by T I WADE
Bob Mathews expertly ejected the shuttle at 53,000 feet and was complimented by Jonesy on a great job; the shuttle wings were extended, and ignition was achieved.
As usual Jonesy lined up the sun to his back, and the shuttle climbed into the sky with the mining supplies and cargo heading skywards; they carried the equipment VIN and Jonesy were going to get rich off, mining platinum and other valuable rocks.
At absolute maximum payload, Jonesy monitored the computers as they took over and, ever so slowly, the morning sun came up to kiss the nose of the shuttle as they reached the blackness of space. Maggie sat silently next to him.
“At $20 million a pop, this must sure be emptying Ryan’s bank account,” commented VIN as they entered a low orbit, every one removed each other’s helmets, and the craft went into space-mode.
“What did he say? Maybe ninety flights? That must be about one-and-a-half to two billion bucks!” replied Jonesy, monitoring the readouts and computer LEDs. “You guys OK in the back? You must be pretty squashed?“
“Cozy and warm, and feeling very light headed. Is this real space yet, Herr Jones? Just like I had in the International Space Station?” Suzi asked.
“Yes, Superfraülein, this is real space. Welcome to Mr. Richmond’s dream. Pity Ryan will be one of the last to actually feel space. Maybe he will change his mind or his dream once he’s been up here for a month or so. I will be igniting the hydrogen rockets for a three-second burst, and then switch onto our ion drives to get in close to my favorite “beer can”, Jonesy added. “You will not feel the burn since we are now weightless, but stay secure in your seats until we reach the space station. I will align the shuttle so that you can have a clear view from the side viewing ports. Twenty minutes to reaching the space station. She is 3,200 miles ahead of us and two miles above our current altitude. We can’t see her yet, but I’m sure I saw a silver glint a minute or so ago and, we are clear of the ISS watching us. VIN, this won’t be a walk in the park like last time, and I don’t want to have to come and fetch you out there. If you lose your safety connections, you are history, understand?” VIN nodded.
“Setting up exit hatch,” VIN responded, the only one now floating around checking the hatch for his entrance to check the station.
Maggie watched the instruments as the Russian space station grew large in the cockpit glass. She couldn’t believe that they were travelling at 11,000 miles an hour.
Jonesy noticed that the “beer can” had revolved slightly; the other shuttle was on top of the space station, and not on the side furthest away from earth. He would have to rectify that. As he approached the upper craft, the forward speed of the shuttle slowed, with the computers using the thrusters to make minute adjustments every few minutes.
“We are forty-nine feet from the bottom of the station; I am inverting the shuttle for docking.” Jonesy stated.
He was getting good at this and had the shuttle docked twenty minutes later.
VIN entered the hatch as Jonesy sealed it behind him. Jonesy then opened the middle hatches, and the lights flickered from green to orange.
“Have we used this docking port before?” VIN asked.
“Negative,” Jonesy replied.
“That’s why I think the lights are orange. I will open the hatch to the station and the inside air should clear this old stuff out.”
“I think you are on the ball, partner,” replied Jonesy as he watched VIN enter the last hatch into the space craft.
It took a while, but two of the three lights turned green.
“Air and air pressure are OK, temperature minus five,” stated VIN a few seconds later from inside the station. “The passengers can enter; it’s cold but fresh in here. I’m turning up the heater.”
Since all the passengers were suited up with full helmets again, it didn’t really matter.
“Suzi, Penny, Mr. Rose you may undo your seat belts and you are free to float around the cabin. Please no smoking, or drinking my vodka once you are inside the “beer can”!” he joked.
Jonesy and Maggie got the shuttle ready and also exited. They checked on the passengers already inside the station, Jonesy holding Maggie’s hand to guide her, VIN already showing the others, all holding onto magnetic shoes to stop them from bumping into each other.
They entered Sierra Bravo I and went to work turning on the systems. Jonesy revolved the station with a short side thrust so that the shuttle they had just left would disappear from earth’s view on the station’s dark side. Then he gave the computers time to download their upgrades from the other shuttle. Finally he turned the shuttle to face outwards and got ready to begin the blast phase.
Ryan watched the news while he monitored his shuttle’s progress.
“Astermine’s shuttle has just reached the dark and uninhabited twenty-year old Russian Space Station, we have just learned from its CEO, Ryan Richmond. Astermine came in last in the three-company race to space this week, losing out to Earth-Exit by a week, and the private British company just three days before this successful launch,” stated a CNN Newscaster in Atlanta. “The Head of NASA announced today that Astermine’s mission has been changed, and even though they won’t win any awards for reaching the derelict Russian Space Station instead of the International Space Station, they are believed to be preparing a halt to the station’s descent to earth. This significant piece of dead space junk would have re-entered earth’s atmosphere sometime next year; Ryan Richmond’s shuttle will help the station orbit further out, which will solve this dilemma. The Russian government has been refusing to comment. If Astermine succeeds on this mission, it will stop this satellite from possibly hurting people or property down here on earth, but won’t bring the lucrative first prize back to Richmond’s Astermine.”
Jonesy completed all four of the maneuvers without a problem. It did not seem anything had changed, but he did see his forward speed and altitude computer readouts had changed drastically as they disengaged the shuttle from the space station. They said their goodbyes over the intercom and headed away from the station; the computers set up the next orbit for the approach into re-entry position, two orbits later. VIN and Suzi had several days to unload the other shuttle.
Maggie completed the flight after they passed through the heat section where there was no communications; both pilots were becoming experienced with the same procedures having repeated them several times. Maggie had now been to space, although she was so occupied with checks and more checks, before floating through the space station for three minutes and then out to the shuttle, it felt like nothing more than a dream once the new, larger parachutes brought them to a rapid halt on the hot, 120-degree runway.
With three of his team still in space, radio silence was still part of the strategy to make sure Ryan’s plans were unknown.
NASA called to congratulate him. This timer the caller was a newly elected Chief of Operations, not Ryan’s usual contact, Bill withers. The new man, Hal McNealy told Ryan that he would soon become head of NASA, and that the government would be intervening to get their most valuable employees back to Florida and Texas from Nevada.
The next call was from the new president himself, also congratulating Astermine on a job well done. This time he asked Ryan to work with the government, and release the government scientists to return to NASA.
“I know we have had our differences in the past, Ryan, but this time the country needs these fine men and women back in NASA’s new development program to send astronauts back to the moon in a decade. Ryan, it is vital that the USA shows its lead in space advancement by completing another moon launch.”
“I agree with your policy on space, Mr. President, but I signed a contract with these scientists at a time their employment was terminated by the government; they were free agents, and I offered them jobs. I believe that after their contracts are completed, they will be happy to return to NASA, and I hope they will take a lot of the new ideas we are working on here in Nevada. Unfortunately, I am in the middle of a project. T
he Space Race was just the beginning and, even though I didn’t win, my project cannot be halted in the middle.”
“I did hear about your trip to Turkey and I’m sure it was a successful investment trip. If it is compensation you want, the government will reimburse you for any money you or others invested, once you release these scientists, even the $10 million you had to pay for the plutonium you borrowed,” the president continued. “I was part of that, and now regret that it wasn’t a fair deal for you. Even though it was destroyed in space, we will forget it ever happened.”
“I don’t think I am interested, Mr. President,” Ryan replied. “You are more than welcome to have my scientists at the end of my contract with them, but I’m not going to bow to presidential pressure.”
“Mr. Richmond, I don’t believe Congress will take your answer lightly. The race is over, you did not win, and as far as I’m concerned we don’t need to have private organizations competing against our own space program. I will allow you a few months to close down your operation; I’m sure we can find you a management position in NASA when the time comes. I can’t promise anything but I will do my best to make sure NASA looks at taking you and a couple of your other team members on. Think about it, and we will be in touch.” The phone went click in his ear and Ryan looked forward, staring into space glumly. The real space race was about to start, and just how he had predicted.
Chapter 21
22,500 miles in space
The next morning, Ryan’s flight briefing was short. He explained that the U.S. government wanted everybody to walk away from this project and explained to them that the U.S. government was willing to pay top dollar to get their hands on all of his projects, drawings and designs, but he wasn’t going to relent just yet.
“We have a few months of peace before the guys at NASA want to come sniffing around. I still have an ace up my sleeve, which I believe will allow us a few more months, and then either our project will be complete, or the heavies will come in here to take over.”
“They can close you down?” Maggie asked in shock. “This is a private company.”
“Unfortunately, the government can illegally do whatever they want,” responded Ryan sadly. “They often work above the law of the land they make others follow. This form of bullying and private company closures has been getting worse since the first Desert Storm Operation. This year, we have a new government and the same type of people in control who were the instigators of most of our wars for the last couple of decades. Secret business closures have been done before, several times when the government has intervened on behalf of their governmental self-interests; as examples, private concerns standing against oil companies, pharmaceutical companies and even food companies were broken apart, or made to disappear through what the government calls fraud, non-payment of taxes, internal security and national interest. The media reports whatever they tell them; the result is often to crucify the company or the people opposed to a system certain people in power want to protect. I don’t want to get into this situation until our project is complete; we are self-sufficient in outer space and they can’t touch us. So, I will continue throwing out morsels of information, to buy time.
Actually the last ace I have, and the most important, is something that will actually help NASA in the future. It will give the government the ability to achieve what they actually want NASA to do: mine the moon for resources to pay off the government debt. My last ace is a gas station 22,500 miles above earth, supplied from our own mining missions, and which will operate just like a gas station here on earth. Instead of gas or diesel, any long-term spacecraft can fill up with liquid xenon, hydrogen, methane, oxygen, argon, or any other gases they need up there. NASA will save billions by not having to launch supplies into space and, I will own the only gas station in space, I would say several years from now.”
“Won’t they be positive when they hear your idea?” asked Penny.
“Yes, but as usual they don’t want to be in the position of being dependent on a private company, so I assume they will try to take the gas station over. In the world of space, the U.S. government needs to realize that they don’t own it, nor do we; nobody does. Currently they think they do, they think even the moon belongs to them. Imagine how they would react if the Russians, or Europeans, or the Chinese sent up mining operations to the moon? The U.S. government would go ballistic! I believe that many in Congress think that our sun actually shines only on Capitol Hill!”
The next few days were busy. Three tons of mining equipment, dozens of cylinders of gas, canisters of food, water and basics had to be loaded and carefully tied down aboard the shuttle waiting in Hangar Six. Most of the canisters were for the mining expedition, and with Astermine One’s cargo hold having three separately walled compartments, the aluminum units would be packed in such an order that VIN, helped by Suzi this time, would correctly pack everything into the spacecraft in order of necessity in space.
Each aluminum gas cylinder, and canister of gear or supplies, had to be positioned and recorded back-to-front for transfer to the spacecraft’s cargo hold, in order of need on the asteroid. Astermine One, connected to the Russian space station was now 7,000 miles above earth, and still climbing.
Ryan’s radio operators listened for chatter from the ISS when the Russian Space Station passed its altitude and rose out of range forever, however, nothing was heard. Both stations were thousands of miles apart and no excited radio communications were heard from anybody in space.
The fourth crew member was a total surprise to Maggie, Penny and Jonesy; Ryan suddenly decided overnight to be part of the next launch, and his 250 pound weight, which included his spacesuit, was programmed into the five shuttle computers.
All four of the crew were dressed in spacesuits as they were crowded into the small cockpit; the shuttle was loaded aboard and the C-5, piloted by Bob Mathews and his team, took them up to launch altitude.
The shuttle was heavy on this trip, 50 pounds heavier than any launch before and, on a shimmering spring morning, Bob beat his record and released the shuttle 400 feet higher than his previous best; then Jonesy took his boss into space to live the dream he had wanted since he was a young boy: Ryan Richmond went to space.
“Viewers, we have a live feed with Ryan Richmond, the CEO of Astermine who is currently 110 kilometers above us in space, and completing his first orbit of earth. In our first interview with Ryan over a decade ago, he said that this had been a dream of his, and today he is achieving his dream. Unfortunately we only have radio communications with him and no visuals. Ryan, can you hear me?” asked the CBS anchorman.
“Yes Charlie, I can hear you. It is wonderful up here. We went weightless about seven minutes ago, and I feel like this is the best day of my life.”
“Ryan, Nora here….you have waited for this for 35 years. What does it feel like to finally get up there?”
“Actually, 36 years Nora! It feels wonderful. The feeling of success, of achieving the goals of a life-long dream, only happens to very few people, and I would assume only once in a lifetime. I’m blown away with my team’s achievements so far.”
“Ryan, you didn’t win the race. You had bad luck at the very end, and lost by a few days. What is left for you and your team of astronauts and scientists to do? Is this flight just the icing on the cake, and your last flight into space?”
“Oh, no, Charlie! There is so much to do up here. I spoke to my good friends at NASA just last week. Of course, they want their scientists back. I hear NASA’s next project, with the new and modern technology from Earth-Exit’s Space Race success, is about to begin. I’ve already spoken to the Department of Energy, and discussed possibilities of taking up radioactive waste and sending it out towards the sun in three-ton loads. Our last flight, to save earth from a possibly catastrophic event when the Russian Space Station reentered earth’s atmosphere, was a test to show that we can become a successful private company partnering with the government. We have several projects, totally differe
nt from NASA’s, but Astermine is prepared to work hand-in-hand with them to the final frontier.”
“I’m sure taking up toxic waste into space will be an important task for the future.…Ryan Richmond, thank you for talking to us down here at CBS. Have a safe flight!”
“What was that all about?” asked Jonesy through the intercom.
“Buying time, Mr. Jones, buying time. The press will check with the DOE, and I’m sure will applaud your new job as dumpster driver.”
The next interview came through from Fox News.
“Congratulations, Ryan, on achieving your dream. What is next for the team of scientists you have put together over the years, now that the race is over?”
“Great question, Jim. The race was just the cornerstone of bigger projects to show that space travel is necessary. I’m extremely glad NASA’s next project is going to be entwined with Earth-Exit. Martin Brusk has a great company, and I’m sure the new president hoped an American company would win the race. He has always maintained an interest in the Space Race, and I’m glad that he is seeing the results of the American commitment to continue learning about our Solar System.”
“What is next for you, Ryan?”
“To perfect this ride into space, Jim! It is fantastic up here. I would recommend it to anybody who can afford it to sign up and reserve a seat with the successful British space company. A ride to space is certainly worth the price they are asking. It is mind blowing. My shuttle systems still have several necessary, empty launch flights into orbit to make sure that when we do get the opportunity to carry cargos, like the radioactive toxic waste I mentioned earlier, we are ready. I believe that we, as a private company, can become extremely important in clearing our planet of dangerous radioactive waste and sending it off to the sun on a daily basis.”
“Great ideas, Ryan. Thanks for your time and reserve a seat for me…. now for your local weather…”