by T I WADE
That appeased a worried Mars a little, and he followed Martin out. Over the radio, he could hear one of Martin’s female pilots talking the drone aircraft in. As stated, it swept over once, and a parachute blossomed out of its underbelly once the falling object was away from the aircraft. The package wasn’t that big, the size of a large box, and it bounced on the grass beside the runway as the aircraft disappeared out of sight. Mars and Saturn Noble were presented with three new autopilot systems, just as Lunar had suggested.
“An expensive present from me personally, and they don’t come cheap, Mars, Saturn, Lunar. These three units are the first of the latest systems made by a friend of mine’s company for the Israeli Air Force. It is a project we have been working on for the last couple of years. You can control an aircraft through satellite link with a headset inside this paper-thin helmet with glasses as far as the satellite link reaches. Everything is fly-by-voice, and there are no other controls. Ten space-friendly cameras the size of a pencil need to be installed around the aircraft for it to work, and all the cockpit readouts are in front of your eyes. There is no joystick for the first time ever. Australia only got their first prototype units about a year ago.”
“Wow!” was all Mars, Saturn and Lunar could say.
“Why three, Martin?” asked Captain Pete.
“At twenty million dollars apiece, I managed to get one each for Ryan, Jonesy, and VIN, three men my country owes favors to, but you might as well have fun with them until they return. Hopefully by then we will have more to give them and you can keep yours,” Martin smiled.
“No way!” Lunar replied.
“Any backup systems that can track these systems?” Mars asked, always wary. Mars knew that Martin didn’t know that the Matt spacecraft could only fly with hand controls with pure mental telepathy, something only a few could fly the aircraft with. It was something in his DNA handed down to him by his father. He made a note to think about trying to figure out how that system worked.
“Normally, yes” replied Martin, “but like the robot who controls your aircraft here on the apron, any communication devices have been disconnected, a sort of friendly trust between Astermine and Israel. I make sure of it, Mars Noble. There is no way anybody on this planet can track your spacecraft, with or without these autopilot systems, so learn to trust the old friends of Ryan Richmond, young man.”
The rest of the weekend went off pleasantly. Eventually the aircraft began leaving the airfield, and Mars Noble felt for the first time that he was actually married.
Joanne, with Roo and Jo, accepted a ride with Mary Collins and her family back to Toronto. Prime Minister Soames, still jokingly jealous that Mars had as modern equipment as Australia did, left next.
Lunar had been quite surprised to see her younger sister walk out to the aircraft an hour earlier with the good-looking pilot and even help him ground-check the whole aircraft. She noted that Penelope Pitt hadn’t got on well with her date after all, and he walked out to check the aircraft alone.
Martin was last and wanted a private word with Lunar and Mars before he left.
“I want you two, and please bring everybody you wish, to visit my airfield and base in Tel Aviv when you have a chance. I have left instructions with your ground crew on how to connect the cameras to the spacecraft you choose, and how to place the main computer inside a six-inch-cubed area of your cockpit. Remember, guys, there are a lot of miles between here and Tel Aviv, where I live. For your spacecraft, it is a short flight. I have my own airfield with hangars for security, and you can come and see the parts we have made for you, as well as my new space shuttle, which could be ready to fly by year-end.”
“Thanks for the invitation. I’m sure we will be there shortly,” replied Mars and the girls. They all hugged his wife and daughter, and then Martin himself before he climbed the stairs. Mars already knew that they would be there sooner rather than later to see what Martin had in his hangars for them.
The silent jet took off vertically up to a hundred feet, turned and swooped away as a helicopter would but without making a sound. The astronauts were trying hard to hear a noise, any noise, but apart from a light cracking sound in the air, the aircraft was as stealthy as one of their shuttles inside a blue shield. An hour later SB-II took off to continue patrolling.
The weekend had tired the crew, who were still not up to shape for constant Earth-life. Bob and the girls departed to do what they really enjoyed while the crew rested. Mars promised that he would join them on the next fishing trip, but there was work to do.
Chapter 8
Russia, Nevada and Israel
The island was paradise, many learned over the next few days. Now that they were stronger, most went for daily walks or began running around the island. Nobody was really interested in Ryan’s old idea of running around the runway, but most found that any workout strengthened them in ways many of the younger kids didn’t know was possible.
Also, a difference in thinking began to be noticed by the older crewmembers and the doctors which concerned the crew. Several of the Matts, including Roo’s mother, who hadn’t left with her son, and a few of the younger kids didn’t seem happy to be on Earth. A couple of the younger astronauts even offered to take extra turns on orbit patrol, to be able to return to the comfort of space.
Mars and Lunar were too busy to notice, and the doctors thought it a passing phase for the newcomers. Mars inspected the Matt craft closely, but even with the mechanics removing as many parts as they dared, he couldn’t figure how the craft worked by telepathic control.
Captain Pete joined the build crew to discuss the blue shields and what he understood about how they worked. He explained what he could while they fitted out the three shuttles with their new autopilots.
A week passed before Mars called Martin Brusk by satellite-linked radio on the international frequency he had used when they had arrived. He asked for the same type of earthmoving equipment to be shipped to what was left of the airfield by The Pig’s Snout. He also needed 1,000 gallons of ethanol, the same amount of hydrogen gas, and tents and equipment in the crater as before. Mars also warned Martin Brusk that he was to be allowed to watch operations, if he signed a letter of confidentiality, and that he should prepare to be shocked by what he would see.
Lunar then called Mary Collins at her office in Toronto. She was relayed to Mary’s office in Ottawa, a few hundred miles northeast. Mary told her that she often worked in both cities, and that the Canadian government was in the middle of a large restructure. Joanne Dithers Roo was still determined to go forward, and the U.S.A. had little to no modern security systems checking on air or spacecraft flying in or over the country. She warned Lunar that they could be met with resistance by certain military factions, maybe the old NSA, but she doubted that.
Once Martin had asked for a week to get his side sorted out, Lunar, Saturn and Mars worked on their first world visit.
Forty-eight hours later, Mars took the Matt craft up, surrounded by its blue shield, with Captain Pete as co-pilot.
Lunar was Saturn’s co-pilot with Dr. Walls and his son Johnny, now fifteen and the strongest and second-tallest man in the crew at five-foot seven. They headed up in SB-III inside blue-shield conditions an hour later. Pluto Katherine was happy to be left as commander-in-charge back on the island and watched as the two remaining shuttles launched inside their shields an hour apart. Lunar didn’t want any of their secrets on the ground when the crew was away. Nobody trusted the new autopilot systems yet, but Penelope Pitt and Jane Burgos were going through simulator training with the new hats on, watching the manual launch from the ten new cameras outside each shuttle.
Once in orbit, the crew used only the intercom, which couldn’t be picked up by any higher satellites.
“Listen in, astronauts. Our first stop is in Russia to check the thrusters. Igor told me a whole team of scientists is building them for us,” said Mars Noble. “I’m going in first, then Saturn and Lunar an hour after me. SB-I and SB-II, you r
ide shotgun 17,000 miles apart up there. Remember, Lunar, Saturn, it is November in the Northern Hemisphere, cold and most probably the ground thick with snow, so our blue shields could easily be seen at low altitude. That is why we are going in vertically from 50,000 feet. We are heading for an old unused airport called Magadan-13, an old small airport 7 miles north of Magadan, a very isolated town on Russia’s East Coast. The coordinates are 59 degrees, 37 minutes, 24 seconds north, 150 degrees, 55 minutes, 18 seconds east. Please repeat co-ordinates and enter them into your computers. It is imperative that Lunar and I get backup while we’re on the ground, over.” The astronauts did as instructed. “Magadan was where Igor was born, and we are to pick up two of ten new thrusters that, according to Igor’s directions to me, should have been ready a year or so ago. Ryan has already paid for them. They come with two of the men who designed and built them attached. They are Igor’s nephews. He said they could be trusted, but for us to make sure.”
“You guys are taking on passengers?” asked a shocked Shelly Saunders in SB-I.
“Yes, our first two new build crew members, the guys in charge of building and fitting our new engines, as well as on the new shuttle. Igor told me that there should be another 25 scientists, 25 build mechanics and five ground crew ready for uplift when we are ready,” Mars answered. Up to now only Lunar, Mars and Saturn knew about his mission.
“Where are we taking them?” asked Captain Pete over the intercom, squashed into the co-pilot’s seat behind Mars.
“To our second stop. That is why you are with us, Captain Pete,” smiled Mars. “To teach us kids how to drive a car.” Mars waited for Pete’s shocked reaction, and it came as expected.
“You want me to do what! Teach you to drive a car? Where are we going to find an old car I can drive in this day and age?” And suddenly Captain Pete knew where the second stop was.
Mars headed down and saw nothing but white ground just before the sun set over the western horizon. Telepathically, he wanted the craft to descend and watched as the ground, an unused runway, came up to meet him.
America One Shuttle to Pa-Pa Bear, do you copy? Over,” asked Mars over his handheld radio on a frequency Igor had given him. There was no response, so Mars was sure nobody knew where they were. Both Captain Pete and he were wearing full spacesuits without helmets, and as usual the suits were turned off for the long flight. He tried again and this time got a load of Russian blasted at him.
“Speak Russian?” Mars asked Captain Pete.
“A few words from Igor and Boris over the years,” replied the captain.
“Speak English?” Mars asked the man on the ground, while hovering 10,000 feet above in the blackness of night.
“Will get English speaker. Wait two minutes, America One people” was the reply.
Five minutes later a voice sounding like Igor’s came over the radio.
“Where is Igor?” the man asked.
“Still in space,” Mars replied.
“Where are you? I cannot see you,” asked the same voice.
“About 10,000 feet above your airfield,” continued Mars. “I’m running low on hover fuel, over.”
“You have code?” asked the Russian.
“Affirmative. 69, 11, 23, 101 Stalin Street, apartment 12, over.”
“Correct, you are welcome. I will put on airport lights. Land close to the middle hangar front door.”
“What was that code? it sounded familiar,” asked Captain Pete.
“Igor’s birthdate and place of birth,” Mars replied, now physically flying the spaceship.
“Lunar, you are cleared for hover at 50,000 feet. I see the airport lights below me, over.”
“Roger that. I have the lights visual through my laser cameras. Currently at 150,000 feet 100 miles west of you.”
To the surprise of two onlookers coated up and outside, a blue soap bubble began to grow and glow, came out of nowhere above them, and silently landed on the cement apron 100 feet from them. The weird-looking spacecraft was nothing they had ever seen in their lives before.
“Is that you in there, friend of Igor?” stated one of the dark figures through a handheld radio outside the badly-lit building.
“Affirmative,” replied Mars, keeping the ship on idle.
“Bad news, your ship in that bubble is too small to take two engines.”
“Copy that. You must be Sasha, over.”
“No, Dimitri. Sasha is standing next to me.”
“I have a second spacecraft coming in to be loaded. Do I need to help you? Over.”
“Nyet, we have a truckload of men coming. The engines are large but only weigh one metric ton each. We have them in three parts, and we have crane.” As he said that, an old truck that looked like somebody had just driven it out of the far distant past arrived with a dozen men huddled together on its open back.
“50,000 feet, have you visual, Mars. Who is riding shotgun up there?” Mars heard Lunar.
“Hillary Pitt at your service, Ma’am, just coming over the western horizon now. You have 21 minutes before I head out of laser range, and ten minutes of down time before Jenny is able to train her laser on you, over.”
“Dimitri, get the equipment out here. You need the crane to lift each piece at least 16 feet into the air. We have 20 minutes before we leave, ok?” asked Mars.
“Da, my men can do that in 20 minutes.” Mars heard the man give out rapid orders in Russian.
Two minutes later the larger form of SB-III came down 50 feet from his craft, right in front of his cockpit, and his wife smiled as she faced him, their eyes meeting. Her shield began to get smaller, and an old lift crane exited the opening door of the large hangar and headed directly towards SB-III. Saturn and Johnny, who had trained loading the shuttles on the Mars base, and with the help of his father, would be in charge of loading and tightening the pieces down.
Dimitri, tell your men do not, I repeat, do not touch or get near the blue bubbles. You will die, over,” stated Mars. He heard Dimitri scream orders in Russian, nearly blowing his ears out.
“I told them. My brother and I are ready to go with you. My father will have our suitcases here in his car in a few minutes. I need to ask you one favor. We have a scientist, our best man, who is in hiding here. We need him badly, and so does the government. They are searching for him and could be here any day. Is there room for him to join us? I believe he is the best astro-physicist in the world and as good as Igor and Boris. He is Boris’s youngest brother.”
“Affirmative by me, Mars,” stated Lunar over their intercom. “They are to stay in the hold anyway, as we are not heading back into space. First piece in and tight, I’ve been told, over.”
“Affirmative, Dimitri,” replied Mars to Ground.
“Da, I have second favor to ask you, friend of Igor’s.”
“Another enemy of the state?” Mars asked.
“He has wife. They married now for one month. Elena is my second best astro-physicist. That is all the favors I have to ask.” Mars ok’ed the arrangement and watched as the next pieces went into the open-roof cargo hold of SB-III. Even though she was an old lady, the shuttle still looked fine with her clean sharp lines. He wondered what the next shuttle would look like when the sixth piece was lifted into the cargo hold, and he saw four dark figures standing ready for boarding, each with a suitcase in one hand. The car that had brought the other two people and the suitcases a minute earlier had dropped them off, sped around and quickly disappeared.
“Dimitri, you need to enter the same spacecraft as the engines, and you must enter with the crane. We are not heading out of the atmosphere, and some of our crew lived in that same cargo hold all the way back from Mars. We checked for radiation inside the cargo hold before we launched, and it was clean. You will be safe and warm. I believe there may be food and water for you in there for our next three-hour flight. You will have communications with me. The door to the cockpit will be locked but there is an intercom device by the forward door. Now hurry, we have thr
ee minutes before takeoff.”
All thrusters on both craft had been on low idle throughout the loading process, and Dimitri’s men had worn ear protection. Mars watched as the crane hoisted the four passengers and their suitcases into the hold on top of a pallet. The others stood back as the crane reversed, and the shuttle’s roof door began to close. As soon as it had, the blue bubble began to grow around the shuttle.
“Sixty seconds to going out of laser range, I see your bubble expanding, Saturn,” stated Jenny Burgos high above them and now about to go over the western horizon.
“Copy that, Jenny. Shield extended enough to increase thrust. Thirty percent… 50 percent… 58 percent… We are off terra firma, going vertical. Coming, Mars darling?”
“Roger, wife, 40 percent thrust… We are away and going vertical about 500 feet below you. Heading up to 100,000 feet as planned. You ok in there, Dimitri?”
“We ok. It is very quiet, and much warm. Have we left Russia yet?”
“Affirmative. Currently heading through 10,000 feet at a rapid climb,” answered Mars. “You won’t feel any g-force due to the blue bubble, Dimitri. Over.”
“We want to analyze this blue bubble you have. It must be a very new invention, no?”
“Not really,” laughed Mars. “It is about 20,000 years old.”
The two spacecraft invisible to the world below them headed out to sea in an eastward direction at 150,000 feet. It was the first time they were actually doing a complete shield flight inside Earth’s atmosphere, and their speed easily increased to 3,000 knots forward speed due to the lack of air resistance.
