Andrijan looked over his shoulder at Moore, alerted by Maggie's concern. He hadn't had much time to worry about the youngest male crew member since the ordeal had begun, but he was not without humanity, and gave him a concerned look. "You going to be okay, tough guy?" he asked.<br/><br/>Moore's eyes opened, his brow like steel, and he gave Andrijan an affirmative grunt between heavy breaths. "Let's do this," he seemed to growl.<br/><br/>A discrete smile appeared on Curtis' face.<br/><br/>"Alright, everyone keep an eye out," Andrijan called. "Here we go!"<br/><br/>The ship passed the first waypoint on the heads-up display, and Curtis punched the console, starting another sublight scan, this time mapping the visible portions of the planet. Andrijan slowly began to roll the ship, and the planet whirled around in the viewscreen, centering above them. Brief taps caused the RCS thrusters on the belly of the ship to fire, pitching the ship towards the planet, sinking them into the gravity well. He tagged the ship's main boosters and sped the ship up, causing the cabin to shimmy and quake as speed and gravity battled to bring the ship and its long string of cargo down.<br/><br/>The planet sped beneath them, more of the lovely light violet sky opening up as they passed into the day-side of the world. "First readings are coming back," Curtis replied. "Atmosphere's breathable, and the pressure ain't too high," he explained. "Less mass than I'd expected. Probably looking at 80-85% gravity of Earth. Least we don't have to worry about suffocating on the ground, if we get to it."<br/><br/>"Oh, we're going to the ground," Andrijan replied, as the ship rattled warningly. "Don't you worry about that. Not sure we'll be able to suffocate if we're burnt to a crisp or smashed into pieces, but that's good news."<br/><br/>As the rolled over to the day side of the world, it became clear that while there were wetlands galore across the planet's surface, it lacked the traditional oceans and continents. It appeared as though one megacontinent spanned the entire planet's surface, with small seas, rivers and deltas speckled about. There was no lack of moisture, clearly, but it seemed as though it didn't accumulate enough to divide the highlands. There were some hills and small mountain ranges across the surface, but for the most part, the equator seemed fairly level, a very strange formation that appeared almost<i>designed</i>at first glance. Curtis' sublight scan mapped the planet's surface with relative detail, pointing out hilly regions and mountain ranges, as well as lowlands, marshes and rivers.<br/><br/>However, as their burn continued it slowly became clear what had caused the unusual feature. At the point on the planet closest to the sun-facing equator, an enormous storm raged. A typhoon that filled about half of the light-filled side of the planet swirled menacingly, impenetrable clouds dousing the land with heavy rainfall, and lightning strikes that seemed to flare constantly. The eye of the storm looked serene, though, waterlogged but peaceful. "Mother of mercy," Curtis commented, eyeing the storm uncomfortably. He looked at the scan again. "Slow rotation...<i>very</i>slow. Each day is about four calendar months... at least one of those must be spent under that monster," he said, pointing out the window at the frightening storm took up the entire screen. Even his scan couldn't get a reading on what lay beneath -- the storm was pure chaos. "It looks permanent! See the way it's worn down that belt around the equator?" It stood to reason that any geological formation had been worn away by the storm over time, leaving the planet with its unusual telltale belt. "The equator is probably the safest place to land, but if we're not picked up soon, we'll have to contend with that storm. Or worse, the dark side of the planet."<br/><br/>As they passed over the storm, the usual geography seemed to resume, though lakes and rivers slowly changed from deep blues to lighter colors, slowly crystallizing over in white. "Jesus... That's what I thought. Everything freezes over on the dark side."<br/><br/>The shift was sudden, and within minutes, they were back looking over the black.<br/><br/>Andrijan slowly let off the thrusters, and the ship began to rattle less frighteningly. "Alright, we're nearly geosynchronous." He appeared to be visibly relaxing as they cruised over the dark side. "Just a few more minutes, and we'll be able to offload our cargo and get to the ground."<br/><br/>Moore looked over to Maggie, much of the color had returned to him over their time viewing the planet. "Thanks," he said softly, still holding the needle in his chest.