Chapter 5 - The Descent

                                    

                                              
As the pod settled in at the bottom of the hub, there was a slight vibration and the clang of metal on metal as it locked into its launch position. Denton squirmed in his seat in an attempt to get comfortable. He realized that in their hurry to get him into the pod they had forgotten to dress him in the protective gear required for each racer. Not only did Denton not have protective gear, but wearing an office suit in a Descent pod was not his idea of comfortable. He hoped the suit he wore wouldn't be his burial suit.
                          
He took advantage of the moment before launch to familiarize himself with the inside of the pod. Right in front of him, a large screen showed the video feed from the outside cameras. He knew there was one in the nose and one in the rear of the pod. The video feed would show him where he was going much in the same manner as a windshield would a driver of a car. Other data, such as altitude, velocity, and G-Forces were displayed in virtual gauges on the left side of the screen while various buttons and input fields occupied the right edge of the screen. A large, red countdown timer counted down the seconds in the center of the screen.
                          
Denton reached for the controls that had been tucked away while he climbed on board. Not unlike joysticks, each handle had several buttons that controlled different aspects of the pod. His left hand manipulated the direction the pod was facing. If he pushed it up or down, left or right, the nose of the pod would change in the appropriate direction.
                          
The right hand changed rotation and velocity. Left and right movements would rotate the pod clockwise or counter-clockwise. Forward or backward would increase or decrease the forward momentum of the pod by firing thrusters located at the front and rear of the pod. He could also roll left or right through a combination of using the left and right controllers.
                          
Denton fingered the thruster nervously. It was all too familiar to him from his VR races. Balancing the thrust properly at landing had always been difficult for him. More often than not, he ended up as a crater on the surface of the planet, either from running out of fuel or from applying braking thrust too late.
                          
He sighed and reached for the portable patching tool that Gabi had tucked into a small storage compartment right in front of him. It was simple enough. Turn it on, await confirmation that it had connected to the remote host and then click the Upload button. Simple, right?
                          
He wondered if he would be able to deliver. Racing down to the surface from space was one thing. Trying to get close enough to another racer to patch their navigational computer from the outside while descending at high-speed something else altogether. There was no VR simulation for what he was about to do.
                          
He reached for the headset that hung next to the monitor and heard the countdown announcements in sync with what he saw on the screen. Thirty seconds and counting. He felt butterflies in his stomach. He wiped the sweat off of his forehead and pulled on the straps of his seat belt.
                          
Fifteen seconds.
                          
He tucked the portable patching tool back into the compartment but made sure it was turned on and ready for use. He wouldn't have much time if he made it close enough to use it. With ten seconds to go, he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. I can do this, I can do this.
                          
As the last seconds counted down, Denton braced himself. He had seen enough launches broadcast before to know they could be unpredictable. When the timer reached zero, Denton felt a violent jerk, as if the pod launched from the bottom of the hub like a cannonball. He felt his body press back into the chair as he struggled to take a breath against the pressure from the G-forces. The outer edges of his field of vision started darkening at the edges, reducing what he could see and pulling him towards the dark abyss of unconsciousness.
                          
Just as he felt himself about to slip over the edge into darkness, the pressure on his chest subsided. He blinked a few times and drew a few deep breaths and coughed violently. Tears gathered in his eyes as the coughs stopped. He wiped his eyes and glanced at the video feed as he fumbled for the controls. What he saw almost made him throw up.