Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1)

by Gregory Gates

  “You’re welcome. Your turn.”

  Susan repeated the process on Jeff, and eventually both floated in their coolant undergarments, panting at the effort.

  Jeff shook his head. “As I recall, this was a lot easier in the pool.”

  “Yes, but we only had the one suit to practice with, and it was big enough for you. I could swim in and out of it.”

  Jeff laughed. “Yeah.”

  “And we had more hands.”

  He pulled a vacuum-packed plastic bag containing coveralls, underwear, soft booties, and some personal hygiene items from beneath a couple thin bungee cords and passed it to Susan. “Yours.”

  She grinned, sheepishly. “Thanks. Um, I’m just going to slip over to the other side here and take care of some, uh, personal business.”

  “Yeah, roger that.” Jeff removed his coolant garment and cast it adrift in the Sundancer. That, along with his launch/entry suit, would drift about for a day allowing moisture to evaporate before they were packed away in a locker in the command module, as they wouldn’t be needed again for seven months. He then opened his own clothing bag and removed everything. Into the empty bag went his absorbency undergarment and the wet wipes he used to clean up. Rather than contribute further to the already vast amount of human space junk floating about in the solar system, their non-recyclable waste items would be packed away in the storage module and, along with the EDS, jettisoned prior to orbital insertion to eventually become just another Martian impact crater. On the other hand, if they decided to abort the landing, the trash would be dumped prior to the swing-by burn. In time, Mars’ gravity would pull it in and it would incinerate on atmospheric entry.

  Gabe came in. “Well, that looks a lot more comfortable.”

  Jeff grinned. “It is.”

  “Got a good fix. We’re right on course, but about 12 feet per second fast. Small matter, we’ll adjust for it during the first course correction burn.”

  “Excellent.”

  “Chrissie relayed an email they received from Gene Cernan.”

  “Really? Wow. What’d he have to say?”

  Gabe smiled softly, took off her glasses, and wiped tears from the corners of her eyes. “He said, ‘47 years is long enough, it’s about damn time somebody broke that record. May the stars rise up to meet you and the solar wind be always at your back. Godspeed and safe voyage.’”

  Jeff took her hand. “Oh god, that’s nice. He’s one of the giants in whose footsteps we walk.”

  She nodded.

  “How’s Abby doing?”

  “Fine. She’s wading through the checklist. I’m gonna change and then take over for her.”

  “Okay, good. Come on, I’ll help you out of your suit.”

  Wednesday, March 23, 2016 (T plus 19 hours, 23 minutes)

  CAPCOM, “Ares, Newport, radio check through Canberra.”

  Jeff keyed his mic. “Loud and clear, Newport. How me, over?”

  CAPCOM, “This is Newport, we have you five by five. If you’re ready, can you come up on S-band?”

  “Yeah, roger, we’re all set, I think. Hang on a second.” Jeff drifted over to the video monitor and camera, switched them on, and switched transceivers. “They’re ready for us.”

  Gabe, Abby and Susan joined him in front of the display.

  “Uh, Newport, Ares, how do you read on S-band?”

  Chrissie’s smiling face appeared on the video monitor.

  CAPCOM, “There you are! Good morning! Reading you loud and clear, Ares, and have a good solid picture.”

  “Hey Chrissie, great to see you. How is everyone in Newport this morning?”

  CAPCOM, “Everyone’s great. Hang on a second and let me switch to the room cam.”

  A moment later an image of the entire MCC appeared. Every console was manned and the back of the room was packed with a crowd that flowed out the doors and disappeared into the hall.

  Jeff laughed. “Good grief, who all have you got there?”

  CAPCOM, “Uh, everybody, I think. And all their friends and relatives.”

  “Well, it’s great to see you all. Never knew we were so popular. And good morning to you from 160,000 miles in space.”

  Jeff and the crew heard a huge cheer, applause, and a lot of ‘good morning’s. They waved at the camera, smiling.

  CAPCOM, “That pretty well sums up the mood here. I’m going to try and maintain control over this herd of cats. Obviously there are a thousand questions, but I thought I’d ask some of the more basic ones and then turn over to mic to a few others. If that’s alright with you?”

  “Yeah, Chrissie. Sure. Go ahead.”

  CAPCOM, “Okay. First off, how are you feeling?”

  Jeff nodded toward the camera. “All in all, good. But, um, I think we’re all pretty tired. Yesterday was a long day and none of us slept well last night, and little if any sleep the night before. Sleeping in space is going to take a bit of getting used to and I think we’ll all be taking a few naps over the next week or two. Gabe had a wee bout of space sickness when we arrived in orbit yesterday, and we’ve all had a few moments of queasy stomach, but that seems to be passing. We had a light supper last night and a, uh, nice breakfast this morning, though I think we’ll all be a lot happier once we can get things assembled and dig out our kitchen and do meals up proper. But, as I said, we’re doing fine. I think we’ll be doing a lot better in a few days once the Sundancer’s interior is outfitted and we can, um, get into a regular routine. For the time being it’s, uh, still kind of an unsettling environment.”

  CAPCOM, “Roger, understood. Colonels Creighton and Creighton are here and nodding in a ‘been there, done that’ manner.”

  They all laughed. Jeff waved. “Yeah, I see ‘em back there. Hal, Silvia, good to see you. Thanks for all the support.”

  Hal and Silvia Creighton waved at the camera.

  CAPCOM, “How’s everything working? Any problems?”

  “Sounds like a question for our engineer. Gabe?”

  Gabe shook her head. “Uh, no, so far everything’s performed pretty much flawlessly. Aside from a couple RCS fuel valves closing during booster sep, which wasn’t entirely unexpected, the only thing that comes to mind is that we underestimated the airflow setting for the habitat in this configuration. I know I woke up last night gasping for air, probably floating in a cloud of my own CO2. But that’s not a design or equipment issue, we just guessed wrong on the airflow rate. But then, we didn’t pay an awful lot of attention to that since this is just a temporary configuration. But shifting the blower up a couple notches seemed to solve the problem.”

  CAPCOM, “Roger. How’s the view of Earth?”

  Jeff glanced at Abby.

  “Pretty spectacular,” she said. “We’re still flying backwards from the TMI, so we have a good view of both Earth and the moon out the command module rendezvous windows. For now, we have a constant view of Earth’s sunrise terminator and, though I think the moon should be about full for you, we’re looking at about a 70% phase. Except for Gabe, we were a bit surprised this morning at how much Earth had shrunk during the night. It’s still pretty big, about six or seven times the apparent diameter of the moon as seen from Earth, but it sure got smaller faster than I thought it would. Still, it’s quite a view.” They all nodded.

  CAPCOM, “I’ll bet. How’s the Sundancer coming along?”

  “Slow,” said Jeff. “As I said, we’re all suffering from a bit of sleep deprivation, and everything seems to take a little longer than it should. It took Abby and Gabe about twice as long to get through the cruise checklist as it did in the sim and, uh, work on the Sundancer went similarly. We all regularly found ourselves just staring at something, wondering, okay, what’s this and what am I supposed to do with it?” He chuckled. “So, uh, we’re taking our time and double or triple checking everything. But, we’re gonna bite the bullet and keep plugging away at it. We really want to get the bathroom finished sooner rather than later.”

  Gabe, Abby and Susan all l
aughed and nodded.

  CAPCOM, “Roger, understood. Okay, I’m gonna turn the mic over to the MCC, some of whom have some questions or comments for you. We’ll try and keep this brief as we know you’re tired and still have a long day ahead of you.”

  “Roger, go ahead.”

  GNC, “Hi guys, it’s sure good to see you. Gabe, you got a good fix yesterday. One of the concerns we talked about long ago was the difficulty that some of the Apollo crews had with star fixes because of all the trash floating around them from the S-IVB. Are you experiencing anything like that?”

  “Hi Mike. Yeah it’s good to see all of you too. Um, no. During Apollo, the S-IVB trash was left over from booster sep. Anything like that that came from separation from the S-II in LEO is far behind us and since we haven’t separated from the EDS, and won’t until just prior to orbital insertion, we don’t have that problem. We’ve got a nice clean sky and should have good fixes all the way to Mars.”

  GNC, “Uh, roger. That’s good to hear.”

  MMCS, “Jeff, is there anything we can do on this end to help expedite the Sundancer config?”

  “Hi Dave, um, not that I can think of. We know how to do it and have done it before. Um, it’s just a matter of keeping our noses to the grindstone and getting it done. But if anything comes up, we’ll be sure and phone home.”

  MMCS, “Roger, don’t hesitate.”

  EECOM, “Susan, your interior temps look great, but exterior is fluctuating quite a bit, though still within Bigelow’s stated limits. Is three revolutions per hour sufficient? Or do you think it should be a bit faster?”

  “Hello Julio. As long as we’re within limits, I think this is fine. As we progress outward from the sun the exterior heating and cooling swings should settle down. We don’t notice the rotation, and we like it that way. I think we should leave it alone for now, at least until we are better acclimated to the environment.”

  EECOM, “Roger, just thought I’d mention it. One other question: we didn’t anticipate extended use of the CO2 scrubbers. Do you think you’ll have the Sabatier up and running before that becomes an issue?”

  Susan glanced at Jeff.

  He nodded. “Yeah, Julio, shouldn’t be a problem. We may be a little behind schedule getting to it, but we’ve got plenty of spare canisters. For now I don’t see it as an issue.”

  EECOM, “Roger.”

  FDO, “Abby, BMAGs seem to indicate you’ve got a little bit of wobble in your rotation. We’ve been debating about whether or not you should iron that out. What do you think?”

  “Hey Paul, um, no, not a present. Gabe and I have seen it and it’s only about a degree and a half. If it doesn’t get any worse I say we wait for the first course correction and maybe fix it then. If it does get worse, to the point where it’s affecting the high-gain antenna on the CM, we can do something about it. For the time being it doesn’t seem to be a problem, so I’d rather save a little RCS fuel and leave it alone for now. Besides, we’ll have the big dish up in a couple days and the drive on it will compensate.”

  FDO, “Roger, that was the general consensus here.”

  SURGEON, “Susan, would you like me to contact NASA and seek further guidance on the sleep issue?”

  “Hello Becca. Um, thanks, but I don’t think that’s necessary at present. I think it’s just an adjustment and environmental adaptation issue. As it’s still so early in the flight, we’re a little reluctant to resort to sleeping pills, yet. But that’s an option we’re considering. Fact is, we’re so tired that I imagine sleep is going to come pretty soon, whether we want it to or not. And once we find that we can sleep up here, we will.”

  SURGEON, “Roger. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

  “Will do. Thank you.”

  PAO, “As you may imagine, the whole world is watching, and the press is screaming for updates, releases, video, anything and everything that we have. Thus far, my commentary has been routinely matter-of-fact. Would you guys object to us releasing this video to the press?”

  Jeff shook his head. “Hi Joanne. Um, no, at least I don’t.” He glanced at the others and they all shook their heads. “As far as we’re concerned, it’s up to you, with Heidi and Chrissie’s concurrence. It’s their show now, we’re just driving the boat.”

  They heard laughter in the background.

  PAO, “Roger.”

  CAPCOM, “Okay, FLIGHT’s giving me her ‘that’s enough’ glare so we have two more speakers, and then we’ll let you guys go.”

  Jeff smiled and nodded. “Okay.”

  FLIGHT, “Hi guys. No question. I just wanted to say how proud we all are of you, and how proud we all are to be a part of this. And, God bless, stay safe, and hurry home. We miss you.”

  “Oh god, Heidi, thanks, and we miss you too. Sure wish you were with us.”

  FLIGHT, “Yeah, I kind of do too. But, you can’t build them and fly them.”

  “Yeah, well, maybe next time.”

  FLIGHT, “Yeah, next time.”

  Silvia Creighton picked up the mic. “Hi guys. Great to hear you’re doing well. I have a couple messages here, which I won’t read in their entirety cause they’re mostly boilerplate that you’ve probably heard before. First off is one from the NASA Administrator, Dr. Fairfax, acknowledging the fact that you are all now, by anyone’s definition, astronauts and, as such, awarding each of you astronaut wings. Gabe, Susan, as you are acting, in part, as subcontractors for NASA, you are hereby authorized to wear the gold wings of a NASA Civilian Astronaut. Jeff, Abby, as you are Naval Reserve Officers, the Secretary of the Navy has authorized for each of you the wearing of the Naval Astronaut Pilot wings. Additionally, the Administrator has awarded each of you the NASA gold Astronaut Pin. Jeff, I think you have a few things in your pocket for everyone.”

  “Thank you Silvia. Yes, I do indeed.”

  Jeff pulled a couple small boxes from his pocket, picked one, and turned to Abby. “Lieutenant Commander Abigail Berget Nolan, on behalf of the Secretary of the Navy and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, I take great pleasure in presenting you with your United States Naval Astronaut Pilot wings.”

  Abby stared at the wings as Jeff pinned them on her flight suit, then begin to cry.

  He smiled softly. “You okay?”

  She wiped her eyes. “I’d rather have these than the Medal of Honor. I just wish my grandfather could see this.”

  Jeff hugged her. “Trust me, he can. And at this moment he is the proudest soul in heaven.”

  “Thank you.”

  They shook hands and Jeff drifted over in front of Gabe. “Dr. Gabriel Anneliese Frederick, on behalf of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, I take great pleasure in presenting you with your NASA Civilian Astronaut wings.”

  As Jeff pinned them on, Gabe, not unexpectedly, also started crying. “Oh my god, I can’t believe it.”

  Jeff chuckled. “Well, believe it. It’s too late to wake up from that dream now, you’re here.”

  “Yeah. Thank you.”

  They shook hands and Jeff moved on to Susan. “Dr. Tianshu Lú – Susan – on behalf of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, I take great pleasure in presenting you with your NASA Civilian Astronaut wings.”

  Susan didn’t cry, she just stared at the wings with a broad smile.

  “There you go. And, uh, if you don’t get that aerospace medicine fellowship when we get back, you let me know who turned you down, and I’ll go have stern words with them.”

  Susan grinned. “Thank you. Thank you very much.”

  Jeff drifted back across them to his place beside Abby.

  “What about you?” she said.

  He pulled the remaining box out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Would you care to do the honors, Commander?”

  She grinned broadly. “Yes I would, very much.”

  “Captain Jeffrey Matthew Grey, on behalf of the Secretary of the Navy and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, I take t
he greatest pleasure in presenting you with your United States Naval Astronaut Pilot wings.”

  “Thank you.”

  Abby smiled as she pinned on his wings. “Hell of an accomplishment for somebody who’s spent their life on the bomb squad.”

  Jeff grinned. “Who’da thunk it?”

  Jeff and Abby shook hands and they all turned back to the camera.

  “Well,” said Jeff, “now that we’ve bored you all with our little presentation ceremony, I guess it’s time for everybody to get back to work.”

  “Jeff,” said Silvia, “we have your astronaut pins here. We’ll leave them with Chrissie to hang onto until you get back.”

  He nodded. “Thank you.”

  Everyone in the MCC stood and applauded.

  “Thank you. Thank you all. Okay, well we’re gonna get to work putting our house in order and we’ll talk with y’all a little later. Chrissie? Anything else?”

  CAPCOM, “No, boss, that’s it for now. You guys be sure and get some rest.”

  “Yeah, will do. Okay, good to see you all. Ares out.”

  The four of them floated in a circle in the commons, admiring one another’s shiny gold wings, shaking hands, and sharing hugs.

  Jeff glanced at each of them in turn. “We’ve come a long way.”

  They all nodded.

  He turned to Abby. “From chewing your boss’s ass in Burbank…”

  She cringed and laughed.

  Then to Gabe, “From that cubicle at Caltech…”

  She smiled softly and nodded.

  And to Susan, “From lunch by the river in Portland…”

  “Who’d have guessed it?”

  “Yeah. And me from a middle school in Long Beach.” He shook his head. “Wow.”

  They all exchanged smiles and glances.

  “Okay, well, we’ve come a long way, but we’ve got a long way to go. Shall we get to it?”

  They all nodded. Abby and Sue grabbed the table and propelled themselves toward the truss. Gabe just floated, staring at and caressing her wings, and wiping tears from her eyes.

  Jeff put his hand on her shoulder. “You alright?”

  “Uh huh. It’s just so hard to believe.” She looked into his eyes. “Thank you for having faith in me.”