by Keith Martin
Fred hoped that he wasn’t holding her back. He knew she was an exceptional young lady and that she learned fast. “I will navigate for you once your back here on the simulators. You can show me how good you are then. I still think you need a few months to get your wings Connie. But then I’m an old fool too. You just keep up the good work and have fun. Ok? Over.”
Pete took the com. “She will be fine Fred. Over.”
“You get that girl hurt and I will kill you with my bare hands Commander. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes Sir. I hear you loud and clear.”
* * *
Pete watched her as she wiped away her tears and got right back to work on the simulator. She was flying the programs like an old eagle. He watched as she changed their flight path down to line up the shuttle for the landing in China. She was an old hat at it all. He was amazed. “So if I let you land her are you going to rat me out to Fred?”
She couldn’t believe what she thought he had said. “I’m yours to train Commander. You point and I’ll do! And no, I won’t rat you out. I’m going to be a Commander one day, and we Commanders have to stick together.”
“Well it’s best to throw you in the water little duck. Let’s see if you can swim.” Pete said to get her ready for what was soon to come. It was how Joshua had trained him and it was how he would train her. The best had to have room to grow from the start or the resource of their abilities would be wasted with the passage of time.
He had never seen anyone take to the simulators like she was. She was a natural flier… plain as the nose on his face… and… his hands would be on the stick all the way down, just in case. His feeling was she’d perform like the expert she’d shown she was.
Ton had a two cubic meter rock brought into the main chamber. The loader set it down right next to a raised bed that would need a layer of gravel in the bottom to get planting started.
Connie’s parents just stood by as the huge rock was ordered and delivered, they didn’t say a word, and they didn’t ask Ton what he was doing.
Ton stood waiting thinking about chaining them to the stone. But where could they go?
A miner came out from the work shed with two shinny new 12-pound sledgehammers and set them before the two new rock crushers. A crowd of miners stood by the work shed to watch the goings on. To them this was real entertainment.
“Well David you really messed up this time. And you had to write Margret in on it too. Well here’s the deal. This rock has to be turned to gravel for this planter. No piece bigger then your little finger. Margret can leave in a week. You got a month at it. But I’ll let you go once you have it totally cleaned up. You will sleep here and eat here. The johns are over there…” He pointed to the johns next to the transport shack. “If you move farther away than four hammer lengths from this stone I will chain you to it. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes Ton.” Margret said with her head hanging low. The whole thing had embarrassed her to death. She was ready to take her punishment as it was given.
“You can go straight to hell. You can’t make me do anything. Who do you men think you are? I won’t lift a finger for you. So take your hammer and your rock and go bust it yourself!” Mr. Keys tried to sound brave. He only knew that he was going to do whatever it took to get out of doing what Ton and Otto told him to do.
Ton made a point of lifting a finger… just his left pinky finger. “Oh boys...” He called out coyly.
A large group of miners started toward them carrying a length of chain and two locks. They pushed David to the ground and locked one end of the chain to his right ankle. The other end went around a rock chair leg that was carved nearby. “I will get you for this if it’s the last thing I do. You’ll see…. I’m not going to lift a finger.”
Ton turned to Margret. “Do you have anything to say?”
“No Sir!” She said as she picked up the sledgehammer and went to work.
Ton assigned a female miner to keep an eye on them as they worked. “Let her work until she can’t lift that hammer any more. Then bring her to me.” He ordered softly so only she heard the order given.
“You got it boss.” She responded with a wink of approval. “I’d give the Lass about two hours tops with that hammer. And David?”
Then loudly he went on “We will have to see how he handles this then decide what we will do. Otto got so mad he slapped him down hard. We need to make him understand that actions earning that kind of attention cost dearly.”
“Otto slapped him? I knew I loved that man!” She said with respect. In her book Otto had just earned a big star. She turned back to her prisoners. “Ok folks, its rock crushing time. Lets get to it.”
* * *
Margret lifted the hammer high and sent it smashing down with every ounce of power she had. She was going to prove herself to Ton as she had never proved herself to any man.
She married David after Connie’s father had left her when she got pregnant. At first David was a perfect gentleman, kind and giving. She had Connie and they got a place together and started raising her. David got a job with the trash haulers and she stayed home to raise her baby.
She had always done extremely well in school before she fell for Connie’s father. Then her whole world got turned upside down. She planed to go to college and was applying at some of the countries best Medical Colleges to seek a career in Pediatrics. She wanted to spend her life caring for children. With an infant at home she had what she wanted, so she just got to raising Connie and put her life on hold.
David’s job was with a good company and the family had great health and dental care provided. David’s income was able to take great care of them. So there was no need for her to try to do anything but take care of her home and raise her daughter.
She began when Connie was still in her womb. She would read to her and do work from school and tell her all about what she was doing and learning. Once Connie came and they got into the house she continued with flash cards and story time and turning learning into a game with her daughter to share their time.
Then it was as if he just turned into some kind of fiend. He got upset because they were playing too loud. He would complain she was reading to Connie too much and that she was not giving Connie time to just be a baby. He would scream at her for the smallest things at first. Then he would beat her for little things threatening to go after Connie if she resisted him in any way. He vowed to find her if she ever left him and would make sure Connie paid with pain if she tried to divorce him.
She felt totally trapped and didn’t know what to do. Then Connie got invited to spend 3 months on the Moon helping to install a new computer system. Margret convinced David to go once she showed him how much more he could make on the Moon with all of them being paid at once. Her education wasn’t a good enough reason for him to take time off his job even though the company promised him his job back when they got back to Earth. But the income being equivalent to three times a years pay for him was right up his ally.
* * *
“What’s up Shianne?” Ashley asked as she entered the hanger.
Shianne was still working on The Seekers thruster bell. “You do know this is a thruster bell? It’s not for ringing, it’s for blasting off.” She made her little joke.
“Just tell me what to do so I can help out.” Ashley wasn’t used to asking her sister for direction.
“We need to pull this off today.” Shianne informed her of the game plan. “There are twenty-four bolts that need removing. Get a wrench.”
“Ok, is there any protocol to this?” Ashley picked up a one point five inch box end wrench and a breaker bar.
“Start from the twelve o’clock bolt and go counter clock wise. Just loosen them first then we will get the lift and chain it up.” She was surprised to see her sister down in the hanger with her again. She figured she would be working on the mission to Mars as their father had asked. “Why are you not working on the mission?” It still amazed her to see Ashley with tools
in her hands. Her sister was so out of her element.
“I did all the ordering I could do this morning before your lazy butt even woke up. So I’m here to help until I can think of something else to order. Now get out of my way and get that dumb look off your face. It’s not like I don’t know how to work.” Ashley shot back quickly and pushed her sister out of her way playfully. “I like helping you. It reminds me of when we where just babies and we would play in mud puddles and get covered in it from head to toe.” She admitted as she got started.
As others came out to help they found the sisters cracking jokes back and forth as they got dirty together having a great time.
* * *
Master Chair Doreen walked into her office only to find her secretary hard at work. She was calling the secretaries of other Chairs stating her case like a spoiled child. She was trying to broker her views into leverage against The Chair from the Moon.
Doreen wanted to give her one last chance to save her position. She didn’t know what had happened to this woman to cause her to act this way. She could only guess that this was again a corrupting of the power of the position she now held. “Crystal we need to talk.” She said entering her office.
Crystal quickly excused herself with the party she was talking with and hung up. “Yes Master Chair?” She responded innocently.
“What is going on between you and Otto?” Doreen asked as she took a seat at her secretary’s desk.
Crystal went right into a ranting triad of Otto’s abuse of the power he had. “He ordered me to bother you while you were at breakfast. Like your time is of no concern to him at all. All for a list of supplies we have not approved of. He thinks he can call here and just order you around, like you’re his slave. I will not bow to him just because he is a man and I will not do the bidding of his wives. They are just brain washed because he has impregnated them. It is appalling how he thinks he can just demand to speak to you any time he wants. I won’t be a part of it. I won’t let him treat this office like it’s his own personal shopping center. If we don’t keep the men in line now they will try to over run us all over again.”
Doreen wondered if they needed any help on the Moon. She hated all the squabbling that she had to deal with here on the Earth. It seemed at times that the women of Earth didn’t understand that they were all trying to save mankind from extinction. This wasn’t a pissing contest. “Do you like your job?” She asked a little sharply. She didn’t want to play around.
“Yes Master Chair.” Crystal tried to act as if she didn’t understand why the Master Chair would ask her this at all.
“Would you like to help save mankind?” Doreen kept up the pressure.
“You’re kidding right? Otto is not the savior of mankind. He is just a rancher from the back woods of California.” Crystal tried to defend herself.
“And I’m just a wife and mother from Washington D.C. So do I qualify to hold the position of Master Chair?” She was at the end of her rope and she was just getting started. She knew this had to be done so she did it. “I think its best that you pack your things and go find a job in the farming industries. You need to be out where your narrow views can only be heard by you. You will be escorted from the building in ten minutes, be ready.” She stood and turned to go. “One last thing…. If I ever hear of you saying a harsh word about any of the Chairs I will have you dropped on an island in the Alaskan Aleutians in mid winter without a jacket. The Chairs are working as one to save the human race and I will not have anyone say one word about them being anything but the great people they are. Do I make myself clear?” She didn’t wait for an answer. She turned and as she reached her desk in her office she called security. She requested the escort needed in her office with orders to detain her if she said one harsh word.
* * *
A video call to the Moon raised Chair Linda. “I have removed that little problem from my office. Please pass on my apologies to Otto and Jill for her abrasiveness. I plan to hand pick my new secretary to make sure this will not happen again.” She informed her of her feelings sounding like she was wiping egg off her face.
“We knew you would handle this quickly Doreen. We don’t hold this against you; we love you and look forward to working together. ” Linda assured her.
“That’s good to hear Linda thank you. I will have the supplies gathered and ready at Vandenberg as soon as possible.” She said.
“Otto has sent the shuttles to China Doreen. Chair May has assured us that the order will be filled right away. He thought this would give you the needed time to clean house there. There is another list that we have for Ashley’s supplies. I will send it to you right away. It would be wise for you to contact Chair May and start working on the transports that will be needed and the supply lists that we will be sending down. This is going to be a daily thing for quite some time to come. It will be up to you on Earth to figure out who a supplier will be and where the pickup point will be.” Linda made sure to sound as jovial as possible. She didn’t want the Master Chair to feel as if she was being passed over because of this little bump in the road.
“That was wise of him. If one supplier does not have the ability to fill an order it is smart to find one that will.” The Master Chair was obviously unaffected by this change in plans. “I know there are a couple of the G Class shuttles that were not finished when the virus hit. I will have those finished as soon as possible. We have the ability to do this now. We can also start building new projects as the needs arise. The women have been trained and are ready to start working on the real thing now.”
“That’s great Doreen. I’ll let you go to get this rolling. Stay in touch if there is anything you need.” Linda said as she readied to end the conversation.
“And you do the same Linda. Be sure to give your family my best wishes.” They said their goodbyes. She knew things would work out just fine with her friends on the Moon.
* * *
Hackett had the shuttle lined up for re-entry and was piloting the simulator program and keeping track of the shuttles flight path at the same time. She was using the simulator program to guide her real-time landing. She called down to establish communications before reaching the Earth’s atmosphere. “China Mission Control…this is G-3. Come in. Over.”
“G-3 this is China Mission Control. We have you on screen; you are lined up perfectly for landing at B.A.B. You are clear all the way down. We have cleared the skies for you over the entire area.” Came a reply in perfect English. “As you approach you will see the runway lights to the north of the city. We will be shutting down all power to the city for your landing. The only lights you will see will be the runways. All services are on station awaiting your touchdown. Over.”
“Copy that China Mission Control. Communications black out in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.” G-3 entered the extreme upper layers of the Earth’s upper atmosphere and started to heat up like a falling star. The ceramic tile skin started heating up and burning in the friction of reentry. The heat shield took the punishment and the ship slowed as it plummeted towards the Earth. Flames licked past the shuttles windshields giving Hackett a dance of light as the ship buffeted around in the thickening air.
She showed no fear having seen this so many times as she practiced on the simulators and on the games she loved to play online.
The navigations computer was piloting them down through the layers of air and keeping them safe as the Earth started to show below them. The world was in the darkness of night and the glow of city lights showed her where humanity had gathered.
From the ground, the people of China could see a falling star headed down toward their country. Many stopped and watched as the first G-Class shuttle came in to land outside of the United States. This event was carried over the national and world news services. It was holding the world in its glow, frozen in time for just this few seconds. It was a comfort to see, like a good log fire on a cold winter night.
Vibrations started to smooth out a
nd the moisture in the air-cooled the heated tiles causing the streak of the falling star to wink out in the night sky. Hackett switched on the navigational and landing lights to give the people of China a great show as she brought G-3 down.
Hackett reached for the controls and the autopilot switched off at her touch. She gave the mighty ship some nose down and gained more control of the craft. She lit the thrusters just to have them online if they were needed. She wanted to be ready for anything. She could see the lights of hundreds of cities from their height and wished she had time to just enjoy the ride down. But she was in Command and in control of a G-Class Shuttle; she would have to check out the view another time.
Suddenly the largest to these cities went dark and the runway lights to the north of it started to flash in the direction of landing. They were calling to G-3 home.
At fifteen thousand feet Pete asked. “Are you ok with this Hackett?”
“Shhhhsush...” Came her response with confidence.
At ten thousand feet she was lined up well and coming in true with the glide path. “If you want I can draw you a map of how to fly this thing?” Pete was having a good time watching Hackett do her best work to date. He teased her knowing this was nothing for her except some added excitement because she was doing it for real for the first time.
At five thousand feet, she dropped the landing gear and hit the air brakes giving her a little more nose down. “Landing gear down and locked, air speed bleeding off, passing five hundred miles per hour, we are in the glide path and everything is looking A-OK”
She felt as if she had done this a thousand times and handled it as if she was a seasoned Commander, just another day at the office.
At two thousand feet she pulled the nose up and started to feather the ship toward the Earth below them bleeding off more speed.
Fifteen hundred feet and she extended the flaps as she reduced air speed again and applied fifty percent on the air brakes.
