He made the last point by sticking a fork into another tater tot from Molly’s plate.
Keller added, “Now of course, Adam, you are the team captain so, you know, I will defer all technical decisions to you. I am just a worker bee here.”
He bowed his head toward Adam.
Adam said, “Thanks Keller. Let’s agree that Keller has earned a spot on this mission, although in a non-traditional way. Without him, there would not be a rocket ship to get us there in a reasonable time. Okay?”
Molly was playing with what food she had left; a thought was being tossed around in her head. She looked up and said, “So have any of you seen the missing photo?”
Adam quickly replied, “Huh? Yes, we’ve seen them.”
Molly added, “No, you’ve seen photos A, B, and C. The paperwork said there were four photos originally, but it wasn’t in the packet that I got. In fact, I haven’t talked with anybody who’s seen it.”
Keller took a swig of coffee and said, “It’s funny that you mention that. I spoke with the NASA director about it and he told me he couldn’t discuss it.”
Adam looked confused.
“That just doesn’t make sense. It’s either something wonderful or something terrible.”
Keller stabbed the last tater tot and said, “You’re right, it doesn’t make sense, but they probably have a good reason. Training starts tomorrow. Eat up.”
Chapter 11
“My goal is to make you scream in pain! If your muscles aren’t about to rip out of your arms and calves, then I’m not earning my insane fee! So, who’s ready to start?” asked the physical trainer who obviously ate right, exercised right and took the right steroids.
He followed with, “Don’t worry, they’re making me include some team-building exercise crap too, but that will be few and far between. Are you ready now?”
The four astronauts cringed.
From now on the astronauts would be eating raisin bran with skim milk for breakfast and avoiding fast food like it was poison. No more chain food restaurants for them. Each day before lunch they would run around the outer perimeter of the Watsonville Airport twice. The mild breeze coming from the ocean made it almost enjoyable. Depending on which direction the wind came from, though, there was either the smell of garlic in the air or cow manure. The local processing factories and farm fields could be smelly.
When the trainer was busy, Keller would sometimes lead the team-building outings which were always a mixture of hiking or jogging among amazing natural settings. The frequent afternoon excursions always involved a field trip to somewhere local and unique.
On the first outing, the crew went on a two hour hike around a state park called Nisene-Marks. Among the attractions there, they had many miles of paths that curled in and around enormous groves of redwood trees. Nestled into the valleys of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it was a surreal hiking location unlike anywhere else in America.
“This place is spooky. And where are the Ewoks?” remarked Adam as he looked up at the redwood trees like tourists looking up at New York City skyscrapers.
This hike involved finding a hillside that was supposed to be the epicenter of the Earthquake that struck during the World Series in 1989. The group got lost along the way, but thanks to Keller’s triad of cellphones, they finally found service and navigated their way out. When walking back to the car, Molly noticed a gigantic yellow slug on the floor of the trail.
“Is that a snake?” asked Molly excitedly.
Keller smiled and said, “No, that’s a banana slug, one of the largest in the world.”
“They just wander around here like this?” asked Adam.
“Yup, that’s right. They love the foggy cool climate here. Just like I do.”
Adam picked it up and examined it. He whispered to himself, “What a strange life form to find here on Earth.” He took a picture of it with his phone and then carefully set the slug back down. They wandered back to their car and left.
Oddly enough, Keller was the most out-of-shape of all of them. The astronauts had kept up with an exercise regimen even though they hadn’t been assigned to any flight crews for several years. Keller struggled the first week, but he made it.
After hiking in the redwood park, they spent a week running along the beaches. Keller and Molly made for good running mates and each remarked how this beach running was killing their calf muscles.
Tired of the beach running, the whole crew eventually decided to return to hiking in the redwoods. On one particularly cool morning, they left their cars at the front of the park and hiked in. About a half mile before the dirt road became a dirt walking path, they came across an old overgrown trail with a sign draped across it that said “Closed.” Keller stopped and pointed at it.
“You know, we’ve passed by this sign like a dozen times this month.”
“And it’s still closed,” replied Adam.
Keller gave a mischievous smile and asked, “Well, why don’t we see why it’s closed?”
Adam reminded him, “You do realize we’re in the spotlight right now. Everything we do is being watched by the media.”
Keller swung his head around and held his hands up.
“No media here! Who’s going with me?”
Molly grinned and said, “I’ll go.”
Adam nodded to Yeva and they continued walking up the dirt road leaving their two crewmates behind.
Keller lifted the sign up and motioned for Molly to walk under it. He bowed his head and said, “After you, ma’am.”
Keller followed behind Molly as the trail went up a steep hill and vanished in dense undergrowth. They continued up and over some rocks where it popped out onto an old dirt road that straddled the mountain. It was overgrown with bright green grass and ferns. No car had been through here in a long time.
The trail snaked even further up. They followed it, pushing the branches and weeds out of their faces. Sensing brighter and brighter sunlight, the trail emerged onto a sloped prairie that encompassed the entire top of a small mountain. The grass was golden brown and bending in the gentle breeze. They were very high up.
Molly asked, “Shall we continue to the top?”
“Of course,” said Keller as they both stepped out of the woods and into the prairie.
At the peak of the hill were just a few trees to break up the blanket of golden brown grass. In between the two tallest trees was a simple bench made from a split log. Keller plopped down on it. Molly sat down too. The view splayed out in front of them was of the foothills to the Santa Cruz Mountains and beyond that the beautiful Pacific Ocean. Far to the South they could see the seaside town of Monterey and to the North they could see Santa Cruz.
“We must be able to see, maybe, thirty miles in each direction?” postulated Keller.
He looked at Molly and asked, “What do you think?”
She slid over to sit next to Keller and said, “I think this is wonderful.”
The two of them sat there soaking up the million dollar view. Keller wondered who’d found this spot and built this simple wooden bench. He wanted to thank them. Eventually Keller and Molly would have to leave this utopian setting. However, there was no need to hurry.
That night the group had a special dinner arranged by Chris Tankovitch. He’d flown out to check on the facilities and see the progress of the Turtles. Keller volunteered his own home for the occasion and suggested that they have a campfire on the beach afterwards.
One hour before sunset they all gathered on the balcony to have a surf & turf dinner. For Adam, it was a strange experience to sit up on such a commanding perch overlooking the ocean waves. Joggers ran up and down the beach throughout dinner; each one glanced up to see the well-to-do people having their meal on the balcony. Adam felt farther removed from humanity here than when he was circling the Earth in the space shuttle.
While they ate, Keller had one of his employees set up a camp fire between the beach house and the ocean waves. After dessert, everybody grabbed a beer o
r wine and walked down the stairs onto the beach. The sand squished between their toes. The group walked over to the campfire and sat down encircling the ring of flames. Keller sat between Molly and Chris.
When the conversation reached a natural lull, Chris grabbed a stick and poked the fire. He began speaking to the group.
“So, Keller tells me that the physical part of your training is going well. That’s fantastic. Your training on the vehicles will start soon; the simulation modules are almost ready.”
Keller added, “We’re actually ahead of schedule.”
Chris sat back and prepared to talk shop.
“Excellent. So, I’m here to brief you on a couple of things about the mission. Um, first is the missing photo that I’m sure you’re all aware of. We call it ‘Photo D.’ None of you have seen it and I know you’re all curious. Unfortunately, it’s still considered confidential because our NSA experts are trying to interpret some information on it. However, while you are en route to Mars, we will reveal it to you. Not to worry, it isn’t anything dangerous. It won’t make this mission any riskier than it already is.”
Chris laughed at his own statement. Keller smiled and Adam grimaced.
“I also need to talk with you about Red Hope. Have any of you heard of that before?” asked Chris as he looked around to see if anybody acknowledged his question.
The astronauts all looked at each other shaking their heads.
Chris continued, “Okay, on certain space missions in the past, one piece of equipment onboard was a vial of poison codenamed Red Hope. It’s a red liquid form of cyanide. The purpose of it was in case the crew had a life-threatening disaster and would not be able to return. Our guys on Apollo 13 almost had to use it when it looked like their Moon mission was going to end in tragedy.”
Keller asked, “But I thought the onboard poison was just a myth?”
“Well, to the outside media and the public, it is just a myth. But we don’t want our astronauts to die a horrible painful death if they can help it, right? So if something goes wrong, the president has a speech prepared. After he finishes, your radio transmitter will be shut off for you. You won’t be able to speak with anybody on Earth after that. What you do on your own after that is up to you. Red Hope will be on this mission.”
Molly questioned, “So we could just use up our oxygen and die one by one?”
Chris added, “Or you could use the Red Hope capsules that will be with you on the Little Turtle. It’s in a little locked cabinet with red and yellow stripes on it; right near the escape hatch door. You are not to speak with anybody about this. It is top secret. Understood?”
The group went quiet. Nobody spoke as they took in the consequences of the NASA director’s message.
Keller added, “That’s a bit of a downer there Director Tankovitch. How about we lighten the mood some? Everybody look out toward the ocean; the Sun is about to vanish.”
The crew turned around and stared at the sliver of yellow disc sinking into the ocean. Above it they saw bright pink and purple clouds illuminated from the dimming sunlight. The Sun was going, going, gone. They filled the rest of the night with small talk. Keller and Molly entertained each other with funny stories.
Starting the following week, the crew performed less physical exercise and began using the module simulators. The Science Module, or Big Turtle, was very large. It contained a kitchen, sleeping quarters and a caisson. The Little Turtle was going to be used to transport them from Earth orbit to Mars and back again. That’s what Adam used for most of his flight training practice.
The crew practiced mating the two modules together which would be done once they were both on the surface of Mars. The mating process was accomplished with a pressurized extendable hallway tube. They also practiced driving around the remote controlled mini-rover.
One evening during the last month of their training, Molly and Keller left to spend time at the beach house. Adam and Yeva went to dinner at the airport cafeteria. They gathered their food and sat down.
Adam paused his eating and asked, “Does it seem like those two are getting awkwardly close?”
“Yes, I have seen this before. It is not good for a mission.”
“As the leader of this team, I don’t approve of this cohabitation they have going on.”
“Then do something about it.”
“I will,” replied Adam.
He did nothing. Molly seemed to have a taming effect on Keller and Adam decided that was good for the mission.
The relationship between Molly and Keller was an open secret. The engineers at Murch Motors knew about it and that’s the way it was.
One Saturday near the end of their training in California, Keller invited the crew to a house-warming party for his assistant Lydia; she had married well and was showing off her new house up in the hills above Los Gatos, a town known for its Lamborghini dealership and tech titan residents. Keller thought this would be a great chance for the semi-famous crew to interact with the public in a controlled situation.
Connie had joined Adam for the week so Keller bought a Suburban to haul everybody around. As they drove up the long driveway toward the enormous hillside mansion, Keller explained how life worked there.
“Okay, so this is a new mansion built for Lydia by her nouveau riche husband. They move in higher circles than any of you are used to. See all the sports cars parked around? Everybody at this party has servants back home. Don’t be insulted if somebody asks you to get a drink for them. Your clothes, although clean, remind them of their hired help.”
Connie laughed. She asked, “So if Lydia married into so much money, why does she work as your assistant?”
Keller grinned and answered, “Who wouldn’t want to spend all day at a beach house?”
They drove past Ferrari’s and Porsches parked haphazardly among the trees that dotted the landscape. On the right side of the driveway was a small vineyard used by Lydia’s husband as a hobby; he got more pride out of telling strangers that he was a wine maker than telling them he was a Fortune 500 CEO. They parked under a freshly planted mature olive tree. The group meandered up into the house and mingled with the dozens of strangers who wanted to meet the famous astronauts.
While Adam was getting Connie a glass of wine, somebody walked up to him to discuss the mission. The stranger lifted up a copy of Adam’s space shuttle book and then asked him to sign it.
He told Adam, “I bought your book used. Got it really cheap.”
“Oh, okay. Well, thank you,” answered the confused Adam as he signed the front cover.
Adam and Connie held hands and wandered through the mazelike mansion. For fun they counted the bathrooms. So far, they’d meandered past five of them. She was using a new pair of leg braces that allowed her to walk without the crutches, albeit awkwardly. Each room had the skin of an exotic animal lining the floors; the walls had a lot of decorative redwood burl.
They eventually pushed through some doors and out onto a large wooden patio overlooking the side of the mountain. Below them they could see the tennis court and swimming pool that accessorized this mansion.
However, they were not alone. On the porch was a folk music group hired to entertain at the party. The band members handed out maracas and tambourines to the guests so they could become part of the music. Connie was the tambourine goddess for two songs.
“That was fun,” she said as she handed back the instruments.
Adam and Connie stood outside overlooking the display of wealth and listening to the surreal sounds of the folk music echo off the nearby mountain slope.
“I could live like this,” said Adam to Connie.
“Where’s Molly and Keller?” asked Connie.
Adam stared blankly into his drink.
“Good question. We don’t ask anymore.”
Adam and Connie spent the rest of the evening out on that patio avoiding the awkward guests as much as possible. The sky was full of brilliant stars. Adam pointed out which red dot was Mars.
This would be a first of sorts. The Russian Soyuz rocket had been transported across the Atlantic Ocean by barge and would be launched from a remote platform near the edge of the Kennedy Space Center. This was necessary because the regular NASA launch sites were being used by the Viper9 heavy lift rockets taking supplies up to the Storage Wart on the International Space Station.
The crew arrived at the Kennedy Space Center and quickly acclimated to the pleasant Florida weather. They felt right at home getting ready for the big launch day, but then one of the crew members vanished.
Chapter 12
“Where on God’s green Earth is our mission leader?” demanded Chris Tankovitch. “The Soyuz crew capsule is launching in four hours!”
Unlike previous directors, he had taken a very personal role in this entire project and wanted to make absolutely sure nothing went wrong.
Last night all four astronauts were in their sequestered hotel rooms, but this morning Adam was gone. A panic call went out to all security personnel. They searched the security camera recordings and found video of him going for a morning jog out through the front gates and getting into a minivan just after 5:00 a.m.
The rest of the crew gathered for breakfast along with Chris and tried to make things look normal for the press. One of the journalists soon yelled out, “Hey, where’s the team leader?”
Chris smiled to hide his anxiety and said, “He’s just sleeping in a little more. He needs his energy.”
Chris was taking a mad rush of phone calls. On some he barked orders. On others he cowered.
Red Hope Page 9