Twenty-five minutes later, Newport responded. “Ares, Newport. Copy your last. At TIG minus 17, recommend Up-Data Link switch to Voice Backup. Do not use tapemeter in PGNS. Recommend you stir all cryogenic tanks. And once you’re off the ground, switch to Omni D.”
Jeff groaned. “Gabe?”
“Yeah, except for the cryo tank stirring, it’s all superfluous. It actually sounds like boiler-plate from the Apollo transcripts. I don’t remember all of it because it didn’t seem that important, but I wouldn’t worry about it. We’re here, they’re not, and they’re at least 21 minutes behind us.”
“Gotcha.”
“Abby,” said Gabe, “can you give me a PROCEED to start the gyro torqueing?”
“Yeah.”
“Gabe,” said Abby, “can you give me a mark at TIG minus 20 minutes.”
“Yeah, sure. About 15 seconds… and… mark.”
“Rog.”
“And rendezvous radar mode to MGC, but leave the breakers out.”
“Rog.”
“And I recommend using the PGNS for guidance.”
“Rog.”
“Alright, let’s pressurize the tanks.”
“Rog.”
“Ascent helium regulators 1&2?”
“Two talkbacks Gray.”
“Master Arm – ON.”
“ON.”
“Ascent He select – BOTH”
“BOTH.”
“Ascent He press – FIRE.”
“Fired.” Through their suits, they heard the squibs ignite to open valves and allow helium into their propellant tanks.
“Master Arm – OFF.”
“OFF”
“System A ascent feed two open.”
“Two open, two gray.”
“Keep an eye on the manifold pressure for these.”
“Right.”
“System A main shutoff valve CLOSE.”
“Closed, barber pole.”
“Crossfeed valve OPEN”
“Opened, gray.”
“System B ascent feed two open.”
“Two open, two gray.”
“System B main shutoff valve CLOSE.”
“Closed, barber pole.”
“How’s it look?”
“Looks good.”
“Okay. Batteries 5 and 6 ON.”
“ON.”
“Batteries 1 and 3 OFF/RESET.”
“OFF/RESET, barber pole.”
“Excellent. We are Go for liftoff. Sue, how is my little girl doing?”
“Just fine. Sound asleep, missing all the fun.”
“Probably for the best.”
“Yeah.”
Jeff chuckled. “Yeah, all we’d need right about now is a crying baby.”
“TIG minus ten minutes,” said Gabe. “Abby, do you have a VHF signal from Sundancer?”
“Yeah.”
Gabe said, “Okay. Five minutes. ATT translation, four jets. Balance couple ON.”
Abby replied, “ON.”
“Thrust/Translation Controller Assembly jets. Propulsion pushbutton RESET. Abort, abort stage RESET.”
“RESET.”
“Deadband MINIMUM.”
“MINIMUM.”
“ATT control to Mode Control. Mode Control AUTO BOTH.”
“AUTO, AUTO.”
“TIG minus 2,” said Gabe. “If you have any last words for Mars, better make it quick.”
“It’s been fun,” said Jeff.
“Yeah, it has,” said Abby.
“It’s certainly been different,” said Susan.
Gabe joined back in. “Jeff, it’s nothing like I imagined six years ago when you walked into my office at Caltech.”
Abby said, “I’ll go along with that.”
“Me too,” said Susan.
“Me three,” said Jeff.
“Abby,” said Gabe, “Master Arm ON.”
“Master Arm is ON.”
“Okay. At five seconds you’re going to get Abort Stage and Engine Arm, and I’ll get PROCEED.”
“Got it.”
“10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, Abort Stage, Engine Arm, Ascent, PROCEED, and… liftoff.”
The MAV shook a little and began to rise.
“Hey! We’re flying!” Abby yelled.
“36 feet per second.”
“Newport, Ares,” said Jeff, “we have liftoff at 0200 UTC. We’re on our way home. See you in seven months.”
“Standby for pitchover,” said Gabe.
“Pitching over,” said Abby. “Balance couple, OFF.”
“OFF.”
“One minute, looking good.”
“16 kilometers, 260 meters per second vertical, 325 meters per second horizontal.”
“Pressures are good.”
“How are everyone’s legs doing?” said Jeff.
“Fine,” said Gabe.
“Not as bad as I thought it would be, one G,” said Abby.
“I’m fine,” said Susan
“Two minutes,” said Gabe. “43 kilometers altitude, 459 meters per second vertical, 712 meters per second horizontal. Looking good. AGS and PGNS are right together.”
“Right down the pipe,” said Abby.
Jeff grinned. “Feel that? Real gravity.”
“I love it,” said Gabe.
“Enjoy it while you can,” said Abby. “It’s only gonna last a few more minutes.”
“Spoil sport.”
“You got your barf bags handy? In five minutes we’re gonna be back in space.”
“Thank you for that helpful reminder. Yes, I have them handy. Coming up on three minutes. 79 kilometers altitude, 595 meters per second vertical, 1,160 meters per second horizontal.”
“H-dot is right on the button.”
“Ghita’s beginning to stir,” said Susan. “She’s still asleep, but she’ll be waking soon. How long till we can pressurize?”
“Just after engine cutoff, about five minutes,” said Gabe.
“Well, as they say, put the pedal to the metal, because she’s liable to freak out if she wakes up inside this thing.”
“We’re at 100% throttle right now. This thing won’t go any faster.”
Jeff put his hand on Susan’s shoulder. “Calm. If she does wake up, well, she’ll just have to cry for a minute or two. Can’t be helped. What worries me is how she’s going to react to zero-g.”
Susan sighed. “Yeah.”
“Four minutes,” said Gabe. “119 kilometers altitude, 670 meters per second vertical, 1,671 meters per second horizontal.”
Jeff pointed out the port docking window. “Look at the cratering down there in the Sabaea. Those must have been some huge rocks. We should be able to see the Hellas Planitia pretty soon. We should’ve got a camera out and taken pictures of this.”
“We took pictures of it in orbit and on the way in, more would be redundant,” said Gabe.
“You’re no fun.”
“I’m not?”
He laughed. “Okay, I take that back.”
“You better.”
“Would you two shut up!” said Abby. “Gabe, how are we doing?”
Gabe chuckled. “Now I know why your callsign is Bitch. Okay, five minutes, 160 kilometers altitude, 682 meters per second vertical, 2,244 meters per second horizontal. Right down the pipe. AGT looks good. And, coming up on maximum vertical velocity. H-dot max… now.”
“Thank you.”
“Our actual velocity at the moment is 2,926 meters per second. Anticipate cutoff at 7:49.”
“Got it.”
Two and a half minutes later they were in orbit.
“And… shutdown,” said Abby. “Engine arm circuit breakers OUT.”
“Rog. Shutdown, 250 kilometers altitude, 4,537 meters per second. Prefect.” said Gabe.
“How far are we from Sundancer,” said Jeff.
Gabe replied, “Oh, she’s about 10 klicks ahead of us. I think I can see her out of the docking window.”
“Outstanding! Way to go! How long to docking?”
; “I don’t know. About 20 minutes.”
“Good job, both of you. Newport, Ares, we are in orbit and about 20 minutes from docking with Sundancer.”
“Cabin REPRESS,” said Gabe.
“REPRESS,” said Abby. “Pressure is coming up. It’ll be about three minutes.”
“Batteries 1 and 3 ON.”
“ON, gray.”
“Rog. AC BUS A: Rendezvous Radar CLOSE.”
“Closed.”
“And PGNS, Rendezvous Radar CLOSE.”
“Closed.”
“That was a pretty nice ride,” said Jeff. “My complements to Grumman.”
“Yeah, not too bad,” said Gabe. “Abby, you want to trim residuals.”
“Rog. Trimming.”
“Okay, that looks pretty good.”
“What’s our R-dot?”
“About 8.3 meters per second.”
“Do we have a solid range on VHF or radar?”
“I’ve got a good lock on VHF – 19.3 kilometers. I haven’t had time to get the radar on her.”
“Rog.”
“While we’re waiting to catch up with Sundancer,” said Gabe, “we better get an alignment. I’ll do a P52. And can you open the circuit breakers on inverters 1 and 2?”
“Got it.”
“And can you close the breaker on the AOT lamp?”
“Closed. You going to Track?”
“Yeah.”
“REPRESS closed,” said Abby. “4.8 psi. You can all remove your helmets now. And Sue, you can get Ghita out of her box.”
“It’s about time,” said Susan.
“Hey, sweetie, this stuff takes a while. Lifting off from Mars ain’t exactly like driving down to the neighborhood 7-Eleven.”
“I know. Sorry.”
“Abby,” said Gabe, “we’ve got radar tracking. 19.1 klicks.”
“Rog.”
“AGS and PGNC agree very closely. Wide deadband ON.”
“ON.”
“Sue, how’s Ghita?”
“She’s waking up. Not quite there yet, but eye’s blinking. She’s fine.”
“Thank you. Hang onto her for a few minutes, I’ve still got some things to do here.”
“Rog.”
Jeff looked out the window and saw the Sundancer pass by about 200 meters to their right. “Ah, home sweet home.”
“Abby,” said Gabe, “ you want to turn us around and get us into burn attitude?”
“Rog. RCS circuit breakers in, and turning.”
“Rog. Main engine circuit breakers in. Standby for 2.1 second main engine burn. Abby, call the ball.”
“Rog. Okay… that’s it. Stable.”
“And, ignition. And… shutdown.”
“Are we stable?”
“Hang on a second. Um… yeah. Go ahead and take us in.”
Abby turned the MAV toward the Sundancer and thrusted ahead toward the docking port on the forward airlock.
“180 meters.”
“Rog.”
“150 meters. Slow down a bit. If you hit hard, you’ll push us off our current orbit and I’ll have to recalculate our TEI burn.”
“Well, we certainly wouldn’t want that.” Abby pulled back momentarily on the thruster joystick and slowed their forward momentum a bit.
“125 meters.”
“Rog.”
“100 meters. You look a tad high. Maybe one meter minus Z?”
Abby glared at Gabe. “Who’s flying this thing?”
“I’m just trying to be helpful. 75 meters.”
“Right. Just remember, you wear glasses and I don’t.”
“What does that have to do with anything? My vision is corrected to 20/20.”
“Yeah, and mine’s 20/15 without glasses.”
“Shut up and drive. 50 meters… 25 meters.”
“Translating down.”
“Told you so.”
Abby grumbled. “Slowing. And… contact. Soft dock.”
“Rog. Retracting. And… hard dock.”
“Newport, Ares,” said Jeff, “we have hard dock with the Sundancer.”
Ghita was fussing. “Gabe,” said Susan, “Ghita’s gonna start crying any minute now.”
“I know. Abby, help me out of this suit.”
“Sure.”
“I’ll get the door,” said Jeff. He climbed into the tunnel atop the MAV, removed the hatch and passed in down to Abby, then inspected the docking ring latches, removed the docking probe and drogue assemblies, passed them down to Abby, opened the airlock pressure equalization valve and, finally, opened the airlock hatch. The procedure was much like that of docking the CSM to the Sundancer. The main difference was that the MAV was not designed to withstand the Sundancer’s 10.3 PSI of air pressure. Thus, every time they would move through the airlock between the MAV and the Sundancer they would have to close both hatches and go through a pressurization – depressurization routine. He climbed back into the MAV. “Okay, door’s open.”
“I’m getting there,” said Gabe. She now had her suit off and was removing her liquid cooling garment. Ghita was now crying. Once completely naked she turned to Susan. “Okay, give her to me.” She took Ghita, climbed into the tunnel, then into the airlock, and closed the hatch behind her.
Jeff sighed. “Well that was none too soon.”
Abby and Susan were busily stuffing Gabe’s suit into available nooks and crannies. “Jeff,” said Abby, “what do you want me to do with this docking probe?”
“Stow it somewhere. We won’t be needing it again.”
“Rog.”
“Sue, lets unstrap Ghita’s car seat. Then I’ll help you out of your suit, and when you’re in the airlock I’ll pass it up to you.”
“Okay.”
“Abby, you want to do the AGS to PGNS alignment?”
“Yeah, sure. Any particular attitude for the PGNS?”
“No, I don’t think it matters. Just so they’re aligned before we jettison.”
“Rog.”
“Alright, Sue, let’s get you undressed.”
Abby chuckled. “This is kind of kinky.”
“No other way to do it. I’ll bet the Apollo astronauts were glad they didn’t have to do this.”
“Yeah, that would’ve been really kinky.”
“They couldn’t have done it anyway, there was no airlock between the LM and the CM.”
“There was the tunnel.”
“Yeah, that’s true. But repeatedly opening and closing both those hatches would’ve been a real bitch. On the other hand, they wouldn’t have had to fool with the pressure differential. Okay, Sue, let me pull you out of there.” He reached in the back, grabbed he around the waist, and pulled her out of the suit.”
She popped out and looked at him. “Getting in and out of these is a lot easier in gravity.”
“No kidding. Okay, you’re on your own. Abby, how you doing?”
“Just about done. Do I need to align the High Gain?”
“No. Gabe can do that after we jettison.”
Gabe’s voice came over the intercom. “Okay, we’re inside and the airlock is depressed to 4.8 PSI. It’s all yours. I’m gonna throw some clothes on and see if Ghita will nurse.” Ghita’s wailing was clearly audible in the background.
“Rog. Go do your thing. We’ll take care of the rest. Sue, need any help with that?”
“No, I’ve got it.”
Jeff took Susan’s suit and handed it over to Abby. “Can you find a place for this?”
“Yeah, I think so. I think we’re gonna just have to leave ours floating in here. We’re rapidly running out of storage space.”
“Roger that. When NASA and Grumman came up with this design back in the 1960s, they never anticipated this.”
“Still, here we are 50 years later and the damn thing still worked.”
“Yes it did, with a few modifications.”
She chuckled. “Just a few.”
“Okay,” said Susan, “I think I’m ready to go.”
Jeff gl
anced at her and smiled. “You certainly look ready to go.”
She gave him a smirk.
He gently spanked her naked butt as she climbed into the tunnel.
Susan opened the hatch and swung into the airlock. “Okay, pass it up to me.”
Jeff shoved Ghita’s carrier up through the tunnel to Susan.
“Got it. See you in a bit.” She closed the hatch.
He turned to Abby. “Are you going through the closeout checklist?”
“Uh huh. Almost done.”
“Need any help?”
“No, just a few more switches and breakers to configure.”
“Rog. I’ll unstrap this other container. We’re next. Let me know when you’re ready and I’ll help you out of your suit.”
“Okay. Be just a minute.”
Jeff removed his gloves then looked around the MAV trying to think of anything they had forgotten. “You know, it’s a shame we can’t take one of these suits back with us. I’ll bet ILC Dover would kill to get hold of one of these that had been on Mars for a year and a half just to see how it held up.”
“Yeah. Nothing we can do about it.”
“Nope. Come to think of it, what we should have done is stuffed one of these in MAV-2 along with the other return samples. Then used one of the spares to get here.”
“Good idea. Why didn’t we think of that?”
“I dunno. Because there are only four of us, and we had enough damn things to think about as it was?”
Abby laughed. “That’s a fact. Okay, closeout checklist complete.”
“Excellent. Float over here and I’ll help you out of your suit, then you can help me out of mine.”
“Is this a date?”
Jeff chuckled. “Um, not exactly. No time. Maybe later.”
“Damn.”
Once they were both naked, Abby climbed into the airlock, Jeff handed the remaining container to her, then grabbed the MAV hatch, entered the tunnel, and secured it behind him. Then he closed the airlock hatch and pressurized. They both wiped themselves – and each other – with antibacterial wet wipes, retrieved UV resistant sunglasses from a pouch in the airlock and donned them, then, while the airlock pressurized, switched on the airlock’s UV lamps.
“Sanitized and suntan all in one,” said Abby.
“Yeah. But you wouldn’t want to stay in here too long, or that suntan would be a nasty sunburn. This ain’t your typical tanning salon.”
“Do you believe we could be carrying anything?”
Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) Page 98