Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) (71 page)

Jeff eyed them both.
“Were the two of you on the backup team?”

Silvia’s eyebrows
popped up. “You know about that?”

Jeff shrugged. “We
never had any official word on it, but we always suspected NASA had a
contingency crew, in case something happened to us. No point in letting a
funded Mars mission go to waste.”

She nodded. “Yeah, we
were on it.”

“Uh huh, kind of
figured. The usual suspects.” He grinned, sheepishly. “Sorry, maybe next time.”

Hal shook his head.
“If there is a next time.”

Jeff smiled. “There
will be. It’s not a question of if, only when.”

Hal nodded. “Yeah, but
I doubt we’ll live to see it.”

The convoy turned
onto Kennedy Parkway North.

“Hal, Silvia, if we
don’t complete this mission, complete it for us. You two, more than anyone
else,
know
this needs to be done. America needs it. The world needs it.
Hell, mankind needs it. People need inspiration, and this is the next step.” He
looked around at Gabe, Abby, and Susan. “We’re going to try and get this done.
If we fail, pick up the pieces, convince the powers that be, and try again. If
something should happen to us, promise me you won’t let it be for naught.”

They
both nodded. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” said Hal. “Frankly, I’d
rather you guys made it back. There’re a whole lot of questions that I’m really
looking forward to hearing the answers to.”

Jeff
smiled and nodded. “Yeah, me too.”

As
they approached the Vehicle Assembly Building and Launch Control, they turned
northeast onto Saturn Causeway and headed for the launch pad.

“The
first time you went up, were you scared?” said Gabe.

“Terrified,”
said Silvia. “Sitting in there, strapped in, I don’t know how anyone can’t be
thinking of
Columbia
and
Challenger
, it’s inevitable. But, try
and shove it in back. You’ve got a job to do, just do it.”

Hal
nodded. “Exactly. Keep your mind on the mission. Even though the computers are
doing all the work, pay attention. Watch your gauges, pay attention to your
metrics, follow it all, and try to ignore the bumps and jolts and shakes,
they’re all just part of the ride. You know the routine by now, you know what’s
supposed to happen, make sure it does. Keep busy and you’ll be fine.”

Gabe
nodded.

“Actually,
with a smaller crew than the shuttle usually flew with, you guys are kind of
lucky. You’ve got more to keep you occupied. I always felt kind of sorry for
the mission specialists, sitting there in the back seats with nothing to do but
twiddle their thumbs and sweat bullets.”

Susan
raised her hand and grimaced.

“Oh,
come on. You’ve got everybody’s vital signs right there in front of you, you’ve
got plenty to keep an eye on.” Hal pointed at Jeff. “What are you gonna do if
three minutes into flight this old boy has a heart attack?”

Jeff
rolled his eyes. “Gee, thanks.”

Susan
shook her head. “Probably have one of my own.”

Hal
waggled his finger at her. “No you’re not. At three minutes you’ve still got
the escape tower. What are you gonna do?”

Susan
nodded. “Abort.”

“There
you go. And if it’s three plus thirty, and the tower’s gone? Abby?”

“What?
If Jeff has a heart attack? Jesus. First I’d probably kill him, even if he was
already dead.”

Jeff
frowned. “Oh, fine.”

Everyone
else laughed.

“And
then?” said Hal.

Abby
shook her head. “Oh god, um, take command, call Newport and declare an
emergency, abort to orbit, reach for the re-entry checklist… and soil my
nappies. Not necessarily in that order.”

Hal
chuckled. “Right. If you’re on your toes, you can survive emergencies. So, stay
on your toes. Your chances of coming through this alive will be a lot better if
you set the fear aside and just pay attention to what you’re doing and what’s
going on around you. Situational awareness, that’s the key.”

They
all nodded.

As the convoy reached
the end of the causeway it turned north, continuing to parallel the crawlerway,
and began the incline up to the elevated pad. Everyone craned to see out the
front windows.

Hal shook his head.
“Can’t get used to that. It looks just like a shuttle stack… but without the
shuttle. It’s weird.”

Jeff nodded. “Yeah,
but they fly pretty good and have a hell of a lift capacity.”

“That they do. Heidi
did a great job.”

“Yes, she did.”

“Why didn’t you use a
Dragon?”

“Well, Elon offered
us one, at a steeply discounted price, but they’re too damn big. The problem is
mass, it’s just too heavy. Getting it into LEO is easy enough, but Mars orbital
insertion? There’s no readily available service module for a mission like this,
we would have had to build one. And then there’s the fuel requirement for
Trans-Earth Injection. Because of the mass we would have needed another launch,
another 241, and we didn’t have enough SSMEs for it. There were only 16
remaining in serviceable condition, and we used all of them as it is. So, after
looking at it for a while it just got to the point where we couldn’t get there
from here. Besides, this CSM was available, it works well for our purpose, it’s
flight tested, and, comparatively speaking,” Jeff grinned, “it was cheap.”

At the top of the
ramp they crossed the crawlerway, circled the pad, and pulled to a stop on the
west side of the gantry.

Jeff sighed. “Well,
gang, we’re here.”

They each glanced
around nervously as USA technicians disconnected their suits. They exited the
Astrovan and strode to the elevator. At the elevator door they all stopped.

“Well, this is as far
as we go,” said Hal. “Good luck and Godspeed. Have a safe trip.”

Jeff smiled and
nodded as they all shook hands. “Thanks. Sure appreciate everything you’ve
done. You gonna hang around and watch the launch?”

“Yeah, we’re gonna
watch from the Saturn V Center.”

“Cool. Then what?”

“Back to Houston, and
back to work.”

Jeff thought for a
moment. “Say, why don’t you two take a couple days off? I know a nice little
bed & breakfast up in Newport.” He grinned. “You can have my room, I’m not
gonna be needing it for a while. Hang around the MCC for a couple days, give
Heidi and Chrissie some moral support.” He shrugged. “At least through TMI, and
things quiet down a bit.”

Hal and Silvia
glanced at each other and nodded. “Sure,” said Hal, “sounds like a good idea.”

“Great. You have
transportation?”

“Yeah, a T-38 down at
Patrick.”

“Good. Tell Uncle Sam
I’ll be happy to pay for the gas.”

Hal grinned. “Don’t
worry about it.” He glanced at Silvia again. “Um, why don’t we skip the launch
and head right up there.” She nodded and he turned back to Jeff. “We should be
there about the time you’re entering orbit.”

“Sounds good. Once
were inside I’ll call Chrissie and have her send somebody up to Quonset to pick
you up.”

“Okay.”

Jeff nodded. “Alright
then, thanks. Well, talk to you later, and see you in two and half years. Don’t
forget to write.”

Hal and Silvia both
grinned. “Yeah.”

Jeff, Gabe, Abby, and
Susan turned around and stared up 30 stories at the capsule mounted atop the
Jupiter 241. Jeff, trying to hold back his emotions said, “How about we
preflight our aircraft?”

They all nodded and
stalwartly marched forward. Jeff reached up and touched the rim of one of the
four 14-foot-diameter main engine exhaust nozzles, then smiled at Abby and gave
her a thumb up.

She grinned and
nodded. “With these engines, more thrust than anything that has ever flown
before.”

“Yeah. Well, what say
we go fly it.”

“By all means. It’s a good day to
fly.”

“Yes it is.” When
they returned to the elevator, Jeff picked up the phone next to the door.
“Launch Control, this is Captain Grey, can you patch me through to Newport?”

“Yes sir, just a
moment.”

“Newport, MOD.”

“Hey, Dianne, this is
Jeff.”

“Hey boss! Didn’t
expect to hear from you for a while.”

“We’re about ready to get in the
elevator and head up. Tell FLIGHT we like her ship, and if she doesn’t mind,
we’re gonna take her out for a spin.”

“Roger that. God
bless, have a safe flight.”

“Thanks. See you when
we get back.”

The
crew stepped into the elevator, waved goodbye to the
Creightons
, and quickly ascended to the gantry’s 260-foot
level, and the crew access arm. Owing to the limited confines of the White
Room, Susan and Gabe went first, while Jeff and Abby sat, waiting in the
elevator.

Abby
took Jeff’s hand. “Nervous?”

“No,
not nervous… scared.”

“Scared?
Why?”

“I
don’t want to die this morning. But more to the point, I don’t want you guys to
die this morning.”

Abby
smiled. “Well, then let’s not.”

He
grinned and squeezed her hand. “Okay, good plan.”

She
bit her lip and stared at him for a moment. “A long time ago you said it would
be your privilege to fly with me anytime, anyplace.”

Jeff
chuckled. “I remember.”

She
kissed his cheek. “Will you fly with me this morning? To a place no one has
ever gone before?”

He smiled softly at
her. “Yeah, Commander, I will. And it will be my privilege to do so.”

Abby grinned.
“Alright, Captain, then let’s go flying.”

Jeff nodded. “Okay,
sounds good.”

#

Twenty minutes later,
Molly stuck her head in the elevator. “Captain, Commander, we’re ready for
you.”

Jeff and Abby stood
and followed her across the 65-foot gantry to the White Room where their helmets
and gloves were refitted and suits once again pressure tested.

When the Closeout
Crewchief, Alain Ronald, was satisfied, he nodded. “All set?”

Jeff and Abby both
nodded.

Alain smiled.
“Alright. Commander, let’s get you seated and buckled up.”

“Okay,” said Abby,
who then turned toward the hatch and climbed in, followed by Alain.

A few minutes later,
Alain stuck his head through the hatch. “Captain, this way please.”

Jeff sighed and
grinned nervously. “Right.” He climbed through the hatch and settled into the
center seat.

At some point during their seemingly
endless hours in the command module simulator, Jeff and Abby agreed that the
Apollo era procedure of the command module pilot sitting navigator in the
center seat and the mission commander sitting pilot in the left seat for
launch, then swapping seats once they were in space, made no sense to them;
particularly since the CM’s new glass cockpit flight information panels could
be reconfigured to any mode – flight instrumentation, navigation, engineering –
with the push of a button. Thus, Abby, as pilot-in-command, took the left seat;
Jeff, as mission commander, the center command seat; and Gabe, flight engineer,
the right-hand seat; while Susan sat in her rabbit hole beneath Jeff, boxed in
by two crates of supplies that would be transferred to the Sundancer on arrival
and, during Earth reentry, replaced by two three-foot long pressurized
capsules, one of which they hoped would be occupied by a Martian.

Alain wiggled his way
around the CM, shaking everyone’s hand, then climbed over Jeff. “Good luck, God
bless, and see you when you get back.”

Jeff smiled. “Thank
you, Alain. Will do.”

And Alain climbed out
of the capsule.

Jeff keyed his radio.
“Kennedy,
Ares
, we’re all seated and strapped in. Let’s get this show on
the road.”

KSC LCC CAPCOM,
“Roger,
Ares
. T minus two hours, ten minutes and counting. Post ingress
switch reconfiguration.”

“Roger.” Jeff turned
to Gabe. “Give her to us.”

Gabe nodded, “Roger,”
and reached forward and flipped a dozen switches. “Post ingress switch reconfig
complete.”

“Roger.” Jeff reached
for the radio stack and switched to COM3. “Newport,
Ares
.”

Newport MCC CAPCOM,
“Newport, go ahead,
Ares
.”

“Yeah, hi Chrissie.
Um, Colonels
Creighton and Creighton will be arriving at Quonset in a couple
hours. I wonder if you could have someone pick them up, then give ‘em some
comfortable quarters for the next few days – I believe my suite will be vacant
for a while. They’ll stick around and provide some moral and technical support,
if needed.”

MCC CAPCOM, “Roger,
Ares
,
will do.”