Orbital Maneuvers (14 page)

He floated over to the pilot’s seat near the front of the vehicle, settled into the gracefully sculptured, reclined seat and gripped the controls that would steer the parafoil on reentry.  Jerry scanned the silent instruments and displays on the ceiling above him.  He tried to remember the sequence of commands that he would need to release the CRV from the station and initiate the preprogrammed deorbit procedure. 

As he concentrated, he could see the list in his mind’s eye. He scanned the panel in front of him, and located the proper switches and displays that he would have to use.  Jerry toyed with the idea of bringing the onboard computers online to completely check out the procedure, but decided that it was too risky.  Not knowing what alarms or warnings may sound, he might expose himself and ruin everything. 

Susan quickly realized that she was dealing with a person who had no hesitation in using whatever power his supervisors allowed him, whether it was appropriate or not.  She also realized that she did not like Captain Mikhailovich.

“How do I know that you are really who you say you are?  How do I know that this is not a hoax?” the Captain asked.  The background noise then quieted as the microphone was obviously covered and the Captain’s unintelligible, muffled voice poured out from the speaker.

Susan was outraged.  Turning to Ivan, she asked, “What the hell is it with this clown?  If I thought we had the B-Team before we must have the rejects from the C-Team now!”

“Do not let loose on him, it will only make it worse,” Ivan cautioned.

“I’d like to wring his neck, if I could get my hands on him!” Susan switched on the microphone, “Captain Mikhailovich!  I am the commander of the NASA space shuttle Endeavour and we are on board the International Space Station!  Just check your instruments, they should tell you that there is activity on board the station!” If Susan were on Earth she would be pacing back and forth, wearing a rut in the floor.  But in space, it was impossible to pace in the conventional sense.  One only looked silly with one’s legs moving back and forth and going no place.

“Ah yes, our instruments do indicate activity on the station.  You say that you are with the MIR crew?  Let me talk to them.”

Susan motioned to Alexander and Nicholas to come to the microphone as she backed away.  The conversation was conducted in Russian and as far as Susan could tell, the good Captain Mikhailovich was not totally convinced that they were the genuine crew. 

Nicholas floated away from the comm station and over to where Ivan was as the exchange grew more vocal between Alexander and Captain Mikhailovich.  Alexander exchanged a few more words with the Captain and turned to Susan, “He is all yours Commander.  Good luck.” With that he joined Ivan and Nicholas.  The three men had a brief, heated exchange, the content of which Susan could only guess at.

Susan picked up the microphone, “Captain Mikhailovich, do you copy?  We are about to jettison the shuttle befor—”

“Commander?” the Captain interrupted.  “Why are you jettisoning the shuttle?”

“Captain, I thought I explained that.  The shuttle is damaged and cannot return to Earth.  We want to jettison it before we boost the station into a higher orbit—”

“WHAT!  You can not do that!  You do not have permission to do that!” Captain Mikhailovich bellowed.

Susan bowed her head and took several deep breaths before continuing.  “Captain, if we do not boost the station’s orbit, it will collide with the debris cloud and more than likely be destroyed.  We will boost the station into a maximum orbit and take the CRV to return to Earth.”

“You do not have authorization to change the station’s orbit.  I know nothing of this “debris cloud” you are talking about—”

“Do you not know what has happened to the Earth in the last twelve hours?” Susan found herself yelling into the microphone a lot louder than she wanted to.  “You are aware of the meteor impacts in the United States, aren’t you?” She asked after making a conscious effort to lower her voice.

“I have heard something, but nothing official…”

“I suggest that you check with your superiors and get your facts together!” Susan snapped before she realized what she was saying and how it came out.

“Regardless of what the facts are, you still are not authorized to change the station’s orbital parameters!”

“Will
you
give us permission to change the station’s orbit?” Susan asked with a deep sigh.

“I do not have the authority to give that permission.” Captain Mikhailovich said with a bit of resignation in his voice.

“Damn it!” Susan yelled forgetting that she had not switched off the microphone.  “Whom do I have to talk to for that permission?”

“You will need to talk to my superior.  He will not be here until tomorrow.  He is on vacation.”

“Is there no one else who we can talk to?  We have less than four hours to get this station up.  If we wait until tomorrow, it will be too late to move the station!”

Inside the CRV, Jerry could hear the conversation heating up between Susan and the Captain.  He decided that it was a good time to get back into the station.  Carefully, he pushed himself out of the seat and floated out of the hatch into the tunnel.  Back inside the station, he quietly closed the hatch to the docking tunnel and made certain that he left the controls as he had previously found them.  Hearing Susan cursing brought a smile to his face, it was good to know that somebody else did not agree with her and was not afraid to challenge her authority. 

“The more the better,” he muttered to himself.  Jerry decided it was best to join the rest of the crew in the control module.  This would give him the opportunity to find out what Susan’s intentions were and maybe even talk to Paul. 

Jerry floated into the control module where he found Ivan and the cosmonauts engaged in a hushed conversation in Russian.  Paul was in a corner staring at a display panel showing the status of something that, to Jerry, did not look important.  Jerry floated past Ivan, the cosmonauts, and a red-faced Susan, coming to a stop by Paul.  “What’s going on?” he asked. 

Paul turned from the display. “Susan’s got ahold of some dolt in Korolev Control who’s not willing to give her permission to move the station.”

“Well, that’s good news,” Jerry said, with a smile. “I’m glad that I’m not the only one who feels we shouldn’t move the station.”

“I’m sorry, Jerry, but you are mistaken if you feel that it is better for the station to stay at this altitude.  Here look at this.” Paul turned back to the control panel, manipulated the controls and brought up a graphic of Earth with the orbital track of the station highlighted in red.  “Here is the station now, and if I advance the time, the station in about four hours...”

“So?” Jerry responded in a disinterested tone.

“The station will be crossing over the southeastern part of the United States. If not on this orbit, then possibly on the next two after it, the station will encounter the rubble thrown up by the asteroid impacts.”

“So what?  If we leave now we don’t have to worry about that.  If the station gets trashed, who cares?  It’s not like NASA, or Russia for that matter, will be sending people up here in the next ten years or so.  The longer we stay up here, the worse it is going to be to get back down.”

“Yes, that may be true.  But we can’t deorbit now unless you want to land in the ocean.  And, if we leave the station in the CRV now and hang in orbit for six or seven hours until we are in optimal position to land in the States, we expose ourselves to the debris in orbit and the dust clouds in the lower atmosphere.  It’s just not safe to jump into the CRV and head home.”

“Paul, if we deorbited now someone would be watching for us.  The Navy is out there.  The rest of the world is not suffering from the impacts.  There would be someone available to pick us up.  Hell, these Russians Susan is talking to will know where we will be coming down and can arrange a welcoming party.”

“I don’t think I want to leave my rescue to this guy Susan has on the line now!  But you may be right that they’ll know where we would be coming down.” Paul stared off into space thinking about the logistics of their rescue once they were on the surface.  Jerry’s eyes brightened as he watched Paul considering his argument.  “It’s still too risky to rush out now,” Paul finally answered. “We still are better off taking our time to do it right.”

Jerry’s hopes faded again.  “Come on, Paul!  You stay with Susan on this and we are going to be worse off than we are now.” Jerry decided to test the waters.  “We can do it ourselves.  We don’t need Susan, or the others.” He studied Paul’s face for a sign of rejection or acceptance of the suggestion.

Paul turned slowly from the computer screen toward Jerry, his tired eyes searching Jerry’s poker face for any useful information.  “Just what are you saying, Jerry?” Paul was not quite sure he wanted to believe what thought he had just heard,

Jerry, in turn, read nothing in Paul’s face, but Paul’s quiet voice spoke volumes.  He hesitated.  “I’m just saying that we, together, can convince Susan to change her mind.  That’s all.” Jerry could feel his face flush. 
That may have been a mistake
, he thought to himself with his mind racing for another excuse in case Paul did not accept this one.  He breathed a silent sigh of relief with Paul’s response, “Susan has her reasons for this action and I don’t think you, or I, will change her mind.” Jerry pulled back from Paul a bit and, in a hushed voice, said, “Well, you can’t blame someone for trying. I—”

“Stupid bastard!”

Jerry, and everyone else in the room, was startled by Susan’s voice rising to a crescendo.  Slamming the microphone down, she pushed away from the console and turned to the rest of the group. 

“The good Captain Mikhailovich will not give us permission to change the station’s orbit!  It also appears that his boss is on vacation, and he is unwilling to search for anyone else who may have the authority to give us permission.”

Ivan looked at Susan.  “So, Commander, what are we going to do?” he asked.

“We are going to move the station anyway.  To hell with permission!  Ivan, are you ready to jettison Endeavour?”

“Yes.  Everything is set and ready to go.”

“Then do it now, and once we are clear, let’s move this station!”

“Yes, Commander.” Ivan turned back to the console and after a series of command inputs on the key panel, his screen switched to a view of the shuttle docked to the station displayed by a camera on the remote manipulator arm.  Ivan carefully positioned himself so he could place his feet into the foot restraints that were on the floor beneath the console and fasten a safety harness around his waist.  This was necessary to give him a solid anchor from which to manipulate the manual controls that would remotely control the shuttle.

Susan was drawn to the shuttle’s image on the display.  This was the first time she had seen the entire ship.  She studied the vivid black scar over the flight deck where the asteroid first touched the shuttle.  The tiles were neatly parted, looking as if someone had dragged a dull knife through icing on a cake. 

Susan flashed back to the payload bay, as she cowered in the corner watching the asteroid pass over and as the piece of tile scored her visor.  She felt herself physically flinch with that image as she snapped out of the flashback.  She quickly looked around hoping that no one had noticed. 

Her eyes followed the path of destruction on the shuttle as it progressed down the length of the ship.  The glint of shiny metal in the bright sunlight caught her eye.  The twisted and torn remains of the anchor point to the shuttle remote manipulator arm stood as stark testimony to the forces that came to play in that instant of space and time.  Susan tried to fight off the image of Jill standing on the end of the arm at that moment. 

As everyone watched the monitor, the shuttle detached itself from the station and moved away from the docking port.  Those in contact with a wall or other surface in the module felt a slight jolt with the separation.  Susan felt the jolt as her mind replayed the image of Jill being stolen by the asteroid.  Her attention now refocused on the image of the shuttle, which was very slowly moving away from the station. 

Looking at Endeavour from a more panoramic view, the damaged rudder and wing panels became evident, as did the deformed payload bay door.  The shattered window on the flight deck gave the ship the appearance that it was winking back at the people on the station.  As Susan watched, she noticed a quick burst of gas from the steering thrusters and saw the shuttle obediently move down and away from the station.  She looked from the display to the console below and watched Ivan as he entered a series of commands on the keyboard to remotely fly the shuttle.

As she looked back to the display, she watched Endeavour quickly shrink in size as the distance between it and the station rapidly increased.  Susan finally broke the silence in the room with a whispered farewell.  “So long Endeavour.  You served us well.”

After a few moments, Ivan added, “May you last until we can come and get you.”

They continued to watch in silence until the craft was no more than a bright dot, blending in with thousands of stars showing on the display.  Susan floated over to Ivan’s station and looked at the display and control panels while Ivan reconfigured his console to monitor and control the station’s propulsion and guidance systems.  Ivan looked up at Susan and noticed her clenched fists, a sure sign that she was doing something that she was not comfortable with.