Our new job is to fly the stumpy Tortilla Double and support ground troops. And we’re testing our ability to enter atmosphere and fly in gravity without much preparation. Worst case scenario, I can have Iris take the controls as we enter Pentoul II.
The ship is shaking, and the shield keeps going back and forth between 100% and 99%. The shield protects it from the heat, but the monitor tells me the temperature in the outer shell is over four hundred degrees.
The transport ship Green Kamogawa and us mercenaries trace the planet as we descend at low speed. A lower angle of descent makes controlling the ship less hard. The big transport ship that’s like a migratory bird takes the lead as we fly in a V formation and lower the angle.
A few minutes later, the temperature stops rising, and I can see the brownish red surface. I fire up the sub thrusters, and control the descent.
“Strange, the sky is blue…”
Pentoul II is a reddish-brown planet, but I heard the similar Mars didn’t have a blue sky.
“Do you want a detailed explanation?”
“No, it’s fine. I doubt I’d understand it anyway.”
Everyone in the cockpit is watching the monitor or windows intently, except Iris. But I think it’s not worry about the numbers, they’re looking at the scenery outside. The Zadar colony where Kori and Saratha lived had a ceiling after all.
But I have a few things to try. I look at Tortilla Double’s status monitor, and see the artificial gravity is on.
“All hands, I’m testing artificial gravity. Hand on to your seats.”
““““Understood!””””
Everyone responds, and Iris brings a cup with spherical food in front of me, since that’s the easiest shape for a food printer to make.
First, I slowly put Tortilla Double at a slant. The artificial gravity is working. I put both feet on the brakes, let go of the accelerator, and I’m not touching anything with my hands.
“Tortilla Double is pitching right! Watch out so you don’t fall to the right! I’m cutting the artificial gravity!”
I suddenly feel my body going to the right. I plant my feet on the floor, grab the chair with my hands, and try not to slip and fall. The cola float girl Kori sinks into her chair, and Suzuri struggles not to fall from hers. Saratha the snake girl is a lot more stable on her special coiled chair. Her neck is just a little stiff.
“Artificial gravity on!”
The marble in my cup returns to its original shape, and I’m secure on my chair again.
“Artificial gravity works just as well within atmosphere…”
“Well, it’s magic. Are you two okay? You were slippin’ there.”
“Ahi~…”
“Indeed…”
“Ladies, artificial gravity is on, but we are going to be in a crazy position.”
As Iris says, I turn Tortilla Double so we’re upside down. The sub thrusters at the bottom automatically shut down, and the ones at the top fire up.
This means the big laser cannon turret is facing down, in a position to fire at the ground, but… We’re still slowly going down.
The top half of Tortilla Double is mostly the turret, and it has fewer sub thrusters than the bottom half. This isn’t a problem in the weightlessness of space, with the only problem being that I tend to forget that I can face down during emergency evasion.
This is a problem with being in a gravitational sphere. Tortilla Double wasn’t made to fly in an atmosphere. Even now, the plasma engine is firing up so I can forcibly use its thrust.
This would be easy to understand if it were a paper airplane. Without the momentum of the initial throw, a badly made paper airplane will fall immediately. Much in the same way that we’d be kissing the ground if it weren’t for the thrust of the plasma engine.
I should probably think of this less like a plane and more like a flying golf ball.
The attitude control allows me to use the thrust of the plasma engine to fly up even when I’m upside down, but I feel like it’s not quite enough to hover.
Are we going to fly in circles when supporting the ground troops? Or stay in the normal position and fire the defensive lasers?
“<Hey, are you okay, Tortilla Double? What are you doing upside down?>”
“Hello Green Kamogawa~. It’s darling’s first time in a gravity sphere, so he’s testing some things~.”
“<Eh… Well, I can’t see that ship going down so easily… So are you okay?>”
“We are~. Darling’s used to it now~.”
From Kori’s point of view, I’m a prodigy that got used to flying here right away, but I’m struggling! Moving the ship feels stickier and heavier than I thought, and even when I do a half turn I almost feel sick.
Ahh, I don’t want to go below five thousand meters…
▽▽▽
We fly for about ten minutes after arriving at Pentoul II, and go down to our destination, an anti-hexarappid outpost. Being under gravity still means that we have the propulsion to ascend and to land, we just have to let the auto pilot slowly descend.
The eight hundred meter long Green Kamogawa also manages to land on the runway meant for aircraft that fly in an atmosphere, and it starts spitting out the mercenary power armors inside. I see other large transport ships here too.
The armors split up, and look like they’re resting on this transport ship.
Well then, this anti-hexarappid outpost isn’t protected by a star shield, so there’s no oxygen outside. We can’t leave Tortilla Double, and we’re receiving supplies via transport drones.
It’s noon, but the sun is already setting.
“We should rest for the day… Perhaps sleep after resupplying.”
“The sky’s pretty~. But we’d choke outside~.”
“There’s no oxygen, but apparently there’s carbon dioxide here.”
“Yes, apparently it takes dozens to hundreds of years to increase the oxygen enough for life to exist on the surface… Master? Is something the matter?”
“Let’s go see the sunset!!!!!!”
Iris looks exasperated, and Kori, Saratha, and Suzuri really annoyed.
“Our work starts tomorrow~.”
“It’s nice that you’re raring to start killing, but we should rest a little.”
“It is rare to see Genma so focus on a job…”
“Eh? Why? I said sunset… Is the translator malfunctioning in a weird way?”
“Sunset is a natural phenomenon in which the sky turns red at the end of the day. I will prepare power armors for everyone.”
Iris manages to push everyone into the elevator, and we put on the used and new power armors we got in Akul. We decompress, and leave through the rear cargo hatch.
Everyone except Saratha typically uses bipedal power armor. Saratha is coiled inside a six-legged spider model.
“Oh, the sun is just setting too.”
“Ooh~~~~!!! Red!!!”
“I’ve seen this on video a couple of times, but that’s a daily sight on a planet, uh?”
“I only ever saw it in educational disks… Yes, I do remember this being called a sunset…”
The sky is painted red, as the sun goes down. I’m seeing it through armor, but this red sight brings tears to my eyes.
I shake my head and look around, and see other mercenaries here and there, also wearing armor.
“Nostalgic…”
“Eh? Are you crying?”
“I’m just getting a little homesick. Ahh…”
“Is this gonna happen every day~~?”
“If so, it will happen in the morning as well. You can see the star rise from the horizon in the morning.”
I hear fueh through the communications device. I really am feeling nostalgic, because I haven’t seen the sun set since I jumped to the future.
“Genma, don’t you think you should’ve stayed to work with that elf? You really look like you’d rather live on a planet.”
“I told you, it’s easier this way. And the more I got to know him, the more dangerous he looked. And also like he only thought of himself…”
“Well, it is not as though I do not understand.”
“Master, if nostalgia is what you’re looking for, there are planets that are in their entirety tourist spots, and stars that have been secured as natural parks. Perhaps you should start earning more money.”
“And buy a big ship too~~~!”
We chat as we go back to the ship. We can’t eat in armor. And we’d die if we left them.
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