by Ed Nelson
Once things got rolling, all the businesses I created to build rocket parts would start supporting the operation. I had hope for some funds from the IC Chip project. The cargo container business was still raking in the cash but not enough by itself.
To top it all off I had a proposal sent to me by my publicity group. It read well and achieved our objectives. The only downside was that I had to present it to our astronauts.
I had learned that you needed to face the dragon while it was still small, so I gathered them together.
“Ladies, good news, and bad news. Our publicity department has a way to present our efforts in such a way that they don’t appear to compete with NASA.”
“That’s the good news, the bad news is that they are going to refer to you as ‘homemakers in space.”
I held my breathing waiting. I didn’t have to hold it for long, cries of dismay and even some laughter broke out. At least nothing was thrown at me.
“Let me explain their thinking. NASA's effort is to put men on the moon, a bold adventurous mission. The stuff real men do.”
“As Homemakers in Space, you will be building a support space station which those bold men might or might not use, though we certainly will. Then you will build a habitat on the moon. Again, to support any bold adventurous men that may go there.”
“The only thing that we won’t point out is that we intend to have you there waiting for them when they arrive!”
“I know the words are demeaning to what you will achieve, that there will be many jokes made about it. When all is said and done you will have led the way.”
I then went on to explain why we had to do it this way. If we went head-on in a space race we would lose. Vilified and unemployable at the best, outcasts at the worse; not only us but our families.
They saw the logic but didn’t pretend to like it. I made a counterproposal to them, not only do it but also own it. Do publicity tours of how you are going to make outer space livable. Just remember, you wanted a chance to go into space, and this is it.
That last settled things down. Somehow, I didn’t see that I would get Jerri Cobb to play Susie Homemaker.
The next day was a big day for us, we had our first test launch scheduled. The integration steps had taken place. The rocket stages and payload, in this case, an empty capsule filled with sandbags equal to crew weight had been joined together in the tall assembly building.
While being assembled everyone on base at all remote sights was allowed to sign one of several scrolls with their name which was put in the capsule. Even the Queen and the Empress signed.
The rocket had been rolled out to the launch pad. It took over a day for the crawler to move it in place.
The fueling had started the night before. These things drink hydrazine as if were water. The pre-launch checks had started.
We were using something new. We had software we called the automatic ground launch sequencer. It took the final phases of the countdown through its steps. This was as opposed to the many pages of paper checklists that had been used before.
This was a direct product of the efforts of our new computer division. Since this was the first effort, we were running it and the paper checklists simultaneously.
The higher echelon of the launch team and our astronauts were in a bunker built for dignitaries to watch the first launch. General Booth even came over from England.
It got real when the orbiter access arm backed away from the rocket.
At T-5 minutes the auxiliary power units were powered up, remotely this time as we had no pilot on board.
It was announced over the speaker system in the bunker that the solid rocket safety devices were armed. The rocket could be separated from the capsule downrange if there were problems and then the rocket was destroyed.
The main engine gimbal profile test was successful. Next, the oxygen vent arm was retracted. The orbiter transferred from ground to internal power at T- 50 seconds.
The ground launch sequencer signaled that all boards were green, and the mission was a go.
The rainbirds were powered up, gushing water onto the pad to prevent the enormous sound emitted blasting out and doing damage.
At T-10 seconds the hydrogen burnoff system was ignited to burn up excess CH2 vented from the engines.
The main engine start at T-6.6 seconds went off.
Then the darn rocket just stood there. It seemed like forever but in 6.6 seconds we had lift-off.
We were over a mile away and we could feel the rumbling in our chests.
Everyone was yelling and cheering. The astronauts were hugging each other and crying.
Mission control, which was onsite at Jiuquan rather than some site picked to provide local jobs, kept us apprised of progress. They announced the speed and distance. As each of the three stages separated successfully there were cheers. When the final separation occurred, we were all wrung out.
The capsule circled the earth five times in seven hours then was knocked out of orbit by its onboard engines.
It came down exactly where it was supposed to. Only fifty miles from Jiuquan. We didn’t want it too close if things went wrong. Exactly, in this case, was five miles from the big X some optimist had laid out in the desert. With this setup, there would be some wind drift.
NOTAMs had been sent out to the world that there would be a rocket launch. The name of the launch was Homemaker One.
Our publicity people were out front of the story with the explanation that women astronauts were being used to build ‘homes’ in space. First in orbit, and then on the moon.
We had films of all three rocket launches. The first was a little rough but from the second one on we had professional crews from Pinewood Studios in place.
I will never forget the look on Jerri Cobb's face when she was told she had to wear makeup while being filmed in the clean room atop the gantry. After the pictures were taken it was washed off. I do think the pearls were over the top.
Congratulations poured in from all over the world, even from NASA. I could picture the smirks on their faces when the Mercury 7 thanked the ladies for realizing their place was at home.
Two more launches occurred in the next week. The second was another test. On the third, Jerri Cobb became the first woman to reach outer space.
The ladies were getting into the Homemakers in Space. They insisted on the press release calling Jerri the Homemaker Astronaut. They even had it on the mission patch.
After the three successful launches and returns, I had to go to London. The main reason was that I had my official duty day as a Knight of the Garter. We put on our silly hats and went to dinner and church.
Harold gave me a stern lecture when I called it a silly hat. I bowed my head in shame as he did it, but I still thought they looked silly.
Then there were two days of working sessions with General Booth. Things had sped up since the launch. I was surprised by the number of requests we had to take science packages into space.
My next stop planned was back in the US to check up on how the Administration group was coming along.
I also had a telegram from President Kennedy congratulating me on the launch and asking that I stop by the White House as soon as possible. I planned to do that on my way to California.
I set things in motion to return to the US next week.
Chapter 49
Returning to my hotel I changed into my jeans, polo shirt, and blue sport coat. I then went to Treacher’s for fish and chips.
It was almost summer here in England, so I went for a stroll down the Thames embankment. It was a beautiful moonlit night, and I passed many couples out for a romantic walk.
I didn’t feel sorry for myself, but I wished I could have a relationship that didn’t go south on me. Seeing which way my thoughts were heading I turned and headed back to the hotel.
In the morning there were several packages for me at the front desk. I had them sent up. One contained my flight logs. The other RAF flight wings, SAS pattern
parachutist wings, and flying dagger shoulder patch for my right shoulder indicating I was with the SAS.
Even with my medals and ribbons, I had looked like what I was, an aide de camp on staff. Now I looked like a badass. I had been there and done that.
Harold was beside himself; his favorite job was updating my uniforms. I had been sent one set of the new patches and badges. He needed to acquire twenty-some additional sets to update all my uniforms.
I don’t know how he did it, I suspect there is a secret Valet handshake that gets these things done. Later, I asked him and was sorry I asked. He would take the paperwork accompanying each item to the nearest military base and buy them at their post exchange. In this case, the nearest was located in the Tower of London.
I called Mr. Norman and he invited me to a short meeting at the Palace. It turned out to be not so short. I was led to a conference room where there were men in suits that I had never met before. We weren’t introduced.
They cut right to the chase. Since I had been in North Korea, did I think it would be possible to assassinate Kim il Sung and Kim Jong-il?
“I don’t know. I didn’t get that near either of them. They didn’t appear on the patio that we had under surveillance. I would have no idea even where to begin to look.”
“If we could pinpoint them, could you, do it?”
“We are done here. I’m not an assassin.”
“Your Grace, I beg to differ, what were you going to do in North Korea?”
“Let me reword that, I’m not your assassin. I will do the bidding of Her Majesty the Queen or the Empress of China and take action against those that threaten me and mine.”
“Does that include us?”
“Should it?”
The doors to the room slammed open. An irate Queen followed by Grenadier Guards in combat gear stormed into the room.
“You all are under arrest for treason against the Crown.”
Mr. Norman took me aside.
“I will explain all later.”
This would be good. In the meantime, the four men in suits were handcuffed by the soldiers and taken away. They were handled roughly and weren’t heading to a tea party.
Elizabeth only nodded to me as she left the room, she looked madder than a wet hen.
After they left Mr. Norman explained. “These men are the leaders of a group of hardliners in MI6. They want to take out the leadership of North Korea. They don’t care if they set off another shooting war.
“Even worse, their real goal is to return India to the British Empire. This would be a disaster if war broke out between us. They realized that much, so they planned to start a war between India and Pakistan, so that after they fought to a standstill they could go in and take it over.
“They have been abusing their privilege of using meeting rooms at the Palace to intimidate people and make them think the Crown supports them. We needed to hear them commit treason before we could move on them.”
The next day I read of a terrible crash on the A1. Four civil servants on their way to a meeting had veered off the road and ran into a concrete abutment, killing all.
England is England, gentile deaths instead of public beheadings. The same end results.
The following morning, I went for a run in Hyde Park along Rotten Row. I had just made my turn to head back to Trafalgar Square when a police car pulled up beside me.
A bobby leaned out of the still-moving car.
“Your Grace, there is an urgent message for you at the Palace. We are to take you directly there.”
“Whose orders?”
After the other day being summoned to the Palace, it wasn’t an automatic journey.
“Her Majesty’s.”
At that, they pulled to a stop, and I jumped in. With flashing lights and sirens blaring we blasted by Harrods and sped to the Palace.
When I got there, I was immediately escorted to Mr. Norman’s office. He didn’t waste any time.
“Rick, there has been another attempt on May-ling’s life. She is injured but will be okay. You need to get to China as quickly as possible.”
“I will tell them to get the 707 ready.”
“We have something quicker.”
I was flown by helicopter to Mildenhall where a strange-looking aircraft waited. The 707 would be following along but I was going to fly in the prototype aircraft. It had USAF markings.
There was leakage all around the aircraft, but no one seemed to mind that oil and fuel were on the apron.
I dressed in a special suit which was more complex than your standard flight suit. We were in the air in half an hour. There was the pilot and me. Once we were in the air we circled as they refueled us, this thing was so fuel hungry that it almost drained the tanks taking off.
The pilot had little to say to me the whole flight. You would think he was a spook or something.
I wondered how this thing would get me to China quicker than my 707, which could cruise at over five hundred miles an hour. I found out when I read the gauges on the panel in front of me.
Mph’s weren’t shown. Mach numbers were registered. We leveled out at 70,000 feet doing Mach 3.2. Twenty-two hundred miles an hour!
The view was incredible. I was used to seeing the horizon, but this was a clear view of the curvature of the earth. The sky above wasn’t the blue I was used to; it was the black of space.
The control panel had an identification tag. I was in an SR1 Blackbird from Lockheed Martin. I wondered if I could get one. Later, I could find no record that I had ever been in one much less that it existed.
What took over twenty hours we did in five. We landed at a Chinese air force base outside of Beijing. Armed troops immediately surrounded the plane.
The pilot lifted a plastic cover as we were exiting the plane. He flipped a red switch.
“We had better move it,” he yelled.
Since he was running full speed away from the plane I joined him, better to question later. The plane burst into flames. He had told me in flight that the airframe was titanium. I knew it would burn. It did.
The Chinese troops backed off the burning aircraft which would melt down into a puddle.
“Kid, I hope this is worth it, that is fifteen million dollars destroyed.”
“If needed I will pay for it.”
That got his attention. It didn’t last long as I was gathered up and taken to the Forbidden City.
I appeared in front of the Empress of China still wearing my running clothes from London.
“Thank you for coming so quickly, Rick. We need you to take May-ling to safety once more. The last attack was another rocket attack and she ended up with a broken arm. You have been successful in keeping her safe, so I’m asking you to do it once more.”
“I will, but can you tell me the latest intelligence out of North Korea.”
“There is a lot of fighting in the DMZ right now. Kim il Sung is trying to stir up enough trouble that he can demand more concessions from the west. It is also thought he is trying to distract elements of his army which want to seize power.”
“What about that regiment that was posted near the resort?”
“It has been moved to the DMZ. That is why we think he is trying to avoid a coup.”
“I would like to talk to May-ling if possible.”
“Certainly. Follow me.”
She led me to the bomb shelter. May-ling was there in a hospital bed. The room was purpose built as part of a dispensary.
She was very pale and her left arm in a cast. She had a weak smile for me when I came into the room.
“Always you come rushing to me when I need you,” she said.
“How could I not, Your Imperial Highness?”
“Where are we going this time?”
“We aren’t, I’m going for a walk.
Chapter 50
It was time to end this. I spent the next two days preparing for a walking trip, to North Korea. Nothing fancy this time, no airplanes. Nothing to alert the North Kore
ans that I was on my way.
I had thought about using a glider part of the way in, but if it was discovered then they would be hunting for me.
We had left trail blazes and markers to avoid backtracking into box canyons. This had added at least a week to our journey. If I started at the Chinese border, I would have two hundred miles to walk.
At twenty miles a day, it would take ten days to get there. With a marked trail, I was going for seven days.
The one chance I was willing to take was to have a pallet dropped into that deep box canyon with the cave. As I thought about it, I realized that I could jump into the canyon with the pallet. That way I could hide the food, water, first aid kit, and a radio in the cave.
That would save me forty miles of walking. It would be a HALO jump. High Altitude, Low Opening. I would need an altimeter to tell me when to open my chute.
I went out to the airbase and talked to the parachute instructor that I had worked with before. He agreed that it was doable.
While I was there, I saw the six 22 SAS troopers that had been sent to earn their Dragon wings. The Brigadier was one of them. I think the two small rubies used as the Dragons' eyes were what attracted him and the others.
They were the classiest jump wings out there. I mentioned that to the instructor. He got a big laugh out of that.
“Yours have rubies, all others will be painted red. The Empress wanted something special for you as you are the first to earn them.”
I decided not to say anything to the 22 SAS people, let them cross that bridge on their own.
I had to describe my plan to the Empress and May-ling for their approval. No doubt who was running this country.
After that, I had to explain it in great technical detail to the army commanders. They had many questions, good ones but it looked like I had covered all the bases.
The only item that I couldn’t guarantee was that Haoran would come out onto that patio or that the North Koreans could decide to park another regiment there while I was walking in.
