Sherry strapped herself into her seat, preparing herself for the flight down. They probably could have packed today instead of yesterday, it was late enough in the afternoon, ship's time. But no, they had to sit around in the lounge or their room, waiting to be called for their shuttle flight, then wait in line with all their bags until their shuttle actually got there, then finally get on. And all the regular passengers got to go first.
Sherry sighed, and closed her eyes. At least she'd been assigned a centre seat this time.
"Attention all passengers. Please fasten your restraints and make sure you are sitting up straight in your seat. The co-pilot will ensure they are properly tightened before launch."
Somebody tugged on her restraints, and Sherry opened her eyes. A man in uniform was moving up the aisle, checking the restraints. She closed her eyes again.
There was a thump, and the shuttle jerked upwards. A few seconds of vibration later, they jerked to a halt.
"Co-pilot, strap in. Acceleration warning: one minute."
They started to drop, faster and faster, until Sherry realised they were just leaving the Jupiter's gravity.
A wave of excited chatter moved from the front of the shuttle to the back. Sherry picked out Cathy's voice, saying something about the outside of the ship.
"Twenty seconds to acceleration."
Sherry tried to ignore all the people around her talking about the view down to the planet. The loud hum finally started and drowned them out, and she felt herself being pushed into her seat back. She kept her eyes firmly closed, trying to make herself believe she was just on a really bumpy car ride. Not that it worked in a regular airplane.
It didn't sound at all like an airplane, either. Nor a car. Sherry took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and let it out slowly. Calm the breathing, everything else will follow. The headshrinker had given her all kinds of advice that made Sherry want to smack her and say "Easy for you to say!"
It did work, a little, if she could take the first step. She focussed on her breathing, piling what little calm she was able to find onto her breath.
The shaking got worse for a while, then better, then they jolted and Sherry was pressed into her restraints.
The roar faded. "We have touched down at deWitt spaceport on Velfard colony. Local time is 4:38, mid afternoon." The shuttle jolted again, and started moving slowly. "Please remain in your seats with your restraints fastened until you are directed to leave the shuttle."
More than a few clicks hit Sherry's ears from all directions and people started talking again.
Sherry sighed, and started to relax.
They stopped, and the shuttle echoed with a great thump.
"Did you not hear me say please remain in your seats?"
Sherry opened her eyes.
"Nobody ever listens, but finally I can make the passengers listen. Now sit." The co-pilot grinned. "You aren't going anywhere until you've gotten your instructions, and I'm not giving them to you until you sit down."
The door hissed open behind him.
"Thank you. Now, your new families will be waiting for you at the gate, after you've picked up your bags. They've all been told which shuttle you're coming down on, and I'm told a lot of them have signs with your name on them. If you can't find anybody who seems to be looking for you, stay at the gate. Got that? Stay at the gate. Once you do find the people who are picking you up, go to the desk set up by the exit and check out. This is for your protection, so don't forget. Everybody understand? Don't leave the gate area until you've found your new family, and don't leave without checking out at the desk." He paused, and looked them over. "Ok, stand up."
Sherry stood up with everybody else, and waited for enough of a gap in the aisle to slip out. Out the door, up the people-chute, and along a corridor to their bags.
The crowd trickled toward the gate as more bags were claimed. Jess got her two quickly, but waited as Sherry, then Michi, then Cathy found all their stuff.
"Don't let them leave until we've all got each others new addresses," Cathy said.
"I know," Jess said. "You've said it often enough."
They went through the door and into a much larger room. A crowd of people waited in a semicircle, and Sherry started scanning for her name. The faces changed, but the procedures never did. There were always strangers to introduce yourself to.
"There's yours, Sherry." Cathy elbowed Sherry's ribs and nodded to the right.
A hand-lettered sign that said "Sherry Tenna" was being held by a man with greying hair.
She stayed with the group, shuffling forward to get out of the way of the people coming through the door behind them, until all four had found their signs. They nodded at each other, then all walked over to meet their new families.
The man holding Sherry's name stood up straighter and met her eyes when he realised she was walking toward him.
"Sherry?" he said when she was a couple of steps away.
She nodded. "You're Mr. Avery then?"
"Yes. Call me Sean. You have all your stuff already?"
"Almost. How would my friends contact me at your place?"
He dug in his pocket and pulled out a transfer tab printed on one side. "This should have everything they'd need."
Sherry dug out her bookreader, and pressed the tab against it. The logo and name printed on the tab appeared on the screen, along with a series of numbers and an address. She nodded, and picked up her small bag. "Be right back."
Sherry crossed the semicircle to Michi, and Jess and Cathy joined them. They all passed around printed transfer tabs, and wrote each other's names beside the card owner's name.
"See you guys around." Jess grabbed them all in a quick hug, then turned to pick up her bags, blushing slightly.
"Later. Call tomorrow?" Michi said.
"Sure thing. See ya." Sherry turned to cross the circle again, and noticed that Mr. Avery wasn't there any more. She scanned the crowd, and finally found him outside the circle, with her big bag at his feet.
She walked up to him and smiled. "Ok, now I have everything, thanks for waiting."Outside, the day was clear, a fact she had missed, riding down with her eyes closed. The decorative plants around the entrance were like nothing she'd ever seen before, and the air smelled kind of odd. She spotted one plant with a bluish leaf shaped like one they'd seen in science class, and some flowers that looked exactly like marigolds.
Sherry tried not to gawk and was sure she was failing miserably. It was even more exotic than the palm trees and other tropical plants she had seen when she went to that journalism conference in California, and she had gawked at those a lot too.
"So, ah, did you get our letter all right? We didn't get your bio until Spirit of Jupiter popped into local space."
"Yeah, l got it."
Mr. Avery cleared his throat. "Did you want a tour of the city, or would you prefer to go straight home?"
"Well, I'd like to drop my bags somewhere."
"How about we take the scenic route home? You can drop your bags in the taxi."
"Um, sure."
He led the way to the first of a row of identically painted cars, and stowed her bags when the driver opened the doors.
"So, uh, you don't have a car?"
"No, I don't normally need one, and the shipping cost on them is insane." He shrugged. "Not much point."
Mr. Avery rattled off an address to the driver, and the car slid out of the taxi stand and onto the road.
"Take a look at the spaceport--huge, isn't it? It's the spaceport and airport combined, and it's the hub for all travel in this system."
Sherry looked out the window and made the appropriate awed sounds until she saw something very odd--a squat, three-legged creature spinning and scampering in the plants at the side of the road. It disappeared into a bush before she could point it out and ask what it was.