First Steps (Founding of the Federation) (20 page)

The
commander chuckled. "Looks like you converted the Ruskie."

Mario
chuckled. "That was easy; she's a gear head at heart."

"Yes!"
She thrust her fists in the air then high fived Mario who laughed.
"Nice!" Even Yung Lin laughed at her exuberance.

...*...*...*...*...

"Hey,
I just thought of something, doesn't NASA usually send a chimp
first?" He looked over to the commander who shrugged hiding a
grin.

"What
makes you think they didn't?" the commander teased.

Mario
looked up confused to see the commander pointing to him. "Oh ha
ha," he growled. Wanda was giggling but trying to hide it. "Oh
yuck it up dear, just remember, you married me remember?" That
got Tess and the commander going as Wanda sobered and glared.

Wanda
sighed. "You would bring that up," she muttered. He
chuckled.

Mario
picked up a towel, shook it out then knotted it around his neck as a
cape. "Where no man or monkey has gone before!" He struck a
heroic pose. The AC popped on making the improvised cape flutter out
behind him. That had her and the others in stitches.

...*...*...*...*...

"Hey
gang, guess what we got in the mail today?" Luigi smiled at the
camera. "Drum roll please..." Benny obliged by tapping out
a roll on the edge of the desk. "Walla!" Julia set a box
down in front of Luigi. "You're very own action figures!"
she said eagerly. Mario chuckled. He'd already played with the idea
with the Reprap sometime ago.

"If
it hams a line I swear I am going to go postal," Wanda muttered.

His
grin widened. "Oh I dunno. As long as it is in character I don't
mind."

She
glowered at him. "Just because you have to ham up your name sake
doesn't mean the rest of us like to," she growled. He chuckled.

"Here's
the commander." Luigi pulled at the packaging. "Okay
typical, twenty layers of packaging." The commander chuckled.
Finally Luigi got the figure out. "There, none the worse for
wear." He examined it. "Hmmm looks good. NASA uniforms no
less. I heard they are coming out with a couple more, one in a space
suit and a skin suit." He set posed the figure then set it down
in front of him. "And look it even talks!" He pressed a
button on the back and the figure let out a tiny "On to Mars!"
phrase.

The
commander groaned hanging his head chuckling. "Oh god if the
family gets this I am never going to hear the end of it."

Mario
chuckled smacking him on the shoulder. "Face it, you’re an
icon." The commander looked up and shook his head.

"Here
are the Hans." Luigi lifted them into view. Mrs. Han was dressed
in a lab coat, Li in a skin suit. "Wanda and Tess..." He
held up another pair. "And finally Mario." He set the
figure down in front of him in the center of the others.

"Do
I really look that fat?" Mario asked, sounding dismayed. He was
patting his belly. Wanda giggled; hand over her mouth in a vain
attempt to stifle it.

"Check
this out." Luigi grinned as he pushed the button on the back.

"It's
a Mario! On to Mars!" the figure said. Luigi laughed with the
others. Mario sighed.

The
commander laughed slapping his knee. "Perfect! Sounds just like
you!" He pointed his finger.

"Oh
shut up," Mario mock growled. Wanda was giggling, eyes watering
hand over her mouth. "Everyone's a comedian." he sighed,
instinctively hamming it. She busted out laughing.

...*...*...*...*...

"Okay
kids, we are traveling at a pretty fast speed. Does anyone know how
fast?" The commander asked the TV camera. Now that they were
only a few weeks out the public was picking up interest so they were
doing more and more television spots. "Why don't you check and I
will give you a moment. But while we wait, Miss Audrey Clayhill, I
believe you asked me about how come we have gravity right?"
Mario smiled crossing his arms and watching from behind the camera.

"Well
you see, the hab is spinning." The commander picked up a can and
held it up for the camera to see. "Now this cable I taped on is
our tether. We spin around and around..." He whirled it around.
"And around and around." Mario's face fell as he felt
queasy. "And around," the commander said. Mario gulped and
headed for the head. "And around..."

The
commander's eyes twinkled. "Well, it isn't really gravity it is
called centrifugal force. It means we are traveling around in a
circle so inertia is throwing us against the floor." He tapped
the deck with his foot. "That is why we have gravity." He
nodded. "Okay, now back to the speed question..."

...*...*...*...*...

Mario
entered the living room slash wardroom and wrinkled his nose at the
girls. Tess and Wanda were curled up on the couch slash window seat,
each reading a tablet. He turned to the wall screen. They had a
fireplace going. “What'cha reading something good and juicy?”
he demanded. He came over acting innocent.

Wanda
looked up distracted and blushed. “Oh nothing!” She
ducked and tried to set the tablet down but he intercepted that.

“Hey!”

He
ignored her protests and started to read out loud. “Oh, she put
her hand on his naked chest, steam rose around them... Oh oh!”
He gave her a look. “Honey you've been holding out on me!”
She blushed and stamped on his foot. He yipped and dropped the tablet
into her lap.

Tess
laughed. “Served you right for mocking a woman,” she
growled. She nodded to Wanda who gurgled a laugh.

“Oh
grow up you big baby, I didn't step on it that hard,” she
teased as he limped around.

“Remind
me to get outside of arms distance before doing that again,” he
muttered. After a minute or two the pain ebbed. She shook her head
and went back to reading. “Let me know when you get to the good
part, you know the kissing and stuff,” he said. She looked up
to see his eyes twinkling. He raised his wrist to his brow. “Oh
Romeo oh Romeo...” That was as far as he got before beating a
hasty retreat from the pillows the girls threw.

...*...*...*...*...

Wanda
rested her arm on his chest later that evening. He could feel his
right arm going numb, but he didn't have the heart to move it, it
would disturb her. He wished this crazy craft wasn't spinning; it
would have been nice to look out the porthole to the stars. "Awake?"
she murmured, stirring. Her hands caressed him gently. He smiled.

"Yeah,"
he softly replied. "Big day." He chuckled. A big day
indeed, one more step to their new home.

"Yeah,
we finally get off the Ferris wheel," Wanda teased. She patted
his chest and kissed his cheek.

"I
think you of all of us will be happy about that. Three more days to
Mars," he replied. He grinned then his face fell. "I am not
looking forward to three days of weightlessness though."

She
hugged herself to him. "Well, we'll have to find ways to
distract you from it."

He
chuckled. "I can think of one way off the top of my head...”
He pulled her on top of him.

She
looked down at him eyes glowing. "Don't make promises you don't
intend to keep." Her hair fell around her, framing her oval
face.

"Well,
if I have to keep a promise..." He smiled up at her and stroked
her hair.

"Later
lover boy, we have to stop this Ferris wheel in an hour or two
remember?" She kissed him then tried to get up.

"Oh
you’re not getting away with just a peck," he growled. She
protested giggling as he pulled her down for a more thorough kiss.
"Much better."

He
smiled as she gasped. "Damn!"

He
chuckled. "Later dear." He waggled his eyebrows. She
chuckled as he let her up.

"Crap,
sounds like the commander beat me to the shower," she growled.
She looked at the door and the noises coming from the head next door.

"So,
I guess we have more time then..." Mario captured her hand and
dragged her to bed. She chuckled. A few minutes later their love
making was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Show
time in thirty you two," Tess said.

"Damn
interruptions. Put the whole mission on hold, I have a more important
one on hand right now..." he mockingly growled. He grinned at
his wife.

"I
promise later. We only got to do it twice in zero gee before we
boosted and spun up, this time we have three whole days to get to
play," she said. He sighed. "What afraid you'll be bow
legged for your first jaunt on Mars?" she teased as she got up
and dressed.

"Well,
one of us will be," he grinned as she flashed a smile.

"Promises
promises," she growled. She danced out of his reach when he
lunged for her laughing.

"Come
back here wench!" he growled. She blew him a kiss as she exited
their room with a smirk.

...*...*...*...*...

“Crap,
we have a problem folks,” Commander Bower said. The commander
looked out the window then back at his tablet.

“What's
the matter?” Tess asked looking over his shoulder.

“Part
of the aero shell is stuck. It won’t deploy all the way,”
the commander explained. He had been watching everything carefully
and caught it before ground control had.

Mario
came into the room and looked at the tablet. “Damn, not good.
Can we try to retract it and see if it will fix itself?”

The
commander shook his head. “I tried that already. She won’t
budge. I'm going to have to do a space walk to fix it,” he
sighed.

“I
come too. I have experience,” Tess nodded.

“Yeah.
Let’s let mission control know then start getting suited up.”

The
Han's nodded. “Can we do without it?” Li asked
tentatively. His wife shook her head.

“No,
it could through our profile off, it could send us into a tumble to
fry like an egg,” Mario replied looking up. “Can you two
check the port holes and see if you can spot a problem?” he
asked. They nodded and moved off.

“Is
this dangerous?” Wanda asked nervously.

“Yeah,”
Mario watched them begin pre-breathing exercises. The pressure suits
ran at a lower atmospheric pressure then the main cabin, and were
pure oxygen. Without pre-breathing to expel the nitrogen in their
blood stream they would get the bends.

“I
should be the one going out there commander,” Mario said
softly.

The
commander shook his head holding the mask to his face. “Out of
the question,” was his muffled reply. “We need experience
out there.”

Mario
sighed. “I never get to have any fun,” he grumbled good
naturally. Tess gave him a thumbs up.

As
they exited the lock the commander noted the problem right away.
“Yup, looks like a spar bent.” He moved slowly, clipping
in to a safety ring near the lock. “Make sure you lock in your
line Tess,” he cautioned. He looked back to her as she exited.

“Da,
I know this,” she replied, trying to keep from sounding testy.
She carefully shut the door then clipped in. “Bad?” she
asked turning slowly.

“Not
sure.” The commander tried to kick at the spar, but it didn't
move. “Nope, looks like it froze the motor too.”

Mario
sighed over the channel. “We have a couple options. We can cut
the spar and hope we don't need the extra support, or we can lock
another spar down and scavenge another motor and swap it out.”
He watched as the commander tugged at the spar. “Or we can pull
the connection move it manually then lock it back in,” Mario
finished.

“What
does mission control say?” the commander asked looking up to
the nearest porthole.

“Nothing
yet, they are still digesting our reports. Remember there is a six
minute time lag,” Mario replied.

The
commander grimaced. “I keep forgetting that,” he sighed.
“Okay, let’s wait and see what they say. We have time.”
He looked it over. He turned. “Nice view.” From here he
could see the red orb. Beautiful but growing closer every minute.

“I
am going to check the other spars to make sure they are properly
deployed and locked,” Tess replied. She moved off to the other
side of the lock.

“Don't
get to far out Tess,” The commander cautioned. She clicked the
mike twice.

“Mission
control says to try a manual release Commander Bower,” Wanda
called over the local channel a few minutes later.

“Roger
that. Removing the pins now.” The commander leaned in and used
his driver to remove the bolts holding the spar to the side of the
Hab.

“There
are two other bent spars, but they are almost deployed right. Fixing
this one may fix them as well,” Tess reported.

“Good.
Let's see if this works.” The commander pulled the last bolt
and then jerked back as the spars sprang up. “Damn that was
close!” The spar drifted up, and then started to rebound.

“It
has a kick? We should have thought of it having a load of kinetic
energy on,” Mario replied. The aero shell wiggled a little like
a wave was traveling through it.

“Catching
that thing is going to be a pain,” the commander grumped. A
bolt drifted by. “Shit!” He tried to reach for it but the
edge of his hand hit it and is spun off into the void. “Damn!”

“What?
What happened?” Mario asked.

“Lost
a stupid bolt.” The commander sighed. “Great. Do we have
a spare?” he asked.

“Maybe.
I'll check. Has the spar stopped?” Mario asked.

The
commander sighed. “No it is slowing down though.” He
reached out and caught the spar. He felt his body move. He tucked his
legs under him then felt the tips of his toes touch the deck under
him. “Okay. Got it.” He reached out with his free hand
and pulled on his safety line, slowing the bar until it stopped.

“Good.”

“Mission
control says we need to catch the spar before it does any damage to
the aero shell,” Wanda came over the net.

“Already
done Wanda,” The commander grunted.