by Laer Carroll
"Academy Airfield Control, Cessna 32XT, ready for takeoff."
There was only a brief pause, then "Cessna 32XT you are Go for takeoff. Have a safe flight."
"Thank you and a good day to you too. Rolling."
The run up to light-wheels was brief then the little jet leaned back and skimmed up into the sky.
Their path was mostly north and they were quickly at 5,000 feet, nearly a mile high, when the pilot began the curve toward the west. Down below as the plane tilted its left side downward Jane as well as Rachel could see the big green-floored football stadium and the buildings of the Academy.
"Lot's of memories of that place," the pilot said.
"Me too. And I've still got five months to go."
Jane remained silent as their path lofted further to clear the Rocky Mountains. When they were at 40,000 feet and the Mountains well underneath she said, "Hard to believe some people live down there."
"I did. Well, about an hour up ahead. Right at the southwestern corner of Utah. Little city called St. George. Ninety thousand pop. Has a great view of the mountains to the north. I used to swear someday I'd look down on them. My ambitions were fueled by the planes at the regional airport, a couple miles from my high school. Twice a year the Blue Angels put on a show."
"And now you are one. Almost. Fighter pilot, teaches at Laughlin-- Or is it taught?"
"Taught. I'm at Edwards now, working for NASA."
"Any idea why they want me down there?"
Rachel took her hands off the yoke and used them to point over her shoulders rearward. "Two examples right back there. The air jet you invented. My guess is they want you for your space jet though. They're planning a one-stage-to-orbit spaceplane."
"I know. I was there in the summer and they talked about it being years in the future."
"Well, they're doing more than talking now. Best to let them give you the full story. I just told you all I know about the project, which is real hush-hush."
"Oh, you bitch. To tease me like that! Oh, well, bring me up to speed about what's been happening with you."
<>
The flight took two hours and forty minutes, bringing them into Andrews base at 7:00, well after dark. Jane and Rachel parted with promises of dinner at Rachel's place the next night. A NASA driver helped Jane with her luggage then drove her to a large hangar.
She was met outside it by Astronautics Division assistant director, a tall gangling redhead. He took one of her suitcases from her as they walked toward the brightly lit side entrance to the hangar.
"Ms. Kuznetsov. So glad you were willing to come down and visit us. We'd really appreciate your insights on our project."
"Which is?"
He opened the side door and ushered her in.
There before her, lit by many bright overhead lights, was an aircraft. Jane walked closer to view it from a different angle.
It appeared that they had started with the design of the daughter-ship in which she'd visited the World Space Station. Then they'd modified it and the manufacturing line that turned out new copies of the daughter-ship, a well-tested and space-rated craft.
To the air jet engine of the daughter-ship they'd added a space jet engine and floater technology to the original landing gear.
She commented on that to the AD, who'd walked with her.
"Right," he said. "This way we're 90% done. Most of our testing will focus on the additions to the core design and how well they're integrated."
Like the daughter-ship it had very swept-back delta wings with big intakes near their wing roots and a V tail. It was maybe 120 feet long, about the size of a mid-range commercial jet. It rose maybe 30 feet high including the wheels. Approaching it she could see at about head height the bottom of the vehicle with cavities for the wheels.
The skin looked like aluminum but had a faint spider web tracery of a slightly darker color.
"What's with the spider web look?"
"It's a new material that they've been incorporating on the newer shuttle craft. It redistributes the heat of the skin more evenly. The skin does not experience much heating on re-entry but there is some."
A ladder let her up into the interior. It was about ten feet vertically which would let a tall person walk around with a couple of feet of headroom. The interior was about twenty feet wide, reminding Jane of something which she'd noticed earlier: the body was oval in cross section not round. There was about forty feet of length.
"We anticipate the craft to have a personnel load of a half dozen people at work stations near each wall in the front, sleeping bunks in the back along each wall with enough head room so that they can sit up, read or whatever, watch TV on the roll-down doors which closes each off from the aisle. This lets them use the bunk as a survival station if the interior is decompressed."
Jane almost shuddered at the thought of being closed in what could become a coffin. She'd much rather be space-suited and outside the bunks if the fuselage was holed.
"All that's less like a fighter and more like a bomber."
"Space fighting is unlikely to be one-man dogfight action and something more prolonged fought by a crew. This class of spacecraft we envision like that of the navies' corvettes. Except we don't want to be seen imitating a navy, so we're calling it the 'guardian' class."
"Makes sense. Now, I've seen enough. I'd like to get to where you're putting me up and get ready for tomorrow. I imagine that is going to be a long day."
"Just a regular length day. We have a tight schedule but the director insists we not overwork and make mistakes. Especially big mistakes in overview. Those are usually much more costly in the long run than mistakes in detail, catastrophic as those can be."
Jane's "bunk" was a room in the director's house. Before retiring she relaxed with her and her husband in their living room with a glass of wine. There she caught up with events in the woman's life and that of her husband, both of whom she'd become acquainted with in the summer.
She also met their daughter home from college for the holiday. Jane and she shared an enthusiasm for speculative fiction though she favored the fantasy side of the genre and Jane the science-fiction side.
<>
The next day Jane spent much of the morning in the cockpit of the "Guardian Class" (as they were tentatively calling it) X-3. The X-1 and X-2 had been non-working prototypes; X-3 was supposed to be fully functional though without weapons when completed.
Ostensibly Jane while sitting was absorbing all the technical material about the craft and becoming tentatively familiar with its instrumentation. Actually she had become Jane+Robot+spaceplane and examined HERSELF closely in architecture and in functionality. SHE was making detailed notes of problems and suggestions for fixes of those problems.
A little while before lunch she was introduced to the rest of the team who were working on the Guardian and then went to lunch with them. There they were forbidden to talk about the project and instead to get better acquainted.
After lunch Jane presented her findings in a conference room inside the hangar housing the Guardian. It had a long oval table with a big view screen on the wall behind one end of the table. That was where Jane sat. The project director sat at the other end and introduced Jane formally and thanked her for participating in "this skull session."
"Thank you for inviting me, Director. And to all of you for your friendly acceptance of me. I hope you will feel the same after I present my findings to you.
"I've entered the detailed report into your project database. The Executive Summary you see on the screen behind me. If you call it up on your vear you'll see that each item has a link into the full report. I'd ask you to avoid following those links until we've had a chance to look over Parts One and Two: Major and Minor Problems. And stay away from Part Three which I've labeled Fiddly Bits."
"Holy shit!" said someone. "I'll def stay away from Fiddly Bits. It's like a cloud of gnats. They'll sting you to death!"
Jane had laid out a schedule for the session.
An hour would cover Part One, another hour Part Two, and a final half hour Part Three. Between each they'd have a half hour break for pit stops and to refresh their drinks.
They'd just begun Part Three when Jane saw everyone else was worn out.
"Fuck this," she said. "The rest of you are still Gung Ho but I'm just about to drop. I'm done. You can keep on going if you like."
She stood. "One thing you CAN be sure of. I covered everything. If I didn't say a subsystem had a problem it's in prime shape.
"Of course you have to test everything. You can't just take my word each subsystem is fine. But I'm very sure you'll discover I'm right. Fix those problems--" She gestured at the view screen on the wall. "--and by Easter your baby will be Go for orbit."
She walked out ignoring any comments or questions. The Director followed her out and walked with her, asking her to come with him.
In the man's office he settled behind his desk and she in one of the chairs in front of it. She relaxed, legs crossed and out in front of her.
"That was a good way to end, Ms.-- Sorry, I still have a problem being informal with you as you requested. JANE. You really think we could fly Guardian soon?"
"I do. About that. Do you have any particular test pilots in mind?"
"We have a couple of space pilots assigned here. The senior pilot, ahh, Clark Something would probably be first choice if I can get him temp assigned here. Then we have a whole bunch of other highly qualified pilots on base."
"I knew Clark at Laughlin when I was there. A good choice for the Number One seat. I'll suggest another: Rachel McMasters. I knew her at Laughlin too. She taught fighters. She has a good record for coolness and ingenuity in emergencies. She'd be a good Number Two. That would also be a way to avoid the PC Police complaining about lack of diversity.
"The main matter I want to discuss with you. The Academy has one week of Spring break at Easter. I can be available that week."
"We'd love to have you, of course. I'll submit the paperwork today."
"I'll ask you to delay any test flights beyond exercising the floater ground transport subsystem till I'm here. Your engineering team is one of the very best but I have unique insights to add."
"Obviously."
"And here we get to a matter very important to me. I want to be the onboard flight engineer for the aerial and especially the suborbital test flights."
"I'd have a hard time justifying that. Your death would be a public relations disaster that could sink the entire program. As well as being a human tragedy, of course."
"While test pilot deaths are only to be expected. Yes, yes! I'm being pragmatic, not arguing with you."
"Consider this pragmatic aspect, then. Your death would be killing the Golden Goose who could be instrumental to the survival of this country."
She chuckled. "Smart move, appealing to my vanity and my patriotism in one sentence. No, I'm adamant. I intend to be on those test flights. I'll exert all my unpleasant ingenuity to ensure that."
"The best I can do is take your request under advisement."
"Your best is the very best there is. Now, I'll wish you a good Thanksgiving. I've got a dinner to go to."
He stood as she did and offered her a hand to shake. "See you in April, Jane."
<>
When Jane returned to Andrews on the first week in April the Guardian X-3 spaceplane was ready to visit the World Space Station, though it would not do so that month. The most time it would spend in space was a half hour or so during sub-orbital test flights.
The project engineers and ground crew greeted her with mixed appreciation and apprehension. She was sure to find numerous faults in "their" spaceplane but they'd also be vital to the project's success.
Their anticipations were correct. For three days Jane scoured the records of their tests and inspected the craft. At one point, with a long safety tether about her waist fastened to a stanchion in the ceiling, she walked barefoot all over the top of the plane. Wielding a portable X-ray machine, she stopped periodically to examine its surface and the six inches or so underneath it that the machine could see. She found one minor problem and a half dozen "fiddly-bit" problems.
On Thursday the spaceplane was ready for its first important series of tests: flights using the two telemagnetic-induction "air jet" engines.
The three onboard testers suited up in space suits. They were Jane and her two pilot friends Clark and Rachel. Then they entered the craft and took their stations, Clark the pilot's seat, Rachel the co-pilot's seat, and Jane the engineer's station, a seat behind the pilot compartment facing a wall of instruments on the rear of the compartment.
Jane joined Robot to become Jane+Robot, then melded further with the spaceplane. JANE now had complete control of the vehicle though the pilots would never know that.
Clark powered on X-3. His touch was gentle and sure. JANE liked this very much. It was if a loved one caressed one's hair or kissed one's cheek.
The pilot followed the online checklist of startup steps with the co-pilot double checking him and JANE doing the same.
Slowly and carefully JANE came fully awake and taxied out of the hangar. Free of HER cage SHE lifted on her telemagnetic cushion and glided to one of the several runway takeoff points. Given the Go Ahead from the control tower SHE slid down the runway and lifted into the air.
But not far. The first set of tests were touch-and-goes. The craft went only a mile or so out to reverse course and land on another runway. Then it transited to another runway to lift into the air once again.
After ten of those the tests they went to 5000 feet, almost a mile high, and began to fly ovals, not-quite-circular patterns traveling 100 miles to the east of the base.
Ten of those and they went to 20,000 feet, almost four miles high. Here the air pressure was not quite half that of air at sea level. Space jets could begin to function as well or better than air jets at that height but the two space jets inside the spaceplane remained off.
When those tests were finished the two pilots swapped control and Clark left his seat and wandered into the engineering compartment. He and Jane stood up and walked around, chatting about nothing in particular. The tests included its livability during flight.
He returned to his seat while Rachel flew the plane in ovals at 40,000 feet or almost eight miles height. Air pressure was 20% of sea level. The temperature outside the craft was 12 degrees below zero.
At noon Clark relieved Rachel and went to 55,000 feet or over ten miles high. Air pressure was 10% which would be well into space jets' medium efficiency range. The outside temp was70 degrees below zero.
JANE was moving at over 5000 miles per hour. This took HER from coast to coast every half hour. SHE felt good and easily spared Rachel enough of HER attention to chat with Rachel while they ate lunch.
It felt funny to have HER tiny, fragile, lovable friend inside HER.
At 2:00 Clark gave control to Rachel and left the compartment. Jane came forward and took his seat. A half hour later Rachel gave control to Jane as a courtesy to the inventor of the tech now enabling the plane to fly.
This also gave all three of those aboard a place in history books as the pilots who first flew the first true spaceplane.
JANE went to 100,000 feet or almost 19 miles high. Air pressure outside was one percent of sea level.
SHE flew laps of the United States at over 10,000 miles per hour for an hour, then gave control back to Rachel and left the compartment. Clark had been manning the flight engineer work station and took back control of the spaceplane. He brought the craft down to a landing.
In the hangar he parked the plane in its usual spot and powered it down. Then he led the way to the exit in the side of the plane where a transit platform was being steered to a position just outside the exit.
Clark opened the door and stepped out. Rachel and Jane followed close behind. They spread out and, leaning on the side rails of the platform, waved at everyone below. Camera flashes painted the three as people cheered and
a recorded band played. They'd made history.
<>
They made history the next day by taking Guardian X-3 on several suborbital flights. The last one took them all around the planet. When they'd landed the massive banks of decabatteries had used only two percent of their capacity. With a deployable array of solar panels and enough consumables the plane could stay in space for several weeks.
Back in the hangar and on the concrete Jane noticed some suspicious activities off to one side. Her suspicions proved well-founded.
A set of loudspeakers began to play the pomp-and-circumstance tune "God Save the Queen." A makeshift palanquin came trotting toward her and the crowd around opened to receive it. Eight men set it down, bare-chested over their jeans or slacks or in one case shorts. One of the biggest and burliest of the ground crew, wearing a blond wig and a blue skirt, placed a gold paper crown on her head, and picked her up, laughing her head off.
He placed her in the palanquin seat (a curved-bottom and -backed cafeteria chair) and with broad gestures fastened a "seat belt" of wide red ribbons over her lap. The bearers then picked her up and trotted in a circle around the spaceplane to ground it near a makeshift throne. There her burly "stewardess" handed her out of the grounded palanquin. The director of the program, wearing a scarlet robe from some high school play, presented her with her "scepter" (a plastic mop handle topped by a cardboard gold orb), and escorted her to her throne.
Then everyone had a party that lasted much of an hour.
The victory lap and its aftermath made the national news. Video and stills traveled around the planet with headlines such as "NASA Makes Historic Spaceplane Flight" and "The 'Queen of Space' Reigns Supreme at NASA.'"
<>
Back at the Academy Jane received some congratulations and teasing but not much of either. She'd become just one of the several colorful cadets who happily or otherwise were near-institutions among the nearly 4000 cadets each year.
Besides there were only six weeks till Graduation Week. Much course work and other preparations needed to be made.
One piece of space-related news did occupy the world two weeks later. One of the three parts of China into which that country had broken into announced that "Their True Greater China Government" had had their own spaceplane a year before "backward NASA" had flown its own. Their photos and videos were derided by most Western reporters as crude animated videos.
