Launch

by Richard Perth

  He felt something bumping into him everywhere, all over his body and arms and legs. David turned on his suit lights, but all he could see was broken, torn, and shredded kelp. Surrounded by it, immersed in it, and buried in it, he tried to sweep it away with his arms. But as soon as some kelp moved, more took its place.

  He knew his oxygen supply was limited, and he had to get to the surface, but how? Which way was up?

  Then he remembered that kelp had gas filled bladders that gave it positive buoyancy. He knew his spacesuit had neutral buoyancy, so he went perfectly still to watch the kelp. He felt relieved when he saw it was moving in the direction he thought was up: his suit had righted itself like it was supposed to.

  But how do you swim in this stuff?

  Keeping his feet together, he slowly raised his arms as straight up and as high as he could, then swept his hands and arms down in a stroke. It worked, and he moved up against the kelp. He did it again, and again.

  His helmet lights were useless. All they showed was kelp, and he wanted to be able to see the surface of the ocean. David turned the lights off and counted ten strokes. Then turned his lights on and watched the kelp to make sure he was going the right way. He was. Then he did twenty strokes and checked again, and then another twenty.

  The possibility of decompression sickness occurred to him, but he dismissed it. He was breathing pure oxygen. Even if he had been breathing air, his upward progress was slow enough for his body to adjust. What did concern him was whether he would get to the surface before his oxygen ran out.

  ▼

  The two remaining sea-rescue taxis landed on the ocean’s surface. Each dropped a tethered sensor into the water. Data was collected, merged, and converted into clear images of everything in the water for hundreds of yards. The media picked up the images and broadcast them around the world.

  On her omniglass window, Claire could see broken kelp rising to form a layer that floated over the kelp forest.

  A shoal of a thousand jumbo squid slowly returned to the crash site. Their colors changed back and forth between red and white, a sign of aggression, as they searched for the cause of their fear and anger. Meanwhile, they cannibalized squid that had been injured or killed by the crashing taxi.

  A media announcer said, “Humboldt squid, also called jumbo squid or Red Devils, are carnivorous marine invertebrates that hunt collectively and devour prey bigger than themselves. Many weigh more than one hundred pounds and are over six feet long, not counting ten tentacles that surround a razor sharp beak. Shaped like that of a parrot, the squid’s beak can be as big as a man’s fist. Suckers surrounded by sharp teeth are arrayed along the tentacles. Two triangular fins and water ejected through a siphon can propel the squid up to 15 miles per hour.”

  A robot diver jumped into the water from one of the rescue taxis. Its side hands were webbed for swimming and its feet were large flippers. It carried an inflatable life vest in its back hand and a combination electroshock and bang stick in its front hand. The weapon had two prongs on one end that sent a jolt of electricity between them when they were pressed against a target. On the other end was a bang stick mechanism, which fired a waterproof shotgun shell when pressed against a target.

  The other taxi lifted off and began to hover over the kelp forest, searching for David.

  ▼

  David swam more than a hundred and thirty strokes before he saw light off to one side and above him. He stroked toward it.

  The inside of David’s helmet briefly flashed yellow. Oxygen warning! He fought down panic and continued to stroke. A second yellow flash came several seconds later. With only minutes of oxygen remaining, David continued swimming at the same, steady pace and hoped that was the most efficient use of the oxygen he had left.

  As he neared the top of the kelp forest, David saw a sea rescue taxi floating on the surface, beside the floating kelp. He smiled and changed course to swim toward it.

  Shortly after he swam clear above the underwater forest, he felt what he thought was more kelp attached to his right leg, dragging him down. He tried to shake it free, but it did not come off.

  When he looked down, he saw tentacles of a hundred-pound Humboldt squid was wrapped around his leg. The body of the beast was as long as David was tall, and he felt fear creep up his spine. He raised his left leg and tried to kick it off. The squid quickly released its hold on David’s right leg, wrapped its tentacles around both of his knees, and tried to bite into his right thigh.

  The spacesuit was designed to resist micrometeorites traveling at 30,000 miles per hour. It was too tough for the squid, but the animal was holding David under water, and his helmet continued to flash a low oxygen warning. He could not move his legs and drew back his right arm to punch the squid. But before he could deliver the punch, it released him and disappeared.

  A robot diver appeared from behind David where it had electroshocked the squid. It held up the life vest and pointed to David’s left arm. He nodded, and the robot put the neck of the life vest under David’s left armpit and pulled the two lanyards to inflate the vest.

  David was glad when he felt himself being pulled up, but the squid had not left. It hovered about 20 feet away, watching and changing colors between red and white. Shortly after David began rising, the squid began another attack. The robot gave its bang stick to David and swam toward the squid. Instead of ripping it apart, the robot stopped moving. The squid wrapped its tentacles around the robot and began trying to bite it.

  David realized the robot was giving him time to get away, and he did not waste the opportunity. He put the electroshock/bang stick in his left hand and held his left arm tight against his body, so the life vest would not float away. Then he stroked with his right arm to swim toward the taxi.

  The second rescue taxi landed and another robot jumped out just as David began to see red and white flashing all around him. The vague colors became dozens of Humboldt squid attacking from all directions. Each squid held its tentacles together in streamlined point aimed directly at David and used its fins and siphons to propel itself through the water.

  David quit swimming, took the electroshock bang stick in his right hand, and waited. The flashing light in his helmet blinked faster and turned to orange. In all directions surrounding him, tentacles lined with rasping suckers opened and revealed sharp orange beaks.

  As he was preparing to defend himself, David heard a rising crescendo of clicking. It was the rescue taxis broadcasting the sonar sound of attacking sperm whales, a voracious squid predator.

  Instead of being overwhelmed by a mass of tentacles and beaks, the squid jetted away and David was left in a cloud of ink.

  The Humboldt squid holding the robot also vanished in a cloud of ink.

  The robot swam to David and held out a hand for its bang stick. He was glad to see the robot and more than happy to give it the weapon. A red oxygen warning light was flashing rapidly in his helmet, and he was feeling short of breath. He looked at the robot, pointed to his helmet, and mouthed the word “Oxygen.”

  The robot grabbed David’s right arm and began swimming with powerful kicks toward the nearest taxi. He began to feel like he could not breathe and barely noticed the second robot grab his other arm. Then he did not feel anything.

  David regained consciousness lying on the floor of the taxi. His helmet was off, and a robot was holding an oxygen mask on his face. An instrument plugged into his suit monitored his blood pressure. His gloves were off, and a pulse oxygen monitor was clipped to a finger. His boots were off, and another robot was monitoring the strength of his pulse in his ankles.

  The robot holding the mask checked David’s eyes with a light and asked him if he was okay.

  He nodded.

  “Do you feel like sitting up sir?”

  Again David nodded. Keeping the oxygen mask in place, the robots lifted him to the middle seat in the back and buckled his seat belt. The doors closed, and the taxi took off.

  The robot checked his eyes with the
penlight again. Then it asked, “Do you think you can breathe without the oxygen mask, sir?”

  David nodded, and the robot took the mask away. After a minute, it checked his eyes.

  “How do you feel, sir?”

  “I think I’m okay. How long was I out?”

  “Less than two minutes, sir. But after all that you have been through, you should probably have a complete physical examination, soon.”

  ▼

  When they met on the launch pad at Vandenberg, Amira gave Claire a firm hug and asked about the baby.

  “She’s fine,” Claire said. “Thank you for what you said about David.”

  “It was understated truth,” Amira said. . . . “Did I hear you call him Buni?”

  “Yes. That’s his Air Force call sign.”

  “Where did it come from?”

  “It started as a joke after David saved the life of the President, and it stuck.”

  Amira shook her head. “It should be Tiger. He is the bravest man I have ever met.”

  ▼

  When he stepped out of the rescue taxi, David felt and looked frazzled. Claire flew into his arms. They held each other, and he knew his ordeal was over.

  With a hug that surprised him, Amira welcomed David. Then she said, “Claire, take your husband to Broadview. Because of him, we have a future, and we can wait until he is rested before we try to say thank you.”

  ▼

  The first thing David did was take a shower. When he came out of the bathroom, he was wearing his navy blue robe.

  Claire put their baby in his arms. “This is your daughter, Kathryn Joanne Archer.”

  David carefully held his baby daughter as he looked at her tiny fingers and toes and blue eyes and wisps of blond hair. With a note of awe in his voice, he asked, “How did you make her so perfect?”

  She smiled. “I had a little help, you know.”

  “A very tiny bit,” he said.

  “It was enough. She’s half you and half me.”

  ▼

  While David ate a brunch of steak and eggs, Claire told him about the court decision and the grandfather law.

  He looked at her and said, “That means we’re staying, right?”

  She saw tears in his eyes and went around the table. Claire kissed away his tears and gently kissed him on the lips. “Welcome home.”

  ▼

  David went to bed at two in the afternoon. When he woke up, twelve hours later, his wife was kissing him, and his daughter was crying in the nursery.

  “Wake up Buni,” Claire said gently. “It’s time for a parenting lesson.”

  Following her into the nursery, he noticed she was wearing a new black negligee. It emphasized more than it concealed, and Claire was extremely sexy.

  She supervised as he changed a diaper for the first time. Afterward, she breast-fed her daughter. Then she put a cloth on David’s shoulder, and showed him how to burp Kathryn.

  After she burped softly, he carried her back to her crib. Very carefully, as if she was a fragile work of irreplaceable art, he put her down and kissed her. Claire lightly cleaned Kathryn’s face, kissed her, and adjusted her blanket.

  David put his arms around Claire from behind as they watched their daughter go back to sleep.

  He spoke softly. “Shall we start another one?”

  “It’s too soon,” she said, “but we can practice.”

  “I love practice.”

  Kathryn quickly went back to sleep, and Claire turned in David’s arms. Her kiss triggered blazing passion for the woman he loved more than his own life.

  He picked her up and carried her in his arms to their bed.

  THE END

  CREDITS

  The image of Earth on the cover is from

  “The Blue Marble”

  a NASA image. It can be seen at

  http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=57723

  The background behind Origin in Chapter 12 is a

  modified copy of a NASA photograph of Omega Centauri

  taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. It can be seen at

  http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1465.html

  The tetrahedron shaped starship images on the

  cover and in Chapter 12 are copyrighted and are used

  herein with the permission of the copyright holder.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  As Amira says at the housewarming, “The point is that we human beings are interdependent. We learn from each other and depend on each other to meet our needs. We are much richer for it, because we directly and indirectly benefit from all human experience.”

  Me too. I was intimidated by the thought of writing this book, and I have relied heavily on the generosity and compassion of very special people to get the job done.

  My wife, Diana, has tolerated much and helped me in innumerable ways. I have relied and continue to rely on her suggestions, more than she knows.

  Rebecca Ingram was my muse and my first editor, and she designed the cover. She is indeed a very kind soul who took time out from working on her doctorate to help me. Her intelligence, encouragement, and help made this novel possible.

  I would also like to thank Betsy Winslow, Carol Boote, Erin Wolf Reyburn, Faith Hickman Bryne, Kelly Eskridge, Layla Benitez-James, Briana Olson, Elizabeth G. Messler, Marlo and Matthew Taylor, Lori Culwell, Janna Balthaser, Christina Ingram, and Hortencia Fabiola Guadalupe Figueroa Becerra Fuentes for their help and suggestions. Their contributions to this book are beyond measure.

  This is a work of fiction, and any errors or failures are entirely those of the author.