“That’s pretty good.”
“Don’t congratulate me until I nail this docking procedure.”
Yukari switched the RCS to manual mode and lowered their nose slightly. Now they could see the shuttle in their forward porthole. The shuttle was flying in a sideways orbit, its nose pointed straight toward Earth. Above the wings, the payload bay doors were open, the silver heat exchange panels glittering in the sunlight. Yukari spotted what must’ve been the Orpheus lodged between them.
Akane gave a little squeal despite herself. “Wow! What a beautiful ship.”
“Yeah, and that’s a whole kilometer away. It’s pretty big.” Yukari pressed the button on her maneuvering joystick. She felt a sensation like her seat pushing her from behind. “Mission control, this is Mangosteen. I’m beginning docking under manual control.”
“Hoi, Mangosteen. Roger. NASA was worried you might hit them with some hydrazine. Show them how good you are, Yukari.”
“Let’s not forget that they’re the ones who messed up here.”
“I’ll be sure to remind Kinoshita of that. Okay, I’m switching you to a shared channel. No more Japanese.”
“Roger.”
Akane switched the channel on their transmitter. “Atlantis, this is Mangosteen. We are three hundred meters away and approaching.”
“Roger, Mangosteen. Can you see our RMA?”
“Very well, thanks.”
The remote manipulation arm was extended out straight from near the nose of the shuttle like the mast on a sailing ship.
The Mangosteen had its own smaller RMA. They would use theirs to grab the tip of the shuttle’s arm, pass down a rope, and they’d be docked.
“See how they extended their RMA all the way out? They don’t trust us.”
“I was wondering if that’s what it meant.”
“They don’t want us blasting their precious shuttle with our thrusters. Either that, or they’re afraid I’m going to run into them. Wimps.”
“Well, as long as you’re sure we can pull this off.”
“What, now you don’t trust me, either?”
Akane shook her head. “I’m the one who’s going to be operating our RMA while you pilot.”
“No problem, Akane. The real RMA’s just like the simulator. You stretch it out and grab when the moment comes. Don’t think about it too much, just do it.”
“Stretch it out and grab,” Akane repeated to herself. “Okay.”
They were almost on top of the shuttle now. Yukari fired several short blasts, bringing their orbiter into position close to the tip of the shuttle’s RMA and stopping it there.
“Nice job, Mangosteen. We won’t have to do anything at this rate.”
That would be the shuttle’s RMA operator. He would have been standing by to chase after them with his arm if they had missed.
“Thanks,” Yukari replied. “Time to shake hands.”
Akane grabbed the RMA joystick with her right hand. Her left hand rested on the mode selector. The folded arm inside their nose cone extended, reaching forward. In all, Mangosteen’s arm was only 2.4 meters long—far shorter than the shuttle’s fifteen-meter arm, but more agile for it.
The two fingers on the arm approached their target, a flat panel attached to the shuttle’s RMA.
“That’s right, a little more.”
Because their orbiter was so small, just moving the RMA had the effect of moving their ship slightly in the opposite direction. Akane, however, was giving a textbook performance, keeping the arm motion lateral so that any reverse momentum would pass directly through the orbiter’s center of gravity to avoid producing spin.
“Think I should grab it now?”
“Go for it!”
She pressed the button, and the metal fingers closed precisely on their target.
“I did it!” Akane pressed the button down further. “And…it’s locked on.”
“Great stuff! Atlantis, we have your RMA. We’re preparing to exit the orbiter.”
“Excellent work. I’ll admit, we didn’t expect it to go this smoothly.”
There are benefits to being small and agile, Yukari thought.
The two girls removed their harnesses and put on the backpacks stored in the backs of their seats. The backpacks—each only the size of a daypack—contained a small life-support system and transmitter. After attaching cables to their suits, they were ready.
Yukari spent an extra moment carefully rechecking all of Akane’s gear.
“This is another one of those moments of truth. Be relaxed, but cautious; quick, but not rushed.”
“Okay.”
“Also, there’ll be plenty of time for gazing at Earth later so don’t do it now. Once you’re outside, orient yourself to the shuttle. Think of us as being above the shuttle, like a pennant flying on a flagpole. Once you’re outside, try not to spin around if you can avoid it. It’s very easy to get disoriented.”
“Okay.”
The two attached Kevlar fiber lifelines and lowered their airtight visors on their helmets.
“Com test.”
“Loud and clear.”
Yukari ejected the air from the orbiter and opened the hatch. “Here we go.”
“Right behind you.”
Over on the space shuttle, the entire crew was pressed up to the rear observation window.
“Look, they’re coming out already!”
“I don’t believe it! It’s only been ten minutes since they finished docking.”
They all knew the schedule, but hearing about it and seeing it actually happen were two different things. Whenever a spacewalk was required on the shuttle, it took at least two hours just to get ready. Because NASA space suits maintained a low pressure, the astronauts had to breathe pure oxygen for a considerable length of time to remove the nitrogen in their bloodstreams in preparation for their new environment.
The first astronaut came out of the Mangosteen and made her way around the nose. Pulling a rope from the pouch at her waist, she threaded it through the RMA, firmly anchoring it to their ship in a matter of moments.
“Did you see that rope work? She just tied a sheep-shank in space!”
“Never mind that,” Luis said. “Check out those space suits! They look like Eva over there—”
“Ava Gardner?”
“No. I’ll loan you the anime when we get back.”
The second astronaut emerged. This one moved more slowly than the first, carefully making her way along the hull.
Both astronauts made their way to the shuttle’s RMA and came halfway down. Holding on to the arm with one hand, the first astronaut faced the shuttle. “Hello, Atlantis. Can you see us?”
“See you? We can’t take our eyes off you. You look like angels up there.”
“I’m the one with my left hand raised—Captain Yukari Morita.”
“Welcome to Atlantis, Yukari. I’m Captain Wayne Berkheimer.”
“Nice to meet you, Captain.”
“Call me Wayne. Who’s that next to you?”
“Er…this is mission specialist Akane Miura. Hello.”
“Nice to meet you, Akane.”
“You can tell us apart by the stripes on our space suits. Mine are pink, and Akane’s are blue.”
“Roger that, you both look great.”
“We’re going to begin retrieval, if that’s all right.”
“Hold on, we’re sending someone out. Norman, can you go show the angels what they need to know?”
“Roger. I’m heading out the air lock now.”
By the time Norman made it outside, the two girls were already on the Orpheus’s upper-stage engine. They had attached their lifelines from the Mangosteen to the bottom of the RMA in favor of a single lifeline strung between them.
Norman headed over to Orpheus, though by the time he had walked the seven- or eight-meter distance, one of the girls was already going inside the engine structure.
“Hey, wait up. You Akane?”
Akane pulled h
er head out of the truss around the engine, looking. She jerked visibly when she saw him.
“Something wrong?”
“Sorry. I just didn’t expect you to be so big.”
“What, me? Don’t worry, I don’t bite. I’m heading over there.”
Norman slowly crawled up the upper-stage engine cover. Yukari stuck out her hand, reeling him in.
“Thanks.”
Compared to these two, I’m like one of those walking cartoon characters at Disneyland, Norman thought.
The two other astronauts looked frighteningly small and thin to the American. Their waists were barely bigger around than one of his arms in the space suit. And while he looked like the Michelin man, they were shapely. You didn’t expect to see curves like that in the payload bay of a space shuttle flying at three hundred kilometers above the surface of the earth.
Their golden reflective visors were up, so he could see their faces—like dolls, he thought.
“The valve assembly is inside there. See the gap on the engine side in the center of the ring?”
“So it’s in there just behind the helium tank, right?” Akane asked.
“That’s right. How’d you know?”
“I’m a quick study.”
“All right, well, be careful. Every single tank in there is dangerous.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“Shall we get started, Akane?” Yukari asked. “Let’s go in and check things out first. Take it easy. It’s more tangled in there than it was in the CG simulation.”
“Right.”
Akane was getting used to extravehicular activity by now. In the skintight space suit she wore, it was hardly any more difficult than scuba diving. But Yukari was right. Compared to the training video they had seen, the real engine structure had all kinds of small protrusions here and there. This wouldn’t be easy.
Akane slid inside the truss.
“A little more to the left, Akane.”
“Got it.”
“That’s right. Keep going.”
“My head is close to the center now. I’m going to try swiveling.” A few moments later, Akane reported that she’d found the valve assembly. “It’s about another meter in there—huh?”
“What is it? I can’t see very well.”
“My backpack’s hung up on something.”
“Careful, Akane. Take it easy. Don’t move too quickly.”
“Okay…I’m going to try swiveling again.”
“Any luck?”
“Ack. It’s another fifty centimeters or so.”
“Don’t push it. Let’s try a different approach,” Norman offered.
“Akane, come out for now.”
“I’m coming.” Akane pushed herself out feet first. Norman could see beads of sweat on her face.
“There’s something sticking out halfway in, about the size of a fist. I keep getting hung up on that.”
“Would a tool work?” Norman asked. “We have a probe about the same size as a back scratcher.”
“No, a straight probe won’t work. There are too many twists.”
“Hmm.”
“Wait, I know how I can do it,” Akane said suddenly. “I’ll take off my backpack.”
“What?” Norman gasped. “Did you just say you’re going to take off your backpack?”
“No, Akane, I’ll do it,” Yukari said.
“You can’t take your backpack off! That’s like instant death!”
“No it’s not,” Yukari said. “Our backpacks have quick disconnect valves on them. You can remove them in a vacuum and not lose any air.”
“But the air inside your helmet won’t last more than a minute!”
“That’s nothing for a skin diver. I’ll be in and out in a flash.”
“But what if you got caught on something—”
“Don’t worry. I can do this. Akane, you guide me from here.”
“No, Yukari, please. Let me do it.”
“Akane—”
“Really, I’m confident I can do it.”
“We won’t be able to communicate. You won’t have your transmitter.”
“I’ll increase my oxygen and saturate before I go in. I should be good for three minutes. If I don’t come out before then, haul me out with a lifeline.”
Yukari stared at Akane’s face through her visor.
Those eyes—like still water. She can do this. “Okay. Go for it.”
“Whoa, Captain, you hearing this? I don’t think we can let them—”
Wayne cut off Norman’s protest. “Yukari, I’m not sure what SSA safety standards are like, but the danger of this operation is unprecedented. Are you sure you can just let her go in there?”
“Actually, at the SSA, we switch backpacks outside the ship all the time. If you just think of this as an extension of that, it’s really no big deal.”
“But we have to consider the possibility that she’ll take more time than we expect—”
“It’s no more dangerous than skin diving, Captain. Do they not allow skin diving in America?”
There was a long pause before the captain responded.
“Fine, we’ll just have to trust that you know what you’re doing.”
Yukari nodded and Akane turned to crank up the oxygen levels on her life support. She began taking rapid breaths.
“Don’t take too much, you’ll get high.”
“I know.”
Akane deftly removed her backpack and attached a light to her wrist.
Yukari touched her helmet to Akane’s and spoke. “What day is it?”
“Thursday, on the Solomon Islands.”
“Great. Be careful in there.”
“Will do.”
With a twist like a mermaid breaking through the water, Akane disappeared back into the truss. Yukari started the chronograph on her wrist. She looked up to find Norman staring at her. He said nothing. They both waited, breathlessly.
When the needle on her chronograph had gone around twice, she saw something moving inside the truss.
A white glove emerged—holding the valve assembly.
“She made it!”
Yukari reached out and grabbed the assembly. Handing it to Norman, she quickly reached back and grabbed Akane’s hand. Akane slid smoothly out and hurriedly reattached her backpack. Yukari could hear her rapid breaths once she had the electrical cable reattached.
“Are you okay?”
“It was a lot—” she took a heaving breath, “—it was a lot easier than the first time.”
“Ha ha!” Yukari cheered and gave Akane a big hug. “A complete success! That’s my grade-A student!”
Akane laughed. “I’m just glad I’m not getting in the way.”
“We can’t even bring a change of clothes on the orbiter. Why would we waste all that space on something that just got in the way?”
“Good point!”
The girls were rattling on in Japanese when Captain Berkheimer cut in.
“Arigato—sorry, that’s all the Japanese I know.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“No, not at all. You’ve really helped us out. It’s not much, but would you like to join us on the middeck for a welcoming party? I’ve already gotten permission from Solomon.”
They weren’t initially scheduled to visit the shuttle at all, to avoid interfering with their mission.
“We’d love to join you,” Yukari said without a moment’s hesitation.
[ACT 7]
THEY PASSED THROUGH a circular air lock and arrived on the middeck. There was a line of white lockers in front of them, three sleeping berths on the right with a small galley on the side. On the left was a toilet and access hatch for the decks above and below.
In the remaining space, three men waited in T-shirts and shorts.
Yukari and Akane took off their helmets and held them at their sides.
A cheer went up. They always got this reaction when they took off their helmets in front of men—something about it was particularly
enchanting, apparently, though Yukari had never figured out exactly what.
“Welcome to shuttle Atlantis,” the captain said, extending his hand. He was in his early fifties, with a long face and rough whiskers on his chin. Yukari would have taken him for a British gentleman on his day off, but seeing as how he was a shuttle captain, he was most likely a former U.S. military test pilot or of similar stock.
“Excellent work out there,” he said. “You did in five minutes what we couldn’t do in five days. My hat’s off to you.”
“Not at all,” Yukari said pleasantly, “but I will say I was impressed by my mission specialist’s work. Allow me to introduce our new rookie at SSA, Akane Miura.”
“No, really, it was nothing,” Akane blurted as she shook each of the men’s hands in turn.
Next it was the shuttle crew’s turn to introduce themselves.
The pilot, Luis, was thirty-seven years old, ex-Air Force. Something about his eyebrows made him look a bit like the actor Koji Ishizaka, and one of the first things he asked them was which anime was the most popular right now in Japan.
Akane had no idea, and when Yukari suggested Chimaera Ball Z off-the-cuff, he informed her that it had already been canceled.
Gordon, the shuttle MS, was thirty-one years old, an aerospace engineer for an airline company who’d switched over to NASA. He was a handsome fellow with blond hair and an anxious look in his eye, despite his relief that the valve assembly had been retrieved. It was his mishap with the RMA that had lost it in the first place.
The two girls were offered juice in tubes, biscuits, and freeze-dried ice cream. A couple of the men offered them gum and chocolate out of their personal lockers. Nothing up here was particularly tasty, but the variety was welcome.
Norman emerged from the air lock. He was a big man with a crew cut. Had they been standing on the ground, Yukari would have only come up to his chest.
Though he had taken off his helmet and backpack, he was still in his bulky space suit. The five spread out to the floor and the ceiling to make room in the suddenly crowded middeck.
“Sorry we started without you. Good work out there,” the captain said to him.
“I didn’t do anything. They’re the ones you should thank,” Norman said gruffly.
Seen from this close, his space suit looked incredibly unwieldy. The chest was like a barrel wrapped in cloth. His arms and legs were tubes, completely obliterating the human form beneath.
Rocket Girls: The Last Planet Page 14
