Rocket Girls: The Last Planet (13 page)

“All systems go! Get ready!”

“Yukari, Akane, we have a green light for takeoff. T minus ten, nine, eight, seven—main booster ignition—four, three, two—solid boosters ignition.”

The entire orbiter shook as the shock wave from the solid boosters made the craft vibrate like a drum. The anchoring bolts on the launch pad flew off, and the rocket was free.

Akane felt her body sink into her chair.

“Launch site clear—
Mangosteen
is airborne,” Matsuri announced as though she were giving the weather.

Yukari made her first report. “This is
Mangosteen
. We’re climbing steadily. Akane, we’re on our way.”

“Uh-huh,” Akane managed in a hoarse whisper.

Outside their window was only sky.

Their speed climbed violently. With only a tenth of the space shuttle’s weight, SSA rockets took off like ballistic missiles.

Inside the cockpit, the vibrations grew steadily worse. Though from space the earth’s atmosphere looked paper-thin, this was where rockets had to pass their first hurdle—the struggle against air resistance. Just before and after the point of maximum dynamic pressure—the point called “max Q”—the rocket shook like it was being pelted with hail. That came around T plus sixty seconds, at an altitude just below ten thousand meters.

“Yukari, Akane? Get ready for max Q.”

“A-all systems operational,” Yukari said through clenched teeth. “You h-hanging in there, Akane?”

“Y-yeah.”

“The G’s pretty bad but the sh-shaking’s going to stop soon.”

“O-okay.”

After about a minute, the vibrations died down.

“Through max Q. All systems operational.”

“Great stuff!”

Don’t jinx us
, Yukari thought. She checked the altimeter. They were already over thirty kilometers up, flying at an angle of forty-five degrees with their heads pointing toward the ground. You didn’t feel like you were upside down, though. You just saw the earth above you.

“You can see the ocean out the window now.”

“Hey, you’re right. It’s so blue.”

“Still hanging in there?”

“So far.”

T plus 140 seconds. They were at an altitude of sixty-eight kilometers now. With a ringing thud, the solid boosters separated and fell away.

“SRB separation lamps on.”

“Hnnk.” Akane grunted. The Gs climbed rapidly immediately after the solid boosters dropped.

Matsuri’s voice came over the transceiver again. “Solid booster separation went great.”

Stop saying that, you’ll jinx us!

“Akane, this next part is the toughest.”

She must have heard her grunt over the radio.

“I-I know,” Akane managed to squeeze out the words. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly.

“Matsuri,” Yukari cut in, “don’t talk to her for a bit.”

“
Hoi!
My bad!”

The emergency escape rocket attached to the tip of the orbiter fell away.

T plus 260 seconds. They were now at an altitude of 170 kilometers.

The pressure climbed to over 4 G. Yukari felt her limbs pressing down into her chair. Now all she could do was look at the instrument panels and wait. She wasn’t even obligated to report.

4.5 G… 5 G… 6 G… 7 G…

“Just a little more.”

They hit 8 G and then, like that, they were floating.

“Main booster burn finished.”

There was a crisp sound as the main booster separated. On the booster, small retro-rockets fired to pull it farther away from the orbiter.

“MB separation light.”

“Main booster separated. Nice job, you two!”

“Yeah.
Mangosteen
’s systems are all operational. Uh—signing off for a second.”

Yukari switched her transmitter from
ALWAYS ON TO PUSH TO TALK
. Once she was sure they couldn’t hear her on the ground, she said, “Akane! We made it!”

No answer.

Yukari undid her harness and looked over at Akane’s helmet.

Sleeping like an angel
.

Figures…

She opened Akane’s visor and patted her on the cheek.

“Akane. Akane, wake up.”

“Huh…Yukari?” Her eyes fluttered open.

“Rise and shine, Akane. You’re in space.”

She stuck her hands out in front of her face. They floated. Akane’s face lifted and she looked out the window. “The ocean! And clouds…look, the edges are rainbow colored—that must be a storm! Wow…”

She was like a child riding a train for the first time.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“This is amazing, Yukari. It
is
beautiful. The earth is beautiful!” Akane’s eyes shone.

“Did I tell you or what!” Yukari beamed.
I’m so glad you came, Akane. To the SSA, and on this mission.

Up here, Nellis Academy felt very far away indeed. She might have cursed the place once, but that had been enough.

“The most amazing part is when you do a spacewalk. But let’s contact mission control, shall we?”

“Oh, right.”

“Careful, whatever you say will stay in the log, so you don’t have to mention that you fainted. Not that you’ll be able to hide the medical monitor record.”

“Oh…” Akane frowned. “So I did faint.”

“Hey, it’s okay. You were still in training, after all. So, give your first report.”

“Right.” Akane nodded and pressed the talk button. “Solomon Mission Control, can you read me? This is Akane on the
Mangosteen
.”

“
Hoi
, Akane! How is it up there?”

“I saw a rainbow. It was gorgeous!”

“That’s great. Lucky you!”

“Thanks, Matsuri. And thank everyone on the base for me.”

Yukari cut in. “All right, we’re preparing to adjust our orbit. Signing off.”

“
Hoi
, we’ll send you our program as soon as it’s ready.”

This was the moment of truth—the first of several, actually. Yukari carefully began a check on every system. Getting into space didn’t mean you could just float around, doing nothing. The space shuttle and
Mangosteen
had to orbit the earth at a speed of over seven kilometers a second or they would fall back down to Earth.
Mangosteen
was currently in orbit at an altitude of two hundred kilometers—a full hundred kilometers below the space shuttle.

Picture a drawing of two concentric circles. The small circle is
Mangosteen’s
orbit, the large circle is the space shuttle’s. Now, draw an ellipsis connecting the six o’clock position on the small circle with the twelve o’clock position on the larger circle. What they had to do next was take that elliptical route from their current six o’clock position to the shuttle’s twelve o’clock position, ascending the hundred-kilometer gap as they completed a half orbit of the earth.

In order to increase the altitude of their orbits, they would have to put on speed. This meant firing their thrusters just the right amount at the six o’clock position. It also meant firing their thrusters again when they reached the shuttle’s twelve o’clock position, because if they didn’t, they would descend on their new elliptical orbit.

The trick was to put on just enough speed to match that of the shuttle. Of course, the shuttle needed to be there at that exact time too, or the two spacecraft would never meet.

A successful rendezvous depended on two accurate thrusts at exactly the right time, landing position, speed, and direction with fantastic precision. The technology involved was an entire magnitude more complex than that required just to get into space. Miss the timing just once, and they would fall back to Earth. Yukari didn’t care so much about the SSA’s reputation, but she didn’t want to look like a fool. Particularly because of the attention she got and the rumors that she was window dressing and all the tough work was being done by computers.

“It’s my own bad luck for looking so good.”

“What was that?” Akane asked.

“Nothing. You mind checking the antenna system? I’ve got the engine.”

“Right.”

The heat resistant shields on the rear of the orbiter were open, allowing the nozzles for the OMS engine they used to adjust their course while in orbit to stick out. For fuel, they used mono-methyl hydrazine and nitric quadroxide. Helium gas was used to keep pressure on the fuels and push them together when the time came.

All that was required for thrust was for the two fuels to touch, making for very accurate operation. In the end, the entire engine was controlled by a series of valves. Yukari liked to think of this job as resembling that of operating a waterworks.

A small parabolic antenna was attached to the bottom of the ship, pointing toward a TDRS, one of NASA’s stationary communications satellites. By tapping into the satellite communications network, they could stay in touch with the ground no matter where they were in their orbit.

“I have confirmed a data link with the TDRS.”

“Great. That should get us through to the guys on the shuttle.”

“I should think so. Want to say anything to them?”

“Let’s talk after we’re on our elliptical orbit. I don’t want to show off only to stick our feet in our mouths.”

Akane chuckled nervously. “Good point.”

“
THERE—THAT’S THEM!
It really only took them two hours after takeoff to get here,” Luis remarked. He was looking through an observation window in the ceiling with binoculars. “Their orbiter looks exactly like that old Gemini module. Japan’s made some progress.”

“It might look the same, but that orbiter’s designed to be reused even after reentry,” the captain said. “It can lose a heatshield tile and still have no problem when it hits the ocean. Don’t take them lightly. They’re using next-gen technology compared to us.” He called to Norman who was waiting in the air lock. “
Mangosteen
is three klicks below us. You finish your breathing?”

“I’m ready to go whenever.”

“Well don’t until they grab hold of our RMA. You don’t want to take a blast from a thruster.”

“I know, I know.”

Just then, a childlike voice came in over the transmitter. It was a girl, speaking English with a Japanese accent.

“Space shuttle
Atlantis
, this is SSA orbiter
Mangosteen
. We have visual contact with your ship, over.”

“
Mangosteen
, this is
Atlantis
. We read you loud and clear. Make your approach whenever you’re ready.”

“Roger. We should be finished with our rendezvous sequence in four minutes.”

When they finished their apogee thrust, the two ships were in stable orbit a kilometer apart from each other.

“Sequence complete. Looks like I was only about a hundred meters or so off.”

“That’s pretty good.”

“Don’t congratulate me until I nail this docking procedure.”

Yukari switched the RCS to manual mode and lowered their nose slightly. Now they could see the shuttle in their forward porthole. The shuttle was flying in a sideways orbit, its nose pointed straight toward Earth. Above the wings, the payload bay doors were open, the silver heat exchange panels glittering in the sunlight. Yukari spotted what must’ve been the Orpheus lodged between them.

Akane gave a little squeal despite herself. “Wow! What a beautiful ship.”

“Yeah, and that’s a whole kilometer away. It’s pretty big.” Yukari pressed the button on her maneuvering joystick. She felt a sensation like her seat pushing her from behind. “Mission control, this is
Mangosteen
. I’m beginning docking under manual control.”

“
Hoi
,
Mangosteen
. Roger. NASA was worried you might hit them with some hydrazine. Show them how good you are, Yukari.”

“Let’s not forget that they’re the ones who messed up here.”

“I’ll be sure to remind Kinoshita of that. Okay, I’m switching you to a shared channel. No more Japanese.”

“Roger.”

Akane switched the channel on their transmitter. “
Atlantis
, this is
Mangosteen
. We are three hundred meters away and approaching.”

“Roger,
Mangosteen
. Can you see our RMA?”

“Very well, thanks.”

The remote manipulation arm was extended out straight from near the nose of the shuttle like the mast on a sailing ship.

The
Mangosteen
had its own smaller RMA. They would use theirs to grab the tip of the shuttle’s arm, pass down a rope, and they’d be docked.

“See how they extended their RMA all the way out? They don’t trust us.”

“I was wondering if that’s what it meant.”

“They don’t want us blasting their precious shuttle with our thrusters. Either that, or they’re afraid I’m going to run into them. Wimps.”

“Well, as long as you’re sure we can pull this off.”

“What, now you don’t trust me, either?”

Akane shook her head. “I’m the one who’s going to be operating our RMA while you pilot.”

“No problem, Akane. The real RMA’s just like the simulator. You stretch it out and grab when the moment comes. Don’t think about it too much, just do it.”

“Stretch it out and grab,” Akane repeated to herself. “Okay.”

They were almost on top of the shuttle now. Yukari fired several short blasts, bringing their orbiter into position close to the tip of the shuttle’s RMA and stopping it there.

“Nice job,
Mangosteen
. We won’t have to do anything at this rate.”

That would be the shuttle’s RMA operator. He would have been standing by to chase after them with his arm if they had missed.

“Thanks,” Yukari replied. “Time to shake hands.”

Akane grabbed the RMA joystick with her right hand. Her left hand rested on the mode selector. The folded arm inside their nose cone extended, reaching forward. In all,
Mangosteen
’s arm was only 2.4 meters long—far shorter than the shuttle’s fifteen-meter arm, but more agile for it.

The two fingers on the arm approached their target, a flat panel attached to the shuttle’s RMA.

“That’s right, a little more.”

Because their orbiter was so small, just moving the RMA had the effect of moving their ship slightly in the opposite direction. Akane, however, was giving a textbook performance, keeping the arm motion lateral so that any reverse momentum would pass directly through the orbiter’s center of gravity to avoid producing spin.

“Think I should grab it now?”

“Go for it!”

She pressed the button, and the metal fingers closed precisely on their target.

“I did it!” Akane pressed the button down further. “And…it’s locked on.”

“Great stuff!
Atlantis
, we have your RMA. We’re preparing to exit the orbiter.”

“Excellent work. I’ll admit, we didn’t expect it to go this smoothly.”

There are benefits to being small and agile
, Yukari thought.

The two girls removed their harnesses and put on the backpacks stored in the backs of their seats. The backpacks—each only the size of a daypack—contained a small life-support system and transmitter. After attaching cables to their suits, they were ready.

Yukari spent an extra moment carefully rechecking all of Akane’s gear.

“This is another one of those moments of truth. Be relaxed, but cautious; quick, but not rushed.”

“Okay.”

“Also, there’ll be plenty of time for gazing at Earth later so don’t do it now. Once you’re outside, orient yourself to the shuttle. Think of us as being above the shuttle, like a pennant flying on a flagpole. Once you’re outside, try
not
to spin around if you can avoid it. It’s very easy to get disoriented.”

“Okay.”

The two attached Kevlar fiber lifelines and lowered their airtight visors on their helmets.

“Com test.”

“Loud and clear.”

Yukari ejected the air from the orbiter and opened the hatch. “Here we go.”

“Right behind you.”

Over on the space shuttle, the entire crew was pressed up to the rear observation window.

“Look, they’re coming out already!”

“I don’t believe it! It’s only been ten minutes since they finished docking.”

They all knew the schedule, but hearing about it and seeing it actually happen were two different things. Whenever a spacewalk was required on the shuttle, it took at least two hours just to get ready. Because NASA space suits maintained a low pressure, the astronauts had to breathe pure oxygen for a considerable length of time to remove the nitrogen in their bloodstreams in preparation for their new environment.

The first astronaut came out of the
Mangosteen
and made her way around the nose. Pulling a rope from the pouch at her waist, she threaded it through the RMA, firmly anchoring it to their ship in a matter of moments.

“Did you see that rope work? She just tied a sheep-shank in space!”

“Never mind that,” Luis said. “Check out those space suits! They look like Eva over there—”

“Ava Gardner?”

“No. I’ll loan you the anime when we get back.”

The second astronaut emerged. This one moved more slowly than the first, carefully making her way along the hull.

Both astronauts made their way to the shuttle’s RMA and came halfway down. Holding on to the arm with one hand, the first astronaut faced the shuttle. “Hello,
Atlantis
. Can you see us?”

“See you? We can’t take our eyes off you. You look like angels up there.”

“I’m the one with my left hand raised—Captain Yukari Morita.”

“Welcome to
Atlantis
, Yukari. I’m Captain Wayne Berkheimer.”

“Nice to meet you, Captain.”

“Call me Wayne. Who’s that next to you?”

“Er…this is mission specialist Akane Miura. Hello.”

“Nice to meet you, Akane.”

“You can tell us apart by the stripes on our space suits. Mine are pink, and Akane’s are blue.”

“Roger that, you both look great.”

“We’re going to begin retrieval, if that’s all right.”

“Hold on, we’re sending someone out. Norman, can you go show the angels what they need to know?”

“Roger. I’m heading out the air lock now.”

By the time Norman made it outside, the two girls were already on the Orpheus’s upper-stage engine. They had attached their lifelines from the
Mangosteen
to the bottom of the RMA in favor of a single lifeline strung between them.

Norman headed over to Orpheus, though by the time he had walked the seven- or eight-meter distance, one of the girls was already going inside the engine structure.

“Hey, wait up. You Akane?”

Akane pulled her head out of the truss around the engine, looking. She jerked visibly when she saw him.

“Something wrong?”

“Sorry. I just didn’t expect you to be so big.”

“What, me? Don’t worry, I don’t bite. I’m heading over there.”

Norman slowly crawled up the upper-stage engine cover. Yukari stuck out her hand, reeling him in.

“Thanks.”

Compared to these two, I’m like one of those walking cartoon characters at Disneyland
, Norman thought.

The two other astronauts looked frighteningly small and thin to the American. Their waists were barely bigger around than one of his arms in the space suit. And while he looked like the Michelin man, they were
shapely
. You didn’t expect to see curves like that in the payload bay of a space shuttle flying at three hundred kilometers above the surface of the earth.

Their golden reflective visors were up, so he could see their faces—
like dolls
, he thought.

“The valve assembly is inside there. See the gap on the engine side in the center of the ring?”

“So it’s in there just behind the helium tank, right?” Akane asked.

“That’s right. How’d you know?”

“I’m a quick study.”

“All right, well, be careful. Every single tank in there is dangerous.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“Shall we get started, Akane?” Yukari asked. “Let’s go in and check things out first. Take it easy. It’s more tangled in there than it was in the CG simulation.”

“Right.”

Akane was getting used to extravehicular activity by now. In the skintight space suit she wore, it was hardly any more difficult than scuba diving. But Yukari was right. Compared to the training video they had seen, the real engine structure had all kinds of small protrusions here and there. This wouldn’t be easy.

Akane slid inside the truss.

“A little more to the left, Akane.”

“Got it.”

“That’s right. Keep going.”

“My head is close to the center now. I’m going to try swiveling.” A few moments later, Akane reported that she’d found the valve assembly. “It’s about another meter in there—huh?”

“What is it? I can’t see very well.”

“My backpack’s hung up on something.”

“Careful, Akane. Take it easy. Don’t move too quickly.”

“Okay…I’m going to try swiveling again.”

“Any luck?”

“Ack. It’s another fifty centimeters or so.”

“Don’t push it. Let’s try a different approach,” Norman offered.

“Akane, come out for now.”

“I’m coming.” Akane pushed herself out feet first. Norman could see beads of sweat on her face.

“There’s something sticking out halfway in, about the size of a fist. I keep getting hung up on that.”

“Would a tool work?” Norman asked. “We have a probe about the same size as a back scratcher.”

“No, a straight probe won’t work. There are too many twists.”

“Hmm.”

“Wait, I know how I can do it,” Akane said suddenly. “I’ll take off my backpack.”

“What?” Norman gasped. “Did you just say you’re going to take off your backpack?”

“No, Akane, I’ll do it,” Yukari said.

“You can’t take your backpack off! That’s like instant death!”

“No it’s not,” Yukari said. “Our backpacks have quick disconnect valves on them. You can remove them in a vacuum and not lose any air.”

“But the air inside your helmet won’t last more than a minute!”

“That’s nothing for a skin diver. I’ll be in and out in a flash.”

“But what if you got caught on something—”

“Don’t worry. I can do this. Akane, you guide me from here.”

“No, Yukari, please. Let me do it.”

“Akane—”

“Really, I’m confident I can do it.”

“We won’t be able to communicate. You won’t have your transmitter.”

“I’ll increase my oxygen and saturate before I go in. I should be good for three minutes. If I don’t come out before then, haul me out with a lifeline.”

Yukari stared at Akane’s face through her visor.

Those eyes—like still water. She can do this
. “Okay. Go for it.”

“Whoa, Captain, you hearing this? I don’t think we can let them—”

Wayne cut off Norman’s protest. “Yukari, I’m not sure what SSA safety standards are like, but the danger of this operation is unprecedented. Are you sure you can just let her go in there?”

“Actually, at the SSA, we switch backpacks outside the ship all the time. If you just think of this as an extension of that, it’s really no big deal.”

“But we have to consider the possibility that she’ll take more time than we expect—”

“It’s no more dangerous than skin diving, Captain. Do they not allow skin diving in America?”