Sand Doom

A senior Colonial Survey officer and a fellow passenger travel to a newly settled desert world to complete development work, but routine expectations collapse when the freighter uses emergency rocket drive and the crew orders an unexpected boat landing. Repair parts cannot be delivered because the ship that would carry them cannot land, creating a logistical catch-22. Stranded near the colony with crucial smelter equipment ashore, the passengers and crew confront arid hazards and bureaucratic assumptions, improvising technical and human solutions to unload cargo, finish the mission, and secure the settlement.