Boojum

“Two hundred. Descent stable at two meters per second. Spoiler deployment on my mark.”

Lisbeth Dahl’s voice was level and unemotional. She might have been describing something happening a thousand miles away.

The lander gave a little shiver as the spoilers opened. Pike braced himself, then relaxed again as the lander continued to decelerate, balanced on the flame of the engine. After the shaking they had endured at higher altitude, the final stages of the descent felt as smooth as silk.

“One hundred meters. Lateral drift less than point oh five.”

Pike blinked twice and the inside of his visor lit with data. The numbers changed with laborious slowness. Their rate of descent had dropped to almost nothing. He had the sense of being suspended between ground and sky.

I think we can walk to the ground from here, he thought to himself. He fought the urge to giggle.

“Fifty meters. Main engine forty percent.”

Pike floated upward against his harness as the flight computer throttled back the engine. He watched the numbers on the altimeter crawl downwards.

“Ten meters.”

Sun Yi frowned, her eyes still closed. The darkness outside the window paled for a moment, as if ghosts were dancing just beyond the glass. “Five meters. Lock-in landing configuration.”

The interior of the capsule was suddenly silent as the engine cut out. Pike listened to the rasping of his own breath in the plastic bowl of his helmet.

There was a gentle thump as the landing gear made contact. The lander hesitated for a moment, then settled. Sun Yi slowly opened her eyes.

“Ladies, gentlemen. Welcome to Titan,” said the commander.