Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) (68 page)

Gabe wrapped her arm around Jeff’s waist, leaned
her head on his shoulder, cried softly and whimpered, “I’m sorry.”

He pulled
out his handkerchief, smiled and handed it to her. “Now, stop that. We had a
good life together and treasured the time we shared, and she’s not forgotten.”

“I wish
I’d known her.”

“I wish
you had too. She would have liked you. She would have liked all of you.”

Monday, March 21,
2016 (T minus 25 hours, 22 minutes)

At 1015 Jeff led
the team into Firing Room 1 on the third floor of the KSC Launch Control
Center. They each wore rust-color flight suits; closely approximating the
Martian regolith hue captured by the true color MSL Mastcam, and sporting their
own mission patches, along with those of NASA and JPL, and an American flag.
Jeff’s and Abby’s suits also sported their Navy rank insignia, and Abby wore
her Naval Aviator wings. Upon seeing them, a handful of engineers in the Firing
Room stood and applauded. In a moment, all 200 or so members of the Launch Team
were standing and applauding.

Jeff raised his
arms, grinning, and motioned for them to take their seats. As the team quieted
he yelled, “Thank you, but pay attention to my damn rocket or we’re not going
anywhere tomorrow.”

The room erupted
in laughter, then immediately settled back into their routine.

“
Ares Juliett
is T minus 53 minutes and counting, and Go for launch,” came the voice of the
KSC PAO over the loudspeakers. “Over in Firing Room 4,
Ares Kilo
is in
the T minus 11-hour scheduled hold, and countdown should recommence in
approximately 6 hours.”

The four of them
hurriedly made their way toward the front of the room, smiling, waving, and
shaking hands with acquaintances.

Susan leaned
toward Jeff. “In the rehearsal, didn’t they tell us it took an act of God to
get in here after T minus 3 hours?”

He nodded. “Yeah,
but this is an unmanned launch and they have less to do. Besides, today…” he
grinned, “… I’m God.”

She laughed.

They shook hands
with the NASA Launch and Test Directors.

Jeff grinned
sheepishly. “Sorry for the interruption, just wanted to say hi. How’s it
going?”

The TD, Bud Ames,
smiled and nodded. “Looking good. No problems.”

“Great. Thanks.
We’re gonna go watch from the Saturn V building VIP balcony, but just wanted to
stop by and say thanks.”

Mike Westerman,
LD, shook his head. “No, it’s us that need to say thanks, Captain… for bringing
all of us out of hibernation and giving us a chance to do something.”

“Eh, you’re
welcome. We’re glad to see you folks back in business.” Jeff turned to the
others. “Come on, let’s get out of their hair. We’re just in the way here.”

As they left the
Firing Room, Abby grabbed Jeff’s arm. “Shouldn’t we stop by Firing Room 4 also?
Since they have
our
launch.”

“Oh yeah, definitely. But let’s do
that after the launch, on our way back to the O&C.”

They scurried out
of the LCC, got into the van and drove two and a half miles up Kennedy Parkway
North to the Apollo/Saturn V Center.

“Jesus!” said
Abby, staring at the parking lot full of buses at the Banana Creek VIP viewing
site. “How many people are here?”

Molly glanced back
from the front seat. “Around a thousand. There will be even more tomorrow, your
launch is standing room only. As I understand it, both are seriously overbooked
at all the viewing sites.”

“Wow,” said Gabe.
“Jeff, you do the talking. I’d be too nervous to open my mouth.”

He cringed. “Gee,
thanks.”

They paused
briefly and shook hands with a small group of NASA astronauts gathered behind
the center grandstand.

Jim Ingram, an
astronaut that had twice flown the shuttle shook his head while shaking Jeff’s
hand. “You sure you don’t have a spare seat?”

Jeff grinned.
“Sorry, Jim, we’re full-up. You guys need to light a fire under your bosses and
tell ‘em to get with the program. We’re gonna be the first there, but I sure as
hell hope we’re not the last.”

“Yeah.” Jim
sighed. “Well, Godspeed.”

“Thanks.”

They followed
Molly, making their way between the grandstands to a point in front of the
seated crowd. The morning was bright and clear, a gentle breeze blowing in from
the sea, and the grandstand was packed.

A smiling, red,
white and blue-shirted member of NASA’s Public Affairs Tiger Team handed Jeff a
microphone. “Good morning, sir.”

“Good morning.
Thank you.” He turned to the crowd and spoke into the microphone. “Good
morning.”

The crowd
responded. “Good morning.”

Jeff smiled. “My
name is Jeffrey Grey, I’m the
Ares
Mission Commander, and it’s great to
see you all here.”

The crowd erupted
in applause.

He waited for the
applause to die down. “Thank you. To my right here are Mission Pilot,
Lieutenant Commander Abigail Nolan; Mission Flight Engineer and Navigator, Dr.
Gabriel Frederick; and Mission Flight Surgeon, Dr. Susan
Lú
.”

Abby, Gabe and
Susan waved as Jeff called out their names, and the crowd applauded again.

Jeff nodded to the
crowd. “Thank you.” He paused for a moment. “Are there any Scorpios here? Raise
your hands.”

A number of people
in the crowd raised their hands.

“Great.” He waved
his hand skyward. “Do you know where it is? You can’t see it right now cause
it’s daylight but, if you could, where’s Scorpio?”

A few people in
the crowd pointed southwest.

He nodded and
pointed to the horizon beyond the Vehicle Assembly Building. “That’s right,
over there, on the horizon. It’s just now setting. But if you could see it what
would be that bright reddish heavenly body in Scorpio?”

Many in the crowd
shouted, “Mars!”

Jeff grinned.
“Right again. Mars is in Scorpio, and 132 million kilometers from Earth. For
those of you that are metrically challenged, that’s just a bit over 82 million
miles. And in 198 days, on October 5
^th
, the four of us are going to
put mankind’s…” he glanced at Abby, Gabe, and Susan, “… and womankind’s,
footprints on it.”

The crowd leaped
to its feet in a standing ovation.

“Thank you.” He
waited again as they quieted and took their seats. “Thank you. This mission was
my idea and, I don’t mind saying, I paid for a fair chunk of it. But no one man
– or woman – could do it alone. Were it not for the incredible support,
encouragement, and generosity of you…” he pointed to the crowd, “… all of you,
and many tens of thousands of others around the world, we wouldn’t be going
anywhere. This is not our mission, this is your mission. This is the world’s
mission. We just happen to be the ones that are going.”

The crowd burst
into another round of applause.

“Thank you.
Standing here in the shadow of the Apollo/Saturn V Center, we are humbled. We
know that we are standing on the shoulders of giants, those exceptional men and
women that have gone before us: Vostok, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Soyuz, Skylab,
Mir, the Shuttle, and the International Space Station.” Jeff shook his head.
“We are merely taking the next step.” He paused for a moment. “But it is the
next step! And please, all of you, and all you people around the world that are
listening… don’t let it be the last step.” He waved to the crowd. “Thank you.”

Abby leaned toward
Jeff as the crowd again erupted in applause. “Nice speech. How long have you
been working on that?”

Jeff smiled at
her. “Oh, about three months.”

While Jeff was
speaking several dozen people, mostly youngsters, had gathered on either side
of the cordoned walk leading back to the parking lot. As the team passed
through, they pulled out pens and autographed hats, t-shirts, launch site
passes, toy rockets, and everything else that was held out to them. A man of
perhaps twenty held out his arm to Abby. Jeff shook his head and chuckled. She
grinned, and signed it.

As they approached
the van, Abby said, “That was weird.”

Jeff chuckled
again. “Oh, I dunno. If it were me, I’d probably rush to the nearest tattoo
parlor
and have it made permanent. Talk about a dinner conversation
piece…”

Abby pulled out
her pen and grabbed Jeff’s arm.

He jerked it back.
“No.”

“Coward.”

He shook his head
and grinned. “No time.”

#

Just as they
entered the executive conference room on the upper floor of the Saturn V
building, the KSC PAO announced, “We are now at T minus 9 minutes and holding.
This is a planned hold and the countdown should resume in 10 minutes. During
this hold the NASA Test Director will poll the launch team for readiness for
launch. If no problems exist that could prevent a successful launch, each
element will report ‘Go for launch’ to the Test Director.”

There were about
60 people in the conference room, mostly gathered near or on the balcony that
overlooked the LC-39 launch pads. A table in the center of the room was laid
out with a large brunch buffet.

Abby said, “Food,”
and immediately headed for it.

Jeff rolled his
eyes and continued toward the crowd with Gabe and Susan.

Senator Landers
came out of the group along with another man Jeff didn’t recognize. “Good
morning. We were worried you might not make it.”

Jeff shook hands
with him. “Good morning, Senator. We had a few stops to make along the way, the
Firing Room and a public affairs gig out at the VIP bleachers.”

The Senator
motioned to the man beside him. “I don’t think you two have met. Jeff, this is
Congressman Delano from Tennessee. He’s a new member of the House Science
Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics.” He turned to the Congressman. “George,
this is Captain Jeffrey Grey, Mission Commander.”

They shook hands.
“Pleasure to meet you, Congressman.”

“No, the
pleasure’s all mine, Captain. I’ve been looking forward to this for a long
time.”

“Is this your
first launch, sir?”

“Yes. I watched a
shuttle launch on TV some years back, but this is the first live one for me.”

“Well, we’re glad
to have you here, sir.” Jeff turned to Gabe and Susan. “Congressman, may I
present Dr. Gabriel Frederick, Flight Engineer and Navigator, and Dr. Susan
Lú,
Flight Surgeon.”

They all shook hands.

“Abby’s not with you?” said the
senator.

Jeff nodded. “Yeah, she’s here.
She’s over at the buffet. We had breakfast, but you know Abby, day or night you
don’t want to be standing between her and food. I swear, that woman’s
metabolism could light up Orlando.”

The senator
smiled.

Jeff looked toward
the buffet table, caught Abby’s eyes, waved her over and mouthed the words,
‘come here’.

Abby finished
piling bacon and scrambled eggs on her plate then joined them. “Sorry, I’m
hungry.”

“Still?”

“Always.”

Jeff smiled.
“Congressman, our pilot, Lieutenant Commander Abigail Nolan.”

Congressman Delano
held out his hand, “It’s a pleasure, Commander.”

Abby wiped her
hand on her flight suit, swallowed, and took the congressman’s hand. “Sorry,
sir. Pleased to meet you.”

“No, please, go
right ahead and eat, Commander. I imagine you won’t be having eggs and bacon
for a while.”

Abby, with her
mouth full, nodded at Susan.

Susan smiled and
shook her head. “No, Congressman, we have eggs and bacon. It’s freeze-dried,
but add a cup of boiling water and rehydrate it, and it’s not bad. It tastes
just about the same, but the texture is a little different owing to the
freeze-dry-rehydrate process. But between what we are taking on the ship and
what is already on the planet, we’ll have around 2,200 pounds of scrambled eggs
and bacon.”

The congressman
stared at her, wide-eyed. “2,200 pounds?”

She grinned. “Yes,
sir, rehydrated. Enough for everyone to have a nice, tasty, nutritional
breakfast every day… and then some.”

“That’s amazing. I
presume you’re taking other food as well?”

“Yes, sir. All
told, we’re taking about eight tons of freeze-dried food; breakfast, lunch,
dinner, and midnight snacks for four for 1,100 days. Though one way or another,
we won’t need all of it.”

“What do you
mean?”

Susan glanced at
Jeff. “You want to take that question?”

Jeff nodded.
“Sure. Congressman, we’re taking far more food on the ship than we’ll need if
we land. Assuming we land, the trips out and back will each be about seven
months. However, if for some reason we decide not to land, we’ll execute a
powered swing-by and return to Earth. But that trip would take about a year. So
we need to have provisions on the ship for nineteen months in space. But in
that case, we wouldn’t be consuming the food we already have waiting for us on
Mars. But if we do land, we’ll have a year’s worth of food on the ship that we
won’t need, as we’ll resupply from
Balboa
, which launched back in
December, once we’re in orbit around Mars, so we’ll jettison all that we have
onboard along with the EDS and storage module prior to orbital insertion to
reduce our mass and, as such, the amount of fuel required for the orbital
insertion burn. Service Propulsion System fuel is a critical item, and we don’t
have much to waste.”