Driver, T. C. (13 page)

“Tanks are of double-walled construction and slide into each other. They are bolted and glued in place for a very strong fit. Nothing crosses the center of this huge wheel as it rotates. Space shuttles land on the interior rim. Sixty foot cap spheres are made into atomic power plant housing, extra tank storage or entrance doors for landing shuttles depending on needs. These stations are self sufficient as much as possible and placed in orbit around the Earth, the Moon, or other planets as needed or desired. These standard pieces, the rocket tanks, can be made on Earth for many years. Even many generations, depending on the effort man is willing to put into space. The U.S. Has not put a rocket section into orbit since Osoma cut the program. We can do it all by ourselves. But, it would best if the world gets motivated. The merchants of the world have mourned over America's fall.

“There have been to date, sixty-two sections of sixty foot tanks. Twenty-eight have been smooth and thirty-four have been sections of seven. Place seven straws in your hand. See how they form a perfect circle with one straw in the middle?” Ralph handed me seven straws off his visor.

“We do space launch differently here at the International Spaceport, as you know from the DVD. We start with old fashioned railroad technology. That might
  
sound crude, but this system works wonders. The grand old
  
man of Spaceport design, Nimrod Elam Shin, died only seven years ago. His son Japeth Jones Shin will see his Father's dream fulfilled. Soon we will have hotels throughout the solar system. Have no doubt, friend, we are on our way to the stars. To the very heavens of God! To look God in the eye! What a day that will be!” said Ralph.

“What a day that will be! You've got that right!” I groaned. “Look God in the eye? What a day? What a fool!”

“Do you have any questions?” Ralph asked.

“What’s that?” I was pointing at a brochure of the Space Station. “Ralph, go back to the railroad cars, the launch system” I thought about all those Chinese workers at Spaceport and the building of the American railroads. Had anything really changed?

“Ok” said Ralph. “Here goes from the beginning. For you, Cornelius”

“Six sets of railroad tracks, straight, flat and two hundred and sixty miles long are laid in the Outback. At each end of the tracks is a Spaceport. 144 rebuilt (used) and new train engines, now totally electric, are put on each track. That is 864 engines total. Each trains electric motors have been rebuilt with the torque set for high speed. The
  
six tracks are 130 feet wide in total. A huge moving runway is built on top of the 864 train engines, locking them together as one unit. Third rail electric is used for power. On top of the runway are two very large planes, each with the lift of seven C5As, even without the use of the moving runway. These are the large manta ray looking planes you see below. On top of each huge plane is a fat boomerang looking space shuttle craft. On top of both shuttles are two tanks. One tank is on each wing; each tank is sixty feet wide and three hundred feet long. These, of course, are the fuel tanks that become the Space Station. The two large planes, shuttles and fuel tanks taxi onto the runway and get into position. Then the fueling process takes place. Now the plane is so weighted down that it cannot take off.
 
The Two large planes, two space shuttles and two sets of tanks are all ready to go on the same train runway.”

“Six atomic power plants are running full blast making fuel and powering Australia. The power is diverted from making fuel and is put into the third rail of the Spaceport. The Spaceport runway then begins to move. Sixteen to seventeen minutes later, the space shuttles and the massive air-breathing planes are traveling at 465mph, which is their top speed. The first plane goes to full throttle and starts rolling on the train. At this speed, enough weight has been lifted off its tires and its huge jet engines are much more efficient. The assembly takes off of the train when reaching 540 mph. Four minutes later, the second assembly goes to full throttle, and it also rolls off the train at about 540 mph. These 'manta ray' looking planes climb to between 62,000 and 72,000 feet while never breaking the sound barrier. Shuttle #2 then takes off of plane #2 and plane #2 returns to the spaceport with no pilot. Shuttle #2 now hooks together with shuttle #1 which is still connected to plane #1, both using the Old Man's double hook system. After the two shuttles are hooked together as one they go to full throttle and plane #1 goes back to spaceport, also with no pilot. Shuttle #1, on the bottom is set on fast burn and is pumping fuel into shuttle #2 as they climb. At about fifty miles altitude, shuttle #1 runs out of interior fuel and drops off, leaving its two 300ft tanks on the bottom of
 
shuttle #2. Shuttle #1 now returns to spaceport. Shuttle #2 saves its
  
interior fuel and burns the four exterior tanks first. It gets to the space station and only then does it let go of its tanks, which will later become part of the space station, and docks with a still full interior tank. This fuel it uses when leaving the station, to slow its speed down to below 11,000 and 12,000mph, and then using 'skipping' to cool its reentry. Now its thin coating of reentry material and paint tile-like paint is enough to last through many flights without hours of costly maintenance like the thick tiles on the old American space shuttles. The fuel payload used to slow reentry is no different than any other orbit payload and could be used to put an extra-heavy load into orbit if needed. There are some layers of glue type material that is added to the exterior of the station for extra protection. This goes into orbit in tanks and is sprayed on in orbit like wrapping a spider web. Some solar panels are used for emergency back-up, but atomic power is the mainstay of space power for now. Just like on Earth.” This stuff is still classified and Ralph would give no other information.

Obie Carter, retired Navy, spoke up from the back seat. “Explain again why this shuttle is so efficient that you can get into orbit with all that fuel left over.”

Ralph smiled and proudly answered. “Sure Mr.
 
Carter. As I said, it's like any other payload. But let's look at this analogy that shows why we are so efficient.”

“First of all, here in Australia, we use 23% less fuel than rockets at Cape Canaveral in Florida by using the
  
rotation of the Earth at its Equator to our best advantage. That is why we have to cut payload when running the Spaceport train back the other way. One might think that we would 'go back' and start again, and yes, it is almost a break even point, but not quite when time and money are considered. It is still to our advantage to run take-offs in both directions. Yes, with and against the roll of the Earth.”

“Imagine and Indian brave hiding underwater in a stream with his bow and arrow, trying to shoot a crow as it lands on a branch high above the water. Even though he is a strong and powerful brave and uses his biggest bow, the arrow coming out of the water does not have the speed needed to kill the crow. This smart Indian finds a big rock at the bottom of the stream. When he stands on this rock, his head and shoulders come up out of the water. He waits for the crow, slowly stands up on the rock and his bow nails the crow every time. It is now not slowed down by the thick water. These big planes we use at our Spaceport, they are our 'rock' at the bottom of the stream. They lift us out of the thick atmosphere of the Earth, letting our rockets (arrows) fly faster. Couple this with the old-fashioned (running start) of our trains. Those trains let our first-class passengers arrive in space without the rough 'G-force' of a blast-off. This is a winning combination. When our first shuttle runs out of fuel and drops off and shuttle #2 goes on by itself, it is full of fuel and just getting started. It is already close to 50 miles high and going 5000 to 6000 mph. With a head start like that, we can't be beat. We have a very good safety record and our shuttles can land anywhere in the world.”

We all thanked Ralph for his tour of the new International Spaceport.

That night at the Hampton Inn, I read my Bible and thanked God for allowing me to become Holiness. People don't mind one of those other faiths much. You can talk about being Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian or even Catholic. That's all just casual talk. But if you dare talk about being Holiness and having the Joy, Peace, Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit, people run away from you. They get mad as hell. They want to fight, lie to you, test you; anything but hear the word of God. As I waited for sleep to come that night, the words of the Bible echoed in my head.
As in the days of Noah, so shall it be! As in the days of Noah, so shall it be with the coming of the Son of Man!

The next morning, I had the opportunity to talk in private with Jediah Patel. I asked him for a leave of absence.

“Be careful, Cornelius” he said.

We shook hands then hugged instead. I had much I wanted to as him, this young commander of men. He was as powerful as any world leader, I was sure. A lanky six-foot-eight, maybe nine, a genius; well versed on any subject. Yet still only eleven years old.

I rented a car on Patel's card, being officially on duty, ha-ha, and drove to the harbor city that supplied the Spaceport. Large cranes and Chinese workers were everywhere. At a grass strip next to a college on the edge of town and on some of the worlds most beautiful beaches, were hundreds of colorful, loud, little ultra-light planes buzzing around in seemingly slow motion and landing on the grass. Their colorful display was as a poetic shout for joy that only the foolish can afford. They brought back fond memories.

After talking a student out of his codes, I was up, up and away, heading to the Great Ark and one 'S.O.B.' Captain Joe Coe. Dead or alive, I would have my peace with him.

My flight took twenty minutes to reach the ship. Immediately after landing, I unbuckled and two student flight deck handlers came out to hook up the ultra-light to the ship's cable (storage) system. These students paid me no mind, nor did the third or the fourth. But before I got to the bridge elevator door, a crew member's face gave him away. Putting my fingers to my lips, I smiled back and keyed my code into the elevator. Yes, mine still worked (ha-ha). I was on my way to see one Captain Joe Coe. Entering the bridge, I looked around. There was no Star Trek feeling this time. In fact, the big bridge was almost empty. No Joe Coe in sight. Not even Friday was aboard. Sarah, Haley, Joe Coe and the four other women had been staying near Sydney for over thirty weeks. One of Joe's homes is there. Haley and Sarah's middle sister, Blair, lives next door year round with her husband. Both played professional basketball and volleyball, plus ran two businesses in town. It was family reunion time for the whole Coe clan. The two Johnston daughters of Mitch and Janet's had come 'down under' to visit. So had Rosemary, Frank and Dan, a Hog lady, Ann's kids and the Dave brothers. Officer Booth took for granted that I, being a family 'insider' knew all these people, so I just played along. Thomas Briton was now in charge and gave me an officer's quarter’s cabin. It felt good to be back, but would this be a 'welcome' or a 'hellcome'. Would I be family or foe? It’s strange, how often one just does not know. My ship phone was brought to me, a version of Apple's I-phone, but bigger with a larger battery and antenna, made for marine use. Officer Booth brought it by. David Booth was the man who first led me to this same room on my first day aboard ship.

“David, can you fill me in? What's the deal? How much do you know? I inquired.

Booth let out a slow breath of air before he began. “Sarah got married about six months ago to a pro ball player friend of Blair's husband. The couple named their new baby Aaron Benjamin Cornelius Cohen. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you, Cornelius?”

“Well, no...” I said.

“Captain Coe took some heat from the elders, straight from the top, Cornelius. He was not happy and almost lost his job.”

“The top Elders, what are you talking about?” I asked.

Booth shook his head. “A twenty-four man committee. You truly don't know much, do you?”

I bit my lip and said “Well, David....ah...no....I don't.” Booth pointed for me to sit and then he began again.

“The twenty-four elders are top or senior leaders of four hundred plus board members which represent eight thousand families world-wide. Together they own about thirty-five percent of the world's resources. Add in the next few thousand wanna-be families and you are way over fifty percent of the world's wealth. Do you get the picture? Lord's and Kings throughout history. Your boy in India, his uncle is a board Elder. The boy is not even a board member yet.”

“Then they know I'm alive, David?” I interrupted.

“Yes, of course, they know, Cornelius! Now listen, Cornelius. The President of the United States might get a meeting with a board member. I said MIGHT! Nobody even knows who the Elders are for the most part. How did you get mixed up with powerful people like that as dumb as you are? No body has access to Elders. I MEAN NOBODY!” David screamed.