by T I WADE
“Colonel Jones, Code Fox One, I’m giving you Code Fox One. You have permission to fire at the rear of the boat, to disable the engines only,” stated the president of The United States.
“You have 20 seconds before we are overhead,” stated Maggie calmly, preparing to turn the craft so that Jonesy would have more time on target if he missed.
Jonesy checked the laser screen readouts for the last time, everything was ready. He had a three-second burst set up, and he clicked the autofocus button on the control panel to get the sharpest view of the boat. He could plainly see Bishop now pointing directly up in their direction, showing Hal McNealy who was still peering towards the shuttle, his face was white and very shocked. He pressed the fire button and suddenly the view disappeared into a bright white, then orange flame, the brightness hurt his eyes.
He immediately zoomed out and had to go out quite a ways before he could see the fireball that milliseconds earlier had been the ship.
“Jonesy, I could see that explosion through the front window,” said Maggie.
“Hell, those weren’t diesel engines, even regular gas doesn’t burn that hot. It looked like a jet fuel or JP-8 explosion to me. Code Fox One target is destroyed.”
“Thank you, Colonel,” stated the voice of the president. “By what you are describing, I’m sure the Greek frigate has enough visual to speed to the site. We have just interrogated the Gulfstream pilot. They were heading to an island off the Turkish coast now owned by Mortimer. We are dispatching a C-17 out of Italy to fly over to the island with paratroopers. The pilot also told us about a U.S. naval vessel dressed up in foreign insignia that is expected to dock at the island in a week. He believes that it might have a U.S. nuclear warhead aboard. We have alerted all U.S. and European vessels in the area. Thank you, Colonel Jones; you have completed your mission. All the ex-president’s men are now accounted for.”
Chapter 9
Airfield in Nevada – Start of Act II
Twelve hours later, a tired Jonesy and Maggie docked to America One. Even though he hadn’t slept much over the last thirty-six hours, he still wanted to party in the cafeteria; and Ryan thought it important enough to haul out a bottle or two of vodka for the astronauts, knowing that only the men would partake, the ladies all being pregnant. He invited his Russian crew, Commander Philips and Commander Popov, and three bottles didn’t last an hour.
“To Full Colonel John Jones, his trusty co-pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Maggie Sinclair, to great astronauts who rid the earth of more vermin today than the Pied Piper did centuries ago!” toasted a happy Ryan on his third shot.
Jonesy stood up, bowed and said that it was one of the most pleasurable moments of his life and vividly explained to the group, describing the last few minutes of his hated enemy Joe Bishop’s life.
The next day, there was a second celebration with coffee and chocolate cake. The third accommodation cylinder was now complete, and another four family apartments came online, which meant that eight members of the crew and six children had a new home. There were still six more cylinders to go to achieve 100 beds. Forty-eight of the beds wouldn’t be needed for a decade or two, or once the babies about to be born would need private accommodations.
Allen and Jamie, Jonesy and Maggie were housed in Ryan’s cylinder. Behind Ryan’s cylinder was a storage cylinder and then in the third cylinder, the apartments were occupied by the doctor and his wife, VIN and Suzi, one of Suzi’s team with her husband. There was a need to have a mix of people throughout the ship. With three occupants per elevator, the crew in each cylinder would want to use different elevators to reach the center of the ship in any emergency.
Between each accommodation cylinder, there was a work or storage/habitation cylinder, so each of the accommodation units was near an elevator. When completed, each of the three outer levels would have three accommodation cylinders and four work/habitation or storage cylinders, each designed specifically for its special task.
The midlevel was where most of the crew worked, or had a small office, or a center of operations. The medical cylinders, the planned chapel, animal breeding rooms, biological research units, chemistry and mechanical labs, and more storage were on this mid-level.
The next accommodation cylinder, designed to accommodate five single-person apartments, was the one the team would start work on the next day.
Just before the next briefing started the next morning, and with his head not exactly functioning normally due to the previous day’s party, Ryan sat with Suzi and Martha working out the crew’s accommodation needs still to be built.
Two by two the astronauts filed in. Each couple looked the same: tall, fit and one of the two pregnant. Then the main group of scientists came into the cafeteria three at a time. Meetings on the Bridge were restricted to eight people; larger groups met in the cafeteria after breakfast was cleared away.
Once the fifteen crew arrived in the cafeteria, fresh coffee was served and Ryan started the meeting.
“Good news, we will be able to fly all three shuttles back to our airfield in Nevada in a few weeks, which means that we can enjoy the stocks we have up here more frequently than previously programed. Also, we will be returning the crew of the ISS to Earth, unless any of them want to stay and be part of our team. So far, Dr. Nancy Martin has offered her expertise on the odyssey we are about to depart on, and strangely enough, it seems that our Chinese spy would also like to stay with us.” The crew looked at each other.
“Sounds dangerous,” suggested VIN.
“Not a good idea,” added Suzi.
“She wants to stay with me,” explained Fritz. “If she returns to China she will be terminated—I assume killed—and Agent Yoon has no family or any other country to return to. I will take full responsibility if she is allowed to stay.”
“We will discuss this problem over the next weeks” said Ryan. “Ms. Yoon has been moved to Mr. Warner’s apartment and is restricted to his apartment until further notice.
“I hope we don’t find you dead in there one day, Fritz,” commented Jonesy, getting an elbow in the ribs from Maggie.
“I happen to agree with you, Colonel Jones,” added Ryan. “Mr. Warner, I suggest you keep one of your Tasers handy, and make sure Agent Yoon can’t get her hands on it. I will check with the build crew and the team who built Mr. Noble’s legs, and see if we can give her an implant, so we can monitor her movements aboard ship.”
“Or like what my father has in Colorado,” added Jonesy. “An invisible electric fence for his dogs, so that they can’t get out.”
“My way of thinking exactly. Thank you, Colonel Jones! Now, we are heading back to Earth. I’ve been up here three weeks tomorrow, and it feels like three months. America One needs five to seven months before the ship is complete throughout its interior. As you all know, we had planned to wait up here until the three new rear engines were installed and functional. It didn’t really matter if we still built-out once the engines were powering us and, if you remember, we had all decided to play it by ear once we arrived up here. Now we are the only manned space station in orbit around Earth.
“One of our new engines has a major problem, which cannot be fixed up here. The mechanics have suggested that we return it to Earth and use the good parts to build a new one. With our old team of engine mechanics and manufacturers down at the airfield, the time to produce new hydrogen pulse engines would be three to four months. Also, one, two, or even three engines could be manufactured at the same time. I know we have two extra of the smaller hydrogen pulse engines as spares already up here, but starting today, they will be mounted onto SB-III, since the mechanics don’t need work on America One’s defunct engine any more. SB-III will return the engine to Earth with her new configuration which will take the team up here three weeks to exchange. As planned, they will take out the first-stage fuel tanks and the two rear first-stage rocket motors; they will add the two new hydrogen tanks and the two new hydrogen pulse engines to her for vertical takeoff, like the Aster
mine craft are configured. That will end her dependence on the Dead Chicken. SB-III will be powerful enough to take off from Earth by herself and carry a two-ton load into space using only hydrogen. Once in space, she will use her hydrogen pulsers together with her ion thrusters.
“We will have time to produce enough new pulse engines for all three of our shuttles, and we will be bringing up several new 3-D parts building machines, much like computer printers, to make all backup parts up here. We also have purchased a new system that produces hydrogen gas from green plants. Suzi will rearrange one half of a cube to produce hydrogen gas and then use our current system up here to transfer the gas into liquid form. Some of our vegetables might be missing from the dinner table, but Suzi assures me that the growth in the cubes can be re-concentrated enough to allow for this added production.”
“How much can these green plants produce?” Maggie asked Suzi.
“It seems that half a cube of growth could produce enough hydrogen for 500 hours of shuttle-engine burn per year, about 1,000 liquid gallons once it is transferred,” she replied. “Also we are doing tests on these new plants to see if they are also valuable for human consumption.”
“As you all know, we are again in favor with the powers in Washington,” Ryan continued. “They have offered us anything we want, to manufacture something for them to protect themselves when we leave orbit for outer space. I have taken the president up on his offer, and we are going to produce two lasers for Washington, as well as two more for ourselves. I want each one of our shuttles armed. I put in an order with NASA last week for eight pounds of plutonium-238, four for us and four for them. The USA has begun to manufacture the plutonium again, but will only have this limited amount available on such short notice. Even Russia does not have any stocks left. I had purchased everything they had. I believe the Chinese have 238, but they don’t know how to power a laser with it, and nobody on Earth will be told how to.
“I believe that my plan will keep antagonistic countries from destroying each other, plus when we return in a decade or two, we won’t be blasted out of the sky by some Chinese, American or Russian weapon more powerful than ours. We will continue to modernize our weapon technology while we are traveling, and one complete cargo load of 4.1 tons, in one of our older shuttle launches, will be pure nickel for our purchased tool and part makers with this new 3-D building technology. More nickel will be located in space for all tools and parts needed to be made out of the metal. Igor, Boris, I, and a few others were studying these new printers last year while we were on Earth, but it was too late to incorporate them into our production lines. Now we can speed things up with them.
“Back to the lasers. One pound of 238 means that each of these four weapons will be as powerful as the laser Colonel Jones has in SB-III. The U.S. needs two weapons; one will be placed aboard an unmanned ISS and one aboard an unmanned Ivan. We will leave both stations in an orbit high enough to last a decade before somebody needs to resupply them. They will be positioned in the same orbit on opposite sides of the planet, so that one unmanned craft and its laser is always within range of the United States. NASA will have ten years to resupply this new defense system before both space stations’ orbits decay, and they crash to earth.
“A team of hundreds are already working overtime at our old airfield to erect the hangars and accommodation we need. I have two of our old hangars being erected and four hangars for our shuttles, and the Dead Chicken, which will be there when we return with Mr. Mathews and crew. The president is searching three countries for my old team of engine builders and the laser teams, a hundred men and women you have all run with in the mornings. Also, a dozen of the original team from Hangar One will return to reconstruct SB-I and SB-II to carry the new laser guns. If we use a few new NASA employees, we could get more engines made for SB-I as well. If that is possible, and Bill Withers helps me in return for the engine technology we will give them, then we can return in four months with all three shuttles having new engines, as well as a new engine and a spare for America One.
“Great,” interrupted Jonesy. “Make sure the guys get the pool and pool filter working. Also, Maggie wants to have our baby on Earth and, are we just going to sit and sunbathe down there for three months? I would like to have some R&R and see my parents.”
“Yes, I have asked for decent accommodations for 100 people. They are building us a new hotel and motel, both with swimming pools. It seems that under the direction of the dearly beloved and recently departed Joe Bishop, NSA boys even leveled the sand searching for equipment around the airfield. No, Colonel Jones, we are not flying equipment into space on the same three-day schedule, since we won’t have all our shuttles operating. I lost ten to twelve flights due to the abbreviated schedule demanded by the now deceased ex-president. Many of the flights will carry supplies of hydrogen fuel, the 3-D machines, four tons of pure nickel, beef, pork, frozen milk, soda ash, and everything else I can get up. To completely fill this ship with stores, we need the full dozen, or even more flights. We still have three whole cylinders to fill with stores. Also, we have already used ten percent of our available hydrogen supplies running around Earth on missions directed from below, and that fuel was not allocated for those projects.
“Colonel Jones, you will have time off. All of you will be able to visit family or friends, except for our scientists working on the laser project. Anybody they wish to see will be flown in to visit.
“Just a quick note, Mr. Noble, your Audi is safe, but is primed now to run on pure alcohol, not something you can get on the average highway. So I took the liberty of investing a few dollars on two new electric 700-mile range Tesla vehicles for the two of us. I actually had put in the order several months ago and totally forgot about it. There are two arriving in a few weeks, but if anybody wants a new Audi R8, please let me know.”
Allen Saunders and Michael Pitt immediately put their hands up.
“Any Gulfstream 550s going for free?” chirped in Jonesy smiling.
“Actually, Colonel Jones, the president is giving us the use of Mortimer’s government-owned jet for our use while we are on Earth. It was always owned by the air force, but you may have the pleasure of flying it.” Jonesy’s smile broadened.
“So to get back to the meeting, a dozen of our mechanics and build crew up here will be passengers in SB-III’s first re-entry and the ISS crew in SB-III’s second re-entry. We will be on Earth for a minimum of three months, and maximum, the time it takes to fit in America One’s new engine up here. During that time we will manufacture four new lasers; two of them will be installed aboard the unmanned ISS and Ivan, with computers, cameras, and aiming and directional systems that can be controlled from Earth. The other two will be installed one at a time aboard SB-I and SB-II, so as to keep a decent launch schedule. Once everybody is trained down there, and we have all the cargo we can fly up here, we begin our odyssey. Is everybody in agreement with that?” They nodded.
“Two more items: In return for the use of the Dead Chicken, and some of the stolen JP-8 fuel believed to be aboard the navy ship heading towards Mortimer’s island, one of our launches will include three recently completed U.S. Air Force one-ton GPS satellites that were due to be launched later this year. This launch will enable the United States to have limited GPS security coverage again. NASA told me that they should have new rockets to launch within a couple of years and I believe every country is scrambling to build and equip new satellites. When we return, all three space altitudes probably will be clogged up with new machinery.
“Lastly, we have contracted to have the use of the last European Space Authority freighter, or freight capsule as some of you call them, which is due up in ten weeks. If I get enough personnel—they are sending me a dozen of their top specialists to work on parts—we could have another eight tons of luxuries. Of course the NASA and European personnel will only be working in areas where they cannot see the whole production picture. Meeting adjourned.”
For the next two weeks, everybo
dy who had spacewalking experience and mechanical engineering skills helped get the defunct engine out of the rear of America One and worked on SB-III’s new modifications. The new controls and computer programming of the shuttle would require considerably more time, and these tasks would be completed ten times faster down at the airfield. Jonesy was to take the craft in without using the two new pulsers. The team of twelve mechanics was to fly with him in the cargo crew unit, and the defunct engine would be broken down to fit into the rear part of the hold.
***
The new president authorized dozens of flights around the world to pick up the long list of scientists and engineers Ryan had requested. For the first time NASA got an inkling of how sophisticated and elaborate Ryan’s planning was and how brilliant his team was. These masterminds were the best in the business, and all extremely well-off. Search crews visited luxury house after luxury house giving Ryan’s former team members the sealed letters Ryan had dictated.
The letters, printed in Washington, stated that a maximum four-month continuation of the project would be undertaken, and in payment, each recipient would receive the same bonus previously paid. The payments would come out of the monies owed to him by the Federal Reserve for metals previously delivered.
