Читать книгу Adventures of Space Cadets 101: Space Pirates, Allies and Aliens - Darryl Dean Wright - Страница 5

Apollo 99 was a bar in the downtown business district in Houston, Texas. It is where Austen Houston was having his club meeting, and it seemed proper. The place was packed even though it was a weekday and still early evening. Austen was buying a round of drinks for all of the twenty-five cadets at the club.

Adriana Simpson was a pilot, first in the Air Force for a tour, then as an alternate astronaut for the last two N.A.S.A. missions that never happened. New tech prevented those launches, but now she was going up in one of those shuttles anyway, because the Mr. Houstons had bought one of them. They planned a trip, and Austen invited her to go with him. She was, after all, a member in his club. She was space happy and anxious to go.

She had been frustrated with her career, and she was thinking about joining E.D., but right now she was going into space with her buddies who told her not to join Earth Defense because there were too many rules and no fun.

She was cute and unattached. She was twenty-eight and got along with everyone. She raised her mug and toasted the president of the 101, “To Captain Austen, two more weeks!” It was so loud in the Apollo, you would have thought that it was a Friday night.

With all of the cadets there wasn’t much room left in the bar for any other patrons except the few that beat the crowd. Austen was buying their drinks also. He said to everyone, “Now I’d like to make a toast: to being unemployed for seven months and doing what we all crave!” Everyone drank up and got real loud.

Lita Scott yelled out, “Everybody please quiet down! Bartender, turn the screen up.” She had everyone’s attention, and the barkeep turned the view screen up. On the screen was the evening M.C.C. news. They were talking about a man who had broken out of Quarantine Miami Florida. The same man had broken into the very same area almost three days ago. They were showing footage of the escape via helicopter. S.W.A.T. was shooting at the man running through the main street, but the only ones getting shot were D.E.A. agents and innocent bystanders across the street. Of course the man was blamed even though all he was carrying was a duffel bag. He had no gun in either hand.

As he jumped into a passing convertible driven by some gorgeous woman, two S.W.A.T. officers were shot by D.E.A. agents as the man made his escape. W.E.T.W.O.R.K. had just shown up, but they were too late for the party.

As the camera zoomed in on the man giving the heli the finger, Austen recognized the face behind all of the chaos - his brother, JR Houston. He then sat down hard. Austen knew that Lita recognized JR also, which is why she yelled, "Quiet!"

He ordered two shots from the bartender and whispered in Lita’s ear, “E-mail that piece on the screen to my younger brother’s cell. No sense in JR messing up just my evening.” She laughed and did as she was asked. Austen felt a migraine coming on.

At Houston Inc. on one of the middle floors inside the conference room, Derek Houston had the lights dimmed. He was showing a film that he had acquired from his brother Austen, who borrowed it from N.A.S.A. Derek said to his club members that this film wasn’t about good things that happen in space, but so that history wouldn’t repeat itself, this film was about the bad stuff that happens in space. The film was titled "Disasters and Close Calls." Derek had been lecturing throughout the film, but it was just about over. He could tell nobody there was enjoying the film at all.

“So you see there on this last clip, the astronaut sacrificed himself so that the others could make it, and they did make it.” The film came to a stop. The lights were back on, and Derek asked the crowd, “Can anyone come up with a way that he could’ve cheated death?” No one answered. “He was a hero, but not that smart. He too could have made it … anyone?” Everyone was thinking, trying to come up with an idea, but still no answer. He looked at Kirk, his son, but all he did was shrug his shoulders.

“It’s true they lost all communications and life support. They were shallow breathing, but they did manage to get a distress call out before they lost all power.” He was looking at each person in the room.

Derek gave the class plenty of time, but still no answer. He decided to fill them in, “People, I’m not asking for an essay. It isn’t that hard a question, and don’t worry, I’m not going to test you.” You could feel the whole room all sigh.

“What the film doesn’t show you was that Earth Defense was only twenty-eight minutes out from where they were, so there are a few answers that come to mind. On the film, they showed the guy taking his life not ten feet from an escape pod. If he would have used the pod, it would have given him twelve hours of air, and still leave the rest of the ship with nine hours of oxygen. So anyway, the Nightingale was rescued, that much is public knowledge. Even the back-up systems have back-up systems. You have to spend every second to figure out how to live a few more seconds and never give up! Pick a solution and if the math doesn’t add up, then find another. It never occurred to that pilot to get in the escape pod, or for a better answer, do nothing. That’s right, sometimes nothing is the answer. Sure, hindsight is twenty-twenty, and I’m not trying to scare you cadets. I’m just pointing out that sometimes you have to find the answer that is right in front of you and that there is always hope. I know that I am very lucky and thrilled to be taking some of the smartest minds with me, just in case we do run into trouble.” Everyone laughed a little at the way he made that statement.

Normally, Derek’s son, Kirk, would be with his uncle because he was on Austen’s crew, and Noah, Austen’s son, would be with Derek’s crew. But since Austen was at a bar and Kirk was sixteen, Kirk was with his dad’s crew that night.

They each had a nephew on their crew because, quite frankly, when the captains gave orders, the sons always argued with their fathers. The boys could not comprehend that Captain’s word is law, especially in space. Stubbornness was a family trait.

Derek continued, “I’m sorry to show you this … reality film, but trust me when I say that this is educational. Out there (he pointed up) I don’t ever want you guys to give up or panic. Panic and space don’t mix; all you get is more … space.”

“By the way, this film is classified, so forget you ever saw it,” he said.

Before he could say anything else, Lynda Clark who was teary eyed said, “How the heck are we going to forget what we just saw?!” Several cadets were sick from watching the film.

Derek replied, “I apologize; poor choice of words. What I meant to say was if you mention this film to anyone … you’re fired.”

Lynda retorted, “I know what you meant, Sir”

Derek asked Deana if she would let the catering crew in as he was putting the film in an envelope already addressed to N.A.S.A. He walked over to the slit in the wall and dropped the envelope in it, preventing anybody from touching it.

“I know you weren’t expecting karaoke night, and the film was a little dark. I just want to make sure we all make it back.” They all applauded him.

The caterers were already setting everything up. Derek handed Kirk a pile of forms to be passed out to all the club members. “These are the waiver forms. If anything happens from launch to six months later, Houston Inc. will not be held responsible for anything. You work here so you have health and life benefits. Then if, God forbid, something should happen after six months in space, Houston Inc. will pay your beneficiary one million dollars. We do this because you all only signed up for a six month tour. So if we are still out there for some reason, then it will be mine and my brother’s fault as captains. Our contract is set up with Judge Jones right here in Houston. Should we disappear, he has instructions to carry out the policies.”

No one was holding the negative meeting against Mr. Houston. They knew that he was just doing what he had to do. Normally, his meetings were a whole lot of fun.

“Alright, Cadets, let’s eat. Of course I still will be giving a speech. It’s what I do, and you know how much I love to talk.” There were some statements and giggling.

Derek was drinking some expensive Champagne while he was talking. “I see that all of you passed the sensory deprivation course. Looks like you women scored higher than the men?” The women cheered and started pointing at all the guys. Kim Hart was pointing at Derek while giggling. Derek told her that he and Austen both scored a hundred on every test, and passed their captains tests with Aces. He wasn’t bragging; he was letting her know she was in good hands.

Kirk said, “Probably had to get in touch with his feminine side to score that high.” Then everyone was laughing including his father. Noah gave Kirk a high-five for his remark.

Derek continued, “You all passed the centrifuge ride. That was a lot of fun wasn’t it?”

Faith Jones said that that ride was a pretty good diet. Of course, she was talking about puking.

Derek smiled at her and said to the class, “And you all tested stable although I still have some doubts. Yeah, you people know who I’m talking about.” More laughter from the tables grew louder. “You all passed the swimming course, although young Will had to repeat the course three times. He didn’t understand what swimming had to do with space, but he does now. I made sure that he can swim. Stand up, Will, and takes a bow.” Everyone applauded him as he blushed, stood up, and sat back down quickly. Then he thanked everyone, especially Mr. Houston for not giving up on him.

Derek continued, “He was nervous at first because he didn’t know how to swim, but he did the right thing by telling me and all is fine now. Let him serve as an example, though; astronauts are not allowed to say that they’re nervous. Nothing in space is routine. It is a vast and unforgiving mistress, so don’t go up if you’re not down with that.”

Noah said jokingly, “Oh God; he’s going to start singing.”

Derek was just about done with his lecture. “Tomorrow morning, we will spend ten hours putting on and taking off our astronaut suits, and yes, they are one size fits all. You will learn everything that there is to know about these suits. They will be your lifeline so treat them like your best friend.”

Someone yelled, “And our bathroom!”

Derek agreed, “Yes, we will be going over the waste fluid and recycling in the suits also. It’s not as easy as it sounds, but once you get the hang of it…”

Kirk said, “Dad! We’re eating!”

Noah said to his uncle, “I can’t believe we are this close to launch!” Then he said that it felt like he had been training and holding his breath forever.

Will said, “Actually it has only been 4 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days.” Everyone just stared at Will so he became quiet by shoving food in his mouth.

Derek was finished talking so he had sat down with his family to eat when his cell rang. He pulled it out; there was an e-mail from Austen. Deana had made a plate of food for him, and it was on the table right in front of him, but when he saw his e-mail, he pushed his plate away from him with a sigh which caught his son’s attention.

Kirk asked, “What is wrong, Dad?”

He whispered to Kirk, “Your uncle JR is in trouble, and I think he’s bringing it our way.” Kirk told his father that they could come up with a solution that night. His dad said, “Or we could just let him tour the dark side of the moon.”

Kirk said, “That is not funny, Dad.”

Disciplined scholars, researchers, grunts, engineers, marines, pilots, and a few kids were in the big wing at Houston Inc. the next day. They were all going over their astronauts suits. It seems that they really were one size fits all. Some people were putting funny bumper stickers on their suits to mark them as theirs.

As astronauts go, only a third of these astronauts had experience, but everyone got along with each other, and that was extremely important. It was going to be a long trip.

Jack Wong was introducing himself to some of Derek’s crew. He was of Chinese decent, and he was using the bad joke of how these classes were named after him, “crew ‘orient’ation.” He used to be a guard at N.A.S.A., and sometimes he was funny.

The astronauts were in a wing that was as big as a hospital. It was a cross between a hospital and a very large school, size-wise. They were locked in until launch day when they would all board busses and shuttle over to the shuttle spaceship.

They were learning as much as they could before they left Earth. Both crews were getting used to each other, and they were getting along amicably.

There were quite a few pilots on this flight. Both captains and the other pilots were in a class to go over the flight simulations, launch, control, flight deck operations, trajectory, and launch survival. The whole “kit and caboodle” class was called, “Space - A Fools Game,” and it was a tough class. Competition was fierce and intense except for the captains who owned their own ship, so they could fly it any time they wanted to.

Other classes included medical training, electronics, and math. Crossing and connecting wires was a little like surgery if you think about it. Tying off an artery or bypassing primary wires to secondary ones were done the same way. In space, there are no surgeons, dentists, or plumbers. So everyone had to train to do it all.

The next day, JR had still not been apprehended. The car chase had gone all the way to the Mississippi/Alabama line. Several days later he managed to make it to the Louisiana border. For some reason, the F.B.I. and C.I.A. were involved in capturing the fugitive at large. They had him boxed in at a roadblock, but right before the car ran into it, a helicopter showed up out of nowhere with a rope ladder hanging from it. JR grabbed it at the last second and climbed up for his getaway. They missed him again.

The F.B.I. figured that the direction JR was heading was for his brothers’ launch. So the One-Oh-One launch site would soon be receiving F.B.I., C.I.A., D.E.A., and Earth Defense mixed with the local police. Now for some reason, JR was labeled a terrorist, and not for the first time.

Every astronaut was escorted to the shuttle rocket personally by E.D. in case JR was posing as one of the astronauts. No one had received any new information that JR was there after they lost him, but they weren’t going to chance it. If they got lucky and he showed up, then they would be ready for him.

The launch was on every channel on the screen because liftoffs were still a big deal even in this century.

All the astronauts were on the One-Oh-One, and they were all strapped in. The countdown had already begun.

"We have tower separation, launch is a go and on standby." Houston Mission Control was going through the motions and procedures. Tim Johnson in the nav. seat said, “Let’s go and conquer the universe!”

Derek said, “Whoa there - baby steps. Let’s go and conquer the galaxy first, Mate.”

"T-minus one zero and counting down," came over the radio. "Switch Bus for go on the onboard computer. You are 'Go' for auto-sequence start. Clear launch areas, lock visors, and initiate o2o. God speed, One-Oh-One, and we’ll see you in about a half year."

Austen, on the radio said to Control, “This is the One-Oh-One; copy, roger ABU, over.”

“CODE ONE, CODE ONE, Countdown Hold!”

Austen said to his brother, “Putting in Kirk’s override launch hack program now.”

Derek said, “Mission Control must have realized that we are two hundred and ninety-five pounds overweight. The F.B.I. probably figured out that our brother must have stowed away last night. He was always the ‘Black Sheep’.”

Austen said, “It’s working; twenty seconds and away we go.”

Derek said over the ship’s speakers, “Alright, People, pucker up!”

On most screens right then, the public was watching a whole bunch of men in black running away from the launch site where the ship was taking off. One of the channels described it as a comedy. They hadn’t expected the ship to launch.

It was a perfect launch. Every branch of the military demanded to know how the launch happened, but E.D. had no answers. The public would soon forget about the event in just a few days, but the people on the shuttle would never forget it. Inside the One-Oh-One, it was like falling through the sky only ten times faster. Some of the astronauts were screaming, some were holding their breath, and some were just enjoying the ride. It wasn’t their first time. And the adventure began.

A few seconds after the rockets burned out and separated, the One-Oh-One was headed towards the moon at a tremendous speed.