“Thank you. Took a bit longer than I’d originally planned, but finally got there. How are you coming along?”
“I’m getting there. I think I’ve finally overcome my fear of flying, now if I can just overcome my fear of landing.”
Jeff grinned. “That is the hard part. Hang in there, you’ll get it.”
Abby winked at her. “Hey, there’s nothing to it. If he can do it, anybody can do it.” She grinned at Jeff and quickly took a step backward.
Jeff smiled and wagged his finger at her. “One of these days young lady I’m gonna smack you.”
“Oh, promise? Can I go change into something tight, black and leather first?”
Gabe rolled her eyes. “Oh lord woman, you’re hopeless.”
Abby gave her a smirk. “You’re just now figuring that out?”
Jeff stepped in. “Alright, that’s enough of that. I just had a mental image that’ll keep me occupied for the rest of the day. Everybody else, back to work.”
Friday, October 12, 2012 (T-1257 days)
“That is spectacular!” Jeff said, looking at the end of Gabe and Chrissie’s presentation on the theater screen. “Well done you two.”
“Is that what you had in mind?” Gabe asked.
“An order of magnitude better. Did you guys get any sleep this week?”
Chrissie groaned. “Not much.”
“Okay, well I won’t keep you much longer. I just want to go over the weekend schedule once again – make sure we haven’t overlooked anything – then we can get some supper and turn in early.”
Abby rubbed her forehead. “That would be a novel experience.”
“So, Chrissie, let’s take it from the top.”
Chrissie nodded and turned back to the first page of her itinerary. “Okay, up at 0530. Shower, dress, breakfast, and on the road by 0630.”
“Sorry,” Jeff interrupted, “I just wanted to compliment you on your use of military time. Finally got it, did you?”
“Sort of.”
Abby chuckled. “Past 1000 she still needs to take her shoes off to count.”
Chrissie stuck her tongue out at Abby.
Jeff grinned. “What do you do when it gets past 2000?”
“Go to bed.”
“Ah, silly me. Continue.”
“Where was I? Oh, yeah, wheels up at 0730 for a one-hour flight to Manassas. Meet Senator Landers and his entourage at 0900, wheels up shortly thereafter for the return flight. Arrive Quonset, say, 1030, and back here by 1130. Introductions and PowerPoint presentation, followed by lunch. After lunch, the Senator gets to play with the toys and we discuss what we’re going to do while on the planet. Cocktail hour, supper, light conversation, blah, blah, blah, and bedtime. Sunday morning breakfast flexible, then general question and answer period. Be prepared for anything. Lunch at noon, hit the road by 1300, wheels up by 1400 to have the Senator back in Manassas by 1500. And that’s it.”
“Sounds simple enough. Everybody ready?”
They all nodded. “Yeah.”
“Okay, great job everyone. Please, get some sleep tonight.”
It was a bit past midnight and Jeff was on the patio having a cigarette when he heard the door open behind him. He looked around to find Abby in a bathrobe. “Hi. What’s the matter? Can’t sleep?”
“No.” She dropped into a chair beside him, “Can’t turn my brain off. Just too much to think about.”
“Yeah, I sure know how that works.”
“You have another one of those?”
Jeff smiled, reached into his pocket and handed her the cigarette pack and a lighter. “I thought you quit.”
“I did. Then Sue left the room… and I started again.”
Jeff laughed.
They sat quietly for a while, enjoying the night air and the distant sound of surf breaking on the New England shoreline.
“It’s a beautiful night,” said Abby, staring off into the distance.
“Yes it is. A little chilly, a bit of fall in the air, but not unpleasant.”
“So many stars. I guess you can see a lot more from space.”
“Yeah, I imagine so. Must be quite a view from up there.”
“What’s that bright one over there?” she asked, pointing off to the east.
Jeff followed her finger, “Jupiter.”
“Oh yeah, I should know that. I don’t remember a whole lot of my celestial navigation. Guess I’m gonna need a serious refresher course.”
Jeff laughed softly, “Yep. There’s no GPS where we’re going. We fly a hundred million miles and if we miss our mark by more than a few hundred yards, we either burn up in Mars’ atmosphere or just become another piece of space junk endlessly orbiting the sun.”
“Thank you for that happy thought.”
He chuckled, “You’re welcome. Just trying to be helpful. We’ll be fine. Apollo 13 made it back with nothing working but the LM engine, which was never intended for that purpose.”
“They had a bit shorter trip.”
“Yeah, and they had a navigation computer that had about one tenth the power of my desktop calculator. Hell, they were still using slide rules back then.” He laughed softly. “And unlike Gabe, they needed ‘em. I think we’ll have a slight technological edge. We’ve come a long way in forty-five years.”
“Where’s Mars?”
“It already set. Right now you can only see it for an hour or so early in the evening, low in the west.”
“Can you see Earth from Mars?”
“Yeah, I think so. I’d imagine it’s probably like Venus from here, a morning or evening star. Probably pretty bright.”
“That’s good. It’ll be nice to know where home is.”
Jeff glanced over at Abby, her face softly silhouetted by the dim glow of light from the great room, “Uh huh. You having second thoughts?”
“No. It’s just that, well, all of this is slowly sinking in,” she said with a sigh. “And it’s a bit overwhelming.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Does Mars have seasons?”
“Sure.”
“What season will it be when we get there?”
“Spring.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound too bad.”
“No, it should be nice. The days will be getting longer. The carbon dioxide snow on the ground will be sublimating. We’ll even start to have some nice warm days, maybe even a few above zero.”
“Charming. And you’re gonna give up a third of billion dollars to go there?”
“Yep, and take you with me.”
“You know something?”
“What’s that?”
“We’re both stark raving mad.”
“Yep.”
Abby crushed out her cigarette in the ashtray, and they sat in silence for a few minutes. Then she stood, “I think I’ll try bed again,” and she headed into the house. “Good night.”
“Good night, Abby.”
Jeff thought about it for a minute. She was probably right. And he headed off to bed as well.
Saturday, October 13, 2012 (T-1256 days)
Jeff, Abby and Chrissie squirmed nervously in the Dulles Aviation terminal lounge at Manassas Regional Airport. At 0845 a black Cadillac Escalade ESV pulled into the parking lot and stopped in the “No Parking” zone in front of the terminal door.
“He’s early,” said Abby.
“And he can’t read parking signs,” said Chrissie.
“RHIP,” said Jeff.
“RHIP?”
“Rank Has Its Privileges.”
Half a dozen people climbed out and stood in a tight group talking.
Jeff nodded. “That’s him, everybody put on a happy face.”
Abby replied with, “Humph.”
Chrissie nodded at the group and whispered, “That guy with the sunglasses looks like Secret Service.”
“Or a chauffeur,” Jeff mused. “No matter, we’ve got room.”
Senator Landers and two others made their way to the door where a terminal attenda
nt ran up and held it open for them.
Jeff walked up, held out his hand and smiled broadly. “Good morning Senator, Jeff Grey. You honor us with your presence, sir.”
“My pleasure, Captain. I’ve been looking forward to this all week.”
Senator Landers was of medium height and build, 60 years old, a distinguished looking gentleman whose appearance didn’t quite fit with his southern drawl.
“As have we, sir. And, please, it’s ‘Jeff.’ Feel free to dispense with the formality.”
“Good. Let me introduce my staff. This is Mark Chambliss, my Chief of Staff.”
“Mark and I have spoken on the phone, several times.”
Mark shook Jeff’s hand. “Indeed we have. Pleased to meet you, Jeff.”
The Senator continued, “And this is Debra Miller, my executive assistant.”
Jeff greeted her, “My pleasure, Ms. Miller.”
“Likewise.”
Jeff motioned to Abby, “This is Abigail Nolan, Lieutenant Commander, USNR, our pilot.”
The Senator took Abby’s hand in a firm grasp. “Commander, pleased to meet you.”
“The pleasure is all mine, sir. And, like Jeff said, please, it’s Abby.”
“And this is Christine Mallory, ‘Chrissie,’ my executive assistant and our head of public relations… and just about everything else. We mostly work for her.”
The Senator clasped her hand and smiled. “Chrissie, my pleasure. The world is run by executive assistants.”
Chrissie grinned sheepishly, “It’s a pleasure, Senator, but we’re overrated.”
Senator Landers looked around the terminal. “I’ve never been here before.” He turned to Jeff. “I guess it’s difficult for general aviation to get into Reagan and Dulles these days, isn’t it?”
Jeff nodded. “Yes sir. Dulles is closed entirely to GA and the restrictions at Reagan are, uh, monumental. But this seems to do nicely. It’s our first time here too.”
“Well Jeff, this will be quite an experience for me. I’ve never flown in a small plane.”
Jeff looked at him with surprise. “Really. Not even a business jet on some, if you’ll pardon the word, junket?”
“No. Fact is, I’m not a pilot and I’ve never even been in the cockpit of an airplane.”
“Well sir, it would be our pleasure to show you one.” He glanced at Abby. “Job opportunity.” Jeff motioned to the front of the terminal. “Sir, if you’re ready, let’s get onboard and get in the air.”
“I’m ready.”
“Abby, let’s kick the tires and light the fires.”
“You got it, boss.”
The CJ3 was parked right in front of the terminal and it was a short walk.
Senator Landers looked the jet over. “It’s not exactly a small plane. It’s bigger than I thought.”
“With aircraft, Senator, ‘small’ is a relative term,” Jeff said. “We can get onboard while Abby does a pre-flight check.”
Inside, the Senator glanced around the cabin. “This is plush.”
“We like it. It’s comfortable.”
“You fly a lot, Jeff?”
“Quite a bit. One way or another, three or four times a week.”
“Are you a pilot?”
“In a manner of speaking. I actually just earned my private pilot’s license earlier this week. But it’s going to be a while before Abby will let me touch the controls on this.”
Abby climbed in, pulled up the stairs and closed the cabin door. “All set.” She turned to the Senator. “Sir, this aircraft is FAA certified for single pilot operation and, as such, the right seat is available for anyone. If you would like, I’d be honored to have you join me in the cockpit for the flight up to Quonset.”
“Are you serious?” the Senator asked with surprise.
“Certainly.”
Jeff winked at her. “Senator, Abby is rated to fly just about everything that flies and may be the best Citation pilot in the country. I leave you in her hands.”
“Well thank you. Yes indeed.”
Abby took the Senator into the cockpit while Jeff found a seat in the cabin and sat down opposite the Chief of Staff.
Mark leaned forward and smiled. “I think you may have just made a friend for life.”
Jeff chuckled. “Well, if so, this weekend will have gone a lot easier than I’d expected.”
Abby started up the Citation’s engines and taxied to the end of the runway. Her voice came over the intercom, “If y’all will please put your seatbacks and tray tables… eh, forget about that, just buckle up, we’ll be taking off in just a minute.” As they climbed out of the Manassas traffic pattern and turned north she made another announcement. “We’ll be leveling off shortly at our cruise altitude of 25,000 feet and about 400 knots. The flight up to Quonset will take right about one hour. Chrissie, they’re all yours.”
Chrissie got out of her seat. “We have coffee, tea, juice, Danish, and I’ll bring it around in just a second.”
Mark again turned to Jeff. “I like your airline. Very nice.”
Jeff smiled. “Thanks, but it’s a pretty small fleet. This is it.” He glanced forward into the cockpit and saw Abby pointing to one instrument, switch and control after another, while the Senator watched intently, nodding his head as she spoke. Jeff smiled with satisfaction.
An hour later they were on the ground at Quonset, shutdown and parked in front of their new hangar.
Senator Landers climbed out of the cockpit, beaming. “Jeff, thank you so much. That was a real experience.” He turned around, “And Abby, what an education. I enjoyed it immensely.”
Abby smiled graciously. “Any time, Senator.”
On the tarmac Jeff motioned to their new hangar. “Senator, before we hit the road, let me show you what we have here. There’s something of a shortage of hangar space here at Quonset so we leased some space from the Airport Commission and built our own. It serves not only to hangar the plane but it will also eventually house our flight training simulators.” Inside, Jeff led the group to what amounted to nothing more than two automobile-sized plywood boxes. “We’re still some time away from settling on final designs for both the command module – the primary purpose for which is Earth re-entry – and the Mars lander. However, we have a conceptual idea of what both will be like and we’ve begun construction on two generic simulators, which we will eventually outfit and equip to exact specifications. Our plan, not unlike many of the Crew Exploration Vehicle concepts of a few years back that were presented to NASA, including Orion-Altair, is to build upon the Apollo program. Apollo worked, many times, and we see no reason to reinvent the wheel. In fact, our current thinking on the command module calls for a virtual duplicate of the Skylab Rescue Module – nothing more than an Apollo command module, modified to seat five instead of three. And of course it makes our job much easier as engineering drawings already exist.”
The Senator interrupted, “I see your logic, but aren’t you talking about 50-year-old technology?”
Jeff smiled. “Well, fundamentally, yes, but it works. And frankly, we haven’t the time nor the resources to ‘fix’ what, in our opinion, isn’t ‘broke’. Now obviously there are many Apollo systems that can benefit dramatically from modern technology. Flight information systems for one. To provide both commonality and ease of learning, we intend to utilize an instrument panel in both the command module and MAV – Mars Ascent Vehicle – that looks very much like what you just saw in that Citation out there; a glass cockpit. In fact, if at all possible – and we believe it is – we intend to use a commercially available, off-the-shelf system such as the Garmin G1000. It works, it’s reliable, proven, lightweight, easy to learn, and it’s cheap and is available right now, today.”
“Huh. Interesting. Now, how is your… is it MAV? Going to work?”
“Yes sir, MAV. Very similar to the ascent stage of the Apollo lunar module. It will have to be a bit larger to accommodate twice the crew, and carry a great deal more fuel, but essentially
the same. We have a detailed presentation prepared for you at our office. Perhaps we should head down there now.”
“Fine.”
Chrissie pulled to a stop in front of Wrentham House.
Before reaching for the door handle, Senator Landers peered out the window. “Impressive. You work here?”
Jeff nodded. “Work and live.”
Gabe and Susan were waiting for them in the foyer.
“Senator, I’d like to introduce the rest of our team. This is Dr. Gabriel Frederick, Gabe, our head of engineering, and Dr. Susan Lú, space medicine.”
Introductions were made all around then the Senator turned aside to Jeff looking a bit puzzled. “The rest of your team? This is it? I had expected a sizable building full of people.”
“This is all I need, sir. As I said back at the hangar, we haven’t the time or the resources for a multi-billion dollar, decade long project development cycle. Anything the five of us cannot do will either not be done, because we deem it unnecessary, or will be subcontracted. We have not the need for a workforce of hundreds or thousands as those people already exist within the commercial aerospace industry. And we fully intend to make use of them, just as NASA does, though on a somewhat smaller scale.”
“Well, alright. Nothing like a compact organization to get things done.”
“That’s our thinking. Senator, if it’s alright with you, I’d like to get started immediately. We’ll be happy to show you the amenities of Wrentham House in due time, but your time is valuable and we have much to show you, and I’m sure you have many questions.”
“That’s what I’m here for.”
“Very good, sir. Then if you’ll follow me, we’ll go downstairs to the, uh, nerve center of the operation.”
As they walked through what was formerly the recreation room, now the ‘projects’ room, Senator Landers stopped to look at the two space suits Susan had brought up from ILC.
“Are these the real thing?”
“Yes sir. Thought you might like to take a look, so we brought these up this week from ILC Dover down in Maryland.”
“I’m familiar with ILC.”
“Good. This is an I-suit that we will use for EVAs in space. It’s a conventional entry suit that operates at comparatively low pressure, similar to the EMU utilized on the shuttle and the ISS, but considerably lighter. And, as you can see from the size, this is one of Susan’s suits.”
Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) Page 24
