The Accidental Explorer

by George Deeb

  He studied the view from the camera aimed at the payload capsule. It was cylinder shaped,and about twice the diameter of the center rocket booster. At the base it flared in to mate with the top of the booster, and was topped with a nose cone. For OTB personnel this was just a test of one possible flight configuration of the rocket. What they weren't told, and couldn't see, was that within the payload capsule was a highly modified X37 Orbital Test Vehicle with its own attached booster rocket. Originally designed as an instrument platform only, this one had been modified to carry passengers. Inside this X37 was a crew of six people in customized space suits, and minimal life support. The crew were the last things placed in the vehicle before the payload capsule was sealed. Their bodies were interleaved with each other and their equipment, and they had little to no room to move around in.

  Farber-Chatwell thought about the training simulations the mission candidates had to endure – that he also had endured. The simulations confirmed that one of the most difficult challenges to overcome was to remain very still for the planned sixteen to forty eight hours the journey would take. Two days of almost immobile confinement brought most people to their psychological and physical limits. It turns out that for a normal healthy individual, a lack of physical activity can be almost as challenging as too much. There were instruments to monitor, and conversation to be had, but conversation waned after the first six hours and the vehicle was a programmed robot that could fly itself to destination and back without human intervention.

  Farber-Chatwell had pushed himself to his limits during the training and evaluation regimes – as had all the volunteers. He could have just reserved a position on the crew for himself, on his authority alone. He was, after all, in charge of everything related to this part of 361's operation. He was the boss. But he knew that the rest of the crew had to know they could rely on him for support in an emergency. All the other candidates were young, strong, and physically at their prime – they had to be for this mission. He had known what would be required physically and mentally to accomplish this mission, and had kept himself in the best physical shape he possibly could at his age. He had to be an asset to the mission, and not a detriment. Psychologically his years had made him more stable and mentally focused than the younger and more aggressive personnel, and his mental attributes had contributed to his ranking near the top of the training class. The requirements of running his section of the 361 operation had kept his mind fast and agile. His overall test results had actually qualified him to be on the mission - no one could dispute that – and he was proud of that accomplishment. As he thought about this he realized that one thing he couldn't be certain about was what he would have done if he hadn't qualified after all of that effort and commitment. Would he have used his command authority to place himself on the crew? His mind refused to come up with the answer to that question.

  2

  The launch controller counted down the time in Afrikaans. As Farber-Chatwell watched the numbers decrement on all the displays in the room, his muscles stiffened throughout his body. He realized he was clenching his teeth, and consciously relaxed his jaw. His dentist said he showed signs of doing that, probably in his sleep, and it was wearing down the surface of his teeth. His dentist didn't know what Farber-Chatwell's job was – his teeth clenching actually occurred more during the day than while sleeping. Farber-Chatwell stared at the image of the payload capsule on the monitor, as he began to review in his mind the planning, calculations, and conclusions 361's technical planners had arrived at.

  The X37 was a first generation test vehicle. A second and more capable version 'B' was already being designed, thanks to 361's influence in the Air Force. By proposing it as a military test vehicle, the Air Force had been convinced to finance the development of the X37B. It would supply them with a space vehicle all their own, for which they already had clandestine missions planned. By interesting the Air Force in financing the program, 361 had relieved itself of the financial burden of developing a more capable space vehicle on their own. Once the plane had been developed, all plans and technical data would be available to 361. And with the right comment in the right ears, the vehicle would also be available to “borrow” for future 361 missions, masked as being for the Air Force itself.

  The first generation X37 was the best equipment they had for the job today, but it had limitations. It didn't have enough thrust or fuel capacity to accomplish the mission by itself. That's where its extra booster stage and the Delta 4 Heavy rocket came in. The Delta 4 Heavy had too much thrust and capacity for today's mission. The plan was to use that extra performance to compensate for the lack of it in the X37. Combined together, The rocket and X37 should be able to deliver the crew to destination, in the planned time frame, and still get the space vehicle back in one piece – if everything went as planned. It was a get there fast, and come back slow mission profile. The crew had to be on destination, and then out of the X37 in the twenty hour survival window. Less than eighteen hours would be very good, while anything after that was considered an emergency directly limiting survival probability. The X37 did not carry enough oxygen to keep them alive during the slow return trip.

  The remaining fuel on the X37 would get it back to earth, but at a very slow rate. Like most “secret” military missions, word would eventually get out to the news media. The cover story had already been created and was ready to go if needed. Like any good cover story it was very simple - “Top Secret, Classified, had some problems but were able to regain control and successfully bring the ship back, etc., etc.”

  The Delta 4 rocket was fueled to capacity, and would use all of its extra fuel to continually accelerate until burnout. It was this continual acceleration that would get the X37 to destination in the mission window. The external CBCs would not fall back into the ocean though, as a normal launch might allow. In fact, they would not even separate from each other as they normally should. On this mission, throttle back on the engines would only occur if structural damage was being detected by sensors. The maximum safe operation structural dynamic pressure had to be exceeded if this mission was to succeed, but it would only be pushed to the design safety limits.

  Generating close to two million pounds of thrust from its three hydrogen/oxygen fueled main engines, and having a spacious nose cone, the Delta 4 Heavy's characteristics made it the obvious choice for this mission. But on its only previous flight three years ago, the rocket encountered an unexpected fuel line problem causing the engines to shut down sooner than planned. That flight didn't reach its intended orbit. 361 had convinced the Air Force to finance that 2004 test flight to uncover possible unknown flaws in the system before expensive and vital national security payloads were risked. Those flaws had been corrected, and the system was considered to be reliable enough for operational status. So this flight was serving two purposes. It would act as 361's long awaited transport vehicle, while also being a final test flight of the Heavy configuration.

  OTB personnel were told that this launch was to be for destruction testing of the rockets limits – which was true in a way. They had no idea that six lives could be ended if anything went wrong – and why should they? Why should they have to suffer the loss of six lives that they didn't even know were at risk. That burden of grief would only be for Farber-Chatwell, and several others back home. The tracking facility was expecting to see the rocket far outside its normal orbit envelope, so no questions would be asked as it moved away from the planet. At T minus three in the countdown, Farber-Chatwell saw flames at the base of the rocket. The engines came to life and the rocket lifted off the launch pad and headed upward. He watched as the tracking cameras followed the rocket through the atmosphere.

  3

  The long wait there

  Anthony Travellor listened to the launch controllers over the audio link to his helmet. The audio was relayed to him and the other members of the mission by the 361 techs in the OTB control room. All the people on the team knew what to expect from their training. The people in
the space program who had actually had a rocket strapped to their butts at one time had all explained that its never like you expect. The combination of incredible acceleration, and the roar and vibration of the engines that permeated your body would trigger the primal fight or flight response of your brain. The few seconds it took for your intelligence to assert control over this survival reaction was a persons initiation into space flight in its present state of the art. Travellor was supposed to have been number two in command of this mission, but an injury to the man who not only should have led it but also helped conceive it had put him in the number one slot – and he wasn't so sure that he should be there. He was better as a second in command – it gave him more freedom to act as he thought necessary. But there he was, leading the mission – strapped and bound to the command position.

  It wasn't that he doubted his ability to do the job, so much as his being more comfortable in a supporting role where he could stand apart and look at the overall picture with a critical eye. That was his strength, to be able to see the potential faults and hazards of a mission as it progressed. What he was good at was seeing what needed to be done and in what sequence to do it. He had always been able to organize missions in his head, once he had all the information available to him. For this mission he knew where it was to take place, what was done in preparation, what resources were going to be available to him, and what personnel would be with him. There was one other factor to consider that was very important to every mission – the possibility that the expected resources wouldn't be available when and where they were expected.

  That's what had built his reputation with the teams he had worked with in the past. This mission didn't require a soldier. There would not be an enemy waiting when they arrived. There would not be any need for weapons or tactics. The mission was predefined and the preparation for it had taken decades. What this mission needed in a leader was an organizer - someone who could quickly organize the tasks and solve any problems that popped up. He was good at that. All of his life he had recognized the problem, then taken existing items and assembled them together to accomplish the solution. He was an experienced tinkerer in all of his fields of interest, and they were many. He was a pilot, a small arms instructor, an electronic technician and amateur astronomer among other things. His curious nature had involved him in many interests, and he was always an active participant. The trait that put him in the leader position today was his demonstrated ability to quickly come up with a makeshift plan when faced by an unexpected problem.

  It had started with a change in his military career that put him where he was now. A need for a technical adviser for a covert spec ops mission put his name in the pool of people who might be able to do the job. Knowledge of missile systems, and his personal interest in small arms and outdoor activities had put him at the top of the list. His military career began in the technical field of missile guidance systems development, and he was happy there. His personal interest in weapons and electronics, a lot of which was learned on his own time, soon added to his official dossier and made him a wanted man – wanted by special ops teams who needed a versatile consultant with varied skills. He had taken pride in the fact that people in the covert establishment knew his name, what he had done in the past, and what he was capable of. He wasn't officially a special ops actor, but considered a technical consultant – someone who normally would advise from a safe location back at base camp.

  But he wasn't very wanted on that first covert field mission however. A special ops team was to go into Iranian territory and destroy an anti-aircraft missile installation that was just over the Iran-Afghanistan border. The site had to be destroyed before it became active. The destruction of the site was standard fair the the special ops team – the proverbial “Do it in their sleep” operation, and it could even have been taken out by a guided missile or drone strike. But intelligence had indicated that the site had the latest Russian tracking technology that might be able to detect stealth aircraft at a great distance. They needed someone who could evaluate the hardware and bring back any intelligence if possible. The Spec Ops team was not happy to have him along. They didn't want someone who they believed would either end up dead, or have to be literally carried back while endangering their own lives – and they really didn't want someone who had never been in the field.

  Travellor surprised them. His goals were simple - to not be a detriment to the team, to get the job done without putting anyone else at risk, and to do it under his own power. He expected that he wouldn't be on the same performance level as the regulars, who probably had been doing this kind of thing throughout their military career. He had always kept himself in fairly good condition, and believed he was in good enough condition where he would not be a hindrance. Before that first mission he had also taken the time to learn as much of their operating procedures as he could, down to the hand signals and field tactics that the short time before the mission allowed. The team was surprised and relieved to find that he was familiar with the manual of arms for all of their weapons, and that he could actually use them, and qualified on them – something that was not in his official record. When he had the time he also learned as much as he could about the use of explosives and explosive devices, and had learned enough that he wouldn't accidentally kill himself with one. That at least reduced the resistance to his going along - a little. But there was more to these missions than knowing and handling a weapon. Time was too short to become proficient with all the tools of the trade, so on the mission he looked to the so much more experienced team members to tell him when, where, and how to move. The insertion point was several miles away from the missile site, over rough terrain. The team was again surprised when he was able to keep pace with them. As they progressed he studied the way they operated in the field, and learned to be part of the team “On the job”.

  Travellor turned out to be a good choice for this mission - with his expertise in missile systems he had quickly learned everything about the Russian systems that was known at the time. The missile system was not yet operational, and there were only a few guards left on site when they arrived, who were quickly subdued. As he examined the installation, he recognized some of the sub-assemblies, and understood the layout of the controls. There was a lot about this system that was still the same as the older ones he had studied while prepping for this mission. On return from the mission, Travellor had brought back video of the installation, DVDs that surprisingly contained software for the computer tracking system, operating manuals with schematic diagrams, and even training programs for the Iranian operators. He took pictures of the wave guides with a .45 caliber bullet sitting on top as a size reference, which confirmed the operating frequency of the system. Apparently this had been one of the first installations of this type, and the only thing missing were the Russian technicians who had installed it. Someone was going to be in serious trouble for leaving all this operational material unsecured at the site.

  What really made a name for him was the fact that Travellor had the foresight to bring back some of the circuit boards he had removed from the system, with several inches of color coded wiring attached. This was more than the intelligence section was hoping for. Knowing the standard color code system the Russians used for wiring allowed them to quickly determine how to hook up the boards for testing. They were so thrilled by this, their accolades to their superiors for the team and the operation were profuse. Travellor got a few pats on the back from his new spec ops buddies, and went back to his regular job thinking that it had been a very interesting one time experience – but his reputation was now made, and passed along throughout the Special Ops community.

  What he had thought was a one time thing became a change of career for Travellor. The number of special missions he was requested for grew until he could no longer do his regular job, and he was re-assigned. For the following six years of his military life his file was classified. He was very happy in his new field, and content to continue on in it until it was time to ret
ire. The excitement and danger were exhilarating. The intense fear he felt on the way to each mission, and great relief when he made it back safely, made him appreciate the quieter times with his family and friends when he came back home. He was a happy and satisfied man.

  That all crashed down around him on the day when he was informed that his sister and her husband had been killed in an avalanche while vacationing at a ski resort. His niece had not gone with them, and at that moment the only important thing in the world to him was to be with her. They were very close – as close as if she was his daughter. There were very few vacations over the years when he hadn't spent them with her, his sister and his brother in law. His grief over losing his only sister became secondary to that of his young niece who had lost both parents at the same time. He called in some favors and arranged for several months emergency leave to be with her. It was a day by day process, and slowly with his help she started adjusting to her loss. Slowly the daily flood of tears subsided. Slowly smiles appeared again, and eventually even some laughter. Slowly he had helped her little heart mend, as much as it could. Eventually, with the help of friends and relatives, he could see her looking to the future again.

  4

  Now he was sitting atop a Delta 4 rocket, and he really didn't like it very much. In Travellor's mind a rocket was not a vehicle - it was a propulsion system. A vehicle is something that can be controlled and maneuvered in and out of atmosphere. People shouldn't fly in propulsion systems – they should fly in vehicles. Bolting a seat on top of a propulsion system did not make it a vehicle. Bolting an experimental spacecraft on a propulsion system also did not make it a vehicle. Astronauts like to think of these type of things as vehicles. 'But astronauts are crazy.', thought Travellor. He wanted some wings, and a throttle that he could control, and a nice long and wide runway.