Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) (76 page)

CAPCOM, “Roger, understood.
Colonels Creighton and Creighton are here and nodding in a ‘been there, done
that’ manner.”

They all laughed. Jeff waved.
“Yeah, I see ‘em back there. Hal, Silvia, good to see you. Thanks for all the
support.”

Hal and Silvia Creighton waved at
the camera.

CAPCOM, “How’s everything working?
Any problems?”

“Sounds like a question for our
engineer. Gabe?”

Gabe shook her head. “Uh, no, so
far everything’s performed pretty much flawlessly. Aside from a couple RCS fuel
valves closing during booster sep, which wasn’t entirely unexpected, the only
thing that comes to mind is that we underestimated the airflow setting for the
habitat in this configuration. I know I woke up last night gasping for air,
probably floating in a cloud of my own CO
₂
. But that’s not a design
or equipment issue, we just guessed wrong on the airflow rate. But then, we
didn’t pay an awful lot of attention to that since this is just a temporary
configuration. But shifting the blower up a couple notches seemed to solve the
problem.”

CAPCOM, “Roger. How’s the view of
Earth?”

Jeff glanced at Abby.

“Pretty spectacular,” she said.
“We’re still flying backwards from the TMI, so we have a good view of both
Earth and the moon out the command module rendezvous windows. For now, we have
a constant view of Earth’s sunrise terminator and, though I think the moon
should be about full for you, we’re looking at about a 70% phase. Except for
Gabe, we were a bit surprised this morning at how much Earth had shrunk during
the night. It’s still pretty big, about six or seven times the apparent
diameter of the moon as seen from Earth, but it sure got smaller faster than I
thought it would. Still, it’s quite a view.” They all nodded.

CAPCOM, “I’ll bet. How’s the
Sundancer coming along?”

“Slow,” said Jeff. “As I said,
we’re all suffering from a bit of sleep deprivation, and everything seems to
take a little longer than it should. It took Abby and Gabe about twice as long
to get through the cruise checklist as it did in the sim and, uh, work on the
Sundancer went similarly. We all regularly found ourselves just staring at
something, wondering, okay, what’s this and what am I supposed to do with it?”
He chuckled. “So, uh, we’re taking our time and double or triple checking
everything. But, we’re gonna bite the bullet and keep plugging away at it. We
really want to get the bathroom finished sooner rather than later.”

Gabe, Abby and Susan all laughed
and nodded.

CAPCOM, “Roger, understood. Okay,
I’m gonna turn the mic over to the MCC, some of whom have some questions or
comments for you. We’ll try and keep this brief as we know you’re tired and
still have a long day ahead of you.”

“Roger, go ahead.”

GNC, “Hi guys, it’s sure good to
see you. Gabe, you got a good fix yesterday. One of the concerns we talked
about long ago was the difficulty that some of the Apollo crews had with star
fixes because of all the trash floating around them from the S-IVB. Are you
experiencing anything like that?”

“Hi Mike. Yeah it’s good to see all
of you too. Um, no. During Apollo, the S-IVB trash was left over from booster
sep. Anything like that that came from separation from the S-II in LEO is far
behind us and since we haven’t separated from the EDS, and won’t until just
prior to orbital insertion, we don’t have that problem. We’ve got a nice clean
sky and should have good fixes all the way to Mars.”

GNC, “Uh, roger. That’s good to
hear.”

MMCS, “Jeff, is there anything we
can do on this end to help expedite the Sundancer config?”

“Hi Dave, um, not that I can think
of. We know how to do it and have done it before. Um, it’s just a matter of
keeping our noses to the grindstone and getting it done. But if anything comes
up, we’ll be sure and phone home.”

MMCS, “Roger, don’t hesitate.”

EECOM, “Susan, your interior temps
look great, but exterior is fluctuating quite a bit, though still within
Bigelow’s stated limits. Is three revolutions per hour sufficient? Or do you
think it should be a bit faster?”

“Hello Julio. As long as we’re
within limits, I think this is fine. As we progress outward from the sun the
exterior heating and cooling swings should settle down. We don’t notice the
rotation, and we like it that way. I think we should leave it alone for now, at
least until we are better acclimated to the environment.”

EECOM, “Roger, just thought I’d
mention it. One other question: we didn’t anticipate extended use of the CO
₂
scrubbers. Do you think you’ll have the Sabatier up and running before that becomes
an issue?”

Susan glanced at Jeff.

He nodded. “Yeah, Julio, shouldn’t
be a problem. We may be a little behind schedule getting to it, but we’ve got
plenty of spare canisters. For now I don’t see it as an issue.”

EECOM, “Roger.”

FDO, “Abby, BMAGs seem to indicate
you’ve got a little bit of wobble in your rotation. We’ve been debating about
whether or not you should iron that out. What do you think?”

“Hey Paul, um, no, not a present.
Gabe and I have seen it and it’s only about a degree and a half. If it doesn’t
get any worse I say we wait for the first course correction and maybe fix it
then. If it does get worse, to the point where it’s affecting the high-gain
antenna on the CM, we can do something about it. For the time being it doesn’t
seem to be a problem, so I’d rather save a little RCS fuel and leave it alone
for now. Besides, we’ll have the big dish up in a couple days and the drive on
it will compensate.”

FDO, “Roger, that was the general
consensus here.”

SURGEON, “Susan, would you like me
to contact NASA and seek further guidance on the sleep issue?”

“Hello Becca. Um, thanks, but I
don’t think that’s necessary at present. I think it’s just an adjustment and
environmental adaptation issue. As it’s still so early in the flight, we’re a
little reluctant to resort to sleeping pills, yet. But that’s an option we’re
considering. Fact is, we’re so tired that I imagine sleep is going to come
pretty soon, whether we want it to or not. And once we find that we can sleep
up here, we will.”

SURGEON, “Roger. Let me know if
there’s anything I can do.”

“Will do. Thank you.”

PAO, “As you may imagine, the whole
world is watching, and the press is screaming for updates, releases, video,
anything and everything that we have. Thus far, my commentary has been
routinely matter-of-fact. Would you guys object to us releasing this video to
the press?”

Jeff shook his head. “Hi Joanne.
Um, no, at least I don’t.” He glanced at the others and they all shook their
heads. “As far as we’re concerned, it’s up to you, with Heidi and Chrissie’s
concurrence. It’s their show now, we’re just driving the boat.”

They heard laughter in the
background.

PAO, “Roger.”

CAPCOM, “Okay, FLIGHT’s giving me
her ‘that’s enough’ glare so we have two more speakers, and then we’ll let you
guys go.”

Jeff smiled and nodded. “Okay.”

FLIGHT, “Hi guys. No question. I
just wanted to say how proud we all are of you, and how proud we all are to be
a part of this. And, God bless, stay safe, and hurry home. We miss you.”

“Oh god, Heidi, thanks, and we miss
you too. Sure wish you were with us.”

FLIGHT, “Yeah, I kind of do too.
But, you can’t build them
and
fly them.”

“Yeah, well, maybe next time.”

FLIGHT, “Yeah, next time.”

Silvia Creighton picked up the mic.
“Hi guys. Great to hear you’re doing well. I have a couple messages here, which
I won’t read in their entirety cause they’re mostly boilerplate that you’ve
probably heard before. First off is one from the NASA Administrator, Dr.
Fairfax, acknowledging the fact that you are all now, by anyone’s definition,
astronauts and, as such, awarding each of you astronaut wings. Gabe, Susan, as
you are acting, in part, as subcontractors for NASA, you are hereby authorized
to wear the gold wings of a NASA Civilian Astronaut. Jeff, Abby, as you are
Naval Reserve Officers, the Secretary of the Navy has authorized for each of
you the wearing of the Naval Astronaut Pilot wings. Additionally, the
Administrator has awarded each of you the NASA gold Astronaut Pin. Jeff, I
think you have a few things in your pocket for everyone.”

“Thank you Silvia. Yes, I do
indeed.”

Jeff pulled a couple small boxes
from his pocket, picked one, and turned to Abby. “Lieutenant Commander Abigail
Berget Nolan, on behalf of the Secretary of the Navy and the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, I take great pleasure in presenting you
with your United States Naval Astronaut Pilot wings.”

Abby stared at the wings as Jeff
pinned them on her flight suit, then begin to cry.

He smiled softly. “You okay?”

She wiped her eyes. “I’d rather
have these than the Medal of Honor. I just wish my grandfather could see this.”

Jeff hugged her. “Trust me, he can. And at this
moment he is the proudest soul in heaven.”

“Thank you.”

They shook hands and Jeff drifted
over in front of Gabe. “Dr. Gabriel Anneliese Frederick, on behalf of the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, I take great pleasure in
presenting you with your NASA Civilian Astronaut wings.”

As Jeff pinned them on, Gabe, not
unexpectedly, also started crying. “Oh my god, I can’t believe it.”

Jeff chuckled. “Well, believe it.
It’s too late to wake up from that dream now, you’re here.”

“Yeah. Thank you.”

They shook hands and Jeff moved on
to Susan. “Dr. Tianshu Lú – Susan – on behalf of the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration, I take great pleasure in presenting you with your NASA
Civilian Astronaut wings.”

Susan didn’t cry, she just stared
at the wings with a broad smile.

“There you go. And, uh, if you
don’t get that aerospace medicine fellowship when we get back, you let me know
who turned you down, and I’ll go have stern words with them.”

Susan grinned. “Thank you. Thank
you very much.”

Jeff drifted back across them to
his place beside Abby.

“What about you?” she said.

He pulled the remaining box out of
his pocket and handed it to her. “Would you care to do the honors, Commander?”

She grinned broadly. “Yes I would,
very much.”

“Captain Jeffrey Matthew Grey, on
behalf of the Secretary of the Navy and the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, I take the greatest pleasure in presenting you with your United
States Naval Astronaut Pilot wings.”

“Thank you.”

Abby smiled as she pinned on his
wings. “Hell of an accomplishment for somebody who’s spent their life on the
bomb squad.”

Jeff grinned. “Who’da thunk it?”

Jeff and Abby shook hands and they
all turned back to the camera.

“Well,” said Jeff, “now that we’ve
bored you all with our little presentation ceremony, I guess it’s time for
everybody to get back to work.”

“Jeff,” said Silvia, “we have your
astronaut pins here. We’ll leave them with Chrissie to hang onto until you get
back.”

He nodded. “Thank you.”

Everyone in the MCC stood and
applauded.

“Thank you. Thank you all. Okay,
well we’re gonna get to work putting our house in order and we’ll talk with
y’all a little later. Chrissie? Anything else?”

CAPCOM, “No, boss, that’s it for
now. You guys be sure and get some rest.”

“Yeah, will do. Okay, good to see
you all.
Ares
out.”

The four of them floated in a
circle in the commons, admiring one another’s shiny gold wings, shaking hands,
and sharing hugs.

Jeff glanced at each of them in
turn. “We’ve come a long way.”

They all nodded.

He turned to Abby. “From chewing
your boss’s ass in Burbank…”

She cringed and laughed.

Then to Gabe, “From that cubicle at
Caltech…”

She smiled softly and nodded.

And to Susan, “From lunch by the
river in Portland…”

“Who’d have guessed it?”

“Yeah. And me from a middle school
in Long Beach.” He shook his head. “Wow.”

They all exchanged smiles and
glances.

“Okay, well, we’ve come a long way,
but we’ve got a long way to go. Shall we get to it?”

They all nodded. Abby and Sue
grabbed the table and propelled themselves toward the truss. Gabe just floated,
staring at and caressing her wings, and wiping tears from her eyes.

Jeff put his hand on her shoulder.
“You alright?”

“Uh huh. It’s just so hard to
believe.” She looked into his eyes. “Thank you for having faith in me.”

He grabbed her waist, pulled her to
him and kissed her cheek. “Couldn’t have done it without you.”

Gabe leaned her head on his
shoulder. “Thank you.”

“No. Thank you.” He pulled back a
bit, smiling. “Okay. Now… work.”

She grinned and nodded.

#

CAPCOM, “
Ares
, Newport.”

Jeff, exhausted, shook his head and
wiped his face, then keyed his mic. “Uh, yeah, Newport, go ahead.”

CAPCOM, “We’ve been trying not to
bother you, but we thought you might like to hear this. At T plus 28:38:27,
you’re velocity is 13,902 feet per second and your altitude is 250,093 miles.
About ten minutes ago, you broke Apollo 13’s record for the greatest distance
from Earth by humans.”

“Yeah, well, how about that.” Jeff
yawned. “Okay, well, we always kind of figured on breaking that one. And I
think we’re gonna kind of blow right past it. But thanks for the update.”

CAPCOM, “How are you doing?”

“Well, we’re all mighty tired, but
we’re making progress. I think we’re all gonna sleep pretty well tonight.”

CAPCOM, “Roger. Do that. Newport,
out.”