After the lift passed through a layer of wispy clouds, they were suddenly and momentarily surrounded by a carnival of fluttering motion…
As it turned out, Rex’s prediction was correct, at least as far as Lamont was concerned. With every passing minute, the color of the sky lightened and the glittering stars were swallowed like minnows by a thickening curtain of deep purple. The details of the planet’s surface became clearer as the horizon gradually appeared to flatten out before the captivated viewers. The descent had been timed to follow the sunrise over the area to which Westward was anchored, and Lamont could follow the ovoid shadow of the space lift as it appeared on the brightening landscape, beginning as a faint blur in the distance and steadily resolving into a shape that grew darker and drew closer to them. The expedition team made breathless remarks to each other about the landscape before them, drawing each other’s attention to distant, crimson-hued desert, marshes dotted with countless tiny islands, and the curiously arched peaks of the mountain range into which they descended. From their lowering angle, they resembled nothing so much as the broken and petrified ribcage of some titanic beast. The idea, though obviously ridiculous, caused a heavy lump of dread to form in the newspaperman’s stomach. The vivid colors and clearly visible foliage were a far cry from the grainy, monochrome images he had seen on Westward’s telescreens. In years past, he had made similar descents toward the charcoal dust of the moon and the rocky orange deserts of Mars, but this felt distinctly different. In a way that dwarfed even his first reaction to seeing the native architecture of the Red Planet, he felt like an intruder.
It was only in an unexpected moment of delight that Lamont became aware of the deep somberness into which he had been sinking. After the lift passed through a layer of wispy clouds, they were suddenly and momentarily surrounded by a carnival of fluttering motion: Living creatures of some kind, they corkscrewed upward, spinning diaphanous fronds with kitelike tails trailing after them. There was a flurry of gasps, and Rosemary uttered an ecstatic squeal, briefly hugging Rex in her excitement. The young pilot blushed deeply.
As the last glimpse of the creatures’ long tails flitted from view, Rico laughed and slapped Clifford’s back hard enough to make the engineer cough. “There, you see?” He gloated. “I should have made a wager, eh?”
“Let’s call them ‘Dervishes,’” Theresa suggested, spinning in a circle.
“Steady, everyone,” Captain Carter admonished, though his wide mouth had broken into a smile. “We need to be prepared to encounter the unexpected.”
As if on cue, Ed’s voice crackled dryly over the intercom. “Landfall in five minutes.”
Man, your writing is awesome. It's just a pleasure to experience these characters' inner worlds in ways that only prose can convey. I *love* your art, but there's nothing more spectacular than the written word crafted one who knows the art well (in my view).