Hard Fall

By Carl Martin

Teenager, Jerry Xiàng had always skimped on the safety rules of his family’s dirigible farm, high in the skies of Venus. Today, bad luck caught up with Jerry in the form of a meteor. Suddenly, he found himself hurtling toward the scalding, hot surface of Earth’s sister planet. What he learned on the way down could prove even more dangerous than his own hard fall.

“Hard Fall” is a 6,700 word short story by Carl Martin, author of novels, “Gods and Dragons,” “Tales of Atlantis Lost,” “Touch the Stars: Diaspora,” and co-author, with John Dalmas, of “Touch the Stars: Emergence.” Martin has also authored science fiction anthology, “Entropy’s Children” (a collection of 12 stories). In addition, under his pen name, Rod Martin, Jr., he has published nearly two dozen non-fiction books, including #1 Weather Bestseller, “Climate Basics,” and with geologist, Dr. Christopher Scotese, full-color picture book, “Pangaea Sister Sites: Jurassic Link to the Modern World.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tharsis Highlands
• Release date: Oct 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005794132

Carl Martin

Carl Martin is the fiction pen name of Rod Martin, Jr.Rod Martin, Jr. was born in West Texas, United States. He has been a Hollywood artist, a software engineer with a degree summa cum laude, a writer, web designer and a college professor.Rod Martin's interests have ranged from astronomy to ancient history, physics to geology, and graphics arts to motion pictures.He has studied comparative religion, worked as a lay minister and spiritual counselor, and taught ethics in college.While doing graphic arts in Hollywood, he also studied electronic engineering. In 1983, as Carl Martin, he published his first novel, "Touch the Stars: Emergence," co-authored by John Dalmas (Tor Books, NY).Later, switching careers to computers and information technology, Mr. Martin worked for Control Data, Ceridian Payroll, Bank of America, Global Database Marketing and IPRO Tech. He also created "Stars in the NeighborHood" 3D astronomy space software.He currently resides in the Philippines with his wife, Juvy. He has taught information technology, mathematics and professional ethics at Benedicto College, in Cebu. He continues to teach online and to write books and blogs.

Book preview

Hard Fall

A Short Story

Carl Martin

Fifty-eight kilometers down to the surface

Smashwords Edition

October 2021

Published by Tharsis Highlands Publishing

https://tharsishighlands.wordpress.com/books/

Copyright 2021 Carl Martin

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof in any form.

Acknowledgements

Cover design by Carl Martin using NASA-JPL, computer-generated images of the Venusian surface.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Hard Fall

Trouble

Jerry Xiàng looked up from his work, distracted by a bright flash from the sky. A streak of light arced across the heavens and hurtled faster and faster toward him, becoming a brilliant fireball despite the bright sunlight. It all took less than two seconds.

Suddenly, the walkway shuddered. The next moment, Jerry found himself lying face down, looking through the lattice of metal walkway. Inertia had him pinned against the corner where walkway met the face of dirigible nineteen.

A few moments later, his world slid in the opposite direction. He bounced against the railing, his hard suit toppled over the edge, and he plummeted into the open air—fifty-eight kilometers above the ground.

The next moment was filled with a brash noise of emotions—humorous relief at finally getting to leave this accursed farm, shock that he was plunging to the surface of a hostile planet, curiosity for what death would be like and how it would come on the long, hard fall toward bone-crushing depths.

He giggled. It was the laugh of rejection—against a reality that was all at once unreal and painfully vivid.

Jerry also felt sardonic absurdity that he had risked death for years by not using his safety line where it mattered most. The risk had seemed more than worth the time saved—until now.

Memory of his mother’s voice now mocked him: Don’t take shortcuts.

Yes, mother, he whispered out loud.

His heads-up display had activated the moment he went into freefall. After five seconds, he had already fallen more than a hundred meters. His velocity had reached nearly 160 kilometers-per-hour. Face-down, everything looked like a mass of grays. Only the sickening weightlessness and the rapidly changing numbers on his