About two hours later, there was a human in front of every horse transfer-box spaced tightly along the central corridor in the confines of Bounder’s work-deck. Ro-Org relayed altitudes to them; the shuttle was descending steadily through something like 40,000 feet. “You probably have enough G-loading you can release the airbags now, Nita! Tell them we are quite close.”
Guy nodded to Greg and the air hissed out of 30 sets of airbags as the team vented the bags in unison. Several horses snorted and at least one kicked the rear of the box at the release of the pressure that had held them in the transfer boxes clamped to the deck for the low-G part of the descent. Hyper lay beside Guy, but the dog didn’t find low-G conditions to be much of a problem for him.
In a few minutes, the engine sound increased, built to a crescendo and then abruptly cut off; they were down! Guy looked at Nita, beside Greg; she was beaming as she spoke to Ink Spot, rubbing his neck as he shifted his stance, snorting. De-Ruk opened the double doors to the landing ramp and Guy could see sunlight on the ground with scattered green plants in view!
De-Ruk beckoned him as Ro-Gin came walking in. Ro-Gin took Hyper’s leash and Guy led the brown paint out of the box toward Ro-Gin and Hyper. Hyper was almost as interested in Ro-Gin as he was in going toward the ramp, but then he got a whiff of outside air and trotted forward, head up. The brown paint’s head went up and she pranced sideways as she scented the air. Guy could smell wet dirt and maybe a hint of manure on the air; his pupils contracted as sunlight struck his face for the first time in three months. He focused on getting the paint to walk down the ramp, snorting out and throwing her head around as they descended the ramp. There was a murmur of sound to Guy’s left; he saw a group of Banderat waiting in a cluster at the side of the ramp, edging towards Ro-Gin, unsure of the suddenly animated dog frisking at the end of his leash.
Guy reached the dirt at the foot of the ramp and led the paint off towards the fence by the road. The paint bounced along with him, pulling strongly on the halter, eye’s wide, looking all around her at the green and brown hillside they emerged from the shuttle on. There were short, irregular patches of grass above them on the dirt of the hillside. Snow-capped mountains loomed above the residence that was recognizable from the holomodel they’d studied. Guy stroked the paint’s neck and back and clucked to reassure her.
Greg had the gray mare walking up beside him now; the mare was a little wild-eyed: nose high, nostrils taking in the scents of this new and different place. Nita leaned on Ink Spot’s halter, holding his head down a little more than he liked. He snorted and kicked out with his hind legs, trying to get free from Nita’s weight. He snorted several times and tried to rear, lifting Nita’s feet off the ground. She laughed and waited until he fell back; she knew he couldn’t carry her very far on his neck muscles alone. CJ had her brown mount in beside Ink Spot. Rebecca pulled her mount in beside them. After much snorting, the brown paint nosed Guy in the chest, apparently accepting that this was real and they were down on the surface again.
Ro-Gin had lost Hyper’s leash; Guy threw the halter lead-rope to Greg and ran out to intercept the Lab coming toward them, mostly to Greg and Nita. Hyper jumped up and decorated Guy’s hands with moist soil. Guy caught the leash and swung the big dog around and came back to take the paint’s halter lead in the other hand.
“Does this feel good, Nita?” Guy asked quietly above the sounds the Banderat were making around Ro-Gin. It was fairly warm, about 68 degrees Fahrenheit. There was a slight breeze coming downslope. The sun was at about what would have been three o’clock in a Michigan sky; there were scattered clouds over the mountains behind them. The Green River valley was verdant below them across the road; the river course was obvious in the curve of the land, but Guy had to look to what must be south to actually see the river surface between gently sloping grassy banks. He wondered what his compass would show of the planet’s magnetic field.
“Oh yes! It’s great to be out of the ship! I missed the sun; it’s so bright! I didn’t think to wear sunglasses. The air smells like a farm at home almost; it’s not exactly the s