Stowaways

by Matt Phillips

  Daniel turned back to the window. They passed the first elevator station, where tourists went to vacation in weightlessness and where scientists could conduct experiments. That station soon disappeared as they continued to their destination, nearly 25,000 miles above them.

  Soon they passed another crawler. It was immediately clear that this crawler was much different from the one they had passed earlier.

  "That's a cargo crawler," Daniel whispered again, remembering the many books he read about the space elevator. The cargo crawler was carrying an enormous curved segment of something he could not identify. "That's probably a piece of a new ship, or station, or something."

  The shuttle zipped past the cargo crawler as well. Earth was shrinking below them as the shuttle ascended to the LEOSE-Upper.

  "That's odd," Dad said aloud from the front of the shuttle.

  Daniel floated back to the bulkhead to see what his father was looking at. He watched as his Dad zoomed in on the three-dimensional image of his ship, the space schooner ESAS Glenn. Daniel could see the ship's structure and the payload area under the ship's belly where it carried cargo containers bound for far off planets. Transporting cargo between the numerous Earth outposts and LEOSE-Upper was the star schooner's main job and they moved it often. Large containers and other boxed equipment could quickly be attached to the ship and removed again which allowed schooners like the Glenn to handle multiple cargo deliveries a day if needed.

  In the payload diagram that his father was viewing, Daniel saw one green box and two transparent orange boxes. The orange boxes were blinking slowly.

  "Mildred, I do not remember a cargo load scheduled for today," Dad said.

  "The manifested cargo was scheduled for ESAS Aldrin," Mildred, the ship's computer informed him. "Admiral Ortega rerouted it to Glenn this morning."

  "What is the cargo's destination? "

  "The cargo is urgently needed on Kappaqilla," the computer answered.

  "We aren't scheduled to go to Kappaqilla," Dad said mostly to himself. "Contact the XO. "

  "The XO is supervising the loading drones. She is not available on the external network."

  "How long before we arrive on the ship?"

  "The shuttle will arrive at ESAS Glenn in three minutes."

  "I guess I will find out what's going on in three minutes."

  Daniel watched through the seam in the bulkhead for a few more seconds before he rejoined the others at the side window. The large LEOSE-Upper Station was coming into view. Even from their limited field of vision, the gleaming gray shell of the space station shined brightly in the sun.

  ESAS John Glenn

  From 70 miles away, the Earth Space Alliance's largest space station came into view. At first, it was just a glimpse of the sun reflecting off the station's gray exterior. As it got closer, they could see the lights. Lights from inside the station glowed through the countless windows. Other light beacons blinked as they marked landing areas, warned of obstructions, and guided spacecraft to loading dock areas.

  "It's enormous," Ani whispered, earning a dirty look from Nathan and Ernie. Daniel held his finger to his lips reminding her to be quiet.

  As the station grew larger in the window extraordinary details came into focus. Vehicles of every sort swarmed the station – from shuttles and drones to larger ships bound for deep space and small utility craft on errands in Earth's orbit. The space elevator ended at the ESA station's main body. From the main body of the space station, four identical sections of the station extended out like arms, perpendicular to the elevator. The arms stood out from the main station for more than 1,000 feet in each direction. Attached by pylons to one wing of the giant station were four medium-sized space vessels, with room for five or six others. Daniel recognized the vessels immediately as Gagarin-class star schooners, just like the ship his father commanded.

  The star schooners were among the oldest ships of the ESA and the ones worked the hardest. Daniel admired the long sleek structure of the ships lined up along the space station. The pointed front end always reminded him of a duck's bill, wide and flat where the three-level bridge was located. The back end was not much more than a series of cylinders that housed the nine-thruster main engine system. The giant solar sails that gave the star schooner its name were not visible now. Daniel knew that was because they were stowed away in port, but would be deployed almost immediately after leaving the space dock. In between, the ships narrowed at the middle, where the cargo could be attached in containers meant especially for space travel. Without the drag caused by wind and other atmospheric effects, connecting containers outside the spacecraft was simple and effective.

  "One of those is Dad's ship," Daniel said, leaning in close, his voice barely a whisper. "But look over here."

  They switched from one side of the shuttle to the other and crowded against the window. Another arm of the station had a large scaffolding grid hung beneath it, and a gleaming new ship was being constructed within the scaffolding's steel skeleton.

  "That's the new deep space exploration vessel," Daniel whispered proudly sharing his knowledge with the younger stowaways. "It's the largest and most advanced ship ever designed. All of the details are still secret. Even Dad doesn't know that much."

  There were other construction grids supporting the assembly of other space vessels and station modules. Dozens of small craft buzzed around the construction group. Interspersed among the drones he could see men and women in shiny protective spacesuits supervising and coordinating the assembly.

  As the shuttle approached ESAS Glenn, Daniel got a good view of the cargo loading process that Dad had asked about earlier. A large brown cylindrical container floated near the ship, with a single drone holding it with one robotic arm. Another cargo container was already attached and a third was being pushed toward the ship.

  Dad's shuttle slowed next to the larger ship and pivoted around, bringing its right side against the docking port on the star schooner. The two spacecraft connected with a slight bump and the door on the right side of the shuttle opened. Daniel was again peering through the seam in the shuttle's bulkhead.

  Dad released the harness on his seat and floated easily through the door and out of Daniel's view.

  "What do we do now?" whispered Ani.

  "How do we get out of here?" Daniel whispered to Nathan.

  Nathan smiled and pointed to a small access hatch in the shuttle bulkhead. A series of eight latches held the hatch in place and Nathan twisted each one open with ease. He placed the hatch to the side and smiled again.

  "Okay," Daniel said. "Let's explore. But we stick together. And we have to be very quiet."

  The children maneuvered clumsily in zero gravity. It took a lot of effort but eventually, each one squeezed through the small door and out under the shuttle's rear seats into the main cabin. The shuttle door was still open to the ship, so they had to move carefully or risk being spotted.

  Daniel heard voices and he hushed his brothers as they grew louder. He was beginning to realize what a terrible risk he had taken. He wondered if they would be caught and if his Dad would ever speak to him again. Being the oldest, his Dad was always lecturing him on how he needed to be responsible for his younger brothers. But they had come this far, and Daniel couldn't resist seeing the ship for himself.

  The voices grew louder and Daniel could feel his heart beating heavily in his chest. He also heard footsteps, but quickly the voices passed the door and began to fade away again. Daniel looked at his brothers and Ani. They nodded at each other and he pushed off through the shuttle's door and crashed on the ground in a heap.

  "Oooph!" Daniel said. Before he could say anything more intelligible as a warning, Nathan and Ani came crashing down on top of him.

  Ernie grunted as he landed last, on top of the heap.

  "Gravity generator," Daniel said from underneath the pile of children. He was smiling.

  "What?" Ani said struggling to escape from the pile of boys.

  "I com
pletely forgot about it. They have gravity generators on any large ship."

  "What's a gravity generator?" Ernie asked rubbing a sore shoulder.

  "Gravity is a function of mass," Daniel explained. He only recently learned this himself, but he explained it in a very big brother way, using the kind of tone that made it sound as if he had always understood it. "The generator creates artificial mass, which then creates a gravity field and makes it feel like you are on Earth instead of weightless in space."

  "Great," Ani said, rubbing a bruised elbow with annoyance. "Let's get a look around before we get caught."

  "Okay," Daniel agreed. "Dad usually leaves by four o'clock. We need to be back in the shuttle by three o'clock just to be safe."

  The others nodded in agreement. Daniel led the way as they began sneaking down the corridor. The schooner's long hallway had gray floors and white walls and ceiling. Bright lights along the walls and ceiling illuminated the hallway.

  Daniel knew the layout of the ship as well as any crew member. He had studied every site, book, or drawing he could find. He loved the John Glenn, partly because he loved everything about space exploration, and partly because it was his father's ship.

  Daniel, his brothers, and Ani walked quietly down the ship's narrow passageway.

  "This is so much better than last time," Nathan said with a smile.

  "I cannot believe we are actually on a space ship," Ani said. Her head twisted and pivoted constantly as she tried to take it all in.

  On occasion, they passed a door or other hallway and Daniel would whisper: "These are the engineering crew quarters," or, "this is a secondary repair station."

  His brothers were impressed with how much he knew.

  The passageway ended abruptly at a large red door. On the door, in big silver letters read: "DANGER. ACTIVE ENGINEERING EQUIPMENT. AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY."

  "I don't think we should go in there," Nathan whispered quickly.

  "We have to go in there," Ernie said excitedly.

  "It seems pretty clear to me," Ani said pointing at the sign.

  "Relax," Daniel answered confidently. "The equipment is all off-line when they are docked at the station. It's perfectly safe."

  Daniel touched a small screen next to the door. The screen lit up and a blinking green square with the word OPEN in the middle appeared. Daniel tapped the button, but he did not get the response he expected. The door did not open; instead, a small chime sounded, much louder than any of the kids were expecting. Then a loud computer voice said: "Left thumbprint required for access."

  The children panicked. The quiet hallway was suddenly very loud with the chimes and voice coming from the door.

  The voice repeated: "Left thumbprint required for access." The chimes continued.

  "Make it stop or someone's going to find us," Ernie exclaimed.

  Nathan began looking around for someplace to hide. Ani looked down the hallway, expecting a team of security guards to come sprinting toward them at any moment. Daniel had not expected the extra security at the door, and he was not sure what to do.

  The voice repeated itself for the third time. The chimes continued. Daniel led the group away from the door, back the way they had come. The sound of voices approaching in front of them made them stop in the middle of the hallway. The white walls and gray floors left nowhere to hide.

  “Quick! Up the ladder," Daniel decided, pointing to a ladder a few feet ahead of them. Ernie scrambled up the ladder first, and with a lot of effort, pushed open the heavy hatch at the top. He climbed through and then helped the others. Daniel climbed up last. They scarcely breathed as they listened intently to the voices of the crew members passing beneath them.

  Daniel saw the tops of three heads walk below them; two men and a woman. The three crew members continued past. The four stowaways listened as the engineering door's security chimes began again. Then the voice repeated: "Left thumbprint required for access."

  "Thank you, Lieutenant Garrett," the same voice said a second later. Daniel heard the engineering door slide open. The three voices faded away as the crew members walked inside the engineering section, and the door slid closed again.

  Daniel breathed a deep sigh of relief. "This is a lot harder than I thought it would be," he said to no one in particular.

  "This is the coolest thing ever," Ernie said.

  "We are sooo going to get caught," Ani said with dread.

  Nathan looked around the small room. "Where are we?"

  Daniel looked around the room, but he could not remember seeing a picture of this place. It was small, with one side of the room full of glass computer panels and monitors. On the wall behind them was a normal-sized door. Just below the computer equipment was a small access panel, only a little bigger than the one they had climbed through under the shuttle's back seats. A small window in the ceiling gave them a view of the space station they were attached to and the solar system beyond.

  Daniel had been staring at diagrams and pictures of this ship for over a year. He tried desperately to recall it, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not remember this, important-looking room.

  A whistle suddenly echoed in the small space and then they heard Dad's voice.

  "Good morning crew of John Glenn. As most of you already know, one of our sister ships, the star schooner Aldrin had a problem with its main engines this morning. They were scheduled to deliver some important scientific equipment to Kappaqilla, but it looks like their repairs are going to take several days, so we have been ordered to deliver the equipment for them. Based on our navigation plot, we should return in one week."

  "We have to get off the ship," Nathan said, his eyes wide with surprise.

  Dad's voice continued. "We will be detaching from the station dock in 15 minutes. All stations report to the bridge when you are secured for deep space travel."

  "We are going to Kappaqilla!" Ernie almost shouted.

  Ani looked gloomily at the three brothers. "We are going to get caught."

  Daniel was still trying to remember the room. He looked closer at the computer equipment.

  "I think this is docking control," Daniel finally said, guessing more than anything else. "They can steer the whole ship from here. They use it for docking and undocking from the space station if the computer can't do it."

  "Does that mean someone will be here to undock the ship?" Ani asked.

  “Someone’s coming here?” Nathan panicked.

  Daniel knew they were right. He pushed the hatch closed and eight levers rotated outward, locking the hatch in place. For the moment, no one could look up from the passageway below and see the four young stowaways. Daniel examined the door behind him, but there was nothing to hint at what was there. He took a deep breath and touched the screen; the familiar green open button appeared again.

  "Don't!" Ani exclaimed.

  Daniel tapped the button anyway. There were no chimes, and no voice demanding a thumbprint. Just silence. Then to Daniel's relief, the door slid aside. The room was just a small closet and the closet was packed to the brim with medical supplies, blankets, and other things.

  "Well, we aren't going to fit in there," Ernie observed.

  Daniel nodded and tapped the screen again. The door slid shut. He spun around to look at the other side of the room.

  Beneath blank screens and keyboards on the forward bulkhead was an access panel, only slightly larger than the one they had crawled through in the shuttle.

  "What about here?" Daniel asked.

  "Looks small," Nathan said doubtfully.

  "It's not any smaller than the one on the shuttle," Ernie said.

  "What's behind there?" Ani asked.

  "I don't know," Daniel said honestly.

  "I thought you knew everything about this ship?" Ernie snapped.

  "Well, I don't know about this, okay?"

  Daniel bent down and began to unfasten the access panel. If there was no room for the four of them to hide, he did not know what they would do.
Even if there was room, how would they hide aboard a star schooner for an entire week without being found? He needed time to think. And for that, they needed someplace to hide.

  "I guess we'd better tell Dad. Hopefully, he can get us off of here before the ship takes off," Nathan said.

  The large mechanical arms of the hatch they had just climbed through suddenly clicked and began to turn.

  "Someone's coming," Ani called nervously.

  Daniel spun the small knobs on the access panel and pulled it away from the wall. He poked his head into the opening and pulled it out again.

  "Okay, everybody in."

  Ernie crawled in without another thought, but Nathan and Ani looked at each other.

  "Are you sure about this?" Ani asked.

  "No. Yes. I don't know," Daniel said exasperated. "All I know is we can get in trouble now, or crawl inside here and think for a minute."

  Nathan sighed loudly. He thought they should give up now, and he wanted Daniel to know it. But he crawled through the hole anyway and Ani followed. Daniel went through the access panel last and pulled the panel closed behind him. As it closed, he saw the docking room hatch open from below. They had narrowly missed being discovered again.

  Hiding

  As it turned out, there was plenty of room behind the access panel. The ceiling was curved like the rounded shape of the ship. It was just tall enough for Nathan and Ani to stand in the center, while Daniel and Ernie had to duck their heads to get around. Nearby, there were large cylinders, the kind that held liquid or gas. Further back in the room were other pieces of mechanical equipment, which looked important, even if they could not tell exactly what the equipment was for. Daniel could not see the end of the space from where they were, but it seemed to run the entire length of the ship.

  This part of the ship was not bright and clean like the hallways they had been in earlier. This room was dingy with only a dim light fixture every 10 feet or so. It was also a little dusty, which surprised Daniel.