“There’s something else I want to say to you,” she said. “About me and George Sanderson.”
“James,” I said. “We’re actually in a bit of a hurry.”
“Um, should I go away?” Tobias asked.
Kate ignored him, glaring only at me. “You wanted to know why I asked him that question. About whether he’d let me do as I pleased when we got married. I did it because I was trying to scare him off! I didn’t think he’d actually want to be married to someone like me. I’d just embarrass him in polite society. I wanted him to be the one to break it off. That’s why I asked the question. Do you see now?”
I felt a bit sheepish, and hugely relieved, but I was hardly going to beg her forgiveness after what she’d put me through.
“Well,” I said, “too bad it didn’t work.”
“Yes, thanks to you,” Kate said. “It seems he’s quite smitten with me and my grave robbing.”
“So you’re really going to break it off with him?” I asked.
“For the hundredth time, yes!”
“If we get home alive,” Tobias said. “Sorry, just a thought I had.”
“What are our chances?” Kate asked.
“We can do it,” I said. “But right now we need to realign the ship.”
“With the toilets,” she said.
“Right. And we need your help.”
“Really?” she said, smiling.
I pointed at the ship’s phone in the corridor. “The captain’s going to be calling out his orders, and you’re to bellow them on to Tobias and me.”
She seemed disappointed. “That’s it?”
“You’ve got a good loud voice.”
“I was hoping for something a little more…dynamic. Is there a lever I could pull or something?”
“No. Tobias, you take the A-Deck toilets, I’ll do B-Deck.”
“Do you mind if I do B-Deck?” Tobias asked.
“What’s the difference?”
“I had a bad experience with the A-Deck toilet. Damn near sucked me in.”
We started laughing and had a great deal of trouble stopping. As tears streamed down our faces, Kate looked at us disapprovingly.
“This is no time for astral psychosis, gentlemen,” she said.
The ship’s phone rang, and I snatched it up. “Mr. Cruse, are you ready?” came the captain’s voice.
“Yes, sir. Miss de Vries will relay your commands.”
“Very good. We’re about to begin.”
Tobias and I went off to our respective lavatories. I left the door open so I could hear Kate, and stood by the flush lever. I let out a big breath. If we couldn’t angle the ship properly, we couldn’t make a safe reentry. A lot was riding on this. And it all came down to two toilets.
“A-Deck!” I heard Kate shout.
I pushed my lever and heard the short burst of air escaping into the vacuum of space. Only the smallest vibration ran through the ship, but there was no porthole in the lavatory, so I couldn’t see if the ship was actually revolving.
“B-Deck!” Kate bellowed, and I heard a flush from Tobias’s toilet, to counter my spin. On the bridge, I knew that Dr. Turgenev was gazing along his astrolabe, gauging our angle amid the stars, rapidly recalculating.
“A-Deck!” Kate cried, and again I flushed.
For the next five minutes, Kate shouted out Dr. Turgenev’s wishes with bewildering speed, and in ever more erratic sequences. I worried Dr. Turgenev had lost his mind. But finally I heard Kate give a triumphant shout.
“It’s done! It worked!”
I propelled myself out along the corridor and downstairs to the lounge. The view from the windows was quite different now. We were lying almost on our side relative to earth, and the planet could be seen clearly below us. We sailed over earth at a rakish angle. I could make out Italy’s boot in the blue Mediterranean.
Tobias and I laughed and grasped hands and shook fiercely. Dr. Turgenev and Captain Walken both came down from the bridge, looking mightily relieved.
“What happens now?” Kate asked me. “Please tell us, step by step.”
“We need to open the oxygen tank,” the captain said.
“Which will shoot us back toward earth,” Kate said.
“Yes. It’ll get very hot as we reenter the atmosphere, but the ship should be able to withstand it. We get down to forty thousand feet and deploy the emergency hydrium balloons, and then we just sail down to land.”
“Sounds perfectly straightforward,” said Miss Karr wryly.
“Shepherd would’ve liked this,” I said. “We’re actually flying the ship.”
Tobias chuckled. “It’s one mean streetcar ride now.”
“Where will we set down, do you think?” Sir Hugh asked.
“We’re aiming for the prairies,” Tobias said.
Kate frowned. “A bit far from Lionsgate City, isn’t it?”
“We can always push you out a bit early, Miss de Vries,” I said.
“You’re too kind, Mr. Cruse.”
I liked the playful look in her eyes. It gave me a surge of energy. Three hours ago I hadn’t thought we had a chance. Now I figured we had a very decent shot.
Dr. Turgenev looked anxiously at his pocket watch. “No time to relax. We are in proper position now to alter trajectory and begin reentry, or we overshoot landing site. Who is going outside to turn on tank?”
In all the frenzy I hadn’t given much thought to this.
“When that valve’s opened,” Tobias said, “we’ll shoot backward like a bullet from a gun.”
“Much faster,” said Dr. Turgenev. “We already move at many thousands of miles an hour. Rocket will change course suddenly, and accelerate us even more.”
“Will the person outside be able to hold on?” I asked, alarmed.
“It will be big jolt,” Dr. Turgenev said. “But then, once we are accelerated, it will feel like nothing at all until we reach atmosphere.”
I looked from the captain to Tobias. “I’m worried about that big jolt. Will the safety lines hold?”
“I’ll make sure I have plenty of tethers,” said the captain.
I was speechless.
“You’re surprised, Mr. Cruse?” he said, smiling faintly.
“Well, sir, it’s just…what if something were to happen to you?”
“Then I have two superb astralnauts to take command of the ship. In any event, Mr. Cruse, this task is no more difficult than any of the others. I’ll be held snug during the acceleration.”
“Yes,” said Dr. Turgenev. “Just make sure to keep body away from valve, or gas jet will blast you to pieces.”
I swallowed. This was hardly reassuring. Had I been commander, I would’ve done the job myself too. But I had a terrible fear Captain Walken might come to harm. I’d known him since I was twelve, and in all that time his gaze upon me was the closest I had to a father’s.
“I’ll suit up for my prebreathe,” said the captain.
Dr. Turgenev looked startled. “No time. We must engage rocket in thirty minutes. This is essential.”
I swore under my breath. Of all the calculations we’d made earlier, we’d forgotten to leave time for the astralnaut to do this thirty-minute prebreathe.
“But it’s crucial,” I said anxiously. “Otherwise there’s a risk of the bends…”
“Fifteen minutes will have to be enough this time,” said the captain matter-of-factly. “Everyone buckle up, please. Mr. Cruse, I want you on the bridge, and Mr. Blanchard, you’ll be my spotter. Let’s suit up.”
Through the domed windows Dr. Turgenev and I watched Captain Walken glide into view and drift to the summit, where the oxygen tank was welded. He carefully tethered himself to the hull, then looked straight down at me. He gave me the thumb’s-up. I signed back.
“I’m ready,” came his voice over the radio. “Is everyone safely buckled in?”
I checked my safety restraints and Dr. Turgenev’s too. In the air lock, I knew, Tobias was strapped to his seat. In
the B-Deck lounge, Kate and Miss Karr, Chef Vlad and Sir Hugh were all buckled up, awaiting the rocket blast that would send us homeward. The Starclimber had not been built for such violent treatment, and I hoped she was up to the test.
“We’re all snug, sir,” I replied.
“I’m going to open the valve,” he said. “Let’s see if we have enough wind to sail home by, eh, Mr. Cruse?”
“It should be a swift ride,” I said. “Hold tight, sir.”
I worried my voice sounded choked. I kept thinking of how this was the captain’s last journey, and how his wife and children awaited his return. I saw his hand lift and take hold of the tank’s valve. He turned it.
A razor-thin line of compressed air shot from the valve, already impossibly long. The ship leaped, every rivet and metal plate shrieking its distress. Captain Walken flew back, his four safety lines taut. He was perilously close to the oxygen jet, and he hauled back on his tethers to try to keep himself clear of its deadly path.
“Sir, are you all right?” I cried out.
“The lines are holding!” he said, sounding strained.
The stars beyond him began to shift, then slide, as we accelerated.
“Tank will empty in two minutes,” Dr. Turgenev said beside me.
I could not take my eyes off Captain Walken as the Starclimber hauled him through the ether. I was terrified he’d be torn apart in the rocket’s blast, and I begged his lines to hold and keep him clear. Every few seconds I’d ask him if he was all right, and he always replied with a terse yes. Gradually the ship’s screeches and groans faded to the occasional ominous creak. My eyes roved over the instruments, checking to make sure we’d not sprung a leak. We seemed to be holding together. Suddenly the white line of oxygen ended.
“Tank is spent,” said Dr. Turgenev. “We are at full speed.”
I wished I could see our planet, but she was at our stern now, hidden from those of us on the bridge. It made me nervous not to see my destination, and I could only trust Dr. Turgenev’s mathematics.
“We’re at full speed, captain,” I said over the radio. “Tobias, stand by to reel in.”
“Give the word—whenever you’re ready, sir,” came Tobias’s voice.
When I heard the pinging sounds, I thought they were a rattling within the ship’s vents. But then the noise came again, above my head this time, and something small and glittering pattered against the dome.
“Matt, we’ve got something striking the ship,” said Tobias from the air lock. “Little rocks…”
“Micrometeoroids,” said Captain Walken.
He hurriedly unstrapped his safety tethers from the dome. “Bring me in, please, Tobias.”
The captain pushed off. There was a clatter against the dome as pea-sized rocks deflected off the glass.
“They’re getting bigger!” I said.
All I heard over the radio was a startled grunt, and when I looked up Captain Walken’s body was limp.
“Captain!” I cried.
He made no reply.
“He’s been hit!” I told Tobias. “Get him in as fast as you can!”
“I’m bringing him in!”
I unbuckled myself and flew down the stairs, all the way to C-Deck. Outside the air lock, I watched helplessly through the window as Tobias hauled the captain’s body through the hatch. I couldn’t go in until the chamber was pressurized, so I just waited in torment.
“What’s wrong?” said Kate, suddenly at my side.
“Captain got hit,” I said, and could say nothing more.
The captain’s suit was all scratched up from the micrometeoroids, and as Tobias strapped him down to the bench, I saw that the top of his helmet had a big dent in it.
I caught Tobias’s attention and touched my head. He nodded and I saw him examining the captain’s helmet.
The moment the air lock was pressurized, I heaved open the door. I feared the worst, for the captain still wasn’t moving.
“Did it puncture his helmet?” I asked.
“Don’t think so,” Tobias said.
Together we undid his collar clamps and eased off the helmet. My hands shook. I feared I’d see the captain’s skull broken like an eggshell. There was certainly a great deal of blood matted in his hair. Fresh droplets drifted up into the air.
“He’s still breathing,” Kate said beside me.
“It’s a lot of blood,” I said.
“The scalp bleeds easily,” Kate said, “even from a superficial cut.”
She drifted closer and examined the captain’s head carefully with her fingers. “His skull’s not fractured. And I think the bleeding’s pretty much stopped.” She took a handkerchief and pressed it firmly against his skull. “Pass me some bandages.”
I pulled down the first-aid kit and helped her bandage his head. The captain twitched and mumbled something but didn’t wake.
“How is he?” asked Dr. Turgenev from the inner hatchway, his eyes red-rimmed with fatigue.
“I don’t know,” I said. “He’s still unconscious.”
“We enter atmosphere within minutes,” said the scientist. “It will be very rough.”
I made a decision. “Let’s strap him into his bunk with an oxygen mask.”
Tobias and I gently floated the captain out of the air lock and upstairs. When we passed through the lounge, Miss Karr gave a stifled gasp.
“He’s not dead,” I said. “Just knocked out. A space rock hit him.”
“Who’s going to fly the ship?” Sir Hugh demanded.
“It’s going to be fine, Sir Hugh,” I said.
“How can it be fine?” he cried. “We have no captain!”
“Silence!” growled Chef Vlad. “We have Mr. Cruse. Trust me, we are in good hands.”
In his cabin, Tobias and I strapped Captain Walken onto the bunk as snugly as we could. We set up a portable oxygen tank and fixed the mask to his face. I didn’t like to leave him alone, but he was breathing peacefully, and as Kate said, the bleeding had stopped. He had a little more color now. His pulse was steadier than mine.
Outside, we closed his door securely. Tobias looked over at me in silence. His thoughts, I was sure, mirrored my own. Our captain was unconscious and unable to help. The two of us were the ship’s only chance of returning safely home.
“We can do this,” I said.
He gave a nervous laugh. “I’m an underwater welder.”
“You’re an astralnaut,” I told him, “and we’re going to bring our ship home.”
“We’ll need some extra hands on the bridge,” he said. “Dr. Turgenev.”
I nodded. He was an obvious choice. He knew the ship like the back of his hand, and we’d doubtless need his mathematical expertise.
“And Kate,” I added. “She’s steady.”
“I’d trust her in a crisis,” Tobias agreed.
“We have our crew, then,” I said. “Let’s get ready on the bridge.”
REENTRY
We hurtled earthward.
After the initial jarring burst from our homemade rocket, there was absolutely no sensation of speed. Our flight was eerily silent and smooth, but I knew that would end when we reached earth’s atmosphere, sixty-two miles from the surface.
Even though we were much closer to the planet now, we were still weightless. Not because gravity was weak anymore, Dr. Turgenev told us, but because we were in free fall, plunging toward earth at immense speed.
“Exactly how fast are we going, Dr. Turgenev?” Kate asked, adjusting her harness in the seat next to mine.
The Russian scientist pushed back his spectacles. “Right now, twenty-two thousand five hundred seventy miles per hour, but this is just crude estimate.”
“Has any manmade object ever gone faster?” Kate asked, and though her voice was bright, I could tell she was talking from nerves.
“Is certainly world record,” said Dr. Turgenev with a kind smile.
“I don’t think I want any more world records,” Tobias said, checking his cont
rol panel.
“Five minutes until reentry,” said Dr. Turgenev, looking at the ship’s clock.
Below on A-Deck, Miss Karr and Sir Hugh and Chef Vlad were strapped into their bunks. That position, Dr. Turgenev had decided, would be safest for them. Upon reentry, all our bodies would become triple their normal weight. Miss Karr had protested anyway, saying she’d feel like a corpse in a crypt. I sympathized, for it was dark and frigid aboard the ship now, and I would’ve hated lying there alone, powerless, not knowing whether I might live or die. But there was no way around it.
It was so calm now, it was hard to believe our reentry would be as violent as Dr. Turgenev predicted. Flying a building through a typhoon was how he described it. On earth the atmosphere gave us life, but right now it was like armor, trying to keep us out. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, but I didn’t really want Dr. Turgenev to be wrong. I wanted all his calculations to be flawless—they had to be. All those numbers, swirling in the air like dust…
I felt a great swelling bubble of hopelessness inside me, but I crushed it before it overwhelmed me. Almost all of Dr. Turgenev’s calculations had been correct. He was a genius. He wouldn’t fail us.
The four of us talked through the reentry procedure one more time, so Kate could hear it and the rest of us could rehearse it again. We’d divided up the tasks very simply, since we had no idea how difficult it would be to move and think during reentry. Dr. Turgenev had taped various instructions to the control panels in front of us.
“We are at three hundred miles,” said Dr. Turgenev, watching the ship’s clock. “Two hundred…. one hundred…”
The Starclimber began to vibrate lightly. I didn’t know what to expect. What was normal and what wasn’t? How would we know if we were too shallow and had bounced off the atmosphere back into deep space? And if we were too steep…well, that was easier to know. We’d be incinerated.
The vibration became a tremble, and then a steady shake.
“This is beginning of friction in outer atmosphere,” said Dr. Turgenev. “This is good news! We are in!”
“So far so good,” said Tobias.
My spirits lifted as the weight began returning to my body. My restraint straps pressed into my chest and shoulders. Beyond the windows there was still the darkness of space, but around the base of the dome it was brightening.
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