Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) (125 page)

“Ionization.”

“Already?”

“Yeah. Entry interface in about six
minutes.”

“Well, then it’s about on
schedule.”

“Yeah.”

“Um, we are flying backward, aren’t
we?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s good. Cause if we were flying forward,
that would be bad.”

“Yes. Very bad.”

“That’s Alaska down there, isn’t
it?” said Abby. “A lot of mountains.”

“Yes,” said Gabe.

“Alright,” said Jeff, “everyone
stop sightseeing and pay attention. Let’s get back on Earth first, we can do
the travelogue later.”

“
Ares
, Newport, transmitting
through
ARIA 1
, we’ve got your data. You’re 1,729 miles uprange, 35,706
feet per second, and about one minute from entry interface.”

“Rog, Newport.”

“Here we go,” said Gabe.
“Communications blackout in one minute. God I hope these parachutes work.”

“Well if they don’t, I’m gonna
write Boeing a very nasty letter.”

“No you won’t. Sue, how’s Ghita
doing?”

“Proverbially speaking, sleeping
like a baby.”

“Lucky her. I wish I was.”

“Come on, Gabe,” said Jeff, “in 13
minutes we’ll be back on Earth.”

“Define Earth. We’re coming down in
the Pacific Ocean and the nearest land is two miles away… straight down.”

“400,000 feet,” said Abby. “Entry
Interface. And… .05g light on the EMS.”

“EMS scroll,” said Gabe.

“Scroll.”

“.05g switch ON, EMS roll ON.”

“Both ON.”

“1g… 2… 3”

“Accelerometer and DSKY?”

“Looks good.”

“Three and a half… 4… 5… 6… 6.2.
Rolling 180.”

“Looking good.”

“Decelerating. 4gs.”

“450 miles,” said Gabe.

“3gs.”

“EMS is…”

“Minus 70. Right on the money.”

 “
Ares
, Newport. How do you
read?”

“Newport,
Ares
. Weak but readable. How me?”
said Jeff.

“Read you same. Sure is good to
hear from you.”

“10,000 feet per second,” said
Gabe. “About 100 miles to go. I can barely see.”

“That was quite an experience,”
said Jeff. “One that I don’t think I’d care to partake of again.”

“60 miles. I’m receiving our cross
range data now.”

“Newport,
Ares
,” said Jeff.
“We’re at 50k, about eight and half miles to go on the EMS.”

“Copy.”

“Sequence Pyro, two, to ARM,” said Gabe.

“Pyro to ARM,” said Jeff. “Newport,
Ares
, Pyros armed, standing by for 30k feet.”

“Rog.”

“Coming up on 30. Abby?”

“I’ve got it. ELS logic ON. AUTO.”

“Okay, standby…”

“Drogues. Cabin pressure
increasing. Standby for mains. 10 seconds.”

“
Ares
, this is
Recovery 1
,
I have visual contact.”

“Uh, rog. 14… 13… 12… Eleven
thousand feet and… main chute deployment.”

“Mains!” yelled Abby.

“
Ares
, this is
Recovery 1
,
I have your mains.”

“Roger. Repress OFF, direct O
₂
OPEN.”

“CM RCS logic ON,” said Abby.

“Propellant to DUMP,” said Gabe.

“
Ares
, this is
Swim 2
,
we have you 080, two miles. Over.”

“Copy,
Swim 2
. We’re not
going anywhere,” said Jeff.

“
Ares
, this is
Photo 1
, chutes look
good.”

“Roger. All three?”

“Affirmative.”

“Roger.”

“
Ares
, this is
Makin Island
, over.”

“Good
morning,
Makin Island
, nice to hear from you.”

“This is
Makin
Island
, we are approximately eight miles southeast of your anticipated
splashdown position and on our way to you. What is your condition?”

“Everything seems fine, 3,500 feet. Crew’s in good
shape, and we’re just hanging around waiting to go for a swim.”

“This is
Makin
Island
, roger.
Airboss
,
Makin Island
.”

“
Airboss
,
go ahead.”

“Roger,
Airboss
,
do you have visual on
Ares
?”

“This is
Airboss
,
affirmative.”

“This is
Ares
,”
said Jeff, “2,500 feet.”

“Roger.
Airboss
,
Makin Island
, what’s the swimmer status?”

“
Swim 2
is closing in on
Ares
, should
arrive just a minute or two following splashdown.
Swim 1
is still a few
miles out.
Swim 1
will attempt to recover the chutes, then assist
Swim
2
once
Ares
is at stable 1.”

“Roger.
Photo
1
, we are receiving your video.”

“
Photo
1
, roger.”

“This is
Ares
, 1,500 feet.”

“Roger,
Ares
, this is
Swim 2
, you’re
looking great. I’m about a mile from you.”

“Roger,
Swim
2
. We’re looking forward to shaking your hand.”

“I’ll bet
you are.”

“This is
Ares
, 1,000 feet.
Gabe, Cabin Pressure Relief CLOSED.”

“CLOSED,” said Gabe.

“Main Bus Ties OFF.”

“OFF.”

“500 feet. Here comes the water,
everybody hang on. And… splashdown!”

Abby sighed aloud. “Well, that
wasn’t so bad.”

“This is
Swim 2
,
splashdown.”

They sat there for a moment, and
then began to tip.

“Uh oh,” said Jeff, “here we go.”
And the capsule rolled over, leaving them all hanging upside down from their
shoulder harnesses. “Oh, great. Stable 2.”

“Didn’t all the Apollo capsules
splashdown this way?” said Susan.

“About half of them. It was a coin
toss. Occupational hazard. The bitch is: besides being upside down, we have no
communications because our antennas are underwater and it’ll be eight or ten
minutes before the flotation bags flip us back over. Oh, crap, gravity isn’t
what it’s all cracked up to be. Um, Abby, Gabe, break out the post-splashdown
checklists, and see if you can get us through that before the swimmers arrive.”

“I just wet my pants again,” said
Gabe.

“Yeah, well, there’s a lot of that
going on. Just grab the damn checklist and get us through this.”

“Ah, there we go,” said Jeff. The
capsule slowly rolled upright. “Finally.
Swim 2
,
Ares
, seems
we’re finally at stable 1.”

“
Swim 2
, roger, sir, concur.”

“
Airboss
,
Makin
Island
, is the capsule at stable 1?”

“This is
Airboss
,
that’s affirmative.
Swim 2
you are cleared for recovery.”

“
Swim 2
, roger. Lowering swimmer.”

“This is
Airboss
, swimmer is in the water.”

Jeff looked up at the knock on the hatch, and waved
at the frogman. “The reception committee is here.”

Gabe grasped his hand, and at the same time smiled
and cried. “We made it.”

He took Abby’s hand and reached down for Susan’s.
“Yeah, we made it.” He leaned back in the couch and laughed. “We did it! WE DID
IT!”

Abby leaned over and kissed him. “No, boss,
you
did it. And somewhere on Mount Everest, George Mallory’s ghost is smiling.”

Jeff wiped the tears from his eyes. “Yeah, I’ll bet
he is.” He took a moment to catch his breath. “Okay, let’s get out of here, go
for a little sail, and go home.”

“Works for me. I’m tired.”

“Me too. I’ll get the hatch. Sue, you want to wake
Ghita up, and prepare for a little helo ride?”

“Roger that.”

Jeff climbed out of his seat and opened the hatch.
The swimmer shook his hand. “Welcome home, sir.”

“Thank you. It’s been a long time.”

One at a time they exited the capsule into a small
raft and were lifted in a basket to the helicopter; first Gabe and Ghita, then
Susan, then Abby, and finally Jeff. During the 15-minute flight to the
USS
Makin Island
they changed into dry flight suits, and Gabe changed Ghita’s
diapers.

“I don’t think I can walk,” said Gabe. “My legs just
aren’t there.”

Jeff shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, too much
time in space. We’ll get you a wheelchair or something. You’ll be fine in a day
or two.”

Upon landing on the
Makin Island
’s flight deck,
a gaggle of flight deck personnel brightly decorated in a variety of shirt
colors swarmed around the helicopter led by a dozen or so “whiteshirts” –
medical personnel. Once the flight crewman got the door open, Jeff yelled,
“Corpsman!” A whiteshirt ran up to the helo. Jeff took Ghita from Gabe and
handed her to the Corpsman. “Here, take her, and don’t drop her, she’s the only
Martian. And we need a wheelchair.”

The Corpsman, eyes wide as he took Ghita from Jeff’s
arms, nodded, then turned around and yelled, “wheelchair!”

Another Corpsman came running out of the crowd with
a wheelchair. Flight deck and aircrew personnel helped Gabe from the helicopter
and into the wheelchair. Then assisted Jeff, Abby, and Susan out onto the
flight deck where they gingerly stood wobbling. Over the 1MC, the ship’s public
address circuit, they heard a Boatswain’s Mate pipe, “Attention,” ring four
bells, and announce, “Captain, United States Navy, arriving.” That was
immediately followed by another, “Attention,” four more bells and, “Commander,
United States Navy, arriving.”

A yellowshirt, a flight deck officer, came running
up to them. Jeff and Abby both saluted the stars and stripes flying from the
mast. Jeff turned to the officer, saluted again, and said, “Request permission
to come aboard, sir.”

The officer returned Jeff’s salute, and said with
considerable excitement, “Permission granted, sir. I’m the Executive Officer,
Commander Day, welcome aboard the
USS Makin Island
, and welcome home.”

“Thank you.” He glanced at Gabe, Abby, and Susan. “I
think the four of us are glad to be back.” Then he pointed at Ghita, crying in
the Corpsman’s arms. “Her, I’m not so sure about. She’s never been here
before.”

Another whiteshirt came running up. “Hi, I’m
Commander Richards, one of the ship’s medical doctors. How are you all feeling?
You look a little unsteady.”

“Commander, we just spent seven months in space and
haven’t felt Earth’s gravity in a little over two and half years. I think we’re
all okay but, yes, a little unsteady.” He pointed at Ghita again. “And she’s
never felt anything like this. Fact is, she’s spent over half her life in
space.”

The Commander smiled. “Understood. I’d like to put
all of you in wheelchairs until we can get you down into sickbay and get you
checked out. You just got here, let’s not have any accidents.”

Jeff gave Susan a questioning look.

She nodded.

“Okay, whatever you say.”

Gabe reached out for Ghita.

“Ma’am,” said Commander Richards, “why don’t we let
the Corpsman take your daughter down to sickbay? It’ll be safer, and we’ll get
her back to you just as soon as we’re below.”

Gabe nodded. “Alright.”

Inside the superstructure a senior officer greeted
them. “Welcome aboard folks. I’m Captain Xavier, the ship’s Commanding
Officer.”

They each shook hands with the Captain.

“It’s a great relief to see you all back home
safely.”

“Thank you, Captain,” said Jeff. “It’s nice to be
home, and thanks for picking us up. I hope it wasn’t too much of an
inconvenience.”

“No, not at all. We were scheduled to be in Pearl
about now anyway, and when we received orders detailing us to the recovery the
crew was ecstatic. We don’t get to do many of these anymore – particularly one
of this magnitude – and it’s something all of us will remember for the rest of
our lives. And if you don’t mind, we’re gonna paint your mission patch up on
the bridge wing right next to the ship’s decorations.”

Jeff nodded. “We would be honored, sir.”

“Alright then. Let’s see, you’re on your way down to
sickbay for a checkout. After that we’ll get you settled into some staterooms,
and then, if you feel up to it, I’d be honored if you would join me for lunch.”

“I think we would enjoy that, sir.”

“Also, in accordance with instructions from your
Mission Control Center, there is no media onboard except our own Mass
Communications Specialists. If later today you could give them a few words, I’m
sure they’d appreciate it. Otherwise, no press conferences until we arrive in
Pearl tomorrow afternoon.”

Jeff smiled. “Thank you, Captain. We’re astronauts,
not celebrities.”

“Sir, I think you’re celebrities now, whether or not
you want to be.”

Jeff shook his head. “Good point.”

“Oh, and you don’t have to call me sir. I looked it
up – you’re about six months senior to me.”

“Call it a professional courtesy, Captain.”

“Alright, then off to sickbay with you. Oh, forgot,
we’ll be bringing your capsule onboard in about an hour. If any of you feel up
to it and want to watch, you’re welcome to join me on the bridge. We’ll be
remaining at flight quarters until we’ve recovered all of our aircraft.”

“Sure, sounds interesting, but we’ll see what the
medics have to say.”

“Roger that.”

An hour later Jeff and Abby stood on the bridge wing
watching the capsule recovery effort, Gabe and Susan having elected to remain
in sickbay with Ghita, who was extremely displeased with gravity. They watched
nervously as the United States Marine Corps CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter
gingerly set their command module on the
Makin Island
’s flight deck.
“Captain,” said Jeff, “are you going to leave it up here, or move it into the
hangar bay?”