Survivors

by Alex Isaacs

  The rest of the week is the same, more specialized training for the two of us, but we have our flying to keep us motivated. The first PSV is on its way back from the belt with another load. The other two are on their way; the materials are helping Simon to get his vehicles built quicker. The first special PSV, the PSV-15, is ready to be tested. It will be able to harvest from the asteroid belt and the nebulas when we get near one. Saturday morning, Maggie and I will take it out to fly and test the controls. We get up to the asteroid, the PSV-15, is ready for us to fly. We take it out; I get Maggie to test the tractor beam, then the collectors. All is working perfectly. The back of the vehicle has the containers for the gases separated for safety. Another section of the FSV is nearly enclosed. The extra materials we are getting is helping the program.

  We get into our PSV, going back to earth. The two of us will be going in to see Joe and the engineers. We will report on the flight of the PSV-15. The General shows up; he says he has heard of the test flight. Joe says yes, the flight is a success. The General looks at the two of us, asking what we are doing here. Joe tells the General we are the test pilots. The General asks us if this is true. The two of us salute him saying yes, sir. The General says Private West is this the truth. Maggie says, yes, sir. The General looks at me; then he asks me if the private is ready for this. I say yes, sir, she is my co-pilot, one of the best in the fleet. The General looks at Maggie; he says a private cannot be a test pilot or a co-pilot. I see Maggie looking sad. The General tells Maggie, he is promoting her to Sergeant West. The General says he will find out if she needs a higher rank later. He gets his officer to make the arrangements; then, he tells Maggie to get the appropriate clothing on; she is out of uniform. Maggie salutes then leaves to get her stripes. The General looks at me, asking if that is all for me. I say yes, sir, saluting to leave. The General says I am doing a great job with the sergeant. I thank him, saluting then leaving.

  We get to our training, Kelly seeing the stripes on Maggie. We are both brought forward, Kelly saying where did the stripes come from, she is out of uniform. Maggie salutes, handing her the orders of her promotion. Kelly tells the two of us we were to report to her first. The two of us get our specialized training orders again. Maggie does not mind; she is a sergeant now. We get back, Kelly congratulating Sergeant West on her promotion. We do the other training, then take a shower, then go to dinner. Maggie asks me to come with her after dinner; she wants to show her mother. We find her mother; Jody is happy for her daughter. Maggie tells her mother how I am helping, Jody thanks me for helping her daughter. Maggie asks her mom if she wants to go to the valley, she can stay in the military but will have a home to go to each night. Jody hugs her daughter, saying she would like to see it first. I tell Jody, I will let her know when I have time to go to the valley, the two can come with me to see the valley.

  We go back to the barracks; I do some more of my school work. Maggie is on her laptop doing the astronomy course. Jenny comes over to talk with me, saying I am doing a great job with Maggie, saying the General must be impressed with Maggie getting her promotion. I tell Jenny that the General might promote her again; he has to find out if being a sergeant is okay for being a co-pilot. The girls come over after doing their school work, congratulating Maggie on her promotion. Kelly comes out, Maggie standing up with the rest of us; then Maggie asks if she is to do her nightly run now. Kelly says yes, she might as well go for her run, looking at me to join her. As Kelly leaves, the two of us get ready for the run. The other girls tell us to wait for them; they change coming for the run with the two of us. Maggie and I have to slow down to let the girls keep up; we have been getting stronger with the specialized training. When we finish the run, the girls ask if the other training is making us stronger and faster. I say yes, the two of us are enjoying it now. I see the three girls now talk amongst themselves before going to bed.

  Sunday morning, we have the day off from flying. It gives me some more time to do my school work. I need to get into the lab at the university. I go to see about getting permission for the five of us to go to the lab. They ask me five; they thought it was four people. I let them know that my co-pilot is now taking the same course. I get permission; I head back to the barracks to let the other four know. We get changed into our street clothes; I let Kelly know we are going off base to the university to the lab. She asks if she can take the astronomy course as well. I tell Kelly I will pick her up the textbooks to start the course; I have to get them for the sergeant.

  Maggie is amazed at the lab, seeing all the machines. I help her to use the machine for the part of the course she is on. I also begin helping the other girls with their work. We finish our lab work, putting in our papers for our courses. I head to buy Maggie and Kelly the books they require, picking up notebooks as well. We get back to the barracks, changing to do training. We get in for training, finding the others here already. Kelly calls the two of us, saying we are late again. The other three girls come in behind us. Kelly sends the two of us on our daily routine. Zoey comes forward, asking if they have to take the specialized training with the two of us, the three of them are late as well. Kelly looks at them; she has to send them with us. Kelly gets them to get ready, telling Jenny to prepare three more backpacks. Jenny asks if she can prepare a backpack for herself. Saying she might as well do the training with us while she is there. Kelly says if she wants to, go ahead.

  The three girls do the rope climbing, the pushups then join us for the two laps with the backpacks. Jenny joins us; the six of us head out to do our laps. I see the General out looking at us at his usual spot, making sure we are doing the run. I see him looking at the rest of the group before heading into his office. Maggie and I have to slow down a little for the girls to keep up. They are in shape, but we are in better shape from the extra training. After we shower, the four girls come out to meet me. Zoey asks me what she thinks the Captain will find as an excuse for sending the two of us out tomorrow. I say I do not know, but I do not want you three to get in trouble. They agree but go on talking with each other.

  I give Kelly her books for the course, giving her a laptop that I picked up from the lab. I set it up for her, getting her to sign up for the online class. I get her going on her first course, letting her know I will take her along with the others to the lab. Kelly thanks me for doing this for her, then apologizes for the specialized training, she said the General is making her do it. I laugh, saying I do deserve it, Maggie does not, but she loves it like I am now. I tell Kelly that Zoey, Ann, and Mandy will be trying to join us each day. Kelly asks why. I say they want the exercise; they are getting closer to Maggie. Kelly asks if we should make it easier for the three of them. I ask how? Kelly tells me to talk with the four girls once we get into the class, she will then send the five of us out, we can figure out other ways as we go along.

  I head out to do some more work; the four girls are waiting for our nightly run. I change, going to Kelly’s door, she is online already doing her first class. I tell her we are ready for our nightly run. Kelly comes to the door, telling us we do not have to come to ask, just let Lieutenant Peabody or Sanders you are going out. Kelly goes back to her laptop. The five of us head out to do our run, coming back to shower again, getting ready for bed. After lights out, I feel a nudge. Maggie is here again; she says thank you to me, hugging me before going back to her bunk.

  After breakfast, we head to the PSV; we have more people to train, taking some of them up into space to get used to being there. The first PSV is back again from the belt, Simon and the general have split them up, they are three days apart, this is, so they all do not arrive at the same time back at the asteroid base. Joe can now handle making the selection of the asteroids to bring back. We take materials and personnel out with us to the asteroid base. The personnel are going into the FSV; the front is closed in with the security hatches. The second section is now in place. When enclosed, it will have crew quarters, cafeteria, storage for food, and non-essential personnel in hibernation uni
ts. Some of the other computer people are working with the engineers to make sure the hibernation units will work properly. There is word going around for volunteers to try them out. I also hear that they are now testing better units with the improvements coming out.

  These hibernation units will save on food and water usage on the space voyages. We go to look at the control room of the FSV; it is larger with all the different controls for the fuel section. That should be the third section, then the landing bay with the PSV-15 will be the last section. I hope to be able to work on this vehicle, but with the lack of qualified pilots, we need to train continuously as some cannot handle flying in space. We head out to bring in one of the asteroids from the returning PSV, dropping it in the landing bay of the asteroid base. We bring in another to the landing bay, before securing the third outside. The landing bay crew, refuel the PSV before it goes back to the asteroid belt for another load.

  Simon is happy the work is moving along steadily on the three PSV-15’s and the FSV. Kelly tells me to expect a special cargo in the coming days to the asteroid base. We finish for the day, bringing the personnel back with us to earth. We unload then head to do our training for the afternoon. As we come out of the changeroom, I get the four girls with me telling them that there is a special cargo going to the asteroid base, did they want to come with Maggie and me the next few days to see what the cargo is. Suddenly, Kelly yells out to the five of us, no talking, you are to be standing ready for the training. Kelly calls Lieutenant Sanders to the front, instructing her to take the five of us on our routine of extra work. The five of us, along with Jenny, start our extra work, then grab our backpacks for our daily run.

  After training, we eat, then start into our daily classes. Kelly comes out, asking a couple of questions about the astronomy course, Maggie hears her, asking for permission to speak, then asks Kelly if she is taking the same course. I tell Jenny Maggie is taking it; also, Maggie then asks to work with her, maybe the two of them can figure out some of the things in the course. I get done my second class of the day, looking at the clock. Maggie and Kelly are still working on their laptops, forgetting what time it is. The other girls have finished up and are waiting for Maggie and our nightly run. Kelly sees us waiting, then tells Maggie to change, then Kelly tells me to wait for her. The six of us head out running, Kelly asking me things about the astronomy course. As we run, everybody is now talking about the astronomy course, discussing the different things. I begin to notice that we are ow on our third lap; I say nothing about the run, answer some of the questions. As we come around, it looks like we might start the fourth lap. I tell Kelly, we are about to start lap four. The girls stop, then begin to laugh. Kelly asks me why I did not say anything about the third lap. I smiled, adding I knew about it, but was deeper into the conversation than saying anything.

  The next morning, the three girls join Maggie and me on the PSV, there is no special cargo today. The girls ask what we should do up at the asteroid base. I tell them we will look at the FSV and its computers. We drop a load of materials, along with the extra personnel; then, we head to the FSV, where I see more of the work on the FSV; I figure the second section will be enclosed later today or tomorrow morning. I get asked to bring the third asteroid into the landing bay; the materials are out of the first one. The work crew is efficient with these asteroids now. We finish the day here, taking our passengers back to earth. I see Zoey looking at a couple of the passengers; they are not used to being in outer space.

  After landing, I get the girls to wait for me; I see Joe asking some questions about the FSV. He knows the second section is ready to have work done on the inside. Joe says he and some people will be coming on my vehicle in the morning to look at it. I tell Joe that I have Zoey coming on to do her check on Maggie. I then tell Joe that Ann and Mandy want to look over the computers in the front section. Joe tells me that it is fine; no one else is coming with me on this trip. I head out, meeting the girls running to the training, we might be late. As we get in, we are late again. I apologize to Kelly, saying it is my fault; I had to see Joe after my flight. Kelly says that is no excuse for the others; they did not have to see him. Kelly calls Jenny, saying our five special people are looking for their special training. That night, we do our classwork, Maggie and Kelly, trying to catch up with the others in the astronomy class. We get done our work then the six of us head out for our run. I look back to see Jenny and Jason coming to catch up with us.

  Wednesday morning, we are waiting at the PSV for Joe, then see Simon and the General coming with him. As they get to the vehicle, I ask them to suit up. Joe nods, but the other two look at me. Simon asks why? I say it is in the rules made by the General. The General shakes his head; then, the two go to suit up. When they come back, the General asks why the other three are on board. I explain about their duties; then, the General says, carry on to the asteroid base. As I take off, a large gust of wind hits us, jolting all the passengers. I calmly make the corrections with Maggie, continuing our trip. I see the General and Simon are shaken by what happened. I get to the base, landing safely, all of us heading to the FSV. I take the girls into the control room; they begin to laugh after the door closes. I get Zoey to check on them, see how they are after the flight.

  The other group comes into the control room, seeing us looking at all the controls. Simon asks if I am waiting to test drive the FSV, I say no, I want to test fly the CSV’s. Simon tells me that the two of us will be testing the FSV as well; he wants all us pilots to fly everything. Joe tells us the next two sections will not take that long to build. The next PSV-15 is ready to fly; the last two will be ready soon. The General says, let's take it out to test fly it now. We all head to the new PSV-15, the crew makes sure it is ready for us to test fly. We do our check; then we move to take off from the asteroid base. Everything is working on the new vehicle, Simon, the General, and Joe are impressed at how it maneuvers. We get back to the asteroid, changing vehicles; then, we head back to earth. The flight back is smooth; I prepare for the winds that we did not know about when going up to the asteroid. I see everyone preparing themselves for the rough ride. I get it down, then move over to park it for the next day.

  Simon asks all of us to come in to talk about the next phases of our work. Simon asks me to pick out four of the new pilots, along with two of the other computer experts, to form part of the crew for the new FSV. Simon asks Zoey to work with Jenny to evaluate them for a deep space tour to the asteroid belt to harvest the fuel for the fleet. The other PSV’s will continue to bring back materials to the asteroid base. We will have to give them all extra training until the FSV is ready to leave orbit. I suggest that the new pilots take an astronomy course to help them in space. Simon and Joe agree to this.

  We head to our training a little late, noticing a couple of people waiting for us to show up. We all come out; Kelly is waiting for us all. She calls Jenny to make up some extra packs as all of us are now going to do the extra workout. The people that are late include the two that came to run with us last night. Afterward, I get Kelly aside, letting her know some of the people that I have to pick for the FSV crew. We go over the names; Kelly suggests that we get them to join my select training group tomorrow. She will post a list for me to tell them before training. We both pick out Lieutenants Smart, Cobalt, Rogers, and Ball as the pilots. Homes and Badger will be the computer technicians assigned to the crew. The list is ready to go up; they will wait for me to return from my trip to the asteroid base.

  Everything is running smoothly for us; we are up to date on our courses. We now have some exams to look forward to in a few weeks. We get in our nightly run, a few more people joining us, it seems that they want the extra exercise like the three girls. I sleep well that night, hoping that I am getting on the better side of the General. The next morning, we do our run to the asteroid, bringing more personnel for getting used to being in space. Some are in looking at the FSV; these might be the other crew members for the vehicle. The third section of the FSV is comi
ng along. Once the outer shell is up, enclosing the section, the crews can move in to work on the storage areas for the different fuel components. Then the fourth section, the landing and repair bay can start. Maggie and I get back to do our training; the three girls, along with the six people on the list, are also waiting. I tell the six people about their new job assignment. They are all happy. I tell them to make sure they wait each day here for the rest of us to be late on purpose. They are now joining us for the extra training that they will need. We head in; I tell Kelly sorry we are all late, we will begin our late training program. Jenny asks for my help in getting the six new backpacks ready for the expanding group.

  As we head out for our two laps, I notice the General watching, I command, eyes right, everyone saluting as we jog by him. I see the General shake his head. We continue getting back to finish our training. After dinner, I let everyone know that Saturday morning, we will go to the Astronomy lab. Most of us are not flying on this day. I let them know I will need more time to help everyone with their course for their marks. The new pilots are in the course now, Kelly thinking she is going to the General to get all the pilots in the course.