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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Capellan" data-source="post: 1373293" data-attributes="member: 6294">"Blast Off!" - Part 25As Gustav recalibrates the shield generators to focus behind the ship, protecting the huge bag of mould, the others make final systems checks before launch,"Everything checks out, here, Captain." Archie reports.  The robot is attached to the console via two thick silver wires, using direct system access to speed the analysis of data."Good to hear, old boy." Fury toggles the internal communications switch, "We're set, Doc.  How are the shields?"I have completed ze changes required." Gustav responds, "And ze diagnostics appear in order.  However, I recommend we all put on ze space suits, as zere will be no protection from space radiation without ze shields.""Are we going to lose gravity, too, Doc?" Fury asks."Nein, I do not zink so.  Ze gravity well from ze shields is large enough zat we should feel ze effects, still." Gustav's voice is muffled - it seems he is already following his own advice to don a suit, "Ze gravity might be little less than it is normally, but it will not be significantly different.""Glad to hear it, Doc.  We'll don suits now and get out of here in the next two minutes." Fury breathes a sigh of relief.  Whatever their other talents, most of the rest of the crew have had no zero-gravity training.Donning their silver space suits with a minimum of banter, the crew quickly takes their positions in the cabin.  Only S'Ondra lacks a vital role in the upcoming flight: Fury is naturally at the controls of the ship, but Archie will be monitoring the cabin conditions while Gustav keeps his eyes on the shield diagnostics and ensures that everything is functioning as it should."Here we go, folks." Fury powers up the engines exactly one minute and fifty nine seconds after giving the order to don suits.  The Pathfinder lifts slowly but gracefully into the air, the powerful down-draught of the engines flattening the thick layer of purple-and-red undergrowth.  S'Ondra, staring silently out of the window, places her open palm against the glass.  Wordlessly, she makes her farewells to her home-world, her thoughts turning inevitably to this reality's version of herself and her father."The Princess' reverie is rudely interrupted."Damnation!" Fury swears, as a sudden wind shear drives the Pathfinder sideways.  The Captain's response is immediate, wrenching the ship sideways to avoid colliding with the many thorny plants that surround the clearing.  His move lacks finesse, but the tight confines and the danger to the bag of mould leave no time for subtlety.  With a scream of power from the tortured engines, the ship lifts safely clear of the trees.The sudden lurch sideways, however, is not without its repercussions.The first is that the Princess, standing beside the window, is thrown off her feet, landing with a squawk of outrage in the Captain's lap.  Fury makes no effort to conceal his smile of amusement, and slips an arm around S'Ondra to hold her in place,"Careful there, Princess." He cautions, "I won't always be around to catch you."S'Ondra snorts and pulls herself free, scarlet with embarrassment.  Ducking her head, she shoots a glance at her foster father, to see if he noticed what happened -and immediately, all thoughts of her own situation vanish from her mind.The Doctor was as unprepared for the abrupt change of course as S'Ondra had been.  Unlike her, however, he did not fall safely - if embarrassingly - into someone else's lap.  Instead, the sudden lurch snapped his head forward, striking hard against the screen before him.Now, the old man is slumped unconscious across the shield diagnostics console, blood seeping from a deep cut on his forehead ...</blockquote>

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