by L. S. Wood
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Early Morning Exercise
Early, 0600 hours, Commander Anderson found the crew of the Twitchel ready. They had all assembled in the flight room ready to get to work, as Commander Anderson began calling out for everyone to participate in calisthenics. One two three, one two three, one two three, Commander Anderson called out as they all did jumping jacks in place. Come on men, you cannot all be in that bad a shape, can you. It has only been a very few short weeks since we all did this in place aboard the space station, do you remember? One two three, one two three, one two three, is anyone getting tired yet?” “No, sir, Commander, not tired yet” every one called out in unison as they all panted for a deep breath of fresh air to breath. Whew, I am”, said Commander Anderson. “I guess I am out of shape as well”, and they all laughed. “Let’s get some grub.”
“Not so fast men. They will serve our meals to us in the bird today while we practice. We don’t have much time left to practice for this mission and need to make every second count. Let’s not let our comrades down up there that are counting on us to help them. Of course they have no idea what we are up to, but let’s not let them down anyway.”
Walking for breakfast, the crew all laughed and joked to each other how mean Commander Anderson was to them for making them all exercise so hard before breakfast. The commander had been right about not having any breaks after eating their breakfast. 2000 hours came fast as the day flew by faster and faster than the speed of sound could travel. The next morning found the crew again exercising in the flight crew room at 0600 hours like the day before. “Boy, the last few weeks we have really let ourselves get a little lazy, and might I say a little plumper in the middle as well.” The crew knew better than to argue with the commander because they knew he was right for the most part anyway. He led them out the door for a three-mile run, and then back to the chow hall for a leisurely breakfast this morning. He was right about not having any breaks again in their long hard days of practice aboard the Twitchel. Every day seemed to fly by faster than the previous one.
The levers that were added to the Twitchel were very challenging to pull on to add the extra strength needed to control the ailerons and tail section while in flight without hydraulic assistance. The mechanical ignition activators for in flight ignition of the second stage rockets were also stiff in their operation. When they were underway and in flight, the force of air and speed levied against the hand controls would be a hundred times greater than they were when the craft was sitting idle on the launching pad.
The days were long and the practices intense. Commander Anderson wanted his crew to be in tiptop shape with everything they had to do without the slightest chance of a glitch occurring anytime during this mission. He worked everyone hard until the crew could not take it anymore, and then worked them all some more. They knew what he was doing was right, and not a one disputed his every command, whatever he asked them to do. He was doing it all for them, and they knew it.
A couple the older Twitchel’s crewmembers had recently retired from the U.S. Air force and NASA with full pay and military benefits. Even so, they were back and ready to help this mission for their own personal satisfaction in helping out the good people above and off the space station that had so unselfishly helped them out in a desperate time of need.
The Twitchel’s crew practiced pumping acid into practice batteries while submerged in tanks of water held floating with tie lines making it similar to them floating in space. The crewmembers equipment dangled from supports in the water-filled tanks as they in full space gear practiced putting on all the gear needed to protect them and the other crewmembers from the sulfurous acid while using special mats to absorb any residue that might escape the pumping in the dangerous procedure.
The days were long and hard as hard as the Commander was tough on them. At the end of the day if he asked them if they were ready for another hour or more of calisthenics, they would all be ready even if they were not, and he knew it. He had a crew that he could count on no matter how tough the job was before them or how much he expected from them.
He figured Ann would be one of the first to break and weaken, but she hung in there extremely tough like the rest of the crew. She in fact faced and withstood things better than most the crew with the daily pressures. It was probably from doing so much work back home at the farm helping with all the chores, and was in better shape physically and mentally than most the men of the crew were now.
“0600 hours crew,” “Yes, sir, 0600 hours, sir!” They all hollered out in unison.
“0600 hours, sir.” Commander Anderson smiled. It was now 1700 hours and Commander Anderson let everyone off early for the day. Prior to dismissing everyone, he joked with them and asked them if they were ready for an hour of calisthenics and a three-mile run. The look on their faces said it all as they all yelled out “yes, sir”. They had been working very hard all week, and he wanted to let them enjoy themselves a little before the next day’s hard workout began. Even he was feeling the strain of the heavy workload he had been putting on them and what they all had gone through, but they were not complainers. It would be a night to eat chow early, relax a little bit, and hit the sack early for them, and they all would.
The crew appreciated the extra rest as their minds and bodies rested. 0600 hours seemed but a blink of an eye away for most of the crew when the early morning came. There never was any time to go off gallivanting to the officers’ club and have a night out on the town so to speak, as everyone needed to be tiptop for this mission. Everyone including Steven, the little social bug of the crew, was fast asleep way before 2000 hours arrived that night. He knew the importance of a good night’s sleep, and what having a clear head meant when one wakes up in the early morning hours.
He had learned a very good lesson over a year ago before they were
unsuspectedly trapped in space for the year. He had had a couple of real bad days of training in the water tank with a massive hang over, and a couple of hours spent in the aircraft when they did their high-speed dives that gave everyone the sense of weightlessness. He would now save the partying for the nights when he didn’t have to work the next day or have to fly for a couple of days. They were hard lessons learned, but well remembered. He was fast asleep even before the others were. His time for razing holy hell and party hearty in time would be later, much later after the accomplishment of this very special mission.
0600hours found Commander Anderson’s crew well rested and outside doing their final pre-flight inspection walk around. The Twitchel was standing majestically tall like a skyscraper, ready for launch on her launching pad, looking like she could not wait to get going. She looked like she stood two football fields tall, like the Statue of Liberty on Stratton Island in New York City’s main harbor. She looked so beautiful standing there all alone like an eagle on her perch getting ready for flight with determination written all over her. The moment of truth would soon come to them as it sent large goose bump size chills up and down most everyone’s spines. Ann could not wait to be back in the air and up into space aboard the Twitchel. This would probably be her last chance to fly in her again, and she wanted the moment to last for a lifetime. She had made Ben a promise, soon to be broken again but she had been up front with him about it. She had to do this one last mission, and then it would be the end of her career for good.
She just hoped it would not really be the end for them all. Today she and Major Bill would be learning all the new controls installed in her in order to get the eagle up and into outer space safely. Sitting in an old dilapidated retrofitted shuttles cockpit simulator in the main hanger at the launch compound, Commander Anderson, Captain Ann, and Major Bill were busy at learning the new mechanical aspects of the Twitchel’s strategic flight control mechanisms.
Dr. Smothers was standing in the midst of the three of them giving explicit instructions to the trio on just what to look for and how to fly the Twitc
hel by using hand levered cable pulls and spring loaded wind up release triggers to make different things happen at different intervals during the ascending flight into outer space. He emphasized extreme concentration on explicit instructions of how important it was to this mission everyone onboard to be absolutely, positively certain, that all the external cavities of these new flight devices installed removed and their breached holes filled in with heat retardant material after the Twitchel made its final docking with the space station.
If any one of the several little holes in her outer heat shield body covering made of special material not repaired, she would burn up along with her crew and come apart during her reentry. This was a most important concern for the doctor, fearing the flight to the space station would be a success. The return trip back home to Earth would become a catastrophic disaster due to some simple little hole in the Twitchel’s outer side not protected. One little human error could cost them their lives, and everyone onboard had to be responsible to double-check each other’s work to make sure this mission was as safe as possible.
“Commander,” Dr. Smothers said. “These two foot levers are for keeping the Twitchel’s flight path a true and accurate one, correct?” “We realize you will be under a great g-force up there, so we hooked these levers up by your feet to control them because of the g-force factor. We calculated it would take all of your strength to hold onto your seats with your hands and be able to operate the flight control levers with your feet. We hope you will not have to use them at all, and if you do, very sparingly. You will be flying this bird by the seats of your pants respectfully, and the slightest wrong correction will put all of you in great danger of failing this mission. This foot levered paddle on your right will adjust the Twitchel’s path to the left, and this one to your left like the ones in your aircraft will adjust her path to the right. By using, the two of them simultaneously will help you fly her straight up and into her intended path to break through the atmosphere and out into an exact orbit you want to be in.
The g-force’s place will determine just how able you are to cope with these new mechanisms. The pulley blocks and cables assembled within her fuselage will help you overcome any external wind forces placed upon her. They are to be used simultaneously just prior the earth releasing you out of her grip and her airspace to adjust your attitude in attack for your proper orbital rendezvous.
You will have to rely mostly on your horizon indicator instruments and magnetic field direction indicators for you proper projector. Do not cut yourselves short by prejudging your orbital path, Commander. It will be much better to overshoot your intended orbital target at first rather than undershooting it.
If you, by unforeseen chance do undershoot your orbit, you will fall back to the earth and have nowhere to land your bird except in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and that would be catastrophic for all of you. The Twitchel does not like to float, and you would sink like a lead weight on a fishing line before you could safely escape the hatch from the cockpit. There also would not be any rescue vessels or aircraft available to fly out to your craft after landing. All of you would probably drown anyway or die awaiting rescue by a passing sailing vessel that day or some day in the far off future, and it would be by chance only. As I was saying, it is always better to overshoot your intended orbital target than to undershoot it.
When you reach your orbit, you can energize the dry battery cell packs and have full power almost immediately. You will be able to fly your bird by the computer then and come back to your intended orbit with ease. Remember Commander, overshooting is always better, and never undershoot your intended targeted orbit when entering outer space.
“Captain Mitchell, these two levers when pulled extremely hard and together in unison, will activate your second stage booster rockets.
They are to be pulled simultaneously and never just one lever at a time. When the first stage rockets fail, we hope together, you must first pull these two first sets of levers to blow the main stage rockets away from your aircraft. You do not want any extra baggage attached to the Twitchel that will keep you from gaining your place in orbit. Should just one of your main rockets fail before the other, you will have to activate the release activator blasters immediately to release them both for your safety.
One main rocket burning by itself will turn your aircraft, and send you way off course and possibly back to Earth. This could be a very poor situation if that was to happen, then you would have to pull this fourth set of levers to blow away the second stage rockets, which would allow Commander Anderson and Major Bill here to bring the Twitchel back around to Earth safely. One might only hope and pray you had enough altitude so you and your crew could safely return to the landing site, which is highly unlikely or as close to land as possible. We truly do not want to think that happening, or for it to go that way do we? With the second stage rockets activated, they will put you into an original orbital path lined up with the space station, and bring you up to her before you have to release them before docking. I know there are a lot of things to think about on this mission, but they are the only way this mission will be successful.”
Major Bill was listening with open ears while watching every move Dr. Smothers preformed with his hands while listening intently to every instruction given to Commander Anderson and Captain Mitchell. If something drastic was to happen to either one of them, then it would be up to him to take over their controls and to fulfill their every duty. He had more to think about than the two of them put together, and that was why Commander Anderson was thrilled when he came forward and volunteered for this special mission. He was probably the most valued crewmember aboard the spacecraft other than Captain Ann.
The next few days of training were extremely intense for the crew of the Twitchel as they went over and over every last detail necessary to make this attempt at saving the ailing space station a happy success.
Ann carefully listened with her imagination racing, pretending to be feeling and hearing as the main rockets failed and then she pulled the levers to release them. She would count out a ten-second count mentally to clear the Twitchel from the first stage rockets. This method trying to feel to simulate to her that they had released themselves. Then she would pull the next set of levers to activate the second stage rockets, and then wait a while and make believe Commander Anderson had given her orders to release the second stage rockets. She would then pull the third set of levers as was planned. Everyone went over his and her duties in performing many times over in order to make everything work like clockwork.
1700 hours came quickly as usual on the last day of training before the big day. It found the crew of the Twitchel sitting in the debriefing room with Commander Anderson getting ready to talk to his very talented crew.
“Men, the time has come for us to put our last couple of weeks of intense training into practice. I appreciate the diligence you have all shown to me, and I can only hope it all pays off for us and the crew of the space station. I do not know about the rest of you, but I am afraid I might make a mistake up there and screw something up. I can only ask those of you who feel confident enough about this mission to go along with me tomorrow. I personally asked to have every one of you on my team this time because of what we have all gone through together before. I have total confidence in all of you, but am doubtful of myself.”
“Excuse me, sir, Colonel! May I say a word or two, please?” “Why yes, major, go ahead.” “The commander brought us all home safe and sound the last time we flew didn’t he, and I for one am very confident in his abilities he should do it for us one more time. You all know how I feel about flying these days or getting up over two inches high off the ground. It scares the hell right out of me. It scared me half to death to fly the last time, but not with him. I would be the first one to drop out of this mission if I did not have the kind of faith I have in Commander Anderson. I just found out a day or two ago from my unit that this mission was totally voluntary a
nd was not mandatory for me. I guess it was anyway right from the beginning and am always the last one to find these things out.” They all laughed.
“Some of you have known it right along from the beginning, right Ann?” Major Bill looked over at Ann and smiled. She was the one who had told him she was there volunteering her services out of the kindness of her heart, and that this mission was strictly voluntary.
“I for one will back him to the ends of the heavens, no pun intended. We owe our lives to those unlucky cosmonauts stuck up there to at least try our best to help them out.” “Sir, may I speak?” “Yes, Captain Mitchell.” “Major Bill is right Commander. My enlistment duties had ended just over a week or so ago now except for this short stint of time I have voluntarily reenlisted to help out Commander Anderson accomplish this very special mission. I would not be here if it was not for Commander Anderson and all of you volunteering, and of course we cannot forget our friends in space.