Jerry Oltion - Anywhere but Here

“There,” Trent said, pointing at it. “That one covers the widest range of climate. If we wind up stuck here, we’ll want as many options as we can get.”

“That… makes sense, I guess. I wasn’t thinking that far ahead.” Donna didn’t sound very excited at the prospect, and he didn’t blame her. But without power to run the hyperdrive, they were about as stuck as stuck could be, even if they could plug their leak and refill the air tanks.

Unless someone else was already here. Trent turned on the radio and tuned it to channel 1, but got only static. Same on 2 and 3. He picked up the microphone and called out on channel 9, and again on 19, “Hello, is anybody home? This is Trent Stinson calling for anybody who can hear me. Hello?”

Static.

“No such luck,” he said. “All right, let’s assume we’re going to be living here a while.”

Donna said, “Do you see anyplace that looks especially good?”

He didn’t, not right away, but he could tell where not to go. “That looks like desert,” he said, pointing to a wide brown patch with no clouds over it that ran along one side of the triangle and extended deep into the interior. There was a long line of mottled white and green along another side, the side that ran diagonally from equator to pole, and there was a big arc of cloud just off the coast that looked like a storm front sweeping in. Compared to a desert, that looked ideal. “That looks like mountains,” he said. “If we could land close to those, we’d have better odds of findin’ water. And probably game and fish and trees, too.”

“Do we want the ocean side, or the inland side?” Donna asked.

That was a good question. Oceans, in theory anyway, were good for fishing, and they made the climate more steady. But there wasn’t a whole lot of flat ground between the mountains and the sea. If they missed just a little bit on either side, they could wind up in deep trouble. On the other hand, if they came down too far from the mountains on the other side, it looked like things got mighty dry mighty fast. And without power, they couldn’t drive to the mountains once they were down, either.

“Ocean side,” he said at last. “As far from the coast as we can get without actually landing in the mountains.” He fished the binoculars out of their case and started scanning for likely sites, but his ears popped again and a glance at the pressure gauge told him their time on this cabful of air was just about up.

So close! Another fifteen or twenty minutes and they could probably make it to the ground without having to use a second tire, but they only had another few minutes’ worth in their Ziptites and another few minutes in the air tank under the seat. That might get them to the top of the atmosphere, but they still had quite a while under the parachute before they fell deep enough to breathe it.

Provided they could breathe it. But there was no point in worrying about that. Unlike the last time, there really wasn’t going to be another chance if this didn’t work out.

They only had five minutes or so before they hit the planet. Not enough time to exchange tires, but they had to do it. “Tell you what,” he said, handing the binoculars over to Donna. “Zip up, and you keep searching for a good landing site while I’m swapping out the tire. If you find one, give a yank on my rope so I’ll know to tuck in close to the pickup, and you go ahead and make the jump to match velocity with it.”

“Your rope?”

“I’m not going out there without tying myself down.” He reached behind the seat and pulled out the tow rope he always kept there, tied one end to the steering wheel and the other end around his waist. He left six feet or so of loose end and tied the lug wrench to that so it couldn’t get away from him.

“That’s smart. Come here a second.” She leaned out and around the tire and puckered her lips.

He leaned forward and kissed her. She was sweaty and just as scared as he was, but she was still the most beautiful woman in the world as far as he was concerned. Hell, the most beautiful woman in the whole damned galaxy.

“You be careful,” she said.

“I will.” He pulled his hood over his head and sealed it, and she did the same for hers. He wouldn’t use the air out of his suit tank for a minute or two; that would give him that much more time before he ran out.

“Ready?”

“Ready.” Her voice was muffled again.

“Okay, let’s blow the door seals. One, two, three, go.”

They popped open the latches on their upper door seals, and what little air was left in the cab roared out into space. The pickup tilted downward in front, so Trent hit the maneuvering jets to bring it back up. He had to do it a second time before all the air was vented out of the cab, but Donna needed the pickup steady when she jumped.

He opened the door. His suit had stiffened up again, but he managed to stick his legs outside and grab the tire with one hand while he steadied himself against the door with his other.

The tire wouldn’t budge. Of course not; it was seat-belted down. And the buckle was on Donna’s side.

“Unbuckle it!” he said, knowing full well she couldn’t hear him. He reached around the tire as far as he could and pointed, and she understood. She pushed the release button and the tire suddenly came free, and he backed out into space with it in his arms. Then he noticed everything else coming out behind it: their coats, the binoculars, the lug wrench, his hat. Donna grabbed the coats and binoculars, and the lug wrench was tied to him, but his hat kept coming, wobbling like a black flying saucer as it made its getaway out the door.

His reaction was pure cowboy instinct: he let go of the tire and grabbed his hat. The tire instantly started drifting upward, so he flipped the hat into the cab like a Frisbee and made a grab for the tire, but he misjudged his motion in the stiff pressure suit and hit the sidewall with his hand. The tire flipped over and clipped the top of the cab, rebounded and hit him on the head, then bounced away as if it were rocket propelled. He made another lunge for it, but it was already out of reach, and there was no way he was going to leap into space after it, not even with a rope tied around his waist.

“Screw it,” he muttered. He could do without a spare, especially since the truck was probably never going to move again once they landed, but he had damn well better not lose the next tire.

Which one should he take? He decided on the left rear; that would be the easiest one to get into the cab, because he wouldn’t have to swing it around the door or over the whole pickup from the other side.

He looked in at Donna for a second. She was gripping his hat hard enough to crush the brim, but it didn’t look like she even knew she was holding it. Her mouth was wide open, and so were her eyes.

“It’s okay,” he said, knowing she couldn’t hear that, either. He gave her a thumbs-up with his right hand, and mouthed, I love you in exaggerated words.

I love you, too , she mouthed back. Be careful !

“I will,” he said, nodding. “Find a landing site!” He pointed at the planet, now a bright wall of clouds and continents and oceans directly in front of them, then he reached for the side of the pickups bed and pulled himself hand over hand back to the rear tire. He didn’t need the lug wrench, which was a good thing, because it was all he could do to hold himself in place with one hand while he spun the already-loosened lug nut off with his other. The fingers of his suit wanted to splay out like a Mickey Mouse glove, and he had to fight hard to grip the tiny nut. Plus the pickup itself kept moving around; not much, but every time he pushed himself one way, it moved a little bit the other, so he was constantly misjudging distances.