The first pilot climbed into a padded seat, strapped himself in and depressed a button that tilted the seat so that he was facing in the direction in which the Moonraker would be travelling, his back horizontal to Earth.
‘Two minutes to lift-off.’
The door hatch slid shut and there was a hissing noise as it sealed hermetically. Bond turned towards Holly who was strapping herself in beside him. Holly quickly flashed out an, arm to flick off a switch.
‘Don’t say anything. We’re on closed circuit until after lift-off.’ Bond nodded and Holly’s voice relaxed. ‘We won’t have to do anything. We’re on a pre-programmed flight pattern.’ She quickly flicked up a switch and Bond could hear again the interrupted sound of the countdown.
‘—teen... thirteen... twelve... eleven...’
Bond folded his hands across his chest and gazed at the banks of dials and flickering needles. Everywhere there was vibration, movement and noise, and above all the terrifying roar of the fuel pumps getting ready to prime the engines for ignition.
‘Eight... seven... six... five...’
Bond suddenly felt frightened. A fear that was physically painful. He was about to be shot into space with no idea of his destination or what would happen to him when he arrived — if he arrived.
‘Three... two... one... ignition... Lift-off!’
Bond’s shoulders bent to the curvature of his seat. He sensed the rocket detach from its mooring and begin to lift slowly into the air. Through the cabin windows he could see fumes and dust billowing up. The control room was obscured. Within seconds he would be exposed to the mind-scrambling stress of the G force that had nearly taken his life on the centrifuge trainer. The needles on the control panels danced madly. The speed started to build up. His stomach felt as if it was being pushed down his body at the end of a hot metal rod. James Bond closed his eyes.
15
RENDEZVOUS IN SPACE
After an unspecifiable length of time, Bond opened his eyes. Only a slight trembling of the fuselage suggested movement. Beside him Holly reached forward and pressed a row of buttons. Immediately screens situated near the roof showed pictures of the other Moonrakers. ‘That’s the rest of the fleet.’
Bond looked incredulously at the banks of instruments. ‘And we don’t have to do anything?’
‘We can’t do anything. We’re locked into a pre-set flight programme. To break it and go over to manual we’d have to call control.’
‘Not a good idea,’ said Bond. ‘Have you any thoughts about where we might be going?’
Holly flicked some more switches and a monitor showed a number of superimposed dotted lines. ‘No, but we’re all headed for the same rendezvous in space. We’ll just have to wait and see.’
Bond glanced out of the window beside him and sucked in his breath. Above them, through wispy cloud, he could see what looked like the page of an atlas. Clearly recognizable was the isthmus of Central America. The sense of isolation provoked by this sight was profound. They were flying upside down. The unknown stretched ahead. He wondered whether they would ever be able to find their way back.
A light on the control panel started to flash and Holly spoke with warning in her voice. ‘Don’t be alarmed. All that’s happening now is we’re going to jettison our fuel tank and roll over.’
There was a noise like an undercarriage retracting and the fuselage gave a convulsive shudder, as if shaking free an encumbrance. The Earth seemed to rotate until it appeared below them.
Bond smiled at Holly. ‘When I think of all the girls I know who would have been useless on this trip.’
Holly spoke with mock severity. ‘Don’t tell me about them.’ She leant forward and flicked another switch. A monitor directly in front of their seats threw up a picture of the twelve astronauts facing each other in two rows of six. Now the men and women had split up into pairs. ‘The personnel hold. They’re behind us.’
Bond’s eyes narrowed. ‘And the animals went in two by two.’
Holly looked at him quizzically. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Something about this operation reminds me of Noah’s Ark.’ Bond leant forward and pointed to something on the screen. Spied on by the angle of the watching camera, a man and a woman were revealed as surreptitiously holding hands.
‘Love is in the air,’ said Holly.
‘Maybe you’re right.’ Bond pondered. ‘Perhaps space has the same effect on the libido as an ocean cruise.’
‘It hasn’t shown up in any of the logs I’ve read.’ Holly’s eyes continued to flicker over the control console and monitors. Bond settled back in his seat. There was nothing to do but wait, and even the pain of his burns could not overcome his desire for a cat-nap. He closed his eyes.
When he awoke it was to find Holly studying the bank of screens. The images of the Moonrakers were closing for gether.
‘We’re converging,’ said Holly.
Bond looked at the screens. The blips on the monitors were moving in dramatically towards the centre. ‘Are we meeting up in space?’
Before Holly could answer, Bond was thrown forward in his. seat. The speed of the Moonraker had changed as though it had been pushed by a giant’s hand. Almost immediately there was a sensation of movement, lasting a short time.
‘That was the forward control rockets,’ said Holly calmly. ‘We’re entering an orbit.’
Bond felt relieved and looked ahead, beyond the nose of the shuttle. A pinpoint of brilliant light showed up in the eerie darkness.
‘What’s that?’
Holly studied the radar scanner and Bond could see the curved line of the Earth’s surface. Again a feeling of terrifying isolation gripped him. Holly’s face was puzzled. ‘There’s nothing showing up.’
Bond strained his eyes to penetrate the darkness of space. Slowly a shape became discernible; a luminous globe from which projected six tubular arms carrying at their ends satellite globes. With every second the detail became more defined as a huge mass like a giant’s mobile emerged from the Earth’s shadow. Tubular corridors connected several satellites with each other and led to the central globe. A saucer-shaped antenna was mounted beneath the globe.
‘A space station,’ breathed Holly.
‘It looks more like a city.’ Bond glanced again at the scanner. Its surface revealed nothing. ‘Why aren’t we getting anything? Is the radarscope out of order?’
Holly quickly ran through a checking drill. ‘No, it’s functioning. Drax must have a radar jamming system.’
Bond’s voice was thoughtful. ‘So nobody knows the space station is there?’
‘No.’ Holly looked at him. ‘What are you thinking?’
‘Too many things,’ said Bond. ‘I’m almost frightened to think.’
Before them light touched the many surfaces of the space station and it shone like a bejewelled crown floating serenely in space. Bond glanced sideways and saw another Moonraker closing the distance between them. The dotted lines on the monitors were interlacing like the poles of a wig-wam.
‘All Moonrakers prepare to initiate docking sequence.’ The disembodied voice coming from above made Bond tense with anticipation. Now another Moonraker had appeared beyond the space station. The shuttles were surrounding the structure like wary minnows grouped around a bait. Holly began to busy herself with the battery of controls.
Bond smiled. ‘You’re a real little homebody, aren’t you?’
‘Do me a favour, Mr Bond.’ Holly spoke out of the corner of her mouth and conteptuously brushed aside a wisp of hair.
‘Moonraker Six — you are now in manual. Prepare to dock.’ The voice spoke again and the airways crackled. Holly manoeuvred a control column and Bond felt the Moonraker moving forward towards one of the satellites. Above a series of concentric roundels there was painted a numeral 6.
‘Six — initiate docking sequence.’
Holly took the shuttle forward and a docking tube below the 6 extended to receive the shuttle. Holly steered alongside it. Thr
ough the window beside him Bond could see a second shuttle dock with the satellite. Through the hatch a helmeted astronaut, floating weightless in the zero-gravity, entered the largest satellite. Bond watched in amazement as the man drifted across the satellite and disappeared into a tunnel that connected it to the main globe.
‘Where’s he going?’
Holly unclipped the strap across her chest. ‘He’s activating the artificial gravity control system. At the moment we don’t have any gravity. We’d all be floating around like balloons if we went outside. Once the rotation thrusters are fired, the station will start to rotate and we’ll have artificial gravity. Then we can move about more or less normally.’
Bond looked grim. ‘More or less normally until Drax catches up with us.’ He unclipped himself and encountered the weird sensation of weightlessness as he tried to rise to his feet.
‘What do you suggest we do?’ asked Holly.
‘Find that radar jamming system and sabotage it. Once we’re visible from Earth they’ll send somebody to investigate. I don’t believe Drax is planning to run this place as a convalescent home.’
‘Gravity conditions normal. Life, support system nominal.’ The voice came clearly over the intercom. A second voice cut in after it with an authoritative announcement. ‘Moonraker Six — off-load at will.’
Bond looked at Holly questioningly. She flicked the switch that brought the personnel hold up on the screen. The astronauts were filing out into the satellite. Two lingered behind. Those who had been holding hands. They waited a discreet moment and then embraced passionately before moving to the door.
‘Do you see yourself as a Peeping Tom in your old age?’ asked Holly.
‘At the moment I’d just like to see myself with an old age,’ said Bond. He reached forward and flicked up the switch. ‘Right. Let’s mingle — and steer clear of Drax.’
From the satellite they moved into a long corridor with reinforced glass windows looking out into space. The main globe towered before them like the dome of a cathedral. Other astronauts were filing out of the hold of the companion craft. Bond kept his head down as he moved along.
‘All personnel to Command Satellite. All personnel to Command Satellite.’ The announcement came over the public address system. Bond moved closer to Holly. ‘Any idea what this is about?’
Holly shook her head. ‘None.’
Bond looked at the purposeful group about him. ‘We’d better tag along. If it’s a “welcome aboard” address, we may learn what Drax is up to. Stay with me and keep your eyes open.’
‘I always keep my eyes open,’ said Holly firmly. She glanced out of a window and nudged Bond. ‘Like right now. Look.’
At a point higher on the left Bond was able to see into another corridor tube leading from a satellite in which shuttles had docked. Clearly visible, with his bowed head still nearly scraping the ceiling, was Jaws. Striding along before him was Drax. Bond’s eyes wandered from the deadly couple to a tube that was protruding from the side of the globe. In it, as if lined up for release, were three spheres like those he had seen in the laboratory at the Venini glassworks. Holly followed his eyes inquiringly.
‘Did you see those in Venice?’ asked Bond. ‘I saw them being filled with nerve gas. Two people died.’
Holly looked alarmed. ‘So what’s he planning to do?’ Bond’s expression hardened. ‘I don’t know what he plans to do, but I know what he can do.’
They stepped through a door and entered the command satellite of the space station. It was constructed on three levels, with an elevator shaft running like a spindle from it to the central globe. There were a number of apron stages. On one of these was a giant instrument resembling a telescope protruding from the roof of the chamber, and next to it a console incorporating three monitor screens and a bank of switches and buttons. Around the edge of the sphere was a circular walkway with more consoles and screens built into the outer walls. These were manned by technicians in light green tunics. Long windows positioned at intervals looked out into space and towards the attendant satellites. From these the newly arrived astronauts were entering the chamber by means of the corridor tunnels, which criss-crossed at all levels, and fanning out around the walls.
While Bond was looking about him in silent wonder, the elevator came to a halt behind the giant telescope and Drax stepped out. As he appeared, so the lights dimmed, and beyond the windows could be seen a million tiny pinpoints of distant stars. The feeling of being at the very hub of the universe was brilliantly conveyed. Bond was awed.
‘First there was a dream... Now there is reality.’ Drax’s voice echoed eerily, seeming to come not from his body but from the throbbing walls that surrounded his listeners. Lights began to play on the faces of the assembled astronauts to reveal that they were standing in couples. Their carefully selected beauty had a cold, impersonal quality which added to the feeling of unreality. Bond began to get an unpleasant pricking sensation down his backbone. The whole scene was like a meticulously orchestrated stage performance.
Drax slowly extended his arms to embrace the gathering. A penumbra of light played about his head and softened the brutish hardness of his twisted features. ‘Here, in the untainted cradle of the heavens, will be created a new super-race. A race of perfect physical specimens. You have been selected as its progenitors. Like gods, your offspring will return to Earth and shape it in their image.’ Bond looked towards Holly. Her face echoed his incredulity. The lights continued to shine and behind Drax, in the shadows, they glinted on the cruel, vulpine faces of armed men. With a start of horror, Bond realized what the scene reminded him of: one of the Nazi rallies of the 1930s. Excitement, pageantry, showmanship, distortion, lies, genocide. The last word flared up in his mind in blazing letters. Drax’s voice continued. ‘But you will not be ordinary gods. You have all served in humble capacities in my terrestrial empire. You have learned that humility which is the sovereign bond of kingship.’ Bond looked again at the faces. The words were getting through to them. Chins were lifting, jaws setting with a new edge- of purpose. They waited eagerly for what was to come. Drax extended his arms before him, his fists clenched. His voice rose slowly and demoniacally. Nobody could fault the delivery or the fervour. Only the words emerged as if dipped in some ghastly putrescence of the soul that made Bond feel physically sick. ‘Your seed, like yourselves, will pay deference to the ultimate dynasty which I alone shall have created. From their first day on Earth your descendants will be able to look up and know that there is rule and order in the heavens.’
There was a silence and then everything was plunged into darkness. Only the ghostly luminescence of space and its myriads of stars were visible like shining dust through the long windows. Seconds passed and a globe appeared to glow with light and slowly start revolving as if it had arrived from space. The familiar shape of Earth could be recognized, the continents black against the glowing white of the oceans. Almost imperceptibly at first, the dark shape of the continents began to melt into the sea. The surface of the globe became smooth as if a slate had been wiped clean. Then in a blaze of light the land masses appeared, dazzling with an ethereal brilliance, whilst the oceans became dark. The impression of rebirth was dynamically conveyed. There was a gasp of awe which spoke its effectiveness.
Bond drew Holly to him and whispered in her ear. ‘It’s more vital than ever that we get to that radar jamming system and kill it. The idea of Drax as God terrifies me.’
Holly squeezed his hand. ‘Me too. I guess it must be on another floor or in one of the satellites. We’d better take the elevator.’
The lights came on and the globe stopped spinning. Drax had disappeared. As if leaving an auditorium after a moving performance, the astronauts began to disperse slowly, their faces.drawn and preoccupied. Bond saw one girl wiping away tears. Poor fools. They had been brainwashed for victory like a college football team buoyed up for the big game. But Hugo Drax was much more sinister than any football coach. The side he was planning to destroy
had over four thousand million people in it.
Mingling with astronauts and technicians, Bond and Holly followed one of the corridor tunnels to the elevator shaft. With a hiss the door slid open and Bond quickly turned to face Holly. Filling the elevator as if packed in it was Jaws. Bond pretended to be preoccupied by some detail on Holly’s uniform and waited until her wary eyes returned to his. ‘He’s gone.’
Bond saw the broad back retreating down the corridor and led the way into the lift. There were five buttons and he pressed the middle one. The elevator moved slowly along its shaft and came to a stop. ‘You must be careful—’ began Holly.
‘I know that,’ said Bond. Sometimes he wished with Messrs Lerner and Loewe that women could be a little more like men. One did not always need to be reminded to take care. The door hissed open and Bond moved forward. He immediately found himself falling on his face.
Holly grabbed him. ‘When I said you must be careful, I was referring to the fact that we have now arrived in a zero-gravity area.’ Her tone was gracious.
‘I’ll listen next time,’ said Bond apologetically.
‘Do that.’ Holly looked left and right along the gallery. ‘Move slowly and press your feet well down. There’s Velcro on your soles and on the floor.’
‘So we’re right in the centre of the space station?’
‘Correct. Hence the zero-gravity. The nearer you get to the —’
Holly broke off her lecture as two guards appeared, moving purposefully around the gallery. At the waist of their dark green combat uniforms hung silver cylinders a foot in length and three inches in diameter. The heads of the tubes swelled priapically. Bond guessed that they must be laser torches. The guards appeared to be fully absorbed by what was happening inside the viewing panels of the globe-like structure that the gallery enclosed. They hardly glanced at Bond and Holly.
Bond waited until the guards had moved on and then looked inside the sphere himself. At first he thought he was looking beneath the surface of a swimming pool. Half a dozen young men and women appeared to be gliding through water. Then he realized that they were drifting weightlessly in zero-gravity; that the sphere was being used as a kind of space gymnasium. Before him a beautiful girl in a leotard hung suspended as if frozen in the middle of a swallow dive. Her arms were flung wide, her back curved, her unsupported breasts melding gracefully into the forward sweep of her body. The girl turned her head and her eyes met Bond’s. She smiled. For a few seconds Bond forgot that he was a man who smoked and drank too much and lived on borrowed time.
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