by Keith Martin
“You’re so bad Shi.” They started to giggle; it felt good just being`sisters again.
The chamber was an old Space Suit Integrity Vacuum Chamber. A small room designed to guarantee space suits where functioning properly before sending them into space. At six feet wide, eight feet long with a six and a half foot ceiling, it was just the right size to try this experiment. One Medical technician was suited up to be inside with them just in case she was needed.
“Ok Ashley; how will all this work?” The tech got started with the protocol established for this experiment. Shianne suddenly realized they were lab rats.
“First we enter the chamber and both of us receive a five cc injection of adrenalin. This will raise our heart rates to help saturate our systems with oxygen. Then the chamber will be sealed and flooded with ninety-eight percent oxygen for one minute. Then it gets very windy as the Earth air is replaced with Moon air. Our suits have airlines running all through them; so all air inside the suits is purged also. Once Earths air is purged from the chamber and our suits we wait for things to level out in our systems. Our blood and the air in the chamber will be checked and once we have the medical all clear, we finish suiting up and are hooked into Moon air. They will open up for us and we walk out to the shuttle. Then you drive us to Dad in an empty shuttle.”
“Sounds fun…. except for the empty shuttle part!” Shianne smiled. “I figure we can bring a load up to S.M.B. while we are at it.”
“Well alright then.” Ashley trusted her sister full shuttle or empty; her sister was the woman for the job.
“You know I’m a bit scared?” Shianne admitted.
“So am I Shianne.” Ashley took her hand and they entered the chamber. The massive pressure door closed with a bang and a hiss as the seals inflated.
The Med tech was in the chamber awaiting them. She helped them into their space suits as soon as Ashley was finished injecting herself and Shianne personally. “Hey; that kind of hurt Ashmo.” Shianne complained. Ashley had a big smile on her face. “Why are you so happy?” Shianne asked rubbing the injection site.
“I’ve always wanted to do that you know?” Ashley was almost giggling. “To stick my little sister after all these years? I should have done it long ago!” The mischief in her smile was beautiful to see.
“You know that this means war?” Shianne threatened playfully. “And I’m going to use a bigger needle!” She used her best counterfeit pout to no avail.
Otto got to Mission Control just as Vic, Ton and Chris arrived. “Hi fella’s; what brings all of you at a run?”
“Let’s go in and see.” Vic responded. It was clear from their looks they were all wondering what was up. Vic hauled the door open and they all entered. Inside they found Pete red faced mad, and pacing.
“You… Con Man; what’s going on here?” Vic started the ball rolling with a growl.
“Mr. Chisholm… That daughter of yours thinks she can fly the shuttle back to the Moon personally.” The young Ace snapped as he laid eyes on Otto; only Otto’s restraining hand placed on Vic’s chest stopped Vic from confronting this young upstart. No one was going to talk to Otto or about the girls in that tone of voice on his watch.
“What has she done Con Man?” Otto went fishing. He was having fun now.
“She disengaged the auto-pilot and remote controls. She even pulled the communications fuse so that I can’t put those systems back online.” Pete was rolling now.
“Why did she do that Pete?” Otto was getting into this and tried not to smile. All of the men followed his lead and were all starring him into a grave.
“I have no idea. All I know is that she is not following my orders to reinstall the fuse and allow the auto-pilot systems to fly the ship home.” He reported on his situation.
Otto looked at Pete surprised. He couldn’t believe this young man had been so stupid as to take on Shianne. “You gave Shianne an order? My Shianne? The Shianne that’s my daughter? Shianne Chisholm the rocket scientist? PHD Shianne Chisholm? Designer of the full thruster system on the G-Class Shuttles Shianne Chisholm? That Shianne? An order?” He asked for clarification. “Joshua’s sister Shianne?” He kept up the barrage of questions all seeking the same answer with one last broadside and a confused look on his face.
“Yes Sir I did.” He responded with authority standing tall.
Otto had to drink from this news and restrain himself to keep from laughing at this young pilot’s predicament. “Is the Mission Control Commander available?” Otto asked.
“Here Otto.” General Fred Bragg walked in behind them. The General extended his hand to Otto.
“So; what do we do about this situation?” Otto asked the General jovially. “How do we fit into this little party?” He added with a knowing smile.
The General needed no prompting. He was a leader of men and had been for most of his life. He too liked to see men get out of the holes they’d dug themselves into. “I’m just an observer on this one Otto. Con Man has his orders and he will execute those orders completely. Con Man has the ball.”
Otto was impressed with the General’s wisdom in passing the buck on this one. “Well Con Man?” He asked the young new Commander.
The room fell silent; all watching Pete to see what he’d do next. Pete had five grinning men looking him straight in the face and he knew they were not going to help him out of this one. He had somehow gotten himself in this twist and it was up to him to un-twist his way out of it.
Before Pete could answer, Otto pulled out his cell phone and dialed 2.
“Hello Dad. What can I do for you?” Shianne answered on the first ring.
“Hi, what’s your twenty?”
“Is he squirming Daddy?”
“Copy on that; your twenty?” He demanded.
His word was law to her as it had always been, her respect for his authority was never questioned. “Suit up right now; it worked Dad. All tests show no virus. We are on our way to you.”
“I love you Dad.” Ashley’s voice could be heard in the background.
“Tell her I love her too; you’re ETA to transport?”
“The fuse will be reinstalled in fifteen, liftoff in thirty.” She knew by now her father knew about her little battle with Pete.
“That’s great news.”
“Dad…. Don’t let him off the hook. If he’s going to be a Commander and a friend to this family he needs to learn how to deal with us girls on his own. We are on the way and its sink or swim time for Pete. OK?”
“Copy that.”
“I love you too Dad. We will see you soon.” Ashley added.
“More, out.” Otto signed off and hung up. This was going to be fun to watch. He was sure this young man would come through with just a few minor tail feathers burned. “I’m sorry Pete; you where saying?”
All four men knew Otto had just taken care of any potential problems with his cryptic call. It was now time to see how Pete was going to flap his way out of this flame out. So far it looked as if he needed more training. And this was training day. “I was thinking…”
“No Pete… you were not thinking.” Otto cut him off. “I think you should get back to your Com and figure out how to regain control of this potentially hazardous situation. Do you copy that Com Man?” The authority in his voice had Con Man standing at attention as stiff as granite.
Pete’s heart fell into his boots. “Yes Sir…. Right away Sir.” He turned and returned to his station. He was on his own. He had to do as Otto ordered and regain control of the situation and he knew he was getting no help with this one, none at all.
Otto turned to the Commanders who surrounded him and suggested. “Well gentlemen shall we retire to the Generals’ office and discuss matters to help win us this day?”
The General led the way. They followed and all were laughing at Pete’s expense.
* * *
Reaching his station Pete sat down wondering how he had gotten himself into such a mess. Everything was going just fine and then it
just suddenly got all screwed up. How was he going to save himself from this situation he had no idea? To say he was totally at a loss for direction would have been a gross understatement.
One of the UCLA techs handed him a new communications headset in the box. “Commander you may need this!” These ladies were not going help him out of this, but they did have his back. No one at S.M.B. except for a handful of people knew the Chisholm girls. But with a father and brother like the males of the Chisholm tribe the women had to be a force to recon with.
* * *
As the men took their seats Ton got things rolling. “Well that was fun.”
They all burst with laughter. Fred asked. “And the cryptic call? I gather that was Shianne and all is fine?”
“Yea Fred. We are all go; they are on the way up. There will be two more for dinner.”
Chris gave Otto a friendly pat on the back saying. “This is great news.”
At the same time the General was tapping into the computer looking over the simulator records. “Otto….” He was surprised by what he had found. “You didn’t tell us that you birthed two eagles?”
“Look deeper Fred, I can fly too. Shianne made a game of simulator training. She had me there all the way. It was her way to spend time together while she was finishing up her schooling. She trained me to fly.”
Every day he was more impressed with this man. “And everything is going to be fine for this flight?”
“It will be by the book Fred.” Otto assured him. “I won’t be surprised when she puts it through some tests on the way up. Mark my words things are going to change again.”
The General sat back and relaxed. He had Otto’s word and that was enough for him.
Vic was still enjoying how mad Shianne had made Pete. He didn’t want to miss anything at all. “Can we monitor Con Man’s torture from in here?”
More laughter filled the room as the General got things pulled up on the screens. “Here we go…. Screen one will be a view of Mission Control and screen two will be what Con Man will be seeing on his screen. We will hear him but he will not be able to hear us.”
‘This is going to be fun.’ Otto thought as he settled in for the show.
“How long are you going to let him twist in the wind Otto?” Ton ribbed him.
Otto had confidence in Pete. He was sure the young man would come through with shinning colors. “He is on his own, I think Pete will do fine. I pray this will be one of many shinning hours in his career as a Commander.” He said proudly. Pete was like a son to him now. He was family. But that didn’t save him from a little fun now and then. Even if it hurt just a bit. Otto felt growing up, just naturally was going to kind of hurt, if you do it right.
* * *
Shianne was being strapped into the right seat and Ashley the left by the Crew Chief herself. Ashley was looking at the hundred or more switches, dials, gages and touch pads that filled the control panels with awe. “And you know what all of these do?”
“Yes silly, every one of them. But my ship will be more automated.”
“Your ship?”
“And my ship would ditch this old bird too…” Shianne handed the communications fuse to the crew chief and she reinstalled it into the power supply of the communications unit. The system came back to life and the computers rebooted automatically. The two of them watched until all systems where online and ready for flight with the Crew Chief looking on over their shoulders.
“Have a great crossing Shianne.” The Crew Chief said as she headed for the cabin hatch. All she needed was to witness the fuse replacement then, watch the system reboot and she was ready to go. The ship would still be grounded if Shianne had continued playing with Con Man.
“Ground Crew pull landing gear strut locks and readied her for flight.” She gave the command that in-fact unlocked her ship for flight. No ship was going into space with its wheels locked in the down position. She knew that and used it to her advantage just to make sure everyone understood that on the ground she was the one in charge of G-2, not some engineer taking her first flight no matter who she was.
* * *
Pete tapped into the simulator records while he waited for something to happen. “Oh crap.” He exhaled as he read all there was in the file. He could tell how badly he had messed up. She had done more simulator missions than he had. Shianne was going to pilot the shuttle quite well.
The Communication Main Fuse light flashed green as the Crew Chief reinstalled it. Pete grabbed his new headset and plugged in. “G-2 this is Con Man. Shianne is that you? Over.”
“Yep, it’s me.” She teased. “Over.”
He waited not knowing what to say.
“Mission Control this is G-2, Shianne Chisholm; acting Commander… Over.”
“God this woman has got brass.” Pete said to himself, then he just ate his foot. “I owe you an apology Shianne. I’m truly sorry for trying to give you orders. Over.”
“Accepted! Tow is underway and G-2 is moving to the end of runway. Time to launch is three minutes and counting. Over.”
“Roger that, Shianne ……” She heard the concern in his voice. “…This will be very close to what you experienced in the simulators. But you’re sitting in a ship that weighs over three hundred and seventy five thousand pounds with its full load of fuel. It will handle a little heavy. Over.”
“Understood Conman. Over.”
“Without a load she will come up real fast. If she comes up too fast she will stall. Over.” Pete advised her.
“I took that into consideration Con Man. Shipping manifest totals one hundred and seventy two thousand pounds in the cargo bays at this time. Three thousand short of a max load. Do you copy that? Over.”
Pete wiped the frustration from his face. He was going to kill her for putting him through this. “Copy that. One hundred and seventy two thousand pounds of cargo.” Only Joshua had lifted loads so heavy. His heaviest load to date was one hundred and thirty four thousand pounds. ‘What did she put in it? Lead?’ He thought as he got back on line. “Shianne when I took up one hundred and thirty four thousand pounds I had to use seventy five percent thrusters to lift off. Advise you use ninety percent from mid point on. Copy? Over.” It was going to be like flying a brick and Pete knew it.
“Copy that Pete, ninety percent at the mid, five, four, three, two, one, and the crowd goes wild. Over.” She hit the thruster ignition switches and the ship responded with a leap down the runway. She slowly punched the throttles up to ninety eight percent by the time she hit the mid way point, then she pulled up on the ships controls to give her lift. With all the weight, she needed a ground speed of three hundred eighty five to gain enough lift to become airborne.
Only a few more seconds and they would live or die. It was up to G-2 and lift off. The nose gear came up first, then she gave the thrusters full throttle. The ship jumped into the air and took to its wings. Shianne was now truly a G-Class pilot. “G-2 has lifted off and is in route to S.M.B. Over.”
Pete jumped to his feet with joy. “YEA!” He shouted. “I copy that Shianne. Good job, over.”
“Thanks Pete. But I think we should add a couple of miles to the end of this runway. Over.”
Pete understood how she felt. The runways vanished under the shuttles in seconds as they raced for speed. “I will pass your suggestion on to the base commander. I’m sure she will do the job for you, over.”
* * *
The thunder of the three main thrusters was wreaking havoc on the cockpit. It shook through every fiber of the ship and its passengers as it climbed. “Is it always this loud?” Ashley shouted, not thinking about the com/link that took care of communications between them.
Shianne pushed the thrusters to a hundred and twenty percent and the ship shot past seven hundred and eighty miles an hour. The sound vanished in a flash. The ship was now quiet as a church and the ride smoothed right out. “That’s better!” She winked at Ashley as the ship started to see the black of space coming closer.
Shianne had this on her sister; she had been in space once before as a passenger. This time it was as acting Commander. So this was going to be the grand tour of Earth with a blast out to the Moon using the Earth’s gravity to help slingshot the ship to even greater speeds. It was all just facts in books and numbers to remember. It was her life’s work that made it possible for her to instinctively take Shuttles to greater speeds then any before her. Now her whole life was coming together right where she wanted to be, flying a shuttle, going to visit Dad. She was going to make the fastest crossing to the Moon ever made or rip the wings off G-2 trying. That was her mission.
‘The world knows. There will be... Oh my God …… the news.’ She suddenly realized what would be happening on Earth. The World News and WWW would have them covered like tics. They didn’t tell anyone before lift off. But at least four hundred personnel on base knew what was being done, and eggheads across the planet watched the stars non-stop with their telescopes and radar, nothing escaped their detection and tracking abilities.
The jig was up.
* * *
Flying inverted so that they could look down on Earth as Shianne set up for her burn. Ashley sat mesmerized by the beauty of seeing it for the first time with her own eyes. “How much can we see before we have to make the burn?” Ashley asked sounding dreamy.
“Are you kidding Ashmo… if I do a low and fast drive-by and circumnavigate the planet at the equator, and shoot out at the right spot, we get there an hour sooner! Want to try it?”
“An hour faster?” Ashley got planted into her seat as Shianne engaged the computer to fly her Moon Intercept Program. The program instantly sending them into the steepest of dives just outside of Earths’ atmosphere giving G-2 every bit of power she had. “Show off.” Ashley said strained. The G- forces pulled fiercely on her body as the shuttle gained the speed needed to make this crossing in record time.
* * *
