Alpha Rising (2 page)

*****

CHAPTER TWO

With Bach at the controls and Faith manning
communication links, the arrow-shaped Wizard roared off the launch
pad on a pillar of orange flame. A rolling rumble shook the air as
the ship sliced through the clouds and people for miles around
experienced the thunder-like aftershock.

Within two minutes, the spent solid rocket
boosters separated from the Wizard’s undercarriage and fell into
the Atlantic Ocean. The second and third stages separated at the
fringes of Earth’s atmosphere.

When they reached the moon, Bach navigated
the Wizard to the far side to line up with the particle beam
accelerator where, just days earlier, the now-missing AstroLab
became the first manned spacecraft to use the nuclear-powered
device.

Hovering in the target zone, he looked out
the cockpit window. “Awesome!” He motioned to Faith. “Look at
that.”

She glanced over his shoulder. Earth and the
moon were so perfectly aligned that the Earth, with the sun ninety
degrees off from their flight path, created a blue halo around the
crescent moon. She nodded. “It’s a thumbs up from God.”

Bach checked the ship’s clock. Right on
time. In thirty-five seconds the nuclear-powered device at NASA’s
lunar outpost would align precisely with the Wizard, then blast it
into deep space with a force of thousands of g’s.

“
Five, four, three, two,
one….” The radio crackled. “Beam initiated.”

Silence.

The ship fired through space like a bullet,
distorting the astronauts’ senses. For a moment, Bach felt
something more than the expected g-force propulsion. It was as if a
protective hand were cradling them, and a powerful omniscient
spirit guiding them through a glorious, colorful domain. Images
raced by and swirled about.

The crewmates reached another dimension, and
both were still alive.

#

Bach unwound from the
thrust and the heavenly experience by crowing, “I
loved
exiting the
heliosphere at warp speed. Breathtaking!”

“
Guided by the Almighty,”
Faith replied. She checked the comm links. “But now we’re so far
out that our satellite communication relay speed is reduced by
two-thirds.”

“
That’s the drawback when
technology can’t keep up with itself,” he replied. “Reminds me of
an old song.” Bach’s quirky habit of singing tunes to match his
surroundings kicked in, and he let loose an off-key version of an
old song about ground control trying to contact an astronaut lost
in space.

Faith removed her helmet and shook her blond
hair free. Zero gravity took it up and out, framing her face like a
halo. “I remember that song … but it sounded a little different
when David Bowie sang it.” She eased from the copilot’s perch with
a smile and drifted in weightlessness to mid ship. “They rushed us
through training so fast we hardly got to know each other.” Holding
onto an overhead bar, she pulled off her flight suit. “Are you
always so relaxed?”

Bach flashed a high-voltage smile and
chuckled. “Relaxed? It’s full-on exhaustion and a post-adrenaline
calm, but I’m an easy-going guy.”

“
When I first heard your
name, I figured you’d be a boring, classical type. Glad you’re
not.”

“
Thanks. My paternal
grandparents, the Turners, carry the blame for my name. Those wild
rock and rollers passed on their love of rock music to my dad. The
seventies group, Bachman Turner Overdrive, was one of their
favorites, so when I was born, Bachman was an irresistible choice
for my first name. I was a high-energy kid, so my folks started
calling me ‘Overdrive.’ Some of my friends picked up on it. I hated
being called Overdrive, and Bachman wasn’t any better, so I did the
teen thing and declared myself ‘Bach.’ But, I’m as unclassical as
they come. I love singin’ rock oldies.”

Faith stored her gear and shook her head.
“The nickname Overdrive will never cross my lips. And I like rock
music too, but soft rock.”

“
Oh, I can sing soft rock
too,” he replied with a grin.

Faith drifted back to the cockpit and
scanned a data screen. “I wish NASA could have given us a smaller
target area. There’s a lot of vacant space out here to search.”

“
Kaz is on that ship. I’ll
find ’em,” Bach stated.

Looking into the endless void beyond the
windows, Faith reached beneath the neckline of her jumpsuit and
pulled out a gold Byzantine cross necklace she always wore. It
floated upward in front of her face. She clutched the small cross
to her chest and, out of habit, ran her fingers over the smooth
surface.

Bach unharnessed and removed his helmet as
he free-floated from his seat. “Gonna get out of this flight suit.”
He playfully somersaulted to the aft galley. “Want something to
drink? Cosmic surfing was a real rush, but it sure made me
thirsty.”

“
A sip of water,
thanks.”

After storing his gear, Bach bounced to the
galley for water tubes. Seeing his reflection in the refrigerator’s
metallic panel, he let out a little yelp. “Whooo. My hair
exploded!” Patting down strands sticking straight up, he joked, “I
look like the rock star I always wanted to be.” A few lines of an
unknown song resounded through the cabin. “I don’t know where I’m
goin’, but I’ll sure know when I’m there.”

Faith chuckled.

Bach corkscrewed through the cabin to the
flight deck. “That remarkable sentiment comes from a song written
by my college buddies in a rock group, the Ravens. And here’s fair
warning: I know the words to hundreds of old songs from the days
when I worked as a DJ to earn a little money … and meet girls.
Mostly meet girls.” He nodded to himself. “But that was a long time
ago.” With that, he unzipped the neckline of his jumpsuit, reached
inside, and pulled out a small, heart-shaped picture frame holding
a photo of a young, dark-haired woman. He opened his hand and
allowed the frame to float in the weightless environment, then
kissed his fingertips and touched her lips. “Hold tight love, we’ll
be there soon.”

Faith’s eyes widened. “You smuggled Kaz’s
picture aboard?”

“
Yeah. For some of us it’s
a requisite prank to smuggle something. Did you bring
anything?”

“
Yes.”

“
You did?”

“
Yes, my Bible.”

“
Bible? How’d you sneak on
something that big?”

“
Friends in high places,”
she said, smiling. “Snuck it on my last mission, too. Got it for my
twelfth birthday from my grandparents.” She turned serious. “The
Bible’s the most important thing you can have anywhere,
anytime.”

“
If you say so.”

Her big blue eyes twinkled. “B-I-B-L-E,
Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.”

Bach handed her a tube of water and
repeated, “If you say so.” He checked the viewscreen as he sat. “Ya
gotta wonder how the AstroLab’s crew’s doing, lost in space with
Luke Lynch as commander.”

She groaned. “Yeah, I heard he’s a
tyrant.”

“
They don’t call him by his
last name for nothing. Personally, I think the old man has made one
flight too many.”

Faith slid her gold cross back and forth on
the chain. “But he has a way of getting the best performance from
diverse personalities.”

“
That’s what worries me.
Kaz is a diverse personality all by herself. I hope old
drill-sergeant Lynch has compassion for his rookie astronaut. She’s
young. This is a lot for her to handle.”

“
I’m betting he’ll try to
take command of this ship on the way home.”

Bach smirked a little. “He can’t. He doesn’t
know how to fly this one.”

*****

CHAPTER THREE

Bach watched incoming feed on a data panel.
Beyond Mars, space/time delays between NASA and the Wizard made
timely receipt and transmission of electronic communiqués a
persistent problem. “Finally, fresh information,” he said, then
read aloud, “‘Last stats hold. AstroLab and crew believed safe with
main powerplant down.’”

Faith talked as she typed on a keyboard.
“They’re probably psychologically numb. Space has such an impact on
emotions.”

After checking a radarscope, Bach said,
“Nothing resembling the Lab registering. Their backup systems must
be at minimum or we’d have detected them by now.” He shook his
head. “If there were a way to fly the Lab and crew home, Deni Kambo
would do it. She piloted my last spacewalk mission. Hard to believe
I’m involved in her rescue.”

Faith nodded, then reached up and snagged
Kaz’s picture from the air for a closer look. “She’s very pretty.
How long have you been together?”

“
Ten months. We were both
part of the Viking mission prep crew. She didn’t launch with us,
but I admired her technical skills and enjoyed her feisty attitude.
Tracked her down later and we’ve been together ever since.” He
paused, then chuckled and added, “It’s a good thing I like people
who speak their mind, ’cause Kaz’s thoughts run from her brain to
her lips, uncensored.”

“
How’d she score a spot on
the AstroLab?”

“
She’s a technical whiz.
Aced every phase of training and suggested a modification that was
approved and incorporated. She’s only twenty-six. Got drafted into
an experimental astronaut space program straight from high
school.”

“
Sounds like a great
lady.”

“
Yeah, my little Latin
spitfire.” He raised his eyebrows. “You got a special
man?”

“
First, Almighty God. Then,
Paul is my true love on the earthly plane. He’s in Jerusalem right
now.”

“
Jerusalem?”

“
With the American
Anthropological Society’s research team, carbon dating artifacts at
Hebrew University—piecing together evidence of Noah’s
ark.”

“
Interesting. How’d you
meet?”

“
Two years ago I was on the
balcony of my condo watching a spectacular meteor shower. They were
comin’ down one a minute. Paul, a handsome archeologist working on
The Noah Project, was on the balcony next door. I’ve been
fascinated by Noah’s ark since I was a little girl. I have a huge
collection of Noah trinkets—plates, snow globes, jewelry.” She
paused for a breath. “We’ve been together ever since that
night.”

Bach smiled. “Sounds like the two of you
were meant to be.”

“
Yeah, and we both love
God’s kingdom. I traverse the stars; Paul explores terra
firma.”

Bach flipped through papers on a clipboard.
“Know anything about G.R., the doctor on the AstroLab?”

She shuddered. “Oh, yeah. He instructed my
medical class. He’s an excellent doctor, but a little strange. He
cracks jokes at odd times, and snorts when he laughs which draws
attention to his Neanderthal-like face. So the class always
laughed, but it wasn’t at his jokes. Worse is his irritating habit
of beginning almost every sentence with, ‘In my opinion.’”

“
Uh-oh.” Bach rolled his
eyes. “I bet Kaz breaks him of that before we get back
home.”

*****

CHAPTER FOUR

Lost in deep space in the AstroLab, Lynch,
Deni, Kaz, and G.R. performed like trained professionals the first
few days of their crisis, but their reality changed for the worse
when repeated attempts failed to restore the main powerplant or
regain contact with Earth and they faced the fact that they were
helpless to get back home on their own. One of the few positives
was that their Artificial Gravity (AG) unit remained functional on
backup power.

Kaz tapped a stream of data into a computer
at her mid-ship workstation. Lynch hovered nearby, his lived-in
face and close-set blue eyes riveted to her activity. She shifted
in her seat. “Please find something else to do. I can’t concentrate
with you hanging over my shoulder.”

His nostrils flared as he spoke. “Just hurry
up with that feasibility study.” Six strides of his long legs took
him back to the cockpit. He interrupted Deni, seated at her pilot’s
position, and complained in his thick Tennessee drawl, “We’ve
accomplished nothin’ drifting in space. We’re gonna link up with
the old space station.”

Deni hoisted her six-foot, two-inch frame
from the pilot’s seat and stared at the commander face to face. Her
eyes opened so wide the whites looked twice the size against her
dark brown skin. “Too big a risk. Too far away.”

Lynch’s chest rose with a hard breath.
“We’re not gonna get back home in this ship. So you got a better
idea, Deni?”

“
Yes. Let’s try for planet
Urusa. Kaz’s idea to use the spacewalk jetpack’s power as
transitory propulsion is a good one. We can make it to Urusa if it
works.”

“
I ain’t sacrificin’ the
jetpack’s powerpacks on speculation. Urusa may not be a biosphere.
We’re better off usin’ that power to head back to our solar system
to link up with the space station. We could eventually be rescued
from there.”

G.R. grew tired of holding his tongue and
yelled from aft cabin, “In my opinion, you’re both rushing ahead
blindly with an all-or-nothing mentality.” His primitive looks and
casual humor made it hard for his crewmates to take him seriously
in technical matters. “You know NASA’s doing everything possible to
find us. They won’t be looking for us at the space station—it’s
opposite of where we are. They’ll be looking near Urusa. We need to
stay put. Our chances of being rescued are better if we don’t do
anything rash.”