Rocket Girls: The Last Planet

by Housuke Nojiri

  “Um…5,165 meters?”

  “You are a grade-A student. Well, you’re standing on the peak now. How do you feel?”

  Akane had developed a headache a short while earlier. She could feel the pain increasing with each passing moment.

  “Um…I’m okay.”

  “Really?”

  “Really. I’m doing fine.”

  “You’re not pushing it? You’re really absolutely fine?”

  “I’m absolutely positively doing great.”

  “Then let’s take you up to Annapurna. Or do you want to pass?”

  Yukari would have taken that as a direct challenge, no doubt. But Akane saw it differently. She didn’t want to let Satsuki down.

  “I’m ready.”

  The sound of the pump grew louder.

  How high was Annapurna again? Eight-thousand-something meters?

  Her head throbbed with pain, and she could feel her thoughts begin to drift. Her breathing was ragged. It seemed to take forever until she heard Satsuki over the intercom announce in a singsong voice, “You made it! Welcome to Annapurna! One more question: which integer has a square root closest in value to the base of the natural logarithm?”

  Huh…what? A math question? The base of the natural logarithm?

  Uh, what was base e again? 2.71828…

  If the root of 8 is 2.82…and 7 is…uh…7 is…

  Akane tried to focus her thoughts through her splitting headache, but she still couldn’t come up with the root of seven.

  Wait, if I square e, then take the root of the right side of the equation…

  Seven…7…7…49!

  “S…seven. It’s seven.”

  “Impressive. Ready to come down again?”

  The sound of the pump quieted and the air pressure began to return.

  “The terminal velocity of an orbiter during reentry is two hundred kilometers per second. If you ever wanted to know what would happen if you lost pressure on reentry, you’re experiencing it now. High mountain climbers don’t have it nearly this rough.”

  She popped her ears again. By now she couldn’t tell whether the pain was coming from her ears or her headache, so she kept popping them as quickly as she could, just in case. When the air pressure returned to surface levels, the hatch opened.

  Akane’s head still throbbed. Shaky on her feet, she stepped out, when a wave of nausea came over her and she had to drop to a crouch.

  Two red-enamel high heels came into her tear-blurred field of vision. “Oh? What’s wrong? Giving up?”

  She looked up to see that now-familiar look of despair in Satsuki’s eyes. Had she failed the test already? Had she not lived up to expectations?

  “N-no, I’m fine.”

  “Really now? Are you sure? You look pale.”

  “No, really. I’m okay.”

  “Are you really, really okay?”

  “Yes. Perfectly. Great.” Akane summoned the last of her strength and managed a half smile.

  “That a girl!” Satsuki grinned. “Next up, how about a little centrifuge?”

  Satsuki giggled.

  [ACT 5]

  “YUKARI? OH, YUKARI? You with me?”

  Yukari shook her head. She’d been daydreaming. “Sorry, Chief.”

  She was standing in the orbiter clean room in a corner of the VAB.

  “If you don’t fully understand what we’ve changed, it’ll come back to bite you up there,” chief engineer Mukai explained. “As you know, we try to get the most out of our crew, since we’re spending all this money to get you up there. There is not a lot of redundancy in your onboard systems. If a main panel goes down and the backup stops, you’ll have to fix it yourself on the spot.”

  “I know that.”

  “You worried about something? You seem distracted.”

  “Well, maybe. A little.”

  “Yukari’s afraid Akane won’t pass the examination,” Matsuri explained.

  “Satsuki running that?” he asked.

  “Yeah.”

  Mukai started nodding to himself. “Of course, of course. That explains that.”

  “Explains what?”

  “I’ve been having dips in power here at the factory since this morning. I was wondering what was going on.”

  “You mean like power shortages?”

  “Yeah, like something on base was using a lot of power all at once—something outside of the VAB.”

  “Like what?”

  “Probably Satsuki’s centrifuge. Running that thing at full power uses up as much wattage as a small city.”

  “Running it at full power?”

  Terrifying memories of her own time in the centrifuge rose in Yukari’s mind. The centrifuge was like a giant merry-go-round for one, except you didn’t ride on a horse, you rode inside an airtight box. The box could be positioned in any way, meaning that the person inside was subjected to centrifugal force from every direction.

  Yukari had been run through the device soon after agreeing to become an astronaut. On her first run, a full 9 G pressing on her chest had squeezed the breath out of her and she had fainted. And Satsuki gave it to you easy from the front. You could take a lot more G from the top.

  Satsuki hadn’t given her any warning when she was going to change the direction, either, until Yukari felt like a rag doll in a dryer. Her internal organs bounced around like pinballs inside her, and she lost count of the times she fainted only to wake up covered in her own vomit. Once the pressure had been so bad, Yukari had felt her shoulder nearly dislocate. Depending on the speed at which the device rotated, the G could be pushed up to a limit of thirty times normal Earth gravity. This meant that a body weighing forty kilograms would feel thirty times heavier. At weights like that, most people died in a very short amount of time.

  And now Satsuki was whipping poor Akane around at full power?

  Yukari’s face went pale. “Mukai, sorry, but can I take a quick break?”

  “But—” Mukai began, then he sighed. He knew he wouldn’t be able to stop her when she was like this. Mukai was younger than most of the other scientists on base and not as good at resisting the whims of their astronauts.

  “Fine. See you soon.”

  Yukari dashed out of the clean room, jumped out of her coveralls, and ran for the training center. She could hear motors spinning as soon as she stepped inside.

  The centrifuge was in the basement.

  Yukari ran down the stairs, taking two steps at a time. Throwing open the door to the centrifuge control room, she barged in, shouting, “Stop the machine! You can’t throw her on full power! She’ll die!”

  “Huh?” Satsuki was standing with the back of her white lab coat to the door. She turned around. “Oh, no one’s in the centrifuge. I hadn’t used it for a while, so I was just warming it up.”

  “What…?” Yukari gave a deep sigh, but she wasn’t done quite yet. “Where’s Akane?”

  “I’m giving her a break. She should be here any moment now.”

  “How’s she doing?”

  “Far better than I expected, actually.”

  “Really?” Yukari found herself smiling.

  “Yes. In fact, all she has to clear is the centrifuge and I think we have a winner.”

  Yukari’s smile faded. “How many G are you going to put her through?”

  “I won’t know until I start, now will I. That’s why we have this test, you know.”

  “As I recall, you ran me until I passed out several times. Including taking me from nothing to 9 G right off the bat. How fast are you taking her?”

  “Like I said, I won’t know until we begin.”

  “Admit it! You just like torturing us with your machines!”

  Satsuki lifted an eyebrow. “What’s gotten under your collar?”

  “I’m just saying, the orbiter seats two now so it only goes up to 8 G instead of ten like it used to. Why take her farther than she needs to?”

  “The specifications of that rocket and the aptitude tests are two dif
ferent things. If I don’t know for certain how much this girl can take, I won’t know how suited she is for the job, and I won’t be able to create an appropriate training schedule for her.”

  “Well that may be so, but…” Yukari’s objection trailed off.

  “Yukari. I know I might not look it sometimes, but I am a medical doctor. And yes, I might come off a little crazy, but I promise I’ll stop at the last possible moment.”

  “That’s what I’m talking about! Why do you have to go up to the last possible moment?”

  Just then, Akane walked in, wearing a gym shirt. Her face looked gaunt, and her feet were dragging.

  “Yukari? What are you doing here?”

  “I was negotiating. I’m trying to save you from this torture.”

  “You don’t have to worry about me, really. I’m doing the best I can. I want to pass this test.”

  “That’s all well and good, but you just wait until she starts taunting you. There’s no telling what she’ll have you doing. Human experimentation, that’s what this is!”

  Satsuki rolled her eyes. “Must you always say that?”

  “Eight G, tops!” Yukari glared at her. “As your primary astronaut I’m giving you my expert opinion. Take her up to 8 G from the front, and no higher!”

  “Only 8 G?”

  “You heard me. That’s plenty with our current booster!” She glared at Satsuki again for effect.

  Satsuki frowned and glared back at the shorter Yukari, but it was Satsuki who broke away first.

  “Fine. But don’t get the idea that everything you say goes here.” Satsuki turned a dial on her console and the centrifuge spun down. “Maybe you could help Akane into the cage?”

  Yukari nodded quietly. “Let’s go, Akane. Can you walk?”

  “Sure…”

  Yukari lent the other girl her shoulder and together they left the control room. Down a short staircase, they entered a room shaped like an elliptical pool, with the centrifuge at its center. The centrifuge had a central column and a long arm, at the end of which hung the cage. Yukari opened the cage door and helped Akane inside. She tightened a four-point harness around Akane’s chest and then strapped her in at the waist and legs.

  “It might be a little tight, but trust me, you’ll prefer it that way.”

  “Okay.”

  Yukari checked all the fastenings carefully. A simple slip from your chair at high G could mean broken bones.

  “See those buttons on the panel in front of you? Some of them will light up, and you’ll be instructed to press them.”

  “Okay.”

  “Over 4 G and it gets hard just to raise your arm, but as long as you remember to breathe with your stomach, you shouldn’t faint.”

  “Okay.”

  “Good luck. You know, Satsuki said you were doing really well.”

  “I am? Really?”

  “Yeah. She said if you pass this, you’ve made it.”

  “I won’t let you down, Yukari.”

  “I know you won’t. I’ll be watching from the control room, okay?”

  Yukari shut the cage door and went back upstairs.

  Satsuki was talking to Akane over the intercom. “Akane? Can you hear me?”

  “Loud and clear.”

  “Did Yukari tell you about the buttons?”

  “I’m supposed to press the ones that light up, right?”

  “That’s right. We’re going to be testing your judgment and physical capacity at heavier gravities. Here goes.”

  Satsuki began flipping switches, murmuring to herself, “Rotation floor clear, activating motors…”

  The centrifuge began to spin.

  Satsuki glanced down at the reading on the console. “Two G. How do you feel?”

  “O…okay.”

  Yukari glanced at the doctor’s face. Satsuki was expressionless. Her manicured fingers slowly clicked the dial controlling rotation speed.

  “Three G. Is something wrong? You’re a little slow on the buttons.”

  “Ah…suh…sorry.” Akane’s voice over the intercom sounded pained.

  Yukari clenched her fists. Hang in there, Akane. Even an accelerating sports car will give you 3 G. The rocket will give you eight. Come on, please be able to take 8 G.

  “Four G. We are approaching realistic levels now. How do you feel?”

  No answer.

  “Akane? What’s wrong?”

  Akane didn’t respond.

  Come on, Akane! Answer!

  “Maybe the intercom’s malfunctioning.” Satsuki pressed the stop button. As soon as the centrifuge had wound down, Yukari and Satsuki ran down to the cage.

  Satsuki lifted the latch and looked inside. The two stared at each other in silence. Akane was out cold.

  She hadn’t even made it past 4 G.

  [ACT 6]

  “IT’S OKAY, YOU don’t have to apologize so much.”

  “I’m so sorry…”

  Akane was lying in bed, gazing vacantly at the ceiling. She hugged a teddy bear tight to her chest. It was one of the few things she had brought with her from Japan.

  Yukari and Matsuri sat next to the bed like visitors in a hospital ward.

  “There’s no way they’re going to take me. I fainted at 4 G! I’m done.”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll get better with training—”

  “But there won’t be any training if they don’t accept me. You made it to 9 G, didn’t you, Yukari?”

  “Well yeah, but—”

  “What about you, Matsuri?”

  “Hoi! My first time I made it to 17 G.”

  Akane turned to face the wall.

  “Don’t worry, Matsuri’s kind of a special case,” Yukari explained. “She’s like a female Tarzan or something. You could shoot her in the head and she wouldn’t even die.”

  “Yukari?” Akane whispered.

  “Yeah?”

  “You don’t want to go on a mission with someone who faints during takeoff, do you?”

  “Well, I…” There was a pause. “I don’t mind! Not a bit. There’s nothing to do during takeoff anyway—the first time I was up there all by myself. Besides, I could just wake you up once we were in orbit. No problem.”

  “You don’t have to say that just to make me feel better,” Akane said quietly.

  Yukari was starting to get frustrated. “Matsuri! Can’t you cast a spell or something to raise her spirits?”

  “She needs to sleep,” Matsuri said simply. “Have a good rest, Akane. You’re exhausted, so it should come easy.”

  “Yeah…”

  “Okay. I guess that’s it for tonight, then.” Yukari stood, feeling slightly relieved. “Good night.”

  “Good night…”

  [ACT 7]

  “THERE ARE NO issues with her physique or sensory organs. Personality wise, she’s very warm and takes instruction well, and has a great sense of responsibility. She is quite intelligent to boot and can focus under stress. She’s also stronger than I expected. The only problem is her lack of any high-G resilience.” Satsuki Asahikawa was giving her report at the director’s meeting the following day.

  “So she can’t take the gravity? Is that an automatic fail?” Nasuda asked, getting right to the point.

  “She passed out the moment I took her up to four. With that low a resilience, she couldn’t even ride a roller coaster.”

  “What? Only 4 G?”

  “Too bad. Her scholastic ability is off the charts,” Kinoshita said, relating his impressions from the interview. “Actually, rather than scholastic ability I should say her general comprehension. I presented her with several trick questions and she was very good at cutting through the chaff and getting right to the point. She’s able to see the true nature of the problem at hand, understand it, and act on it.”

  “Yes, but 4 G?” Satsuki raised her hands. “Our astronauts are subjected to at least 8 G during liftoff and reentry. If she’s fainting at a mere four, she simply won’t be able to perform her duties as a mem
ber of the flight crew.”

  “Can’t something be done about that in training?”

  Satsuki shook her head. “It’s not just that she has to stay conscious at 8 G. She has to be able to assess her situation, make split-second decisions, and take action at 8 G. If we are only talking about a consciousness threshold, I’d want her to stay awake up to at least 10 G.”

  Nasuda groaned. “Let me just confirm, you’re saying there is zero probability that she would be able to perform in a real-life situation?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t say zero,” Satsuki admitted with a frown.

  “Yukari has told us several times, and we know this ourselves, that they need a division of labor while in orbit. Our lack of that is one big reason we haven’t been able to get the thumbs-up from NASA. And there’s something else.” Nasuda reached into his briefcase and pulled out a single sheet of paper. He showed it to everyone at the table.

  It was a printout of a photograph showing five girls, blondes and brunettes, standing in a row, smiling.

  “This was up on the CNES homepage as of yesterday. Turns out a subsidiary of Arianespace in France has started a project called the ‘Ariane Courier.’ They’re not ready for commercial flights, but the plan is for them to put small astronauts in a small orbiter and provide services like satellite repair.”

  “They’re totally copying us!” Mukai said, aghast.

  “We knew we’d have some competition. I just didn’t imagine they would pop up so quickly. They’re going to be using an Ariane 4 rocket modified to carry people.”

  “What about space suits? Do they have skintight suits yet?”

  “We don’t think so. I’m guessing what they’re wearing in that picture are just leotards. They’re attractive though, aren’t they, Kinoshita.”

  “Sadly, yes. Though our own girls are nothing to sneeze at.”

  Kinoshita was a man of encyclopedic knowledge in many fields, one of them being the media market for attractive girls. And this, of course, was a cornerstone of the SSA’s business strategy.

  While previous astronauts had served as flag carriers for their nation’s pride, they were now often used as PR tools for getting taxpayers behind a project. An operation like the SSA depended heavily on goodwill toward Yukari and Matsuri for their continued funding. Their appeal to the folks back home was the only thing between the SSA and a firestorm over the massive amounts of taxpayer money disappearing into their project.