Humans are Weird - Getting a Grip
"Is your harness secure?” Human Friend Albert asked, his voice slipping through the thin air to land on Bouncesover’s appendages.
Bouncesover gave a final tug at the weak points of his safety harness and gave the human ‘thumbs up’ signal. He mused that it was a grand thing that some human gesture language was so easy to mimic, even without having their bones and tendons. Outside of their artificially generated bubble of air pressure the daylight atmosphere of the planet glared in at them in swirling patterns of color.
“We’re over the dropsite,” Human Friend Albert said as he stooped to pick him up, gave his harness a final tactile check and attached their harnesses at the primary contact point on the human’s center of mass. Bounces over arranged his appendages in a comforting grip on the human’s ‘chest’ that allowed him to hear the steady thrumming of the human’s internal fluids even through the protective layer of the flight suit. Human Friend Albert’s pulse was the steady pattern that indicated intense focus as he strapped their gear into his backpack, secured it on the other side of his mass and ran the final checks on the control console of the sub-orbital platform. He leaned closer so Bouncesover could add his final confirmation as well, and the display on the console changed from green to amber to red as the atmosphere bubble dissipated, leaving them in a rush of wind and air that was far too thin for safety.
Human Friend Albert gave a muffled whoop of delight as his suit covered his nose and mouth with an oxygen membrane and took three running steps to the edge of the platform before leaping off in the rainbow swirls of mid-level atmosphere. The human’s heart-rate accelerated as they dropped and Bouncesover could feel the wild laughter rumbling though the human’s mass rather than hearing it over the rushing of the wind. After a few delighted tumbles the human flung out his arms and managed their fall so they could watch the atmospheric disembarkation platform shrink as it reunited with the suborbital pod, which in turn rose away from them into the blurry distance where it would reunite with the main space station. Bouncesover felt his harness begin to release a gentle flow of oxygen rich fluid between itself and the surfaces where it gripped him in response to the outer conditions and snuggled closer to the warm mass of the laughing human.
Human Friend Albert, with more grace than he ever showed on land, turned them back over to face the dimmer rainbow whirls, tending more towards orange, that indicated they were now facing the ground. Of course this was also made clear by the fact that the rushing air was now pushing Bouncesover into Human Friend Albert’s mass rather than trying to rip him away from it. Still laughing Human Friend Albert activated the navigation screen on the arm of his flight suit.
“Looks like the winds are good for landing at either the Alpha or Gamma locations,” Human Friend Albert observed. “Do you have any preference?”
Bouncesover considered this a moment before replying.
“Delta site has the best soaking facilities,” Bouncesover observed.
“No way!” Human Friend Albert interjected, “The water there is barely room temperature!”
“But it tastes much better,” Bouncesover argued.
“The sulfur at the other sites isn’t that bad,” Human Friend Albert countered.
“Yes it is,” Bouncesover said firmly. “Remember you only have a small patch of taste sensitive appendage. I vote we land at Alpha site so we can end our first ground day at Delta site with a good long soak.”
“Alpha site it is!” Human Friend Albert said, tapping that information into his display, which lit up with the indicated path down through the atmosphere. We’ve got plenty of time, would you rather slow drift or terminal fall most of the way?”
Bouncesover gave a wriggle of amusement at the carefully controlled tones of the human’s voice. The time difference between a controlled glide verses a maximum free fall decent would not be enough to have a leisurely snack, let alone effect their functional efficiency. However Human Friend Albert always felt the need to get his partner’s approval before wasting even those few moments, felt the need to get an excuse.
“I think you will be better able to scout any routes on our way down if you slow drift,” Bouncesover suggested.
“Yeah!” Human Friend Albert whooped out.
He deployed the wind-wings and the rush of air grew louder and slower as the atmosphere began to push them up against the pull of this planet’s gravity. Human Friend Albert wrapped his arms around Bouncesover as the wind-wings took over positioning control from his limbs, and also giving Bouncesover the use of the display on his forearm so the Undulate could calculate the time to their landing at Alpha site. Presumably the human was seeing the same data on the display on the suit membrane over his eyes. Bouncesover idly pulled up the human’s biometrics and gave another wriggle of amusement at the clear delight that was displayed in every readout. Human Friend Albert’s arms tightened around Bouncesover and another delighted laugh ran through his mass. Bouncesover let his awareness drift out into the thin, tasteless air, and the vague swirling colors of the world around them. Why the human preferred to jump from the platform of the suborbital pod rather than taking one of the landing craft down was still something of a mystery to the Undulate, but clearly the human did, and if Bouncesover couldn’t see what the mammal did in the situation, he could certainly enjoy Human Friend Albert’s enthusiasm.
Bouncesover gave a final tug at the weak points of his safety harness and gave the human ‘thumbs up’ signal. He mused that it was a grand thing that some human gesture language was so easy to mimic, even without having their bones and tendons. Outside of their artificially generated bubble of air pressure the daylight atmosphere of the planet glared in at them in swirling patterns of color.
“We’re over the dropsite,” Human Friend Albert said as he stooped to pick him up, gave his harness a final tactile check and attached their harnesses at the primary contact point on the human’s center of mass. Bounces over arranged his appendages in a comforting grip on the human’s ‘chest’ that allowed him to hear the steady thrumming of the human’s internal fluids even through the protective layer of the flight suit. Human Friend Albert’s pulse was the steady pattern that indicated intense focus as he strapped their gear into his backpack, secured it on the other side of his mass and ran the final checks on the control console of the sub-orbital platform. He leaned closer so Bouncesover could add his final confirmation as well, and the display on the console changed from green to amber to red as the atmosphere bubble dissipated, leaving them in a rush of wind and air that was far too thin for safety.
Human Friend Albert gave a muffled whoop of delight as his suit covered his nose and mouth with an oxygen membrane and took three running steps to the edge of the platform before leaping off in the rainbow swirls of mid-level atmosphere. The human’s heart-rate accelerated as they dropped and Bouncesover could feel the wild laughter rumbling though the human’s mass rather than hearing it over the rushing of the wind. After a few delighted tumbles the human flung out his arms and managed their fall so they could watch the atmospheric disembarkation platform shrink as it reunited with the suborbital pod, which in turn rose away from them into the blurry distance where it would reunite with the main space station. Bouncesover felt his harness begin to release a gentle flow of oxygen rich fluid between itself and the surfaces where it gripped him in response to the outer conditions and snuggled closer to the warm mass of the laughing human.
Human Friend Albert, with more grace than he ever showed on land, turned them back over to face the dimmer rainbow whirls, tending more towards orange, that indicated they were now facing the ground. Of course this was also made clear by the fact that the rushing air was now pushing Bouncesover into Human Friend Albert’s mass rather than trying to rip him away from it. Still laughing Human Friend Albert activated the navigation screen on the arm of his flight suit.
“Looks like the winds are good for landing at either the Alpha or Gamma locations,” Human Friend Albert observed. “Do you have any preference?”
Bouncesover considered this a moment before replying.
“Delta site has the best soaking facilities,” Bouncesover observed.
“No way!” Human Friend Albert interjected, “The water there is barely room temperature!”
“But it tastes much better,” Bouncesover argued.
“The sulfur at the other sites isn’t that bad,” Human Friend Albert countered.
“Yes it is,” Bouncesover said firmly. “Remember you only have a small patch of taste sensitive appendage. I vote we land at Alpha site so we can end our first ground day at Delta site with a good long soak.”
“Alpha site it is!” Human Friend Albert said, tapping that information into his display, which lit up with the indicated path down through the atmosphere. We’ve got plenty of time, would you rather slow drift or terminal fall most of the way?”
Bouncesover gave a wriggle of amusement at the carefully controlled tones of the human’s voice. The time difference between a controlled glide verses a maximum free fall decent would not be enough to have a leisurely snack, let alone effect their functional efficiency. However Human Friend Albert always felt the need to get his partner’s approval before wasting even those few moments, felt the need to get an excuse.
“I think you will be better able to scout any routes on our way down if you slow drift,” Bouncesover suggested.
“Yeah!” Human Friend Albert whooped out.
He deployed the wind-wings and the rush of air grew louder and slower as the atmosphere began to push them up against the pull of this planet’s gravity. Human Friend Albert wrapped his arms around Bouncesover as the wind-wings took over positioning control from his limbs, and also giving Bouncesover the use of the display on his forearm so the Undulate could calculate the time to their landing at Alpha site. Presumably the human was seeing the same data on the display on the suit membrane over his eyes. Bouncesover idly pulled up the human’s biometrics and gave another wriggle of amusement at the clear delight that was displayed in every readout. Human Friend Albert’s arms tightened around Bouncesover and another delighted laugh ran through his mass. Bouncesover let his awareness drift out into the thin, tasteless air, and the vague swirling colors of the world around them. Why the human preferred to jump from the platform of the suborbital pod rather than taking one of the landing craft down was still something of a mystery to the Undulate, but clearly the human did, and if Bouncesover couldn’t see what the mammal did in the situation, he could certainly enjoy Human Friend Albert’s enthusiasm.
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