by Bob Blanton
“I was thinking more about how many kiloliters you could accommodate,” Catie said. “We have lots of water over here.”
“Mon Dieu,” Commandant Bastien said, “I will ask to see how much we can store. Are you sure you can afford to give that much away?”
“Yes, we just need to know how you would like it. We can freeze it, or we can bring it over in bags,” Catie said. “Depending on how much you would like, will determine which ship we come in.”
“Yes, and what else would you like?” Samantha said. “We aren’t giving away any of our men at this time.”
“How about some meat?” Catie asked. “We have ham, filet mignon, chicken, rump roast, and pork cutlets.”
“We would love some meat,” Commandant Bastien said, “but we don’t have a freezer, so we couldn’t take very much.”
“We’ve got one of those too,” Catie said. “We have two sizes; one is one meter by seventy centimeters by seventy centimeters, and the other is two meters by one meter by seventy centimeters.”
“Do you have a washing machine?” the commandant asked.
“Sure, but you would need one that works in zero gravity,” Catie said. “Hmm, we have one like that, I’ll check to see if we can bring one; they’re small, sixty centimeters on a side.”
“What do they expel?” the commandant asked.
“They need a liter of water to run,” Catie said. “Then they give you back a little more than a liter of water and a block of goo. We usually feed the goo into our treatment plant, and the bacteria love it, or you can just toss it out an airlock.”
“And how clean does it make your clothes?”
“Not quite as clean as a real washing machine,” Catie said. “But it does pretty well for about fifteen days of wear.”
“Would you be willing to send the plans?” the commandant asked. “If you don’t, the boys over here will take it apart, and I’d hate for them to not be able to put it back together.”
“If we bring one, we’ll bring the plans,” Catie said. “That’s what I have to check; I don’t think it has any proprietary technology in it.”
“It does not, Cer Catie,” ADI explained. “But there are components that are not possible for them to make. Possibly you should take two.”
“Thank you, ADI,” Catie said over a private channel.
“If things work out, we will plan on visiting on Saturday,” Samantha said. “Please let us know if there is anything else you need. We have ships coming up every day, so we can easily include a little something special.”
“Chocolate,” Commandant Bastien said. “You can never have too much chocolate.”
“No problem,” Samantha said. “I have a large supply right here. Dark or Milk? Oh, I’ll bring both.”
“Au revoir mes chers,” the commandant said.
“Au revoir,” Catie and Samantha said together.
◆ ◆ ◆
On Thursday, Blake, Samantha, Catie, Natalia, and the twins headed over to the ISS. The station would be a bit crowded with all of them, but they could always rotate between the station and the Lynx to minimize the crowding. They were taking one thousand kilos of water, ten boxes of chocolate, two suit fresheners, and a small freezer full of meat. They timed their visit to arrive at 12:00 and planned to stay for three to five hours.
There was much back and forth as the Russian colonel was very concerned that they not bump into the station. When they had finally synchronized orbits, Catie left the cockpit to take care of the docking ring. She donned her spacesuit and met the twins in the cargo bay.
“Are you two ready?” Catie asked.
“Yes!” the twins answered.
“You know that it will be really embarrassing if you mess this up,” Catie admonished them.
“We won’t!”
“Okay, you’re on,” Catie said.
She watched via her HUD as the twins cycled through the airlock carrying the docking tube. They expertly attached it to the Lynx, then they each took one side of the docking ring and pushed off of the Lynx. Halfway to the space station, they did a flip, so their feet were pointed at it. They accomplished this without letting go of the ring. When their feet contacted the station, they let their knees bend and used the momentum from the docking tube to keep themselves on the space station. They brought the ring into position, then used their jets to get it to lock into place. Once the ring was in place, they moved to the same side of the ring and pushed off back to the Lynx. They landed and cycled through the forward airlock without a hitch.
“Yay!” everyone was clapping when they entered the main cabin. “That was perfect,” Samantha said.
The twins gave a bow together.
“Okay, let’s go back and see if we’re still welcome,” Catie said.
Everyone cycled through the airlock to the cargo hold. Checking the airlock, Catie could see an astronaut checking the fit of the docking clamp on their side. She entered the airlock and rapped on the window to get his attention. The instruments showed they had pressure in the tube. After another minute of checking, the astronaut gave her a thumbs-up. Catie was wearing just her helmet and the exosuit vest with her air supply. Everyone had been instructed to be prepared for decompression when they were in the tube. She opened the outer door, “Colonel Bradley,” Catie said over the comm channel, “would you like to come inside?”
“Yes, I would,” he replied. “This is a nice docking tube you have. What’s it made of?”
“Polysteel and polyethylene,” Catie said. “It’s pretty rugged, but we still recommend being prepared for decompression.”
“Wise precaution,” Colonel Bradley said. “This is a nice ship. Who were those two who put the tube in place? That was the most skilled EVA I’ve ever seen.”
“Oh, they’re right inside, waiting to meet you,” Catie said. She removed her helmet and started to open the inner door. “I’m Catie by the way.”
“Just call me Bradley,” Colonel Bradley said. He removed his helmet and maneuvered through the door behind Catie, who immediately shut it after they were both through. “May I introduce, my uncle, Commander Blake, our Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Samantha Newman, our load specialist, Natalia Ortiz, and our EVA specialists, Prisha and Aalia Khanna.”
Colonel Bradley sucked in a quick breath when he saw the twins.
“Everyone, this is Colonel Bradley, but he says to just call him Bradley,” Catie continued.
“Hi,” the twins said immediately.
“Hello,” Colonel Bradley said. He shook everyone’s hand and continued to take glances at the twins, thinking, there must be some kind of trick. “How old are they?” he whispered to Catie.
“They’ll be eleven in January,” Catie whispered back.
“Do you make it a habit to employ children in EVAs?” Colonel Bradley asked.
“Not as a rule, but they are our best EVA specialists,” Catie said. “I think it’s because whenever we take them on an EVA, they don’t do anything but practice their skills. But now that they’re so good, we try to give them assignments.”
“Welcome to the International Space Station,” Colonel Bradley said after regaining his composure. “Please let me know if there is anything we can do to make your visit comfortable.”
“Well, as you can see, we’re kind of crammed full of cargo,” Blake said as he pointed around the cargo bay. “How should we go about unloading it?”
“I believe you told us that the water containers could be left outside without damage,” the colonel said.
“That’s correct. They have a reflective coat so they won’t overheat in the sunlight, and they also reflect any radiation so they will continue to be safe to drink,” Blake explained. “We loaded them first, so we can unload them last, just before we leave. But we have a couple of suit fresheners as we call them and a freezer full of meat that we should unload right away. That will create a bit more space in here,” he said, pointing to the twins who were floating above everyone’s head to make roo
m for all of them.
“The suit fresheners seem to be the easiest thing to move,” Colonel Bradley said. “If one of you will help me take one across now, then two others can follow with the second one.”
“Madam Secretary,” Colonel Bradley, “Would you care to join me?”
“I’ve made arrangements to play host for the first rotation,” Samantha said. They’d decided that they would rotate three of the ISS crew onto the Lynx to make room for three or four of the Lynx’s crew.
“Okay,” Colonel Bradley said. “Catie?”
“This one is ours,” Catie said.
Blake opened the airlock for them as they grabbed the suit freshener and guided it toward the airlock. It only took thirty minutes to move the two suit fresheners and the freezer. After they were done, the three women members of the ISS crew were gathered at the airlock with some bags; they were going to be the first group to rotate to the Lynx.
Commandant Bastien had kept her helmet off so she could greet Catie, “Hello, mon chère. Laundry,” she said as she hefted the bag she was carrying.
“Sam’s new form of diplomacy,” Catie said with a laugh. “I’ll see you in a bit after I get my tour.”
“Let me introduce Colonel Gavril Malenkov, our Russian commander,” Colonel Bradley said as the big Russian officer approached them.
“Алло,” Blake said as he held his hand out in greeting. Colonel Malenkov gave him a robust handshake.
“Welcome to our humble abode,” Colonel Malenkov said. “My second in command, Major Glebov, has joined your Secretary Newman on your ship. She will be pleased to meet you when we rotate people.”
“And this is Captain Caron, our Canadian representative,” Colonel Bradley continued. “My second in command, Captain Lynch, is also on the Lynx now.”
“Here are the plans for the freezer and the refreshers,” Catie said. “ Commandant Bastien suggested that having them might forestall any thought about disassembling them.” Catie handed him a memory stick with the plans on it.
Catie, Blake, and Natalia’s tour of the station took about an hour; they had a few questions and enjoyed the joshing with the astronauts about how they were looking forward to a steak dinner.
“But you did not bring any wine,” Captain Caron said.
“Nobody asked,” Catie said. “We would have brought a case over.”
“Forget wine, did you bring vodka?” Colonel Malenkov asked.
“Next trip,” Blake said. “Not sure we have any vodka drinkers on our station, we’re more the scotch whiskey types.”
“We should go back,” Catie said. “I’m sure the twins are itching to get their tour of the station.”
“Twins?” Colonel Malenkov asked.
“Yes, those two who attached the docking tube are eleven-year-old twin girls,” Colonel Bradley said. “I hate to say it, but we’re hopelessly outclassed by those two.”
“Children always learn the fastest,” Colonel Malenkov said.
When Catie cycled into the main cabin on the Lynx, it was evident that more than laundry had been cleaned. All three astronauts had damp hair.
“You need to come visit every week,” Major Glebov said. “We will have girls’ chat and drink more wine.”
“Oh, so you did bring wine,” Catie said as she saw that each of the four women was holding a bulb of wine.
“Of course,” Samantha said. “I’m a diplomat.”
“Did you happen to bring vodka?” Catie asked.
“Yes, I did,” Samantha said.
“Oh, Colonel Malenkov will be your friend for life,” Major Glebov said. “He is missing his vodka desperately.”
“Our turn, girls,” Samantha said to the twins. “Catie, you will play host while I’m gone. This is Major Glebov of Russia and Captain Lynch from the US, and of course, you already know Commandant Bastien.”
“Only if you saved some chocolate for me,” Catie said.
“There is plenty, but Questa would like to keep it hidden from the men, she doesn’t think they can control themselves,” Samantha said.
“Okay, I’ll just have one quick piece,” Catie said as she grabbed a piece of chocolate and popped it into her mouth.
After Samantha and the twins got their tour of the ISS, everyone congregated aboard the Lynx for dinner. Samantha had promised to make steaks for everyone, along with the appropriate beverages.
While Samantha was cooking, the four men hauled water. They moved as much as they could into the space station. The ISS kept some of the reserve supply in one of the escape capsules that were always attached to the station. After topping off their tanks and stowing as many bags as they could find room for, they still had four ninety-pound bags left. After a little debate, they agreed that they would tie them onto the outside of the station and keep them as an emergency backup.
When Colonel Malenkov entered the Lynx, he exclaimed, “This is very impressive ship.”
“Thanks,” Blake said. “It’s a joy to fly.”
“And so much room,” Colonel Malenkov added.
“We don’t have to use up every inch of space to store stuff,” Catie said. “That’s why it looks spacious.”
“Did you leave anybody on your space station?” Colonel Malenkov asked.
“Oh, we left a lot of people on the space station,” Samantha said from the galley.
“How many?” Colonel Malenkov asked.
“I’m not sure,” Blake said. “Catie, how many are up there now?”
“We were maintaining two hundred and fifty last week, but I think we’re up to six hundred this week, with the new ring opening.”
“Six hundred people! How can you have so many in space? The food alone would require many flights to keep them supplied,” Colonel Malenkov said.
“We grow a large percentage of our food on board,” Catie said. “We’re hoping to be self-sustaining as far as food goes in two or three months. We’re planning to have about five thousand people on the station within six months.”
“No, this cannot be,” Colonel Malenkov said.
“You guys must not have done a flyby for quite some time,” Catie said. She brought a picture of Delphi Station up on the display. It showed the hub with the first ring attached and the second ring floating above it all. The third ring was about fifty percent complete. “We’re just moving people into the first ring. We’re waiting for the third ring to be finished, so we only have to stop the spin one more time to complete the station.”
“Mon Dieu,” Commandant Bastien exclaimed. “That looks enormous, and you say it is spinning.”
“Yes,” Catie said. “We spin it so that the outer ring will have one-G of gravity. That will allow people to live there full time. That’s important since we’re planning to do so much manufacturing up there.”
“What will you manufacture?” Colonel Bradley asked.
“We’re manufacturing polyglass, that’s what we call our transparent polysteel, and we’re going to manufacture integrated circuits and solar panels,” Catie said. “We’re sure we’ll come up with other products that can only be manufactured in space.”
“Why do you make the polyglass in space?” Colonel Bradley asked. “I understand you make polysteel in Delphi City.”
“We do,” Catie said, “but you have to be in microgravity to make it transparent; I don’t understand the physics, but that is the test.”
“And solar panels?” Captain Lynch asked.
“Just the active layer,” Catie said. “We’ll send them down to be fitted with frames and inverters.”
“Okay, steaks are ready,” Samantha said. She and Natalia deftly maneuvered the steaks to the trays in front of each of the ten other people in the Lynx.
“Don’t you worry about getting contamination into your systems?” Colonel Bradley asked.
“We have continuous air circulation,” Catie explained. “On both sides of the ship halfway up there are vents that push air in, plus on both sides of the aisle at the bottom. The
air is collected at the top, again a continuous vent. We also keep a positive air pressure in the cockpit. The filters are not only HEPA, but they’re shaped in a helical formation, so they capture any particles. We wipe the surfaces down every day, and once a month, all the fixtures are removed and the interior cleaned.”
“How often does this ship make a trip?” Colonel Malenkov asked.
“It comes up once or twice a week,” Catie said. “Lately, it’s been twice a week.”
“Twice a week,” Colonel Malenkov exclaimed. “How can you afford to send a ship up that often?”
“We send at least four of our big ones up every day,” Catie said.
“But that is an enormous cost,” Major Glebov said.
“It’s just fuel,” Catie said. “We are still expanding the station, and we need to bring up lots of material. We are also starting to manufacture things on the station that we need to bring down.”
“How much can your Oryx take down?” Commandant Bastien asked.
“The Oryxes, those are our big shuttles, can take down two hundred thousand kilos,” Catie said. “That’s assuming their fuel tanks are less than half full.”
“My god, that’s enormous,” Colonel Bradley said.
“It’s thirty percent more than their lift capacity,” Catie said. “That’s why our runway is two miles long. They’re a bit like the old shuttles were, a flying brick when they land with that big a load. And when they touch down, the runway it tilted to help slow them.”
“The runway is tilted!” Commandant Bastien exclaimed.
“Yes, that’s one of the advantages of a floating airport. We can always orient it into the wind, and that way the tilt is not particularly consequential for takeoff, but helps enormously on landing,” Catie explained.
After everyone had finished eating, Natalia and the twins cleaned up, while Samantha brought out the vodka.
“You are an angel,” Colonel Malenkov said as she handed him a bulb. “To friendship,” he toasted.
“To friendship!”
They helped the ISS crew move the final four bags of water to the ISS, then the twins detached the docking tube and brought it inside the Lynx. Blake carefully eased them away with the thrusters before engaging the engines.