by T I WADE
Ryan was impressed when he entered his new Bridge for the first time. He was still weak, but 17 hours of sleep had helped him regain his normal strength in space, and Lunar was again shocked to see that her father, as he entered the Bridge, hadn’t aged a day since she had left him asleep on DX2017, 14 years earlier. He looked much younger than Captain Pete and Dr. Nancy did back down on earth, and her mother looked her happy self again, exactly as she had remembered her.
“A very pretty view outside, Lunar,” Ryan stated as he entered. His daughter was on duty as Captain.
“You sure can’t get claustrophobic in this fish bowl,” added her mother, her parents arm in arm and helping each other to walk.
Slowly the “OldGeners” arrived. There was no rush, but the smell of freshly brewed coffee from the cafeteria above tempted the recovering crewmembers to hurry up.
Commander Mars Noble entered helping his mother Suzi, who had said very little since she was revived in the cryogenic chambers two days earlier. As usual, and due to her permanent paralysis below her waist, she did not wear her prosthetic legs, and floated in with the guidance of her son.
VIN Noble was behind them, and Lunar was quite shocked how young he looked compared to his son. Father and son only looked around fifteen years difference in age.
“Guten tag all,” stated Suzi smiling at Lunar while she greeted the Bridge. Suzi was still amazed how all these teenagers she had left only a few days ago, it seemed, had all grown up. Lunar, like Mars and Maggie’s daughter Saturn were now adults, had children of their own, and she felt left out that she hadn’t attended the wedding of her only son to Saturn.
“I think I could work in this Bridge for the foreseeable future,” stated VIN looking around in awe. “And this is your domain son?” he asked Mars.
“Well for the time being, and until you want to fight me for the position of ‘Head of Security’, Dad,” smiled Mars. “The laser command center is far more complicated than you used aboard America One, but we could always arm wrestle for it.”
VIN had been told by his son about the loss of Mars’ right arm, the same arm he himself had lost years earlier in the first Matt attack on Mars, and like boys, they had inspected each other’s metal right arms to see which one could respond to the mental commands from the brain. Mars’ more modern arm, made only a couple of years earlier down in Nevada, seemed to work better than his father’s, which was two decades old.
Igor was helped in by Jenny Burgos on one side and her older sister Jane on the other. Poor Igor still looked pale and even though he didn’t feel up to it, there was no way he was going to miss the first briefing on the Bridge.
Vitalily and Boris entered together looking like they had just awakened. They marveled at the Bridge, its size and the large view of space.
Allen and Jamie Saunders entered with Michael and Penny Pitt. The astronauts looked better than poor Igor, and all four walked in unattended.
Dr. Rogers and Nurse Martha were helped in by Shelly Saunders and Hillary Pitt. Both medics had been impressed at the medical service they had received from Dr. Nancy’s Personal Assistants, and told the growing group. Dr. Rogers had always been a softy for cakes and Danishes, often present with the pouches of coffee at these meetings, and couldn’t help himself heading over to the area where the snacks were floating on display.
“Sorry, Doc” stated Lunar as she watched Dr. Rogers do his usual thing, helped over by Shelly Saunders “Made on earth, but frozen for the journey. We haven’t really tested the onboard kitchens for fresh cakes.”
Finally the Jones family entered with Max Von Braun, one of the younger “OldGen” mechanics who hadn’t been asleep, and for the first time the young “NextGen” crew could see the real age difference between crewmembers of the same era.
Max, the build crew member who had helped Mars Noble out of his crashed Matt spaceship on the red planet helped in his secret buddy Jonesy. They belonged to a secret society aboard ship few knew about.
Jonesy still had trouble controlling his legs, but it looked like they were getting stronger. What was surprising to Mars and Lunar was that Max had been one of the young members of the crew who had headed out in America One on the odyssey decades earlier. At that time he had been 35 years younger than Jonesy. Now the age difference had changed to just 20 years, and the crew could easily see the lessor age difference between the two men.
Other than Max, there were none of the OldGeners aboard who hadn’t been to sleep.
Jonesy looked well compared to two days earlier. Saturn, and Max Von Braun, surprisingly to Lunar, ran around the astronaut doting on him like nurses. She had never seen her friend Saturn in this state before. Saturn got him a cup of coffee, then a Danish, then began to look after her mother. Jonesy was then offered a second Danish by Max, and Lunar thought to ask Jonesy what his secret was.
“Crew of Astermine, young, old, and not so old,” joked Ryan as everybody got what they wanted and sat around the Bridge full of crew. “First I want to thank our children, our Astermine children who returned to wake us parents. I want to thank young Max and his crew for looking after our children in our absence. At least we are still loved enough for our kids to come and get us, or, we are really needed down there on earth.”
To Mars Noble, it seemed that Ryan seemed jollier than he had done in the past, and with the more senior members of the crew back he said nothing. Ryan had gone through a lot of personal hell on the red planet before he had gone to sleep.
“It seems that we old fogies have really been asleep for fourteen years. I still can’t believe it, and now understand the surprises on the Matt faces when they found a new breed of people looking at them after centuries of sleep.”
“If we had slept any longer, Saturn could have been older than me,” mumbled Jonesy enjoying his coffee.
“Maybe we should have let you sleep another round or two partner,” remarked VIN Noble. “You were always grumpy when you woke up on our mining expeditions.”
Saturn gave her father-in-law a mean stare, and VIN grinned at her and winked. VIN Noble, a Jones expert, wasn’t going to stand for any of the usual Jones family theatricals.
“Thank you, as usual Mr. Jones,” added Ryan. He felt happy. Everybody had survived, it was good to see all the crew at their new ages of maturity, and the sleep must have done him good as he could put up with the Jones circus for a little while longer. “Lunar, that new shuttle, SB-IV is fantastic, so is this new mother ship. Kudos to you NextGeners…all of you. I saw a second new shuttle docked when we came in. How many ships does Astermine now have operational?’ he asked his daughter.
“America Two, SB-IV the shuttle that lifted you off the asteroid, her twin sister SB-V which brought up our new build crew last week, SB-I, II and III, Astermine I and II, and of course Asterspace III,” Lunar replied.
“Come now children, bring us up to date on everything please,” stated Suzi.
“A good idea,” replied Ryan. “Lunar you have the floor, I’m dying for another cup of coffee, Kathy if you please?”
For an hour, Lunar spoke to the crew about what had happened in their absence. She spent half of her time explaining how Dr. Nancy and Captain Pete had saved their own lives by returning to earth in Ryan’s office no less, and how they were nothing more than a stationary blip of their radars screens when they were found. Then she gave the floor to Mars Noble as Head of Security.
Mars explained his angle of the fourteen years—the journeys to the red planet, the loss of his right arm, the caves he had found, what he had seen in the caves, and what he thought he had seen.
“Running water?” asked Igor. “That’s impossible.”
“As impossible as finding liquid water in Endeavor Crater, Igor?” suggested Jonesy.
“A warm underground temperature? Matts in blue spacesuits, and without helmets?” Ryan asked.
“Did you see any green plants in their habitat?” asked Suzi.
“We will find out on our next journey t
o The Martian Club Retreat,” replied Mars Noble. “Look at what we have underground in our own base. We have crops, food, we have outdoor crops under the blue shields, and the gravity on the red planet isn’t bad. Yes, we had storms, too many of them, but I believe that maybe the Matts used that area as their base because it had underground running water. And yes Commander Richmond, the temperature inside their base showed up as warm enough for life down there. No, Mom, Johnny and I did not see any vegetation, but I do believe there was an old tree in their windowed off area. I thought I was seeing illusions, but come to think of it, there could have been an old tree next to the river. Now I really want to go back and actually see what is in there.” Mars Noble continued and brought the security side of the company up to date.
Ryan then asked who had dissolved the security space shuttles orbiting for protection, and his daughter replied that she had, and that it had been the right time. The planet was mending, thanks to several countries and ex-President Dithers Roo working hard for eight years to bring the United States back on line.
It took Lunar a while to make the older generation believe that the planet was mending that it was actually pleasant to live in the United States, as in other parts of the world again, and one of theirs was U.S. President.
“Dad, crew,” she continued. “The world is at peace. The people of our country are finding new jobs. Martin Brusk is opening a dozen new space and electric car plants across the country. Other companies that had gone dormant for decades are returning to business, and jobs are being created. Only Russia and China still have a stand-off position against the rest of the world, but I believe that they will have to join the restructure of the planet one day.”
“What about Iran, North Korea, South America?” asked her father.
“Iran is working together with the rest of the Middle East as a unit. North Korea I believe was overtaken by South Korea, Japan and a few other countries while we were away. We haven’t really heard much from that area, but I know that the old dictatorship is gone, and the country is being organized by an interim control government from Canada. South America is also quiet, and I believe restructure is happening all around the world, except Russia and China. We had to fly out the entire Russian production system you had set up there, and now they are working in our base in Nevada, the island. Several of the smaller Russian companies we airlifted out are working with Martin Brusk in the Middle East.”
“If that is all happening down there, then we must make sure that it continues,” stated Ryan, excited.
“That is why we decided on two trade-fitted ships between Mars and Earth, Dad,” Lunar continued. “We NextGeners decided to fit out the ships as cargo vessels. Planet earth really needs what Mars has to offer, and vice versa. The next generation can go exploring in new ships if they want. We NextGeners are all pretty uninterested in any other planets than Mars at the moment.”
“The Rare Earth metals, and the quantities of them we saw in the molten gold from the Matt tunnel will need several cargo flights between the planets to move what we believe is there,” added Mars.
“Martin Brusk begged us to return with as much of the metals as we can ASAP,” stated Saturn. “It seems that Astermine, and the whole world now depends on these metals for modern electronic production.”
“And we have satellite communications again Commander,” added Jane Burgos. “I can’t remember what normal life was like on earth, but the people in Nevada seem to be very happy with what is going on.”
“Dad, they are even refitting out Nellis, your old Air Force Base, and Creech,” stated Shelly Saunders to her father who had once been the base commander at Nellis in Las Vegas.
“You should have seen where we ate lunch in Henderson, Dad,” continued Lunar. “We drove your cars with Sergeant Meyers, before he passed away, and he showed us this restaurant.”
Ryan was quite surprised that his daughters had met an old neighbor of his, and Lieutenant Walls was saddened by the death of his old number two. With Johnny, his grandson being killed, and then Sergeant Meyers passing, the lieutenant had lost family and friends while he had been asleep.
Saturn continued the three-hour long briefing describing the Australian island, Bob Mathews and fishing, Martin Brusk’s base in Tel Aviv, and the base back in Nevada.
Jonesy asked about his Gulfstream, and Saturn stated his aging aircraft was still flying and she had increased the hours by a hundred or so.
The eight-year rule of the United States of America with Joanne as president was then well described by Hillary Pitt. Hillary, who had followed her older sister’s progress since Penelope had left the Nevada base to follow her political dream, described the transition from a country on its knees to a country about to rebound. Penelope had kept close ties to her sister, and had often iMailed and or had videoed reports of success back to Nevada.
Michael and Penny Pitt were congratulated on their daughter’s success. Michael replied that it seemed that every one of the young crew they had left behind had done a superb job in their absence and the OldGeners gave the NextGeners a loud round of applause for the hard work.
It was time to head back to the orbital platform, and many of the older members stayed on the bridge to watch the mother ship heading back to an earth orbit, two days away.
Dr. Nancy had ordered the PA’s to not permit any drinking of alcoholic beverages for at least three days after awakening. The crew regained their strength and as earth filled the windows of the ship again, a party was held in the cafeteria on the third night. Bottles of Australian wine and cold beer were enjoyed by the crew, who didn’t appreciate what it did to their virgin-drinking heads the next morning.
A day later, SB-IV undocked from the mother ship and readied for her first flight to earth with half of the returning crew. Jonesy had been allowed by Ryan to get behind the flight console with Maggie for a short time to view the new ship’s systems, which were virtually exact to the old shuttle’s flight systems. Saturn was a little hesitant at first and had to explain any new controls added to SB-IV.
Once she was done, Saturn, with her father as co-pilot and flight instructor, took SB-IV back down to earth wrapped in the shuttle’s blue shield
Mars headed down with VIN and Suzi on the first flight, as did Lunar with Ryan and Kathy, Igor and Boris. The Burgos sisters with many of the older astronauts were happy to remain in charge of the mother ship docked at the orbital build platform, and would return with the second half of the crew once they were relieved.
Chapter 3
Ryan Richmond Takes Over Command of Astermine Co.
As usual the wheelchairs had to be used when the arriving crew were helped out of SB-IV by the ground crew who were ready for the return of the OldGeners. Dr. Nancy, and Captain Pete had been flown into the Nevada base for the occasion by Gary Darwin and Mark Price in the Jones family Gulfstream.
Ex-President Joanne, Roo and their two boys had arrived in a different aircraft, still being trailed by two secret service agents who were ordered by Joanne to stand down.
As usual Dr. Nancy with Joanne as her number two fussed over each crewmember as they were helped down the ship’s stairs one by one, and placed into a wheelchair once they had given them a hug.
To Ryan and the others Dr. Nancy had aged, so had Captain Pete and Joanne, as had many of the base crew they had worked with for decades before the cryogenic sleep. Dr. Nancy and her husband did look fit, tanned and healthy, but the age difference between the ones who had been asleep and the ones who hadn’t was startling. Only Ruler Roo looked the same as he did when they had said goodbye.
The pain of earth’s gravitational pull was worse than ever for the extremely weak bodies of the ones who had been asleep. It had been hard enough to walk around on America Two, then the orbital platform, and a few days in space hadn’t prepared them for the harshness of earth’s gravity.
Dr. Nancy made sure that their necks were held up vertically as they were carefully wheeled out of the hot sun and
into the medical center. Ryan was wheeled in by Pluto Katherine who wasn’t allowed to introduce her father to her husband or his grandchild until the doctor declared it safe to do so.
“You guys look pale, but oh so young,” stated Dr. Nancy to Ryan while giving him a full flight medical. “I sometimes think that with what Pete and I went through getting back to earth, and the way you look Ryan, we all took the wrong road.”
“We can’t stop aging doc,” Ryan replied weakly. “We might have bought a few extra years, but I’m beginning to remember that I had many vivid dreams while I was asleep. I wonder if this cryogenic sleep might have changed our brains, or our thoughts?”
“Why do you say that?” asked the doctor, suddenly very interested.
“I don’t know but…. I feel different,” Ryan replied. “I feel less stressed for sure. I feel like I’ve just been on a long vacation, and ready for work. Actually I don’t know what I feel, it’s all so new. The growing up of Lunar and Pluto Katherine, and you and Pete. It is taking me a lot of brain power to fathom all this out. I was thinking up there on our return flight that the Matts like Commander Joot and Roo might be different to the warlike Matts we saw on the red planet due to generations of this “sleeping”. I feel very peaceful. Maybe this cryogenic sleep makes one more peaceful?”
“Something to consider, open your mouth Commander, and for me to start a research project on,” replied Dr. Nancy smiling. “Maybe Homo sapiens with warlike tendencies should be put to sleep, cryogenically of course.”
“It seems that we are going to go back and fight those guys for our right to habitat the red planet,” added Ryan once the doctor took the tongue depressor out of his mouth. “I was thinking that Jonesy should be checked out and a research study started on him to see if he has lost any of his cold humor?” Dr. Nancy agreed on that one.
