Chapter 8 Chapter VII

The massive starship is now stationary, at least from the perspective of those inside.In fact it is traveling in an orbit around the earth, and its orbital speed is aided by the revolution of the earth around the sun, the motion of the sun in the galaxy, and the slow fall of the entire galaxy towards the point of attraction.Seen from some stationary reference point, the ship's motion is spiral-if there is such a reference point in the universe, but looking out from the inside of the ship looks like it is standing still.The engine stopped running, the drive stopped, and the 1.4g of gravity that everyone on board had been bearing since birth disappeared, and the Heckley and everything on board floated.Every movement was magnified, and after the landing craft flew away from the spaceship, the weak traction between the two intertwined and interfering magnetic forces turned into an almost perceptible tremor.The 22,000 Highkleys on board felt it, and cheered it on.Earth is the best planet they've searched for for 3,000 years and it's almost theirs now.

The landing craft makes many speed switches—for example, switching from sun-ecliptic to Earth-sun orbit, and slowing forward—so all of its drives are kept on.Only 30 seconds after flying away from the huge mother ship, Sandy started vomiting.He couldn't help it, he'd never experienced seasickness before—in fact, he'd never experienced real motion, at least not in a confined space. The six Hyckleis do not suffer from seasickness due to the different structure of the inner ear.But it was useless, and in the end one by one was doomed, because the violent vibration at the entrance of the atmosphere threw the whole person up and down, and the tossing was too much for their stomachs.

To make matters worse, Sandy vomited all around him. "Restraint, useless ghost!" Demi snapped. "Ouch! Ouch!" Helen moaned, and Polly in the driver's seat yelled, "Bastard, Sandy! Why don't you find a bag or something to throw up on?" Time is up, the landing craft has entered the space junk layer. They avoided most of the largest objects thanks to preprogramming, but if they were to rely on programming to avoid everything, they were less sure.So, as soon as the radio detector detects a small object that is falling, the side drive will automatically turn on and dodge it.If you dodge and still can't escape the collision, the magnetic repeller can be used to cushion the impact force.In this way, the impact speed of the small object is slowed down.However, their small size is still cause for concern.When they hit the outer wall of the landing ship in large swaths, the people inside could hear a dull bang bang.Smaller particles hit the metal foil on the outer wall of the landing ship, smashed into pieces, turned into plasma, and made a weaker but sharper sound.The impact of the plasma on the hull is harmless.

Polly was piloting the pilot when a hawk wasp wandering past her and she yelled angrily, "Get this thing out of my way, it's blocking me! The bugs are flying into my eyes , How can I drive this junk?" At this moment, the ship shook violently, avoiding another object, and the hawk was also thrown away by this force.The landing craft then entered the final gliding phase, flying to the only flat grass marked on the radio display.Sandy was seasick, and could still hear Polly hissing angrily.This should be the easiest part of the landing as they are slowing down.The automatic feedback controllers were supposed to overcome all the erratic downdrafts and weak air-push near the ground, but they didn't work. "A bigger planet," Polly yelled, "with such bad weather!" She was right, and the hull of the spaceship began to jolt.The ship's ground speed had dropped to 100-110 km/h, but the wind outside was much faster than this, and the landing craft was blown around like a toy.

Polly started to land, but it was more like a controlled crash, but the landing craft was built enough to withstand such a test.As soon as the landing craft touched the ground, the front drive was activated to slow it down, and the team members were thrown into their protective nets by this force.The spaceship rolled several hundred meters before stopping, and almost crashed into the bushes that were blown to this side by the storm. "We've landed," Polly announced. No feeling of landing at all.Although the spacecraft stopped, it was still shaking precariously in the wind.Polly hiccupped several times in concern, reached out her hand, and turned on the display.Two screens on the bulkhead above the pilot light up, one showing a simulated landing site in space and the other showing what's actually happening outside the ship.The simulated screen is icy and snowy, quiet and peaceful, while the scene shown on the other screen is overwhelming, sweeping storms and swaying evergreen shrubs.

The six-pointed star that marked the location on both screens was in the same place, and twinkling, they landed exactly where they were supposed to. "How did we encounter a storm?" Aubier asked fearfully, "Did you land in the wrong place?" "Yes," murmured Polly, both annoyed and curious, "but where's 'Snow'?" Hours later, Sandy stood in the doorway of the landing craft in his parka and boots, feeling sentimentally in the pocket of his mother's picture, and Polly was not so sentimental. "Let's go, you useless ghost!" She said bluntly and gave him a push.

he's gone.Holding on to the escalator rod, he stepped out of the cabin door and climbed down easily.The hatch is only 3 to 4 meters above the ground, but if you miss it and fall, even under the weak gravity of the earth, you will still be injured.He made his way around the back of the spaceship with difficulty, and a gust of wind blew in, smelling a faint smell of ethanol from the engine.He headed for what was supposed to be the nearest road and began trudging through mud and pouring rain. This is completely different from the original estimate. Something went terribly wrong in the planning of the mission.The place where the landing craft landed must be the place on Earth called "Alaska," and the navigation screens confirmed this.So, why does it look different?Alaska, and every other place on the planet, had been thoroughly studied by the Hekleys when they first came.They knew that Alaska was supposed to be cold, at least, about the time of the year except for a brief period in summer.Also, other climatic conditions occur only at lower latitudes.The Highkleys who had planned the mission told them with absolute certainty that there was snow in Alaska.If there is such a thing as snow (and a thousand TV shows have proven it), it probably exists somewhere on Earth, but it certainly isn't here.

There was nothing but mud and a blinding rainstorm, and the temperature was so high that Sandy, in his fur suit, was sweating profusely. Sandy told himself that a storm like this couldn't happen every day.He struggled toward what might have been the main road, and had to skirt several uprooted trees time and time again.These trees are very large, 30 meters high from root to crown, with large pieces of cracked soil at the roots, washed by downpours.The tree pit next to the fallen tree is newly formed. Some flying things seem to get into Sandy's coat and bite him. Is this a "mosquito"?He patted wearily, and could not help but resent his situation.The situation is truly worrying.

Worse, it's not fair.Nothing in Sandy's training had prepared him for this.He'd heard about the "weather" thing, there were lectures on it on the ship, they'd always talk about it on the taped TV news, with pictures of isobars, low pressures, and cold fronts.However, there is a big difference between hearing about it and being there.Neither Sandy nor the 22,000 Hykleites on board the starship had ever experienced such a thing firsthand. Also, Sandy didn't like the experience at all.How can one find their way in such "weather" conditions?Everything looks very simple in the plan view on the spaceship: mountains, passes through the cols, passes in the cols.The road he was looking for was passing through this pass.But how can you tell where the mountains are when you can't see anything 30 meters overhead due to heavy rain and clouds?Similarly, the spaceship behind him has long since disappeared.Sandy stopped and with difficulty pulled the radio out of an inside pocket. "I'm Sandy," he called to it, "show me where I am, please?"

Tan Ya's voice came out immediately. "You're way out of the way," she raged. "Turn left 3/12. How did it take so long? You should be almost on the road by now." "I thought it was almost there," Sandy said bitterly, turning off the radio.He's sure he'll need the radio later when he needs help, so instead of putting it back, he swings it over his shoulder by the strap.He grumbled, sweating profusely as he stepped on the slippery mud in the torrential rain, and the branches swayed by the wind kept hitting him in the face. The scenario he had expected back to Earth was nothing like this.

It was bad enough when it was still light, but it was even worse after dark.The sun has turned to the other side of the earth, the last faint light in the sky has disappeared, there is no light around, it is really dark!This was another strange and difficult experience for Sandy. Suddenly, he slipped on a muddy bank and rolled into a clump of wet, thorny bushes. The worst is yet to come.He got up and wanted to use the radio to ask for directions, only to find that there was a creek in the deep ditch he fell into. The radio was soaked and could not be used. The storm stopped suddenly, and there was silence around him. It turned out that his hearing aid was also broken.Sandy tapped a few times on the knees of his sweaty fur pants, but to no avail.He stuffed it into a pocket angrily, and looked around. The screen of the landing boat showed that the highway running through the pass was just two kilometers away.Sandy walked up and down, walking up and down for five hours, and must have walked more than two kilometers.Undoubtedly, he must have deviated from the correct line again. Sandy Washington found himself lost. It didn't help that he realized that, he simply didn't know what to do.There was no way for the spaceship to go back, because he had no way of knowing which direction it was in now.Maybe keep going, well, that's what he desperately wants to do, but he also has no idea which direction to go is "forward". He also remembered that Alaska is said to have wild animals, such as "wolves" and "grizzly bears", and it would be troublesome to encounter them. He stared around, feeling mixed with anger and fear. Suddenly, he found that the night was not so dense in a place in the west.It's not like a light, because it's too weak, and the color is dark red.However, compared with the surrounding darkness, there is still a bit of contrast. Sandy walked towards it, and when he got very close, he saw a house.What glowed outside was a dark red disc above the door, which glowed like a dying coal fire.As he walked along the wall, he bumped into a metal object with wheels—could it be a car?He knew what a car was, but was it trailing something like this with rows of jagged metal spikes behind it?Sandy blinked in pain, but limped on. The door opens with a push. Inside, too, three glowing dark red discs hung from the low ceiling.By the light Sandy could see a long corridor lined with stable doors.He smelled an animal odor, heard a slight shuffling of footsteps, breathing and chewing, and knew he wasn't alone in the room. Despite the dim light, Sandy could make out what creature was in the room with him.With their big tame eyes, their short knobby horns, the slow, never-ending movement of their jaws—he'd seen them in old movies, they were cows. Most of the worries in his heart were gone.Cows don't eat people, he's sure of that. Sandy was drenched and exhausted.He took off his heavy coat and boots.The house in front of him meant that someone was nearby.He knew that all he had to do was find them, make contact with them, and start his mission. Sandy didn't do that, he was too tired to move.He fell on a pile of hay, thinking in his heart not to fall asleep, and when the owners of these "cows" came in, he could say hello.But thinking about it, fatigue took over and he fell asleep. He woke up suddenly, and even in the process of waking, he felt that someone was in the room. He desperately opened his eyes, and in front of him stood a man in fur-trimmed shorts with long black hair.He grinned softly at the man.Suddenly, a feeling like an electric shock hit his whole body, making him speechless because he realized that this person was a woman.An earth woman. Sandy jumped up, arms outstretched, palms out, to show he meant no harm, and to prove it with a friendly, good-natured smile he'd practiced countless times in front of mirrors.He brushed crumbs of hay out of his hair, and finally his tongue could speak again. The woman's lips moved, and Sandy realized he wasn't wearing a hearing aid.He found it in the pocket of his overcoat, put it in his ear, and prayed ... It rang! "Hello?" a woman's voice asked. "Hello," he said politely, "I guess you must be wondering who I am. My name is Sandy, oh, and my full name is John William Washington. I'm here to take shelter from the rain, and I hope You don't mind. Look, I was trying to get a lift and I got lost..." The woman showed no surprise.She didn't show any expression.Her skin was much darker than Sandy expected, and her face was cold. "You'd better come to where I live," she said, and turned to lead the way. The rain had stopped and the sky had partly cleared.Sandy gazed raptly at the white fluffy "clouds", the blue sky and the surrounding green grass.They were in a valley, and they couldn't see the Heckley landing ship, but only saw the continuous surrounding mountains—these mountains didn't look what they imagined, no doubt because he was observing from a different angle now. "Come in." The woman opened the door for him. "Thank you." He said politely and walked in. It was the "kitchen" of the house that they entered, and Sandy looked around fascinated. Just the smell inside the house shocked him.A young male is standing in front of the "stove", stirring a saucepan over an open flame, the contents of which are "squeaking" and "crackling" (open flame!).At least one of the scents that Sandy smelled came from there, alluring and disgusting.There are also some flavors that Sandy can't distinguish. The boy looked up at Sandy. "He's a big fellow, Mother," he said. "Would you like some bacon and eggs?" "Oh, yes," said Sandy eagerly, associating the smells with familiar nouns.Until now, he only knew the words, but had no direct experience. "Yes, I can pay." He groped in his pocket, found a small piece of gold, and began to speak his rehearsed words. "I've been mining. Collecting sand and stones from the river bed and washing them in the water, the light stuff washes away and the gold can be sorted out." The woman looked at him curiously, didn't say anything, just said: "Will you order bean pancakes while eating eggs?" "Oh, well, I think so," Sandy replied doubtfully.He wasn't quite sure what hash browns were.By the time the boy puts a plate in front of him, it's even more difficult for him to be sure whether he wants to eat this or not.On the plate, the "eggs" were easily identifiable, a round, yellow mass in the middle surrounded by a thin layer of white substance, slightly browned on the sides; the "bacon" was pork, which Sandy used to have Have seen pictures of it.What's left are "hash browns," a soft, sticky, starchy mass with a crispy, browned surface. He picked up the fork with considerable proficiency, and all those hours of practice were paying off now.As soon as the fork touched the egg, the yolk broke immediately, and the oily yellow liquid flowed all over the plate. He hesitated, realizing that the woman was looking at him with interest.The boy was gone, and Sandy heard his low voice from another room, as if talking to someone.Sandy picked up a bit of the yolk-soaked “hash browns” with a fork and tasted them. It tasted unlike anything Sandy was used to eating.Can't say it's disgusting, can't say it's delicious, and can't even tell if it's something to eat.In addition to the salty taste, there are many kinds of flavors in it, but he can't distinguish any of them. He raised his head and smiled at the woman in a disguised manner.Sensations agitated in him, the strongest awareness of her femininity.By the standards Sandy knew, she wasn't pretty, or even young.Although Sandy has no confidence in judging the age of human beings, the age difference between him and her should be a generation gap.The boy called her "Mommy," which was a clue, Sandy thought, because the boy must be about his age, or close to it. The boy returns to the kitchen. "They're on their way," he told his mother. Sandy glanced at her, a little strangely.But she just asked, "Would you like some ketchup on your hashbrowns?" "Okay," said Sandy, putting down the fork.The woman placed a bottle heavily in front of him and waited expectantly.He hesitated to pick up the bottle, which had a metal cap on it, but this Sandy knew how to deal with it. He held the bottle in one hand and grabbed the cap with the other, unscrewing and removing the cap as gently as possible. Sandy had an empty glass in front of him, so he poured some of the viscous red stuff from the bottle into the glass just enough to cover the bottom.The boy chuckled, and immediately realized what he had done wrong. A flash of light came to Sandy's mind. "I have to go to the bathroom," he said, and was happily ushered into a room with plumbing. As soon as the door closed, he immediately felt much easier to breathe.Being a spy among humans was more difficult than he expected. Going to the bathroom is also a challenge.The clothes the Earthman wears are very different from what he usually wears on the spaceship, so it is quite troublesome to get them.There is also a problem with how to use the toilet facilities. It took a lot of his time, and Sandy didn't mind it.When he finally figured out how to flush and refill the toilet and put his clothes in order, he paused to look at himself in the oval mirror over the sink. He carefully pulled the hearing aid out of his ear, checked it, and it looked undamaged.He dried the hearing aids as best he could on a piece of fabric hanging in the bathroom and put them back on.His ears hurt, but he can't help it, he can't do without his hearing aids. It was very quiet in the bathroom.It's a good thing for Sandy, no one asks him questions, he doesn't have to be ready for a challenge.He has nothing to answer.Wished he could stay in the bathroom until everyone was gone, and he could go back to the landing ship, back to the spaceship, back to his familiar life... but…… But, he's already home!His whole purpose in life had been to come home, and now it had become a reality!He'd met two real Earthlings—yes, of course he was a little embarrassed and worried, but weren't they what he was eating?It sure means something.Yes, they looked stranger than he'd expected, but they were kind to him!It's hard to believe that they belong to the same race as the Destroyers who wreak havoc on the Earth and leave it utterly barren... A thought flashed through his mind, interrupting his train of thought.He went to the bathroom window and looked out. His brows were furrowed.The planet doesn't look so barren.In fact, the strip of green meadow behind the house is peaceful, and the cattle released from the corral can be seen grazing there. This really puzzled him. He realizes he's been in the bathroom too long.Reluctantly, he patted the hearing aid to see if it was still in his ear, then turned and walked towards the door. There was a loud noise, a mechanical noise he had never heard before. Turning around, he just saw a shadow sweep across the window, and then saw a flying machine—a "helicopter"—slowly wobble and land on the ground a few yards from the house.Two men in uniform jumped out of it. By the time he got out of the bathroom and back into the kitchen, they were standing there, talking in low tones with the woman and the boy. "Hello, sir," said one of them. Another said, "You came from the ship, didn't you? The ship with some weird looking frogs. Come with us, please."