by T I WADE
The two newcomers headed back and with the hoist from inside the upper cargo doors, had eight tanks out within 30 minutes. As they came out two by two, Jonesy already had the first one connected and fresh liquid hydrogen was filling the very empty tank.
“How many of these did you bring?” Jonesy asked.
“We have 20 stored in the hold for you guys and four for us to for our return trip to Earth. I assume we can catch a ride with the mother ship,” Max replied. “We also have 20 canisters, the most we could bring, but America One has another 120 aboard. That’s two hundred canisters Ryan is hoping to fill.”
“Two hundred, huh!” Jonesy was sizing up the mound in his head. “Hey, partner. You said you have 10 already full. How many could you fill with what is down there?”
“At least 200 hundred, maybe more,” VIN replied getting undressed in Astermine One.
“Then we had better fill the 200 first,” replied Jonesy.
“Just remember, Jonesy, many of the big ones will not fit into the canisters, so we will just have to net them and somehow pack them last, tightly bound in the nets.”
“Good idea, partner. We should be done here in an hour and then we can fill your craft up,” Jonesy replied, getting the second tank attached.
“While you are out there, can you clean the windshield and check the tires and the oil?” joked VIN. Jonesy ignored his simpleton for a partner.
Two hours later they had eight empty tanks, and both craft at more than three quarter full. Jonesy told the newbies to enjoy their first night on the moon, sorry it was so dark, and that they would only have radio when America One was close overhead. This crater wasn’t pretty, just a dark night that went on and on. He climbed in while Maggie began the checks and one by one the two Astermine craft headed upwards to meet with the mother ship now just beginning her first orbit 100 miles above them.
Nothing happens quickly in space, except the birth of Kathy and Ryan’s baby daughter, Lunar Katherine Richmond. Lunar arrived three minutes after entering their first moon orbit and the two Astermine craft were still several hundred miles ahead of her, and climbing up to meet them.
An hour after the birth, Kathy and Suzi, with babies in arms, entered the cube and marveled at the size of it compared to the mining craft. They felt as if they were in a tropical jungle with the fresh nature smells and the birds flying around. The gravity was off, so Maggie slipped on a pair of magnetic shoes and pulled Suzi and Mars along towards the nearest elevator.
Meanwhile, the men were left to close down the craft, chatting happily together about how good a beer and a few slugs of vodka would taste.
“Congratulations!” exclaimed most of the crew in the cafeteria a few hours later, once normality returned to the ship. America One had just successfully achieved her maiden flight, and there was a new baby crew member on board.
“Thank you for all the well wishes, team.” Ryan thanked everybody for the comradery. Being a father was new for this man. Ever since Ryan could remember, he had been caught up in space, travel, ship design and the odyssey getting ever closer. Now he was a father to a tiny baby girl, and suddenly the enormous risks he had taken felt worthwhile.
Thinking through the glass of champagne, and the vodka shooter Jonesy just made him down, his mind was racing at a billion miles an hour; he was reviewing his whole life, from the first day he could remember, to being at the bedside of his first child. Forty years. He had not yet had time to think about the newest, most important person in his life. He was together with Kathy, the other most important person in his life and a moment of poignancy overtook him.
“Come on Ryan, smile. It’s the most important day of your life!” Ryan was brought back to the present, by Jonesy’s words, and a pale face smiling at him from a few feet away.
“Thank you, Mr. Jones. Can I assume that if you can be a father, then it won’t be too difficult for me?” The team roared with laughter. Jonesy had been trying to rile Ryan, but as usual the younger man had the last word.
The party didn’t last long. Two bottles of home brewed vodka for toasts and two bottles of champagne for the ladies didn’t go far. It was still a working crew and the moon orbit needed to be monitored.
Suzi, Maggie, and the two babies went back to the hospital to visit with a tired, but happy Kathy, the men to the bridge for a debriefing.
“So, why so much fuel usage on the moon’s surface?” Ryan asked Jonesy. And he was brought up to date on the reasons. “So there are enough diamonds down there to fill every craft we have?” was his next question.
“It seems so, but some of them are really large, especially the diamond Jonesy is giving to the president,” VIN added.
“Oh! So our General Jones has his own diamond stashed away to give to the president?” Ryan asked smiling.
“Just one, to pay off the Gulfstream he gave me,” replied Jonesy.
“I think it’s to alleviate his guilty conscience,” added VIN.
“I hope this gift does, but I‘m sure our General Jones didn’t feel guilty asking for a $50 million aircraft,” Ryan said. “They are all going to the same place, the U.S. government, and I suppose our lead astronaut has the right idea; to make sure we don’t leave Earth without paying our debts. So, how do we get all these diamonds back?”
VIN elaborated on the net idea and Ryan agreed that if the diamonds were in nets, they could easily be stored anywhere for the return journey.
“How long do you think we need to collect this vein of wealth for our country?” Ryan asked.
“Two weeks, maybe four,” VIN responded.
“America One has to go back, but since we have all our pre-planned cargoes already up here, the mechanics can start on the second shuttle down in Nevada early, and hopefully have SB-I ready for launch in a month. Or, General Saunders can fly SB-II here, to the moon, and get refueled from us here. Since SB-II still uses the old semi-hybrid first stage fuel for launch, he will have just enough hydrogen on board to leave Earth’s orbit on his first round, complete a twenty-minute burn, achieve the 30,000 plus miles an hour needed to leave orbit, and fly here. He will be on fumes when he gets here, but we can spacewalk hydrogen tanks over to him in orbit.
“We could then fill SB-II’s cargo hold to the brim with nets of diamonds, and we have SB–III docked here on America One already. Asterspace Three is still in a bulk-cargo hauler configuration, so she could be filled with cargo and return with the two shuttles to an Earth orbit. Allow Mr. Saunders the first day to reenter. Mr. Jones, you reenter on the second day in SB-III, refuel, replace your cargo with air tanks, launch, and return to orbit. While SB-II is being refueled on Earth, you transfer Asterspace’s cargo into your two smaller holds after transferring the air tanks into the cargo craft. I believe that the two smaller holds in SB-III equal the larger single hold in Asterspace Three exactly. Take the third cargo down to Nevada, allow Mr. Saunders to launch before dawn and then you launch after the Dead Chicken lands, with a second two-ton cargo of the 100 pound atmospheric air tanks. Mr. Saunders will have two tons of liquid hydrogen and two tons more of the Nano-Silicone.
“Once you are both ready, exit orbit, and fly back here. In the meantime, the two Astermine craft head down bringing up the nets for the next loads for Earth. The second loading could be up here, not on the planet’s surface, by the time you return. How does that plan sound?”
“Who flies Astermine Two if I’m flying SB-III?” Jonesy asked.
“Well, Mr. Noble can be in-charge of the operation down on the moon. Max Burgos is flying Asterspace Three. We have Yuri Gellagov and Pete Smith who can man your mining craft. I think Suzi and the baby can stay up here, and Mr. Noble can take another space walker to help, now that the external work around this ship are complete. We do have six astronauts for six craft, Mr. Jones!”
Slowly a plan came together. All the build teams were needed inside America One, there was still three months of work to get the interior of the craft shipshape, but a couple could be spared to
help bring up the treasure.
While the two men down on the surface waited for the Astermine craft to return fully fueled, Ryan sent a message to Nevada to ready another two tons of liquid hydrogen and Nano-Silicone; the atmospheric air could be bottled on site. They were going to need more air now that they could build a small dome, or two somewhere.
Ryan could make the decision to purchase as much as he could of the new Nano-Silicone, as the latest tests on the first flight of Nano-Silicone, brought up several launches earlier, were complete. While Jonesy and VIN readied themselves to return, Ryan and the dozen scientists involved held a meeting in the cafeteria.
The results were good. The Nano-Silicone/Kevlar mix had hardened under heat. The most successful hardening temperature was at 700 degrees Celsius. Any higher temperatures weakened the Kevlar. The blast oven had pressed the melted liquid into hard, window panel frames, four-feet square. Under immense pressure, the panes were heated and cooled several times, which made them totally transparent, other than the minute Kevlar strands throughout the pane. At one-inch thick, each pane was strong enough to hold hot or cold atmosphere on one side, and the vacuum of space at minus 170 degrees on the other. The production was a long process; it took 15 hours to make five panes at the same time.
Using a diamond cutting tool, each pane was cut into half across the diagonal, forming two triangular panes. The team made a hexagon of the triangles and bonded them together with a melted black graphite paste which, when dried, was harder than steel. Then the scientists pumped three atmospheres of air through a minute hole, sealed it, and passed it through the large rear engine compartment cargo port, and into space.
The hexagon held together. After hauling it back through the cargo port, they increased the pressure inside to five atmospheres and again released it. Again it held. The results were that the panes were stronger than anything ever produced that looked like glass. One of the scientists estimated that each pane was more than ten times stronger than the best armor glass on Earth.
The hexagon travelled to the moon outside the ship and radiation sensors inside showed only triple the radiation inside the hexagon as was coming through the ship’s walls,. Two panes, plus a foot of helium gas in-between them could solve that problem. Ryan asked Captain Pete to add another order of four tons of liquid helium to the growing launch manifest.
The second real success was the indestructible black graphite obtained on the return trips to DX2014. It had the usual melting point of carbon, 3,500 degrees Celsius, and hardened into a better welding material than anything on Earth. The scientists could melt the carbon graphite, tool it into preformed strips with two-inch deep grooves and use it to bond the silicone panes. America One’s many aluminum panels had been bonded together much the same way, but with Silicone, not the stronger graphite. On his next ship, Ryan could use this more powerful form of bonding, as well as one day when they found a new place to live, use it for see-through, anti-radiation protective barriers against the harsh environment of space.
All of this was extremely good news for the crew. With their remaining Nano-Silicone they could make about 90 panels. Another cargo load would treble that, enough to make a decent sized, double-walled half-hexagon dome on another planet.
The three useless European freighters still connected to the ship made her look more like a “bag lady” than a fancy space vehicle. When the fourth freighter arrived, they could be turned into storage units for the Nano-Silicone and helium, and then added to the build at the end station. Ryan put in an order with Igor for as much of the Nano-Silicone as the company in Munich could produce. The carbon graphite was available by the ton on the moon’s surface.
While this very important meeting was going on in the cafeteria, the two Astermine craft and SB-III were returning to the moon’s surface. Suzi was disappointed that she could not be part of the continuing mining expedition, but she had a baby to think of first, and the men would be back within a few days. With one man flying in and out of the forth crater, and five men to gather and collect the diamonds, the loading would be faster.
Jonesy, Maggie and Saturn would be in the shuttle for three nights while it was filled up with what VIN had already collected, plus Jonesy’s rock. Then they would return to meet Allen Saunders, who was about to be launched out of the Dead Chicken.
Jonesy was to be the cargo pilot. His job was to haul the full nets up to America One while the men rested between their three-hour spacewalk shifts.
The two men already on the surface needed extra canisters to make a new landing zone for the fourth parking bay, and Jonesy floated her in, setting his larger shuttle as far to the end of the growing parking lot as he could. He didn’t want her dented from flying stones.
VIN felt happy; he would have company down in the “hole” as he called it. Jonesy was fully suited up and Maggie helped him on with his helmet; he exited the shuttle’s docking port to the sound of a shorter scream from Saturn and transferred to Astermine Two.
Once VIN showed the men how to get a foot in one of the three ropes he had connected underneath the mining craft, Jonesy slowly drifted up, plucked the men off the surface and descended into the narrow hole. The three men underneath each had one foot through his loop, his belt strapped onto the cord, and they linked arms to keep together. The remaining men, who VIN had already instructed, set out a net, placed empty canisters on top of it, and prepared a new net for Jonesy’s return.
When the three men dangling from the shuttle reached bottom, they undid their cords, and placed the full net, with Jonesy’s large rock inside onto the hook underneath Astermine Two; at full power, Jonesy fought the gravitational pull, and the extra load, and slowly flew upwards. For the first time VIN and the men had to take cover behind canisters as small diamonds were spewing out directly underneath the rockets.
The pilot returned with the next net and with the two other men looped in below. Then, Jonesy’s job was over, until he needed to retrieve the men after their shift.
VIN showed the four new men what to do. He brought shovels from the other craft, and gave each a canister and a shovel to fill. VIN emptied the third net of canisters, spread it out, and retrieved all the larger diamonds to place them inside the net. The other guys could do the grunt work for a change.
Right on time, Jonesy returned down the pipe. The team had the larger diamonds ready with 15 basketball-sized or smaller diamonds in the net. These larger diamonds did not fit well in the canisters. The craft was hooked up with three cords this time, and VIN and Max accompanied the small load. Jonesy returned several minutes later and retrieved the three remaining men, then VIN re-attached the first net for lift up to America One. On their first stint they had filled six canisters.
While the new crew rested, three in the other craft, and three in the shuttle’s cockpit, Jonesy flew to the 100-mile altitude. It took him three hours to hand over the tightly bound net of ten canisters and his big diamond to two spacewalkers waiting for him. They tied it to the side of America One, and Jonesy returned for another load. He would need to do this eleven more times before the three returning craft would be completely loaded.
Over the next three days, the hard working crew managed six more lifts, as well as filling SB-III’s hold with two of the four nets. These nets weren’t filled to maximum, so that two nets could fit in each of SB-III’s smaller holds.
On Jonesy’s eighth lift, he saw SB-II at its docking port. Allen would have 24 hours before they would return.
Slowly the load came together. VIN and a smaller team would take the remaining nets and ready them for Jonesy’s return, two weeks later. When Ryan asked VIN how much of the diamond vein had been depleted, he was informed that they had decreased the mound by two feet, but he didn’t know how far the diamonds continued below the surface. VIN was also looking forward to a rest.
With both shuttles refueled and the crews rested, Penny took a turn as Allen’s new co-pilot, and Max Burgos and Pete Smith piloted Asterspace Three. Jonesy, M
aggie and Saturn returned to Earth.
During the three-day flight, including several orbits to decrease forward speed and altitude, Allen, now on his 30th reentry went in; Jonesy was due twenty-four hours later.
Ryan had been in contact with the president and by the time Allen, Michael Pitt and Pete Smith, who had spacewalked over to SB-II during the last orbit, saw the hot shimmering runway, there were a dozen heavily armed Bradleys along the length of the runway, and two F-35s had just taken off as air cover. The president, wanted to be there to see the yield; Ryan suggested that he fly in on the sixth day after SB-II arrived. By that time all three cargos would be on Earth.
Twenty-four long hours later, the remaining three astronauts, saw the same scene, Allen had a day earlier. Jonesy had never seen so much security around the airfield, and the area surrounding the runway was very built up since they had left.
An assembly of personnel watched the shuttle slow down the runway.
“Hey! I remember that fire truck and ambulance,” remarked Maggie who was in the co-pilot’s seat as the parachute slowed them. “Those vehicles are both from Nellis. They followed me on every landing I made there. Maybe landing back at Nellis could be less busy than here. It seems we have entered the runway of Fort Knox or something.”
“I don’t see Air Force One,” replied Jonesy, keeping the craft straight down the middle of the long runway.
“Remember, Ryan told the president that our next landing will be the big one, after we have cleared Asterspace Three,” Max added from one of the rear jump seats.
Having remained aboard America One with its higher gravity, Maggie was stronger than Jones and Max who needed wheelchairs and helpers to get over the hot apron. Once they were showered, and wheeled over to Hangar One, Jonesy saw what looked like two F-35s coming into land. “Maybe he could steal an hour in one of those?” he thought, smiling to himself.