Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Capellan" data-source="post: 1445391" data-attributes="member: 6294">&quot;Space Tomb&quot; - Part 2Fury sets the Pathfinder down about half a mile from the pyramid.&quot;Sorry I couldn't get us closer, folks.&quot; He apologises as he unstraps himself from the pilot's chair, &quot;But there weren't any suitable places to set her down.&quot;&quot;Zat is quite alright, Captain.&quot; Gustav waves off the apology, &quot;Ze walk will do us all good, after being so long cooped up in the ship togezzer.&quot;&quot;The scans of the pyramid are ready, Doctor.&quot; S'Ondra waves her foster-father over towards her.&quot;Excellent.&quot; Gustav peers around the Venusian woman's shoulder as she punches up a series of slightly grainy black and white images on the console. &quot;Zere, you see - zere are hieroglyphics on ze pyramid, like ze ones of ancient Egpyt.&quot;S'Ondra peers at the crude carvings of birds, ankhs and jackal-headed people.&quot;Venusian cave painting are much better drawn.&quot;&quot;Are they real Egyptian markings, Doc?&nbsp; Or just copies?&quot; Fury pauses in his double-check of the ship's systems.&quot;Zat I do not know.&quot; Gustav shrugs, &quot;I am a physicist, not a historian, ja?&quot;&nbsp; He turns his attention to a more pressing matter, &quot;Archie, what kind of conditions are zere outside?&quot;&quot;There is no atmosphere, so suits will be required.&quot; The robot reports, &quot;However, the gravity is unusually high for such a small planetoid.&nbsp; It must be comprised largely of heavy minerals.&quot;&quot;Is zat so?&quot; Gustav hurries over to one of the consoles and snatches up a small, silver scanner, &quot;Zen zere may be materials zat will be of use to us, for ze ship.&nbsp; I will take this analyser along, just in case.&quot;&quot;I doubt there'll be any Xenon here, old boy.&quot;&quot;Zat may be true, but ze analyser can be used to look for many ozzer things, as well.&quot;&quot;Will we still have enough Xenon to reach Jupiter?&quot; S'Ondra asks, as she slides into her space suit.&nbsp; It takes Fury a few moments to gather his wits and reply,&quot;No cause for concern there, Princess.&nbsp; We've got plenty of juice to get off this rock, and point ourselves toward the big red ball.&quot; Fury picks up his own suit and shakes it out, &quot;We'll need to conserve fuel for manoeuvring once we are there, of course, but between here and there we can mainly let our inertia carry us along.&nbsp; There's nothing in space to slow us down, you see, so we actually need very little fuel -&quot;&quot;I do understand the concept of physics, Captain.&quot; S'Ondra's tone is flint-like.&quot;Uh, yes ... quite.&quot; Fury finds something to occupy himself, as far across the cabin as possible.The crew don their suits in a tense silence, then make their way out of the airlock, and onto the airless surface of the asteroid.&nbsp; Few words are exchanged: a frosty silence has settled between Fury and S'Ondra, while Archie's usual monologue on the evils of dirt and germs is temporarily suspended, the robot being quite taken with the lifeless, sterile rock on which they have landed.&nbsp; Only Gustav speaks, exclaiming over this or that reading from the scanner in his hand.As they slowly pick their way across the landscape, the four remain wrapped in their own thoughts, and none look back toward the silvery shape of the Pathfinder.And thus none of them see, when something stirs in the shadow beneath the vessel, and then goes scuttling across the surface of the planetoid, behind them.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Capellan, post: 1445391, member: 6294"] [b]"Space Tomb" - Part 2[/b] Fury sets the [I]Pathfinder[/I] down about half a mile from the pyramid. "Sorry I couldn't get us closer, folks." He apologises as he unstraps himself from the pilot's chair, "But there weren't any suitable places to set her down." "Zat is quite alright, Captain." Gustav waves off the apology, "Ze walk will do us all good, after being so long cooped up in the ship togezzer." "The scans of the pyramid are ready, Doctor." S'Ondra waves her foster-father over towards her. "Excellent." Gustav peers around the Venusian woman's shoulder as she punches up a series of slightly grainy black and white images on the console. "Zere, you see - zere are hieroglyphics on ze pyramid, like ze ones of ancient Egpyt." S'Ondra peers at the crude carvings of birds, ankhs and jackal-headed people. "Venusian cave painting are much better drawn." "Are they real Egyptian markings, Doc? Or just copies?" Fury pauses in his double-check of the ship's systems. "Zat I do not know." Gustav shrugs, "I am a physicist, not a historian, [I]ja[/I]?" He turns his attention to a more pressing matter, "Archie, what kind of conditions are zere outside?" "There is no atmosphere, so suits will be required." The robot reports, "However, the gravity is unusually high for such a small planetoid. It must be comprised largely of heavy minerals." "Is zat so?" Gustav hurries over to one of the consoles and snatches up a small, silver scanner, "Zen zere may be materials zat will be of use to us, for ze ship. I will take this analyser along, just in case." "I doubt there'll be any Xenon here, old boy." "Zat may be true, but ze analyser can be used to look for many ozzer things, as well." "Will we still have enough Xenon to reach Jupiter?" S'Ondra asks, as she slides into her space suit. It takes Fury a few moments to gather his wits and reply, "No cause for concern there, Princess. We've got plenty of juice to get off this rock, and point ourselves toward the big red ball." Fury picks up his own suit and shakes it out, "We'll need to conserve fuel for manoeuvring once we are there, of course, but between here and there we can mainly let our inertia carry us along. There's nothing in space to slow us down, you see, so we actually need very little fuel -" "I [I]do[/I] understand the concept of physics, Captain." S'Ondra's tone is flint-like. "Uh, yes ... quite." Fury finds something to occupy himself, as far across the cabin as possible. The crew don their suits in a tense silence, then make their way out of the airlock, and onto the airless surface of the asteroid. Few words are exchanged: a frosty silence has settled between Fury and S'Ondra, while Archie's usual monologue on the evils of dirt and germs is temporarily suspended, the robot being quite taken with the lifeless, sterile rock on which they have landed. Only Gustav speaks, exclaiming over this or that reading from the scanner in his hand. As they slowly pick their way across the landscape, the four remain wrapped in their own thoughts, and none look back toward the silvery shape of the [I]Pathfinder[/I]. And thus none of them see, when [I]something[/I] stirs in the shadow beneath the vessel, and then goes scuttling across the surface of the planetoid, behind them. [/QUOTE]

Verification