It was raining. The howling of the shield generator was heavy over the mud track marked by deep furrows. Landcrawlers with wide crawler tracks used the runway several times a day to transport raw materials from the mines to the spaceport and supplies from there to the settlement.
Landcrawlers are huge trucks of 8-10m width, 10-20m height, and over 100m length. Mostly consisting of a tractor on two pairs of tracks, a semi-trailer with another pair of tracks, as well as another trailer consisting of a semi-trailer with an additional track drive as coupling to the front semi-trailer. Why Jack Steel volunteered for the safety team that secured the track, he couldn't say today, almost a week later, because the payment was moderate, it had been raining for 4 days without a break and the construction of the game barriers along the perimeter was more than sluggish.
No one could claim that Jack Steel was particularly attentive after an uneventful week in the increasingly colder air of the budding winter. Something in the corners of his eyes suddenly caught his attention. Adrenaline washed through his body in the moment of shock…
Jack had heard all the stories of the gravity storms that are said to repeatedly pummel the planets of this system, but he had never seen one with his own eyes. Few of the earthlings knew how lucky they had been with their unique and protective atmospheric layer. Without such a natural planetary defense, the colonists of this rock continued to live only at the whims of nature and unpredictable space.
Jack took a deep breath as he began to calculate the distance of the approaching gravity storm. As his eyes attempted to find points of reference to compare to the massive storm, these points of reference were one by one ripped from the ground in the cataclysm. Tankers, borers and pylons were flung into the dark sky and out of sight, as if by a gust of unstoppable wind. The storm was coming fast, and Jack reckoned he was only a few thousand meters from the reverse field.
Can I save the Landcrawler? Jack honestly had no idea, but he knew that if he could, he would be heavily commended by the Admirals. Save a Landcrawler, make your career, he kept saying to himself, and he realized he was already frantically climbing toward the first of four Manual Anchor Releases. He tried not to look at the terror that was growing in the distance, threatening to destroy the entire colony.
In a gravity storm, nothing is safe that is not strongly anchored to the ground. In these storms, gravity can quickly change directions, so the heaviest equipment and largest buildings are pulled from the ground with the greatest force. In the colony’s first experience of a gravity storm, 80% of colonists were annihilated and the entire base was nearly destroyed. Since then, the survivors have utilized lightweight materials and heavy anchors to defend against the terrifying storms, but the Admirals know there is little they can do. This rock may destroy them all in the end.
Jack Steel ran faster than his legs wanted to allow. He had managed to deploy the front two anchors with little trouble, but he knew he was almost out of time. In a sensation that started in his stomach, Jack could feel his own gravity beginning to reverse. He had never before known the feeling of his internal organs floating upwards, but it was somehow easy to recognize. There was no pain, just a feeling of lightness. His strides lengthened into loping bounds as he reached the first of the rear anchors.
Jack took a moment to glance at the oncoming storm, hoping it would help him decide on a course of action. He breathed a sigh of relief as he realized that the Settlement was not in the storm’s trajectory. The Shipyard appeared to be safe as well, but the mines were directly in the path of destruction. Not only would they be ruined in the reverse cave-in, but the precious resources within would be flung into the depths of space, never to be seen again. Jack knew now that saving the Landcrawler was more important than ever.
Jack was having some difficulty pressing the right buttons on the security keypad as his fingers floated upwards against his will. The roar of the storm was absolutely deafening as he attempted to make the most of these last crucial moments. He cranked the huge lever and opened the anchor valve, but now it was getting difficult for Jack to see. His eyeballs felt stuck to the bottom of his brain and it took every ounce of energy he had left to simply watch his work.
He was not going to make it. Hopefully three out of four anchors will hold this bitch, Jack thought loudly to himself as he felt around for the Crisis Bunker that he had installed himself. He had spent weeks appealing to the Admirals to include these Crisis Bunkers in each Landcrawler. His resistance to the reverse pull was now creating utter agony inside his body, but he felt a moment of pride as he realized that the Crisis Bunker may now be his salvation.
All around, things were flying away. Jack held on with some invisible force that was stronger than this monstrous storm. He quickly unpacked the Crisis Pack and donned the emergency space suit within. And then it happened.
Jack’s body finally gave in to the reverse field, as he was flung upwards with all the force of an open freefall. Terrified and breathless, he careened toward open space. Is the Landcrawler safe, he thought to himself as he struggled to turn his body around. When he finally succeeded, Jack saw that he was already several kilometers in the air, but the titanic Landcrawler was still firmly on the ground.
What a day, Jack Steel scoffed to himself as the pitiful rock faded into the distance and his upward fall began to slow. He had probably saved the colony, but they wouldn’t be hearing from him again. So much for my career.
Jack’s eyes, muscles and organs finally began to once again relax as he floated smoothly into space. This planet was no great loss, and Jack had become an expert on loss. Beginning with his girls back on Earth, and his beloved Kayla, Jack had lost everyone he had cared for since this whole mess started.
The Crisis Suit was equipped with about three weeks of food and an audio recording of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Hopefully, Jack would get lucky and find someone, or rather that someone would find him. All he could do was wait.
