Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) (84 page)

“Okay. Meet me in the kitchen?”

“Alright.”

Jeff started to slip out of the
bed, but Gabe hung on to him.

“What?”

“I don’t want to let go of you.”

He kissed her and grinned. “I’m not
going far. No place to go.”

“I suppose not. Okay.”

They got up, dressed, Gabe headed
for the bathroom, and Jeff for the commons. Pulling through the truss, he found
Abby and Sue at the table, wearing soft smiles and staring at him. He drifted
over to the table and sat. “Uh… hi.”

“Hi.” Abby smirked, and said with a
note of sarcasm, “Have a pleasant afternoon, did you?”

He nodded slowly. “Very. Thanks for
asking.”

She looked off to the side.

Jeff glanced back and forth at
them. “Um, are you two gonna be able to deal with this?” His eyes settled on
Susan.

She nodded. “Yes, of course.”

He looked back at Abby. “Abigail?”

She continued staring off for a
moment, then nodded and looked at Jeff. “Yeah. Just don’t forget we’re here.”

He smiled softly, reached across
the table and took both their hands. “How could I?”

She shrugged. “Alright then.
Where’s Gabe?”

“Bathroom. Be here in a minute.”

Susan raised her eyebrows,
questioningly. “All went well?”

Jeff chuckled. “Yeah, all went
well.”

“No, um, difficulties with
microgravity?”

He shook his head. “No, a few minor
adjustments. It’s not that hard. The fact we’ve been living in microgravity for
six months probably helped. I think we all have a pretty good grasp of Newton’s
Third Law by now. And of course, being a physicist, Gabe understands it better
than anyone.”

Abby and Sue both grinned and
chuckled.

Gabe popped out of the truss, took
her seat at the table and, grinning sheepishly, glanced around at everyone.
“Hi.”

The three of them smiled. “Hi.”
Abby and Susan stared at her inquisitively.

“What?”

Abby shook her head. “The
expression on your face. Somebody get a camera.”

Gabe blushed and covered her cheeks
with her hands. “Oh god, is it that obvious?”

Abby’s smile faded and she sighed.
“Might as well be wearing a neon sign.”

Gabe bowed her head and bit her
lip. “Please don’t hate me.”

Abby sat back, sighed, and rolled
her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. Why would I hate you? You’re the one that’s
gonna have morning sickness, get to spend months looking like you swallowed a
watermelon, gain 30 pounds, have to go to the bathroom every 15 minutes because
there’s no room left for a bladder, then go through labor, and then you’ll get
to change diapers eight times a day and have a kid gnawing on your boobs for a
year and a half… not me.”

Gabe cringed and glanced at Jeff.
“Um, yeah, forgot about that part.”

Jeff smiled and shrugged. “All part
of the job.”

“Yeah. Um, maybe we should discuss
this a little more.”

He chuckled and shook his head.
“Too late. That horse already left the barn.”

Gabe giggled. “Yeah, I suppose.”

“Well, I’m hungry.”

“So am I. Famished.” Gabe launched
herself out of the chair and toward the kitchen. “What’s for dinner? I’ll
cook.”

Jeff, Abby, and Susan all stared at
one another, wide-eyed.

Abby shook her head. “I think
that’s the first time she ever volunteered to cook.”

Jeff nodded.

Susan glanced at Gabe, busying
herself in the kitchen, then back to Jeff and Abby. “It’s a maternal instinct.”

Friday, September 30,
2016 (T plus 192 days)

Jeff
glanced around the table. “Okay, decision time. We’re three days from Mars.
Land? Or swing-by and go home? Gabe?”

“All our
cargo’s here, the MAVs are here,
Balboa
’s in orbit. I say, land. That’s
why we came.”

He
nodded. “Abby?”

“What
Gabe said. Besides, I’m tired of space. I’m ready to feel some ground under my
feet.”

He
smiled. “Alright. Sue?”

“Land.”

Jeff
shrugged and sighed. “Okay, I’ll make it unanimous. Gabe, Abby, line us up for
MOI.”

They both
nodded. “Roger.”

“And,
Sue, let’s jettison some excess weight.”

“Roger
that.”

“Gabe, do
we want to transfer any LOX or H
₂
from what’s left in the EDS before
we jettison it?”

She shook
her head. “I don’t see why. We’ve got more than enough left in the service
tanks to last until we dock with
Balboa
. It’d just be excess mass. Let’s
conserve as much SPS fuel as we can for the trip home.”

“Works for me.”

Sunday, October 2,
2016 (T plus 194 days)

Abby stuck her head through Jeff’s
door. “You better get in here.”

He looked up from the computer,
“What is it?” but she disappeared back into the truss. He followed her. In the
commons he found Susan at the table with her arm wrapped around a blubbering
Gabe, while Abby looked on with a concerned expression. Jeff pulled into the
chair next to Gabe, who had her face buried in her hands. He glanced at Susan.
“What’s wrong?”

Susan shook her head. “She’s not
pregnant.”

Jeff
winced, then wrapped his arms around Gabe as Susan pulled aside allowing him to
take over. He held her tight. She leaned her head on his shoulder and sobbed.
He kissed the top of her head and whispered, “It’s okay.”

Gabe
whimpered, “I’m sorry.”

He
stroked her cheek. “Gabe, come on now, it’s okay.”

“But I
want to give you a baby, and I can’t.”

“Oh,
don’t be silly. We knew the odds weren’t good this time. Zero-
g
, first
time, don’t worry about it; just consider this a trial run. In three days we’ll
be on Mars, have some gravity to work with, and it’ll be fine. We’ll get it
next time.”

She sniffed, took her glasses off, and wiped her
eyes. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” He
gently lifted her chin and gazed into her eyes. “Worrying about it is not going
to help.” He smiled. “You need a positive attitude. Okay?”

She
nodded. “I just want this so bad.”

“I know,
so do I. We all do. Come on, we’re not done. We’ll get it right next time.”

“Okay.”

Jeff
glanced at Susan and Abby, then back to Gabe. “Now look, in twenty hours we
have EDS separation, and 79 minutes after that, MOI. And we have a lot to do
between now and then. So I need you to set this aside and get on that
checklist. Can you do that?”

She
sniffed and nodded. “Uh huh.”

“Alright.”
He pulled her face up again, looked at her and smiled. “You’re a mess.”

She
chuckled softly.

“Why
don’t you go wash your face, and then we’ll get busy.”

“Okay.”

As she
floated off toward the bathroom, Jeff patted her rump. She glanced back at him
and smiled. When she was gone Jeff turned to Susan. “You said you’d be a bit
surprised if she didn’t conceive on the first try.”

Susan
shrugged. “Well, I am… a little. But as you said, the odds were not the best. Who
knows? Lack of gravity may have more of an impact than we supposed. It’s a big
question mark. And obviously she is emotional and nervous about this, and her
hormonal balance could be upset. And don’t forget what I told you about
maternal immune tolerance.”

Jeff
nodded, then grinned sheepishly. “Uh, yeah, we did work on that.”

“Yes, but
only for a couple days. Keep working on it.”

He
chuckled. “Okay, if you insist.”

Abby
frowned. “What are you talking about?”

Susan
glanced at her. “I’ll explain later.”

Abby
shrugged.

“Jeff,
I’ll give her something to calm her down a bit, just take the edge off. She’ll
be fine.”

“Okay,
but moderation. We’ve got several very busy days ahead of us, and I need her
fully functional.”

“Alright,”
and she shoved off toward the medical locker.

Jeff
glanced at Abby, questioningly.

She shook
her head. “Don’t look at me, this was your idea.”

He
sighed. “Yeah.” He nodded toward the front of the ship. “Well, let’s put this
on the back burner, that rock is getting awfully big in the window. What say we
get to it?”

“Roger
that.”

Monday, October 3,
2016 (T plus 195 days)

“EDS sep
in 30 seconds,” said Gabe.

Abby
nodded. “Rog, 30 seconds.”

“Pyros
armed?”

“Pyros A
and B armed.”

“CMC
mode, AUTO.”

“AUTO.”

“Start
the event timer.”

“Started.”

“Abby,
you’re going to translate minus-x to 0.8 feet per second.”

“Yeah,
minus-x, 0.8.”

“On the
mark…”

“Rog.
Here we go. And… thrusting.”

Jeff
nodded. “Roger thrust, and… SEP.” He felt the gentle shock of the explosive
bolt detonations that separated the Earth Departure Stage and Storage Module
from the forward end of the Sundancer. “Gabe?”

“Yeah,
sep confirmed. She’s opening.”

“Rog.
Newport,
Ares
, we have EDS sep. She’s all yours.”

“Gabe,”
said Abby, “I’ve got 0.7. I’m gonna stop here.”

Gabe
shrugged. “Okay.”

“Do we
need to wait for a reply from Newport before performing the evasive maneuver?”
said Jeff.

Gabe
shook her head. “No.”

“So we
can do it now?”

“Well, I
think we ought to wait until we open the range by a couple hundred meters, then
Abby needs to get us aligned for the burn.”

“Understood.
And we’re gonna burn the SPS for three seconds?”

“Uh huh.”

“Okay.
You call it.”

“Rog.”

“How many
orbits will it make before impact?”

“Hard to
say. It’s like an Earth satellite in a decaying orbit; depends on atmospheric
density at high altitude, which fluctuates. Newport will burn most of the
remaining RCS fuel to give it a low periapsis, then work with JPL to try and
coordinate impact with a MRO pass and in a location that JPL feels might be
rewarding. They want to see if they can get the MRO’s spectrometer on the
impact.”

Jeff
nodded. “Kind of like that lunar LCROSS impactor a few years ago?”

“Exactly.”

“Looking
for water?”

“They’re
looking for whatever they see.”

“Well,
just so it doesn’t come down anywhere near us.”

“Oh, I
don’t know. If it turns up something interesting, it might be nice to go take a
look.”

“Yeah,
but a flaming Greyhound bus landing on the station at 6,000 meters per second
would be… what’s the word? Bad?”

Gabe
chuckled. “Um, yes, that would be one word for it.”

Abby
whistled softly. “God, what a view!”

Jeff
leaned over her and glanced out the port rendezvous window. “Yeah, that’s
really something. Gabe, what’s our altitude?”

“A bit
over 12,400 miles, just inside Deimos orbit.”

He pulled
back into his seat and buckled up. “Rog. Abby, we aligned?”

“Yep.
Standing by for 3.2-second retrograde approach burn.”

He shook
his head. “Wow. Seven months and a hundred million miles and we’re down to just
3.2 seconds of RCS thrust to hit the MOI mark. Nice job, Gabe.”

She
smiled. “Thank you.”

“Alright,
here we go,” said Abby. “In 3, 2, 1, thrusting. And… shutdown.”

“Gabe?”
said Jeff.

“Hang on.
Um, okay, 6,277 meters per second.” She grinned. “Perfect.”

“And
MOI?”

“79
minutes, 15 seconds.”

Jeff
glanced at the incoming message on the comm panel. “From Newport, ‘Go for
MOI’.”

Abby
glanced at him. “Is that Heidi trying to be funny?”

“She’s
just following procedure. Gabe, here come the TEI-2 and 4 PADs.”

“Hopefully
we won’t need those.”

“You want
to look at them now?”

“No. If
we need to return to Earth without landing, I’ll look at them after we’ve
docked with
Balboa
.”

“And if
we can’t dock with
Balboa
?”

Gabe groaned and shook her head. “Then we won’t be
needing them anyway, will we?”

“Um, no.
I guess not.”

“Jeff,
let’s just get into orbit. We can worry about Trans-Earth Injection later.”

“Roger
that.”

“Uh huh.
T
_IG
minus 58 minutes.”

“Okay.
And we’re gonna burn for 8 minutes and 14 seconds?”

“Yes.”

“So we
set the timer for 8:22?” said Abby.