Earth Lost Without Power

by L. S. Wood

  The happy feelings among the last few cosmonauts left aboard the space station, including Commander Ivan, were ecstatic with self-pleasing pleasure with this timely event. No one left behind this time gave them all a most wonderful feeling, especially to Commander Ivan. He thought for sure right from the beginning that he would never see his loving family ever again.

  It had been many days of hard mind numbing, and corporal work to ready both space capsules and the Omega One for their safe return trip back home to Earth. For most of them, except for the Omega One crew, it seemed like a dream to the many cosmonauts after having been lost in space for so many months. Soon they, too, would wake up from this horrid dream, and find themselves still in the dilemma of yet another more horrid morbid situation of being stuck back home in a dream they could not wake up from or escape.

  This time going home had not been a dream, and when they awoke the work still continued until this day when the first spacecraft pulled itself away from their home from up in the heavens.

  A couple of the crew from the space station leaving aboard the Omega One were half scared to death to leave the safety and solitude of the space station. They hadn’t flown in so long and were experiencing the feeling of claustrophobia from all being so closely confined in the Omega’s flight compartment, or was it just plain excitement for them in their returning back home again? They were all feeling like first time parachute jumpers, who had jumped for the first time and had committed themselves to the sky above the earth. Once out the aircraft doorway, it becomes too late for you for the wind of the earth’s sky will take you away from the airplane’s open fuselage door.

  It becomes too late to change one’s mind after jumping, wanting to return back to the safety inside the aircrafts fuselage where you had just mille seconds prior to jumping had been safe. Now the parachutists’ lives are in the strength of the nylon straps as well in the nylon canopy of the chute above them in safely returning them back to the earth below. Control with these cosmonauts over their lives as parachutists given up and entrusted to the safety of the shuttle crew, strangers who were at the controls flying the space shuttle home. Not all these Americans were strangers, but none of these cosmonauts had ever entrusted their lives to anyone, especially not into the hands of enemies with a controlling power, only to the ones they had trained with prior to traveling into outer space. All they could possibly hope for now was that Commander Anderson, and his flight crews were as well qualified in their training as they felt they had been in theirs. It did not matter anymore now, for they were like that parachutist who had just went out the door above the earth, and had committed him or herself to the safety of the parachute and its nylon cords.

  Home, sweet home, sweet home, sweet home, what was home now? The remembrance of going to the opera with one’s family, or going fishing down side the canal by the power station. Going to hockey match games with friends and skating with children and friends on frozen ponds or at public skating rink, or flying to the French Riviera for a week or two of pleasure with one’s spouse just to get away. What would life be like back on Earth with all these drastic changes being told to them by these strangers, who were not really strangers, but who were in control of their flight home to their new destiny in life.

  What were these many changes to the earth going to do to them and this thing everyone has been calling the creature of the air? This neutron field that was deadly to all living creatures except the ones who lived beneath the sea or beneath the surface of the earth’s crust. Whatever the changes, they would have to face them soon, and they did not really care what they were as long as they could be back home again with their loving families once again, or could they? No more electrical power to operate lights at one’s desks to help them read or electrical power to fire engines in cars to travel. No more power above the surface of the earth to run all the conveniences in useful appliances they once grew so accustomed to having. Just the thought about all these new changes scared the hell out of most of them, but the worst would soon come to pass.

  After landing, they would find out the truths about their devastated families and friends back home along with their new destiny. The thoughts of this creature the Americans kept referring to as the thing in the sky worried many of the cosmonauts. How could it be an invisible creature that took the life out of anyone if it was invisible? If it is not electrical, then how in the hell can it take one’s life if it did not electrify them as everyone says it does? How can it make its victims smell as if all had burnt to death by acid when there is none in the air? The earth once known to them as home seemed invaded by aliens from outer space, and they were partially correct when they thought of this invasion from outer space this way. It was an invasion from space but not by aliens. It was caused by some of their over greedy leaders back on Earth who wanted to take over control of the planet by using power of dictatorship for themselves. They lost their own lives to this power they had created leaving the deadly creature in the sky to reap the power in their stupidity for years to come over the earth.

  The cosmonauts returning to Earth were like new born baby fetuses ready to leave their mother’s safe and secure womb up in the space station as and the flight back to Earth, their travels down the birth canal of their mother’s birth canal releasing them out into a life they were not yet accustomed to. While they were in space, they were safe from hurt and many other outer cruelties that they would soon encounter by experiencing the massive hurt and confusion in their new environment. The safe haven of the space station was now over with, with the releasing of the docking clamps.

  Releasing the Omega One from the space station’s docking clamps was like the mothers first contraction before giving birth to her unborn child. The flight back to Earth, that special voyage down through the birth canal, and the landing the first cry of the newborn baby just prior to venturing out and growing up in their new existence.

  “Fire thruster rockets, major.” The landing crew at the cape had had their eyes pasted to the blue and partially cloudy skies for the last several days anticipating the return of their spacecraft, the Omega One.

  The fire stations overhead garage doors were purposely being left wide open all day during the daylight hours in anticipation of the spacecraft returning soon, so someone on the ground could hear the sonic boom the shuttle would make on its reentry into the earth’s atmosphere overhead. They were all ready to make a grand welcome home to the crew, and hoped their services would not be needed other than as a welcoming committee. The space shuttle Omega One was due back sometime this week. The ground crew did not know the approximate time or how long it would take the crews above to prepare everything on her and the space modules for their safe return flight back home to Earth for everyone. This landing would not be like the last ones. They were prepared this time for the shuttle’s return. If there was to be one, it would take place between the hours of 0900 hours and 1200 hours, give or take an hour one way or the other. They would be able to see the Omega One soaring high through the sky like an eagle in flight high above the earth’s crust leaving a vapor trail behind it like a tail as it evaporated any moisture around it into steam.

  “Fire the retro rockets, lieutenant.”

  “No not yet, commander, the computer dictates two more minutes and counting, sir.”

  “Very well lieutenant. It sure seems nice to still have power doesn’t it?”

  “Yes Sir, commander, it sure does.” Lieutenant Marsh counted down the last few seconds with the computer in its final countdown ready to fire the retrorockets. Three, Two, One, fire, the retro rockets fired simultaneously. This allowed the shuttle to slow down from seventeen thousand miles an hour downward to a slower reentry speed, and placed the craft into a 45-degree pitch angle for their rapid descent, allowing the Omega One to safely reenter the earth’s atmosphere without burning itself up.

  “What is the bottom temperature of this bird, lieutenant?”

 
“The clay-tiles are at 900 degrees Fahrenheit, and climbing, sir.”

  “OK Bill! Follow through with me now. Hold her steady at the 45-degree angle of descent firmly with me now. That damn neutron thing will take the computer away from us at any minute now, and we want to be ready for the floundering of this bird if there is any.”

  The Soviet passengers were able to listen in on everything going on in the cockpit which made them both excited and nervous about everything taking place all at the same time. Some were now beginning to get the sick feeling the force of gravity was having upon their week bodies for not having experienced gravity in over two or more years in space. It did not feel too pleasant to them now, and most did not think they would survive through the reentry and landing because it bothered them so. The flesh of their bodies began crushing down around their weak skeletal frames making them struggle to breath. The g-force grew stronger on them as they descended down into the extent of lightheadedness they thinking they would all surely all pass out from the extensive pressure. Colonel Anderson and his crew felt the discomfort of the g-force as well, but nothing like the discomfort their passengers were going through with theirs.

  The yellowy brownish green orange sheen came as expected. The electrical power in the Omega One’s instrument panel vanished into blackness when the massive neutron field snuck into the cockpit via the electrical wiring harness. It quickly vanished back out into the air of the atmosphere after not finding its way into any space suits trying to suck the life out if any of the astronauts had the slightest flaw in their suits. The batteries onboard were instantly drained of all their electrical power leaving the onboard computers a useless instrument for controlling the Omega One.

  “Hold the controls back steady, Bill. We want to keep her nose up until we reach 10,000 feet.” Bill acknowledged Colonel Anderson by looking his way and nodding his head in response. “According to everything prior to the loss of power we were right on schedule and due course. Lieutenant, pressurize the cabin so we can remove these helmets, please.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTY-TWO

  The Sonic Boom

  Suddenly the ground crew heard that all so familiar sound they had all been expecting to hear for the last few days of the returning space shuttle from outer space. It was that familiar sound of the Omega One breaking the sound barrier high up in the heavens. The firefighters fired up their diesel engines with their air jump starters. The sudden influx of air shooting through the starters whistled a loud defining shrilling sound as the engines of their vehicles came to life, and the blue smoke billowed out from their smokestacks. The ground crews pulled their rigs out to both sides of the runway to watch the magnificent scene of the Omega One touching down on what was supposed to be her last flight, or was it, they did not really know.

  The ground of the earth below the Omega One shook from the sudden shock of the sound wave the Omega One caused by breaking the sound barrier above it. People on the ground looked up unrepentantly to see a rainstorm approaching with lightning flashing for the first time in as many months as they could remember. It would have been too good to think the power of the earth was winning its battle in taking back the extent of the strong neutron field of the atmosphere and retuning everything back to normalcy once again.

  Scientist predicted a return one day to normality around the earth, if the massive neutron field in the atmosphere was somehow neutralized. With everything that was happening on Earth, the people of the planet thought it was a prediction similar to Newton’s faulty, and the people of Earth were adjusting to their new ways of life without any hopes of normality ever returning.

  The shuttle’s crew scrambled down into the belly of the Omega and cranked down her landing gear, while Commander Anderson and Major Bill held her steady on course with her flight controls. Landing flaps needed cranking down into the landing position just like the landing gears. This was something the astronauts onboard the Twitchel had no control over on their first and second landings.

  Lieutenant Marsh turned out to be as excellent a navigator as Ann had been on both her previous flights. Colonel Anderson was overly pleased with his selection of him and the job Lieutenant Marsh did for him and his crew was turning out to be an excellent one.

  “Here we go, gents. Boy, does that black strip of tarmac look appealing to the eyes. Pull her back gently, major. A little more uplift, Bill. That’s it, Bill, that’s it.”

  The crew who had cranked down the landing gear of the Omega One had just sat back down in their seats and buckled themselves in just prior the tires of the Omega One smoking and coming to life rolling down the runway. Lieutenant Marsh let the braking chutes wide open behind the Omega One with a quick yank on some levers, and everything was going as planned for this rescue mission.

  Commander Anderson could not remember a better landing even when everything was working onboard the old-fashioned way with electricity powered hydraulics for the flight controls and for the landing gears.

  The anxious ground crew watched through their binoculars in amazement as this big bird like an eagle came zooming in out of the heavens above leaving a torrent trail of hot white mist in the sky behind her. She soared through the air like a jet under full throttle. This was the first space shuttle anyone had seen coming in on the runway in over three long years. It was a beautiful sight watching this particular craft come floating down out of the heavens and make such a wonderful landing. She touched down at the far end first part on the runway and came speeding down the runway the way she was intended to do with her beautiful red, white, and blue parachutes fully extended out behind her. It had to have been the best and smoothest shuttle landing ever recorded in the life of NASA.

  The Soviet cosmonauts on board were astonished with the smoothness of the landing of the shuttle. They were expecting this hard usual bouncy sort of landing they were so use to having in the space capsules that hit like a rock on land, and preferred to land them in the softness of the water. They could find no fault even with the roughness of the runway. It was hard to tell in the landing when the lift of air holding them up in flight gave way to the support of the runway holding them up on the landing gear, except for the occasional soft bump of the asphalt beneath the wheels.

  “I need some help with these brakes, major. Give me a steady pressure Bill. A little more Bill, a little more.” Colonel Anderson and Major Bill both applied a steady strong pressure to the braking pedal system bringing the Omega One slowing her down to the runway.

  “OK, Bill, release your brakes, I have her now.” Bill took both his feet away from the hydraulic ruder braking system and let Colonel Anderson have full control of stopping his craft. Colonel Anderson lifted both feet from the two braking pedals so the Omega One could coast all the way down the runway to the awaiting line of fire trucks. Rescue personnel lined both sides of the runway in case a disaster might hit the Omega One on its landing, but nothing drastic happened. Commander Anderson let the spacecraft come right up to the line of fire trucks before he resumed applying breaking pressure to bring the Omega One to a complete stop. The firefighters brought the stairway ramp truck up alongside the Omega One’s fuselage allowing the hatch to be opened allowing everyone onboard to offload to the awaiting vehicles.

  By chance, the eye in the sky was in the proper location of its orbit to watch with excitement as the Omega One came to a halt at the end of the runway in front of so many vehicles. They knew some of their companions would be leaving for their homeland shortly, and could not wait to be back on Earth. Maybe with a little bit of luck, they all could go back home to Russia together. It would only be a short, very long forty-eight hours before the next spacecraft would or could depart from its orbit in space and attempt a landing where the Omega One had just made its safe landing.

  The next day, looking down from the eye in the sky, the crew aboard the space lab watched as the Omega One was on its way from its landing location to an empty hanger. The Space Station c
rew knew they were getting everything ready for another space vehicle to land there. The weather surrounding the cape and the Leeward Islands toward the eastern Atlantic looked very favorable for the next day’s attempt at returning the first space capsule back to Earth.

  That night when they passed overhead of the cape, the space station sent its Morse coded signal to the team of observers below, signaling them that they would be coming home soon, or at least attempting to.

  0400 hours in the early morning of the following day, found the crew of the first Soviet space capsule sitting nervously in their seats ready to depart the space station. If all went well, which everyone hoped and prayed would, the other space module in another forty-eight hours to the minute, the last of the Soviet crew members aboard the space station would be on their way home as well.

  “Commander, we are secure, and ready to depart, sir.”

  “Release holding clamps at will; see you all in a couple days, comrades. You all have a safe return flight back home, comrades. Say “hi” to every one below for us, and be safe.”

  “Will do, Commander Ivan, we will try to be, module one capsule, over and out.” Commander Ivan took the pleasure of releasing the holding clamps securing the first module to the space station. He was thrilled to be able to set his people free from their bondage held captive in space. His only fear for their safety was in their releasing the landing parachutes too early in their descending phase, and feared they would drift out to sea as the first module crew had done before.

  Off the African coast was another slight disturbance taking place in the atmosphere. He was sure this time it would prove deadly instead of lucky for the next module crew, if they ended up in the Atlantic Ocean this time around. Worse than being off course and landing in the water, his thoughts of fear were again in their timing. If they deplored their chutes too late, they would drill themselves deep into the hard crust of the earth’s hard surface, like a falling meteor, and be lost without a trace.