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MARS NEEDS REINDEER!!! -- Pg 2/2 -- Enhanced Text
Date posted: Dec 12/2011
© 2004 Fred Brown
.
.
............................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................
❱❱❱❱ NOTA BENE: This copy is in a clearer, better-readable font, and can only be read on CYAN screens.
The Standard text copy that's readable on dark screens is here: Mars Needs Reindeer!!! -- Standard text)
Main account is here:
(this sub is in the fwbrown61-work account)
............................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................
|
| Page Links: ·1· ·2·
|
=============================================================================
On tippy-toes, Theresa peered through the eyepiece of the telescope. "I still
don't see anything," she complained. "Are you sure it's programmed right?"
The three of them were on the backyard porch, dressed against the night's
chill. The colony dome cut the Martian cold but didn't banish it. Carl and Karen
were sitting in deck chairs and had coffees to keep them warm. Theresa was too
keyed up to need anything.
A small flat-screen compslate unit lay glowing on the garden furniture
tabletop, set to the Colony's main news channel. The sound was turned low.
"It's programmed right, Honey," Carl said. "We got the program straight
from the Colony computer."
"The scope's up a bit too high for her," Karen murmured. "Hmmm," Carl
said, and went to adjust it down a bit.
Theresa stood by impatiently as the telescope's computer and motors
reoriented, then locked on to the program.
Theresa instantly glued herself back to the eyepiece. "How soon? When does
he get here?" she demanded.
"He'll be here soon, Theresa. Then once you've seen him it's straight to bed
so he can leave you your presents," Karen said.
Carl looked at the compslate. The countdown was winding down. It would
only be moments.
"You did send your e-mail to Santa, didn't you?" Karen asked, to fill the
minute or so left.
"Oh yes! We all did it at school after the teachers told us Santa's e-mail
address. They said the Colony mailserver would be sure to post our mail so it'd
get to Santa in time an' wouldn't be late 'cause of the lightspeed timelag with
Earth. An' we all got reply certificates the next day. So Santa got our mail!"
Carl raised a silent thumbs up and tipped an imaginary hat at Karen, who
just sniffed.
"Almost had to beat the System Administrator's head in with a baseball bat
to make that happen, the stubborn cat," Karen grumbled quietly so Theresa
didn't hear. "Good thing Bannon stepped in; bunnies aren't supposed to kill
tigers."
"Ha! Piece of cake compared to what I went through with the Robotics
Group," Carl snorted. "Kept wanting to add functions, make it all more 'lifelike.'
It's only going to make one orbit, fercrissakes, then do a retroburn and come
down at the North Pole."
"Shhh," Karen warned, as Theresa looked up. "Just talking about work,
Honey," she said loudly. She glanced at the compslate screen. "Only thirty
seconds to go."
Theresa squeaked and dove back for the telescope.
"Glad we brought that scope with us from Earth," Carl whispered, as Karen
nodded. "Most everybody else is glued to the comm channels and the feed from
the Astronomy Group observatory. Theresa gets the real thing."
"Lucky the Colony dome's transparent..." Karen began, but a shriek of joy
cut her off.
"I see him!! I see him!! It's Santa!!" Theresa shouted happily.
Carl and Karen looked up.
High above, a sharp glowing dot, like an unusually bright star, was moving
slowly up the sky. The sleigh and reindeer, assembled on Phobos and boosted
carefully into position, had caught a remnant of sunlight.
"I see him! And all the reindeer! They're moving! You've got to see!!!"
Carl got up and stooped to take a look. "That's the big guy all right," he said.
"Here, take a look." He motioned to Karen.
Karen bent down to reach the eyepiece. Sure enough, a sleigh and nine
recognizable reindeer swam into view. The 'man' in the sleigh was dressed in the
famous red suit and was jiggling the reins. The bushy white beard looked almost
bigger than his head.
The 'reindeer' were large and looked powerful, with huge antlers that would
never grace a hunter's wall. Their legs were moving in synch with each other. The
lead reindeer's nose shone a brilliant red that could be seen from another star
system. And they were all wearing...
The telescope whirred as it tracked the trajectory. Theresa jostled Karen
aside and grabbed the eyepiece back. "There's Rudolph! Oh, it's Rudolph!" she
moaned happily.
"Space suits and helmets?" Karen said to Carl in astonished disbelief. "Santa
and his reindeer are all wearing space suits...?"
Theresa, scornfully, not looking up: "Mo-ther, don't be a dummy. It's a long
way from Earth an' it's outer space. Oh, that's Donner, and Blitzen...!!"
"Spacesuits!" Karen whispered in a strangled voice, just on the edge of
disasterous, uncontrollable laughter.
Carl gave her a nudge. "Yeah, don't be a dummy, Mother." Then in a lower
voice: "Last minute addition by one of the deer fur tech's on the Station. We
started the final assembly of the robots, then she came out with these suits and
fake helmets. I suppose she had a pattern to work from."
"Everybody up there really got into it, then."
"They were like kids. Should've seen them."
The minutes ticked by. The orbital pass over the Colony would not take long,
but real time meant nothing here. The telescope hummed and moved slowly, with
Theresa utterly transfixed. The little bunny would have stayed out all night.
"Santa's rockets just fired! He's gonna be landing!!"
Carl and Karen looked up again. Closer to the horizon now, a long tongue of
red flame projected from the point of light. Theresa whooped with glee. The
telescope angled sharply down, tracking the descent.
"That's an unusually large retro burn," Karen whispered. "Mostly
pyrotechnics," Carl whispered back. "Part of the show."
The flame came down lower and lower, then vanished. The telescope whirred
and stopped. "That's it. I can't see him anymore. He's landing at the North Pole.
He's here," Theresa said happily, still looking through the scope.
Karen cocked an eyebrow at Carl.
"We decided on a modified aerobraking system," Carl murmured. "Low-g
makes for an easy touchdown. It auto-disassembles and all the parts land
separately; shouldn't be much damage. We'll repair it and use it again next
Christmas."
"How much did it all cost?" Karen whispered.
"Peanuts. Almost all volunteer labour and programming and donated
materials. Bannon was ready to hand out medals."
"I'll take cash. 'Tis the season for giving, isn't it?"
"Not with Bannon in charge."
Theresa stepped away from the scope. She looked toward the North. Her
eyes glittered with happiness, which looked like tears because they were. "He's
here," she repeated softly.
The two bunnies looked lovingly at their little girl. "Wonder how old she'll be
before we tell her any of this? What we went through for this?" Karen whispered.
Carl took Karen's paw. "You mean you want to know when she's going to
grow up?" he asked in a low voice.
He squeezed his wife's paw gently. "Don't be silly. For us, she'll never grow
up. So long as we remember tonight."
"It's time for us to go to bed now. Or Santa won't come with our presents,"
the little bunny said solemnly to her parents.
"You are so right, Honey," said her mother, in a voice that was barely there
for the tears she could barely hold back. She took her daughter in a hug that
could not have been broken by anything.
Silently, the father picked up the telescope and the compslate, and the
coffee cups, and went inside. Mother and daughter, the hug spent, followed
moments later as the Martian dusk slowly descended over the town to become a
star-filled Martian night.
-- Fin
Jul 23/14.
=============================================================================
<<< First Page
Date posted: Dec 12/2011
© 2004 Fred Brown
.
.
............................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................
❱❱❱❱ NOTA BENE: This copy is in a clearer, better-readable font, and can only be read on CYAN screens.
The Standard text copy that's readable on dark screens is here: Mars Needs Reindeer!!! -- Standard text)
Main account is here:
(this sub is in the fwbrown61-work account)............................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................
|
| Page Links: ·1· ·2·
|
=============================================================================
On tippy-toes, Theresa peered through the eyepiece of the telescope. "I still
don't see anything," she complained. "Are you sure it's programmed right?"
The three of them were on the backyard porch, dressed against the night's
chill. The colony dome cut the Martian cold but didn't banish it. Carl and Karen
were sitting in deck chairs and had coffees to keep them warm. Theresa was too
keyed up to need anything.
A small flat-screen compslate unit lay glowing on the garden furniture
tabletop, set to the Colony's main news channel. The sound was turned low.
"It's programmed right, Honey," Carl said. "We got the program straight
from the Colony computer."
"The scope's up a bit too high for her," Karen murmured. "Hmmm," Carl
said, and went to adjust it down a bit.
Theresa stood by impatiently as the telescope's computer and motors
reoriented, then locked on to the program.
Theresa instantly glued herself back to the eyepiece. "How soon? When does
he get here?" she demanded.
"He'll be here soon, Theresa. Then once you've seen him it's straight to bed
so he can leave you your presents," Karen said.
Carl looked at the compslate. The countdown was winding down. It would
only be moments.
"You did send your e-mail to Santa, didn't you?" Karen asked, to fill the
minute or so left.
"Oh yes! We all did it at school after the teachers told us Santa's e-mail
address. They said the Colony mailserver would be sure to post our mail so it'd
get to Santa in time an' wouldn't be late 'cause of the lightspeed timelag with
Earth. An' we all got reply certificates the next day. So Santa got our mail!"
Carl raised a silent thumbs up and tipped an imaginary hat at Karen, who
just sniffed.
"Almost had to beat the System Administrator's head in with a baseball bat
to make that happen, the stubborn cat," Karen grumbled quietly so Theresa
didn't hear. "Good thing Bannon stepped in; bunnies aren't supposed to kill
tigers."
"Ha! Piece of cake compared to what I went through with the Robotics
Group," Carl snorted. "Kept wanting to add functions, make it all more 'lifelike.'
It's only going to make one orbit, fercrissakes, then do a retroburn and come
down at the North Pole."
"Shhh," Karen warned, as Theresa looked up. "Just talking about work,
Honey," she said loudly. She glanced at the compslate screen. "Only thirty
seconds to go."
Theresa squeaked and dove back for the telescope.
"Glad we brought that scope with us from Earth," Carl whispered, as Karen
nodded. "Most everybody else is glued to the comm channels and the feed from
the Astronomy Group observatory. Theresa gets the real thing."
"Lucky the Colony dome's transparent..." Karen began, but a shriek of joy
cut her off.
"I see him!! I see him!! It's Santa!!" Theresa shouted happily.
Carl and Karen looked up.
High above, a sharp glowing dot, like an unusually bright star, was moving
slowly up the sky. The sleigh and reindeer, assembled on Phobos and boosted
carefully into position, had caught a remnant of sunlight.
"I see him! And all the reindeer! They're moving! You've got to see!!!"
Carl got up and stooped to take a look. "That's the big guy all right," he said.
"Here, take a look." He motioned to Karen.
Karen bent down to reach the eyepiece. Sure enough, a sleigh and nine
recognizable reindeer swam into view. The 'man' in the sleigh was dressed in the
famous red suit and was jiggling the reins. The bushy white beard looked almost
bigger than his head.
The 'reindeer' were large and looked powerful, with huge antlers that would
never grace a hunter's wall. Their legs were moving in synch with each other. The
lead reindeer's nose shone a brilliant red that could be seen from another star
system. And they were all wearing...
The telescope whirred as it tracked the trajectory. Theresa jostled Karen
aside and grabbed the eyepiece back. "There's Rudolph! Oh, it's Rudolph!" she
moaned happily.
"Space suits and helmets?" Karen said to Carl in astonished disbelief. "Santa
and his reindeer are all wearing space suits...?"
Theresa, scornfully, not looking up: "Mo-ther, don't be a dummy. It's a long
way from Earth an' it's outer space. Oh, that's Donner, and Blitzen...!!"
"Spacesuits!" Karen whispered in a strangled voice, just on the edge of
disasterous, uncontrollable laughter.
Carl gave her a nudge. "Yeah, don't be a dummy, Mother." Then in a lower
voice: "Last minute addition by one of the deer fur tech's on the Station. We
started the final assembly of the robots, then she came out with these suits and
fake helmets. I suppose she had a pattern to work from."
"Everybody up there really got into it, then."
"They were like kids. Should've seen them."
The minutes ticked by. The orbital pass over the Colony would not take long,
but real time meant nothing here. The telescope hummed and moved slowly, with
Theresa utterly transfixed. The little bunny would have stayed out all night.
"Santa's rockets just fired! He's gonna be landing!!"
Carl and Karen looked up again. Closer to the horizon now, a long tongue of
red flame projected from the point of light. Theresa whooped with glee. The
telescope angled sharply down, tracking the descent.
"That's an unusually large retro burn," Karen whispered. "Mostly
pyrotechnics," Carl whispered back. "Part of the show."
The flame came down lower and lower, then vanished. The telescope whirred
and stopped. "That's it. I can't see him anymore. He's landing at the North Pole.
He's here," Theresa said happily, still looking through the scope.
Karen cocked an eyebrow at Carl.
"We decided on a modified aerobraking system," Carl murmured. "Low-g
makes for an easy touchdown. It auto-disassembles and all the parts land
separately; shouldn't be much damage. We'll repair it and use it again next
Christmas."
"How much did it all cost?" Karen whispered.
"Peanuts. Almost all volunteer labour and programming and donated
materials. Bannon was ready to hand out medals."
"I'll take cash. 'Tis the season for giving, isn't it?"
"Not with Bannon in charge."
Theresa stepped away from the scope. She looked toward the North. Her
eyes glittered with happiness, which looked like tears because they were. "He's
here," she repeated softly.
The two bunnies looked lovingly at their little girl. "Wonder how old she'll be
before we tell her any of this? What we went through for this?" Karen whispered.
Carl took Karen's paw. "You mean you want to know when she's going to
grow up?" he asked in a low voice.
He squeezed his wife's paw gently. "Don't be silly. For us, she'll never grow
up. So long as we remember tonight."
"It's time for us to go to bed now. Or Santa won't come with our presents,"
the little bunny said solemnly to her parents.
"You are so right, Honey," said her mother, in a voice that was barely there
for the tears she could barely hold back. She took her daughter in a hug that
could not have been broken by anything.
Silently, the father picked up the telescope and the compslate, and the
coffee cups, and went inside. Mother and daughter, the hug spent, followed
moments later as the Martian dusk slowly descended over the town to become a
star-filled Martian night.
-- Fin
Jul 23/14.
=============================================================================
<<< First Page
Category Story / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 120 x 120px
File Size 1.9 kB
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