OUTRUNNER ODYSSEY BOOK TWO

As the vessel neared the planet, the molton surface below gradually came to dominate their view. The massive column of moon debris, in which the Oasis ValiMirum remained an unwilling passenger,was beginning to fan out and shift direction away from a vertical plunge, but continued to head downward at an unacceptably steep angle. Soon, the view before them became unreal. As far as they could see, the surface of the planet was a slowly moving mass of reddish orange turmoil. Moon rocks some distance ahead were now crashing into the molten surface with tumultuous effect. Awesome, would be an appropriate way to describe the view. Hellish, would be better. As the vessel made its final approach to the surface, Taya instructed everyone to immediately seek out available restraining devices to protect themselves for what would be more of a collision than a landing. The ship's inertia modifiers would make the impact stresses survivable, but considering the forces involved, they would not be able to manage all of them effectively. The captain's final comment was directed to only one person. "Good shooting, Octiryx," she stated cooly. "Yes, Captain," came the equally stoic reply. 'Well, Photaro, it's up to you now and you've got to get this one right,' thought Octiryx to himself. 'There are a lot of lives riding on the outcome, so don't make any mistakes, not today, not now!' Although time can appear to move slowly in these situations, the event would soon be upon them as the underside of the Oasis ValiMirum now glowed eerily of reflected thermal orange. In the chaos just below the ship, walls of lava leapt about in blazing fury, impatiently waiting to attack the vessel's lower shielding. "Firing will commence in five seconds, Captain," stated Octiryx. "Firing now," he then added. A sequence of glowing green energy rings then emanated from a number of ports near the front of the vessel. Quickly, their pathways merged to become a series of bright green tubular sections of energy that struck the rocks and molten surface before them with incredible power. It would simply be a case of one powerful force against another, with the outcome soon to be determined. Orange red lava turned instantly to seething yellow and then vaporized, as the entryway blasted open before the ship. The shaft being created in the surface had to be large enough to accept the craft with its shielding and deep enough for them to escape what followed. It also needed to close quickly behind them. Somehow, it all managed to go according to plan, as the ship plunged down into the newly created void in the molten lava, with the pathway just behind the vessel collapsing quickly. The thunderous impacts of tons of moon rock hitting lava just aft of the stern then produced a deafening roar. Vibrations from this trailing calamity shook the entire ship as Octiryx sent more pulsing energy streaming forward to extend their tunneling into the solid rock below. Throughout the entire process, the Oasis ValiMirum groaned under the stress, its shields pummeled by massive surrounding forces. It shook and shuttered, all the way in and all the way down, complaining in its own personal way about an abuse it had never experienced before. But the ship would not be destroyed. It would not perish in this trial most extreme, as it held within its mighty structure the lives and aspirations of so many beings.