship they won’t have 7D scanners. It would have to be a really convenient set of circumstances for them.“
„Your call.“, Grubs said, not very convinced. „What now?“
„Now we’ll head over to the portmaster and check the Grimalkin in for some cheap maintenance that’ll take at least a few days. And then we’ll think about contacting Yezz in a way that makes sure it’s really her. Not sure yet how, we’ll have to figure something out.“