“Thank you, Tony. This all is…” Xu paused nervously. “Unsettling to me.”
“As well it should be! It ain’t everyday that a man gets his leg nearly blown off by a forty five caliber pistol round.” Tony gripped his shoulder and nodded to the man. “You’re doing great. Don’t worry.”
“Very good then.”
“Now, let’s get you into this boot.” Tony slipped the inflatable plastic cast gently around Xu’s foot and then slid it up his leg like a sock. Then he pulled the tab on the inflation cartridge. The cast instantly filled with air pressure and held Xu’s leg in place. “There. That should do it. You should try to rest.”
Tony drifted by Zhi and looked at him. The man was out of his suit, but he was still taped up. Certainly he had to be uncomfortable being all bound up like that. Tony nodded to him, but Zhi just stared off into space.
“Are you doing alright?” he asked. Tony reached over and felt his pulse. He was fine.
“I am not in need of your assistance, Doctor,” Zhi grunted.
“If you change your mind, let me know.” Tony pushed away from him and over to Ming, who was still unconscious. Before they had reduced the air pressure in the cabin, he had seemed to be getting stronger. But for the last day or so there had been no change in his condition. Tony checked the pressurized intravenous-fluid bag, and it seemed to be functioning without any problems. He checked his other vitals, including his heart rate, temperature, and blood pressure. He then did a pupil-response test and seemed to see some improvement there.
Once Tony was sure he couldn’t do anything else for the patient, he moved on to the command area, where he and Bill sat. Hui was in his seat, talking with Bill.
“Am I interrupting something?” he asked.
“Oh, Tony, excuse me.” Hui started to unbuckle herself from his seat.
“No, no. Don’t get up. I’m gonna float around awhile,” Tony told her. “Anything new happening?”
“No,” Bill answered. “We were just chatting about what we say happened up here.”
“What do you mean?” Tony was confused.
“We cannot tell the world that a taikonaut fired a handgun aboard the spaceship, nearly killing us all and at least severely wounding one of us,” Hui answered. “It would not only be bad for the Chinese space program, but it would be bad for everybody.”
“I agree with Hui on this, Tony. We need to get our story straight with NASA and the Chinese ambassador before we get on the ground and there are video cameras on us from every which way.” Bill sipped something that appeared to be coffee from his squeeze bottle and let out a sigh. “This is a mess, and I’m sure mission control will support our story. And any video that exists showing the, um, outburst will be kept locked up and away from the press.”
“I see,” Tony said. “Well, it is my opinion that Zhi has PTSD. I’ve seen the look before. Were he and Ming close?”
“PTSD?” Hui asked.
“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” Tony explained.
“Yes. I agree,” Hui said.
“None of that matters. The story must be that we had systems malfunctions or there was an accident from the modifications we did on the Altair that caused our problems.” Bill was adamant about the fact that astronauts didn’t cause the problem. That had been a philosophy of NASA’s since the Apollo era. The astronauts were heroes and couldn’t do anything wrong. Oh, there had been a few glitches here and there that were hard to overlook, but for the most part the astronaut image was protected as best it could be.
“Xu might want to press charges. I might myself, but I understand what you’re saying.” Tony steadied himself against the console and stretched as best he could. “Above my pay grade. I think I’ll Velcro myself to a bulkhead and take a nap. If you two figure out my story, let me know.”
“Good night, then.” Hui smiled at him. “I’m certain those above our pay grade, as you say, will tell us what to say.”
“Let me know if you need me,” Tony said.
There was only about thirty minutes left before the Dreamscape and the Orion would be in docking range. Bill had been in constant conversation with Houston and Captain Gesling for a good while. The systems checks had been plodded through twice already. There was very little to do but wait. Bill hated waiting. He’d been doing enough waiting on this mission. They needed to get hooked up and get the injured crew members in a hospital. He also had a few reservations about the docking hatch on top of the Orion. It wasn’t all that far from where the aerocapture damage was. Bill tried not to think about that. He hoped they wouldn’t need to suit up again, but if the docking hatch wouldn’t open, they’d all have to suit up and go out the main hatch, if they could get it open, and EVA to the Dreamscape. Whatever they had to do, Bill assured himself that they would do it.
“Mercy I, Houston, over.”
“Go ahead, Houston,” Bill replied.
“We’re looking good, and we need to start bringing the pressure up slowly,” Houston said.
“Roger that, Houston. Time to start the pressure recovery.” Bill started up the sequence to bring the air back up to a full atmospheric pressure level within the cabin. Otherwise, there would be too big of a pressure differential between the two spaceships when they docked, and they wouldn’t be able to get the doors open.
There was just enough air left in the Orion for a day at low pressure or about eight hours at full pressure. The plan that NASA had come up with to keep enough oxygen in the cabin until help could arrive had worked out with a little margin to spare. Fortunately for all of them, America had spawned a private space program that could be ready as quickly as it had been.
“Mercy I, this is Dreamscape, over.”
“Go ahead, Dreamscape,” Bill replied.
“I’ve got a visual on you, Mercy I,” Paul Gesling announced. “My clock shows twenty minutes and counting. Do you see me?”
“Tony?” Bill nudged Tony awake with an elbow. “We’re on, buddy. Look out your side for the Dreamscape.”
“I’m looking,” Tony said as he wiped the sleep from his eyes. “I don’t see anything yet.”
“Wait, there it is. I see a glint over there.” Bill pointed out his window. “Dreamscape, we see you.” Bill said that loud enough for everybody to hear. There wasn’t a sound made in the cabin. He was sure he could hear six hearts pounding with anxiety.
The next twenty-six minutes went by very slowly as the crew of Orion watched. The Dreamscape docking mechanism was on the starboard side just aft of the wings and on top of the fuselage of the vehicle. The docking ring of the Orion was on the nose. The two ships inched closer and closer together, nose to midsection. Finally, the onboard lidar locked the two spacecraft docking rings in the computer control system and the automated program took over the thrusters.
“Mercy I, this is Dreamscape showing ten seconds to dock. Delta-vee at three meters per second,” Gesling announced.
“Roger that, Dreamscape,” Bill replied. “Mercy I shows two meters per second…one point seven…one point three…zero point eight…zero point four…and three, two, one, dock!”
Clank, clank, kathunk!
“Docking ring activated. Dreamscape shows good seal!” Gesling said.
“Mercy I shows lock and good seal. Houston, this is Mercy I. Docking maneuver complete!” Bill said. There were cheers inside the cabin as well as around the world. There was a banging on the airlock door.
“Captain Stetson, this is Paul Gesling. If you folks want to open up in there we’ll see what we can do about getting you home,” Paul said over the radio.
“Roger that,” Bill replied. “Tony, cycle the docking hatch.”
“Yes, sir!” Tony tapped in the commands, and the lights all stayed in the green. The docking ring appeared to be one system that was still in functioning order. “It’s working!”
Bill kicked up to the ring and pulled the hatch. It opened, and he found himself staring at the smiling face of the Dreamscape’s captain.
He held a hand out, and Paul Gesling took it.
“Bill Stetson.”
“Paul Gesling. Nice to meet you.”
“Believe me, Paul, the pleasure is all ours.” Bill smiled back at him. “Now, we’ve got two incapacitated and one walking wounded. We should move them first.”
“Understood.”
They set about moving Ming and Zhi into the Dreamscape and buckling them in. Zhi didn’t put up a fight at all. Ming, on the other hand, pushed away Bill’s hand when he tried to drag him up through the docking ring. Both Tony and Xu rushed to him to check his vitals and pupil response. Testing the waters again by squeezing Ming’s hand resulted in a similar response. Ming appeared to be trying to pull away from the stimulus.
“Is that involuntary, you think?” Bill asked the two doctors.
“Can’t say for sure, but it is a good sign. Some coma patients do that and some don’t. Some do it before they wake up.” Tony sounded very enthusiastic.
“Good news.” Bill nodded. “Let’s get this done and get home.”
It took about thirty minutes to get everybody into the Dreamscape and strapped in. There was one more astronaut than there were chairs, and Hui argued that she would sit on the floor. Bill shut her down quickly and said he would do it.
“Ladies and gentlemen. If you will, this is my ship, and I am her captain. From the duration, here to the ground, I am the one calling the shots, if you don’t mind.” Paul took charge. “Captain Hui, while I’ve no doubt that you can handle the ride back not in a couch, you have been in distress far longer than Captain Stetson. Therefore, it is my decision that he will be the odd man out.”
Hui didn’t like the order, but she followed it.
“Now, Captain Stetson.”
“Call me Bill.”
“Very well, Bill. I have this figured out.” Paul led Bill to the toilet room. The little room was larger than the toilet on a 767 and had a window in it. “Sit there. Here are some straps that I want you to buckle yourself in with.” The toilet had connection rings in the wall for use during zero gravity.
“Who’d ever thought I’d be riding back home while sitting on the pot?” Bill laughed.
“Best seat in the house, Bill. Hold on and good luck.” Paul winked at him.
“God speed, Captain,” Bill told Paul as he closed the restroom door. “Now, why don’t we have one of these on the Orion capsules?” Bill laughed to himself.
“Lady and gentlemen, this is the captain speaking. Be prepared for reentry burns in ten seconds,” Paul said gleefully. “Let’s go home.”
Epilogue
The first thing that Bill Stetson did after they stepped out of the Dreamscape onto the landing pad in Nevada was to grab his wife and kids, who were waiting at the bottom of the stairs of the vehicle, and hug them to him and kiss each of them with all his heart. An ambulance rushed Xu, Ming, and Zhi off to a hospital for “treatment and evaluation,” according to the official story.
Gary Childers had made certain that the original crew of the Dreamscape was there to meet the remaining Chinese crew members—on camera, of course. After all, had it not been for them, the Chinese taikonauts would have never been found. And there was Paul Gesling waving and shaking every hand thrust at him. The Dreamscape, her crew, and her captain were definitely heroes of the rescue.
Bill, Tony, and Hui stuck around for debriefing and then interviews. Gary Childers had catered food trucked in and a live orchestra. The gala was nothing short of a black-tie event. Senators and members of Congress were there to pump the flesh and ride the media wave. The NASA Administrator made a speech, and at one point there was a joint phone call from the President of the United States and the Paramount Leader of China. Space hadn’t been so on the forefront of the world’s mind since the first Moon landing.
Later that evening, Bill Stetson stepped out to look at the Dreamscape one more time. It was a good little ship. He liked the design and actually wondered if it could be redesigned with the docking ring on the nose so an Altair lander could be mated there. He liked the little ship better than the Orion. Perhaps future missions might marry up the NASA and private space-industry technology to a single, better system.
Bill wasn’t sure about any of that, but he did plan to work on it in the future. He looked up at the full Moon glistening in the clear, star-filled night sky. After taking a few minutes to let his eyes get adjusted to the darkness, and his mind clear from all of the events of the day, Bill had a smile on his face as big as the one he’d gotten when he was five years old.
“We did return, and not only did we get there, but on a rescue mission—maybe there’s hope for us after all,” he said aloud. Bill thought about his aging mother and that first night that he had seen Gene Cernan leave the Moon. “I told you, Mom. I told you I was gonna go to the Moon someday.”
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