by Keith Martin
Next month Pete would take the Mar’s run, and he would have two weeks free to do as he wished on base. He planed to use the time to find someone he could fall in love with and live with and have a family with. He was ready to settle down just a bit so he would have some sort of normalcy in his life. Then on his next run he was going to get sick and continue finding his wife.
“Well Pete, you owe me big time for this one.” Joshua scolded his friend.
“Yea, yea, yea…we will see about that.” Pete said sarcastically.
“I still have the box of tissue I wiped your nose with when you were green. I’ll just pick it up on the way to Suit Up so this new guy will feel at home.”
“You are going to let this newbie fly?” Pete asked.
“Hell no! I plan to make him sit in the back seat.” Pete started to laugh so hard he started to cough.
“I may have him sit in the cargo hold… You think I’m kidding?” Joshua assured him
“I’ll see you in two weeks Jac Man. Be nice or I’ll tell Dad.”
“Get some rest Con Man. We need you up and running.” Joshua said as he opened the door to Suit Up. “Next two trips are yours my friend and don’t you forget that. You mess up I’ll clip those wings so fast...” Berry’s paw reached out and pulled Joshua in closing the door behind them.
He had not met any of the new pilots because of his schedule. So in a way he was glad to be able to check this guy out. After all it was he who would be doing all his advanced training. It was a plus to him that he was on missions and unable to help with their initial training. He didn’t relish the thought of sitting through classes and babysitting a bunch of greenhorns.
He had found Pete in flight school. The class had started out with thirty-five wan-a-bee pilots. Of those, Pete was the only one to make it through. Fifteen had washed out in the first weeks of training; fourteen had gone to Earth for the summer. The virus took them. Two died in an accident while delivering a load of cargo to the Space Station. Three quit from fear after that.
When Joshua had seen Pete on the flight simulator the first time he knew he had found a real by the book pilot. If you didn’t fly by the book you died. It was that easy. There was no getting off and walking home to momma because you didn’t like the ride. He had the heart to push the ship, making sure he was getting the maximum performance from it. That’s what Joshua knew he needed his men to have to make it through what was to come.
* * *
Only five of the Galaxy Class Shuttles had been completed before the virus struck Earth.
All Shuttle building on Earth had stopped due to the death of ninety percent of the shuttle work force. Luckily, there were lots of spare parts on Earth for replacements that needed to be done. With the workload being put on the shuttles, they were starting to look old before their time. But they were still working strong.
10 Seeker
As Joshua was pulled into Suit Up he felt the file on this new pilot hit him in the chest as Berry got to work. He looked good on paper. Top of his class in college, A-one in the simulators, a thousand plus hours on fixed wing simulators and a Masters degree in computer sciences with a minor in the medical fields. Maybe there was something to work with here. He could see this kid’s potential.
He looked up from the file and looked around at all the familiar faces he always saw in Suit Up. He started to wonder. ‘Why they were all smiling like kids in a candy shop?’
That’s when Berry; Commander of Suit-Up and his personal suit up man guided him to his seat. “What’s up Jackal?” He asked with a smile. His hands filled with Jackals space suit.
“Nothing much, just another day in the life of a pilot, did you vote last night?”
“Sure did. I think it will help moral. Just hope it won’t get out of hand like it did on Earth. But then there’s no money in it here so that’s a damn big plus too. I don’t smoke personally. But I do think those who do have the right to do so.”
“I gave my A-ok to it. Don’t smoke either, but I think it’s a good idea. Give me something to do when I retire.” Jackal said with a grin.
“Yea. You retire. That will be the day. Hell boy you’re just getting started. Let’s get you suited up.”
“I’ll hit the head first.” He turned on his heel then asked. “Why is everyone smiling at me?”
“Don’t know Jackal? It must be your rugged good looks. That gets them every time.” Berry answered wryly.
It took the better part of a half hour to get fully suited up normally. Berry had cut that down to seventeen minutes flat with his years of work putting personnel into and removing them from the suits. The flight suits where designed to live in for up to 30 days at a time. First: a pilot had to strip down to his underwear. Next medical monitors were attached. Heart, both lungs front and back, lower intestine, both wrists and ankles and the temples. Then they donned the pressure suit. This suit inflated around the legs as G forces grew in hard maneuvers. This forced the blood to the brain and helped to stave off passing out. It had to be laced up tight to insure a perfect fit. Then the flight suit: a seven-piece system consisted of pants with a full bib, jacket, two shoes, two gloves and the helmet had to be donned. All of this was linked to monitors to insure that the seal integrity was maintained.
Joshua’s suit weighed in at sixty-five pounds. Once in the suit, a heating and cooling system was hooked up to keep the pilot comfortable in any atmosphere. Life support was then hooked up to the portable unit so that the pilot could be moved out to the ship. Once on board the unit was hooked up in line with the ships life support system. This would guarantee that the portable unit was fully charged at all times for emergency use.
The flight suits were in fact space suits, the same suits used by men to work out in open space. On long trips, like the one Joshua was scheduled to pilot today, it was only required to be suited up for take offs, landings and cargo bay work.
Every time he put on his suit he felt as if he was stepping back in time. His suit was not too different from those used when the first man was blasted into space. The only real difference was the weight. He was told the old suits weighed in at more than two hundred pounds. He couldn’t imagine having to lug something as heavy as that around.
* * *
Barry Johnson knew his job in his sleep. At just forty-five years of age, he put more men and women in their space suits then anyone on the planet. With long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, average build, deep hazel eyes and a permanent smile, his true love was being the Commander of Suit Up.
He looked and acted more like a hippy from the sixties. But he was all work and he was the best. His job was not just getting personnel into their suits. He also had to help to keep suited up personnel from going nuts when there were any delays in the flight schedule.
Sometimes the flight schedule went to hell in a flash. This could cause personnel to be placed on standby for hours at a time. So, to keep the pilots from getting bored he would launch into his little bag of tricks and start entertaining them. He was a ‘conversation bear’ as the crews called him. He knew it all, all the latest things happening around the base and in the news. He was in the know about new technologies and he even had a bit of gossip at times.
Joshua called him a walking CNN. And funny too, he could keep a crewperson smiling even after a twelve hour delay. This was what bought his seat to S.M.B. when the virus hit the planet. He was the best at what he did and he had worked with Joshua from the moment Berry put him in his first suit. Joshua had Berry on his second flight up after the virus hit Earth. He was one man Joshua was not loosing to some bug in the air.
A call from Joshua a few minutes after Shianne called to announce the impact of the virus on the planet saved Berry’s life. “Berry don’t do anything except follow my exact orders and your life will be saved. Take your best help and get in anything headed west, it would be best to get in the air within a few minutes. I will transport you to S.M.B. from Vandenberg. Do you copy?”
Berr
y didn’t even question Jackal. An order of that magnitude was understood at once. He was going to live and that was good enough. He grabbed four personal, all women and ready to face what he discovered on CNN as they all quickly packed to go as they awaited the chopper escort out to California. It seemed there were many aircraft trying to head towards the west that day. Only Joshua’s pass got Berry and his team past the Air Force defenses without turning into ashes falling to the ground.
Berry figured that Joshua saving his life gave him leave to kind of watch his back in a deeper way then most would think between men with only a long working relationship. Berry loved every lung full of air he sucked and he was going to make sure if there was anything he could do to help Joshua out he was going to be in on some of that.
No one got past Bear without him knowing what’s up before you walk into his door. Orders have to be cut and schedules kept as the day’s progress. Between pilots and crews of shuttles doing mission and the training of green pilots and the personal making external walks for their work day all came through his door and he took it as his duty to be way ahead of anything passing his way. And with a few hundred change-outs a day he got every bit of S.M.B. news there was.
“Ok Bear, I’ll bite, what’s up?” Joshua took the bait.
“Why nothings up Commander, nothing at all... why do you ask?” Came Berry’s feigned innocent reply.
“Well you’re smiling like a kid in a candy shop. If you smile any more I do think your face will separate at the teeth!”
“So I’m smiling, now I can’t smile without you casting aspersions on my motives. I never!” He hammed it up.
“I’m not saying you can’t smile, but all of you are smiling in here. It’s as bad as when you hung that damn rubber chicken from my back the first time I was here in Suit Up with you when I delivered you to S.M.B. I save your bacon and get a rubber chicken all the way from G-1 to Suit Up hanging on my back for all to see. Oh so funny guy!” Joshua was having fun with this too. He loved visiting Berry.
Bear did love his little jokes. “Nothing’s up Commander, rubber chicken is in the hen house.” He pulled open a desk drawer and pulled the rubber chicken out. Showed it to him. Chucked it back in the drawer and slammed it shut all in one smooth, eye splittingly, quick, practiced motion. A toothy smile crossed his face without taking his eyes off of Joshua. “Everything is fine Joshua.” He stood to recheck Joshua’s suit and started to sing. “It’s a beautiful day in the, Ohh shit; I almost lost it there for a second.” They both chuckled at his little joke.
Once Bear was finished checking the suit, Joshua again started to read the new pilots file. “So, why is this file incomplete?” He asked after a few seconds of review. He couldn’t find a cover sheet on this pilot.
“Incomplete.” Bear said innocently and looked to the file as if his was interested. “In what way pray tell?”
“It’s got no personnel cover sheet.” Joshua handed the file over to Bear.
He feigned looking through the file again, he had removed it himself so he knew it wasn’t there. “Yes your right Commander. It is missing.” He handed back the file. “What up with that?”
“Ok Nut Case, fire up your terminal and print me off a sheet on this kid. I have to be on the ship soon. I want to get there before this guy gets to Suit Up so I can do the preflight without a greenhorn asking me a billion questions.” Joshua shot back.
“But the pilot-trainee is onboard right now. I suited your co-pilot up an hour ago. Showed up here. So I did the suit-up and strap-in as scheduled.” Bear informed him.
Smelling rotten kimchee Berry didn’t fall for the whole cold thing with Con Man. He had just run Con Man through Suit Up 4 times in 3 days. All of the monitors on him and in the Shuttles Environmental Systems would have picked up any sign of a virus.
He needed to have a little talk with this young lady before he suited her up. Unlike his overworked friend he knew exactly who Miss Samantha Craft was. And he approved of this match. But she was going to come clean about this or she was walking to the Shuttle in her base uniform. He was not suiting up anyone who he was not confident was suiting up with a clear understanding of what they were doing.
If the plan failed that he was watching grow underfoot he knew a Shuttle was no place for that to happen. But he was a man of vast resources and would freely use his every contact to help her pull this one off.
“WHAT???” Joshua shouted as his mind raced through imagined seen after seen of cockpit carnage at the hands of a green pilot trying to be helpful.
“Let’s just go strap you in right now.” Bear offered calmly with a smile as he helped Joshua to his feet.
“Move old man, God knows what that punk kid is doing to my ship” Joshua said as he stood to go. “Do you drive or shall I?” He asked Berry as he stepped onto the pilot lift.
The cart was specially designed to deliver the pilots to their waiting Shuttles. Berry had on his light suit that he used for his outdoor work. Normally Berry’s...’Minions’ as he referred to his Suit Up Crew, took crews out to the Shuttles. But with Jackal he got suited up and made sure Jackal’s life support unit was connected into the power supply to keep it at a full charge before Jackal took his seat on their way across the base to the waiting Shuttle.
“Some peoples kids.” Berry bantered as he took control of the restraining straps in hand and belted Jackal in first.
“Could you go any slower?” Joshua shot back before Berry had moved an inch.
Berry strapped in not responding to this constant badgering and gave the cart some power and started to crawl toward the waiting ship. “I could but I think this speed is plenty safe.”
* * *
She walked into Suit Up and Berry asked his Minion’s to clear the room as he invited Samantha on in guiding her gallantly by the hand. “Give me five please.” He gave his orders as he watched the last of his crew hit the hall. He sat Samantha in a chair and slid his wheeled work chair before her placing him towering over her.
“OK BRAT, SPILL? WHATS UP AND HOLD NOTHING BACK?” He growled deeply as his face grew closer to hers. “I’m the only way you get off this rock so make this a good story I had Con Man’s Life Support Systems checked and he’s just fine and his file notes that his sample was pulled and tested by your hand yet there is no lab report to follow up. Just a note from the Med Staff stating Con Man has a sniffle. And that had your name as the Med staff on duty at the time... And I’m not stupid?”
She decided to come clean for the first time to anyone except her own mother, Pete and Connie about her feelings. “I’m in love with Joshua and I’m here to catch him and make him my man or I will die trying.” Her chin was held high, All 4 feet 11 inches of her.
She had the confidence of an intelligent young woman that had planed for years to get to this spot and he liked that.
She was a jewel that had grown into her own in the past year more then ever, he was sure of that he had fitted her out into 3 different sized suits as she went through training, she would make a fine wife for a good man.
She was dressed in a standard flight suit undergarment. Loose fitting with a wide belt showing her figure. With what little training that she had at catching a man she was trying real hard that was easy to see.
He planed to teach her how to chum the waters.
“Well if you plan to use the right bait, I say you could do better fishen.” He opened his drawer and puller a flesh colored spandex jumpsuit that would fit her like a skin. “I picked you up a lure and thirteen more just like it in new and exciting colors. One of them will get this old Eagle to dive down and snatch you up. I to want to be the first to wish you the best of luck and warn you that in the future there will be no more of this foolishness on my watch.” He held up his pinky to demand her vow to do it right from then on.
She took his pinky in hers and vowed to always be truthful from that moment on.
Then Berry got her to G-1 so he could have his fun with Jackal.
* * *
Seven minutes brought the two friends to G-1 in the main hanger. Joshua mounted the steps into the shuttle first with Berry carrying his life support pack.
“So tell me the guys name at least Berry?” Joshua demanded.
“I think it was Sam something big guy. Berry giggled a little and added. “Call sign, Blue Angel.”
As Joshua took his seat he said. “That’s kind of girlish… a woman Berry?” He had finally figured it out.
“Commander Chisholm this is your copilot, Pilot trainee Samantha Craft.” Berry introduced them with a big grin crossing his face.
All Joshua could see of her was her face through the face screen of her helmet. What he could see was simply stunning. She had high cheekbones, full lips, a perfect smile and angelic blue eyes that could melt ones soul.
Just the sight of her face stopped his heart. “Hello Commander Chisholm, I’m Lieutenant Craft, call sign Blue Angel.”
“Hello.” He offered his hand in greeting. “What do you like to be called?”
“Just don’t call me Greener or Newbie and we will get along fine.” She said taking his hand.
Joshua smiled, and started to laugh. “How about Samantha then?”
“That’s fine Jackal.”
“Joshua; to my friends.”
“Am I your friend?” Samantha asked coyly.
“After two weeks in this pop can together we will be friends or we will no longer be on speaking terms!” Joshua assured her.
They both laughed and Berry barked. “Are you two going to stop pussy footing around so I can get you strapped in?”
“OK Mom, I’ll be good.” Joshua sat back and let Berry do his job.
He rechecked Samantha’s straps next to be sure she was ready for the lift off. He made her straps good and tight “Thanks Berry wish us luck.” She said softly as he was leaning over her.
“Little girl, all the luck you need is sitting right in that there seat.” He looked to Joshua starting the preflight.