The Orthogonal Galaxy (54 page)

“
Propulsion:
check.”

“
Navigation
check.”

“
A/V check...”

“
Mission ST3, it appears
that all systems are check, and launch will commence in T minus
seventy seconds.” Then in a less robotic manner, the voice asked.
“Star Transport, is there anything you’d like to tell the
inhabitants of Earth1?”

Paol took a quick breath
and replied, “To the citizens of the world, we thank you for the
opportunity, and can’t wait to return with the knowledge you wish
to gain from this expedition. To our families, we love you and hope
the years will pass as quickly for you as the distance will for
us.”

And then, a final word
from Mission Control before the final countdown. “Godspeed,
ST3.”

Anticipation grew with
each second that passed. “T minus fifteen, fourteen… T minus ten,
nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three…”

In a sudden blast, rockets
roared to life and exploded into a fireball that lit up the Florida
morning even more effectively than the low-lying Sun. Spectators
struggled to determine whether they should shield their eyes or
cover their ears. The vehicle lifted gently off the ground, cleared
the launch pad, and then quickly shot the Star Transport into the
atmosphere. The roaring of the rockets gradually subsided giving
way to the cheers of the crowd. All were applauding, yelling, and
whistling enthusiastically as their beloved astronauts approached
the upper reaches of the atmosphere.

Paol and Blade sat silent
in the darkness of the cockpit, enveloped in the discomfort of
rapid acceleration and intense vibration. They had experienced this
multiple times in the simulator, but this time it was real, and
that knowledge multiplied the difficulty of the situation, not to
mention the churning of their stomachs.

Medical personnel watched
abnormal vital signs in both astronauts with guarded concern. While
nothing they saw was unexpected, they also knew that the elevated
heart-rate, body temperature, and rapid breathing were not
desired.

A sudden jolt shook both
astronauts in a tense, yet anticipated moment. Through the darkness
of the flight deck, the astronauts knew that this was the moment of
separation. The two wing-mounted silo rocket boosters separated
from the Star Transport, and the high-tension straps whipped
rapidly away from the body. The astronauts braced for one final
jolt, when the third silo was to be released. In an instant, the
vehicle lunged upwards, while nauseated stomachs lurched in the
opposite direction. Blade closed his eyes while Paol inhaled
deeply.

At long last, the
astronauts exited the atmosphere and the ride became more smooth
and comfortable. Slowly, as the astronauts realized that the worst
was behind them, vital signs began to stabilize—for both the
astronauts, and mission control personnel.

“
Piece of cake, huh
partner?” Paol reached over and slapped his navigator in the
arm.

“
Yeah, I can’t wait to see
what super-warp’s gonna feel like.” Blade shook his head
slowly.

A voice from the planet
they just departed sounded in the cockpit. “Star Transport Pilot,
please provide physical check.”

Paol replied “Pilot
reports no major physical problems—a slight nausea. That’s all.
Over.”

“
Star Transport
Navigator?”

“
Is my head s’pposed to
feel this way? Sheesh!”

After a brief pause, a
voice continued, “Navigator, medical staff reports some head stress
reported in your vitals, but nothing out of the ordinary… so, yeah…
it should feel that way for a while. Guys, I regret that we don’t
have any beverage service on this flight, but we do have some
in-flight entertainment.”

With that, the light began
to grow throughout the cockpit. The flight deck transformed into a
virtual planetarium. The dome shaped roof shone with stars, and the
bright curved outline of the blue and white Earth dominated the
left side of the display. Drawn to the light, both astronauts
turned their heads to the left and gawked at the
display.

“
Wow,” was the response
from a wide-eyed Slater, whose word was more breathed than it was
audible.

Paol turned his head back
to the right to see his navigator’s face full of stunned
expression. “Pretty amazing, isn’t it, buddy?”

“
Ground control, thank ya’
fo’ the show,” Blade expressed, as he looked back to his left.
“These views are simply amazin’… it’s just like lookin’ out a real
window.”

When systems engineers
considered the body of Star Transport, they knew that the
astronauts would need an unprecedented view of their surroundings
for proper flight and navigation, but they also wanted every square
inch for the collector panels to ensure a sufficient supply of
energy for the entire trip. The solution was to place miniature
high-resolution cameras around the fuselage to provide a full
panoramic three-dimensional image.

This seemed like a great
idea, except that early demonstrations proved that the quality of
the video wasn’t realistic enough. Psychologists noted that
simulated scenarios with video-game quality proved that
participants would be emboldened to take unnecessary risks. With
improved video quality, responses were more scenario-appropriate.
As a result, engineers pushed themselves in the design of the video
until they obtained near perfection in image quality. In an
experiment, less than one out of a thousand could discern the
difference between a real image seen through the window and a
projected digital scene through the high-quality
display.

Time stood still as the
astronauts enjoyed the quiet and stillness of space as Earth
floated quietly below them. The tranquility of the view was in
stark contrast to the turbulence of life down below: people
scurrying in all different directions, horns blaring in morning
rush hour traffic, sirens attending to emergencies of all kinds,
gunfire in war-ravaged countries. It didn’t seem possible that the
still blue of the ocean, the silky white of the clouds, the
extensive sands of the deserts, nor the deep green of the forests
could ever have induced such chaos.

Within minutes the Earth
faded behind them, in spite of their necks craning to catch as much
of the show as possible. Eventually, the duo had to concede that
their home was gone—for more than twelve years. While hearts hung
heavy, they knew that the best thing they could do was to just look
forward—and that’s exactly what they did, for their first task lay
exactly straight ahead of them in full view.

…

“
It’s so big,” Paol
gasped.

“
Sure is, Buddy,” the
navigator agreed with a huge grin.

“
It’s just that—you
know—you see this thing in the sky night after night, and you just
don’t realize how big it is. It’s—well—I can’t even comprehend its
size. Just look at that crater there, for example. How big do you
think that thing is? I’m guessing I could get lost in that
thing.”

“
You mean that one there
with all them rays comin’ out of it?” Blade indicated with his
finger straight out from his arm and one eye shut to focus in on
the object in question.

“
Yeah.”

“
Why that there is the
Copernicus Crater. A couple of those early Apollo missions landed
jus’ south of there. That’s one nasty impact there, to be
sure.”

“
Why do you say that?”
Paol looked over at his navigator

“
Well that hole’s ‘bout 50
miles wide, and—” Blade paused for effect, sensing the eager stare
of his partner. “—and over two miles deep! Good luck climbin’ outta
that hole, if ya’ ever fall in.”

Blade turned and looked at
Paol. “See those white rays comin’ outta the crater? They’re ‘bout
five hundred miles in every direction. How hard must two things hit
each other to send dirt and rocks flyin’ that far?”

Paol pursed his lips and
let out a low whistle. “I’m trying to imagine the view from the rim
of a crater that is two miles deep.”

“
Well, don’t try,” Blade
shrugged. “There’s nothin’ like it on Earth. Even if you’re
standin’ atop Everest, the base of the mountain is only ‘bout two
miles below. Even then, ya’ wouldn’t get an idea ‘bout what a
two-mile deep hole looks like ‘gainst the flat land you’re standin’
on.”

Silence ensued in the
cockpit as Star Transport raced towards the moon, on an apparent
crash course. Eventually, the vehicle steered away to make its way
around to the other side, where the astronauts would rendezvous
with one final fuel stop. A moon orbiter with a trio of astronauts
awaited the arrival of Joonter and Slater to top them off and give
them that extra burst to speed them on their way towards Jupiter,
which was projected as the closest spot to catch the super-luminal
comet as it passed through the solar system again.

“
Moon Orbiter, this is
ST3,” announced Paol. “Do you copy?”

“
Loud and clear, ST3. What
is your ETA?”

“
We are currently at an
orbital distance of 175 miles, and are anticipating arrival to your
orbit in about 27 minutes.”

“
We look forward to seeing
you, ST3. Over.”

Blade scrutinized the
navigational display for any deviance in calculated trajectories,
or orbital velocities for either the Star Transport or the Moon
Orbiter, but this was a mere formality, as the computers controlled
everything exactly according to plan.

While Blade monitored the
computer displays, Paol maintained a constant vigil on their
surroundings to make sure that nothing orbiting the moon might
cross their path. Ever since NASA constructed the first astronaut
base on the moon, the amount of space debris jettisoned by
spacecraft, satellites, and rocket ships had increased greatly, and
there were a couple of different orbits which posed greater
hazards. Having past uneventfully through both, Paol turned his
attention to picking up a visual on the moon orbiter. He strained
to see, but with the sea of bright stars, it was difficult to catch
a glimpse of the fuel orbiter, and the angle of light from the sun
did not help his cause.

“
Blade!” Paol announced
abruptly. “There she is. At two o-clock with an angle of
declination about five percent.”

“
How’d ya’ spot her?
Against the backdrop of the moon, she’s so small.”

“
I finally spotted
movement with respect to the stars just above the horizon of the
moon. Anyway, I think we’re in perfect position, aren’t
we?”

“
Yes, sir… I’ll radio
ahead.” Blade switched on his radio. “Moon Orbiter, this is Star
Transport Navigator. We have a positive visual ID, and are closin’
in.”

“
ST3, we see you as well,
and are ready for rendezvous.”

The vehicles closed in
slowly. Paol took over manual control, in order to ease the Star
Transport just over the top of the orbiter, passing within just a
few feet of each other. As the orbiter passed below, and out of
sight, his heart started racing. To know that he was so dangerously
close to another spaceship, and that both were racing at tens of
thousands of miles per hour. The smallest mistake could mean
disaster.

“
ST3, we see you overhead,
and are taking over the negotiation.”

“
Roger, Orbiter.” Paol
breathed a deep sigh of relief to know that the pilot below him was
now in control of nudging the two vehicles together.

Silence ensued for a
couple of minutes before a sound of a thump caused Paol and Blade
to lurch forward. Wide-eyed, the two looked behind them and saw a
round portal open on the rear bay door. The round face of an
astronaut, with a large tuft of blonde hair floating above his head
emerged in the hole with a beaming smile.

“
Star Transport.
Permission to board your vessel?”

“
O’Ryan!” exclaimed Blade
with a mile-wide smile. He would’ve bounded towards the visitor to
greet him warmly, but he was still becoming accustomed to
weightlessness, in spite of all the zero-G training on Earth.
Further, Star Transport was very short from floor to ceiling, so
the astronauts had to move around a very confined space. Garrison
O’Ryan, on the other hand, floated swiftly and effortlessly through
the cabin to greet the ST3 companions.

“
Why—the last time we met,
I thought you’s all against gettin’ back up in space,” Blade stated
as he took a firm grasp of the visitor’s hand.

“
Me too, Blade—me too. I
fully expected never to come back up here after the incident on
Camp Mars. I still shiver to recall the destruction and the weeks
of waiting and wondering.”

“
What made you get back in
the saddle, Garrison?” Paol now joined in the exchange.

With pride, O’Ryan
answered, “You two!”

Paol and Blade looked at
each other, confused by this answer.

“
Like the rest of the
world, I’ve been watching this whole mission unfold. I’ve read the
interviews in the magazine, listened to the press conference
updates, and I realized that if you guys could have the courage to
travel tens of thousands of light years, the least I could do would
be to travel the a few light seconds to help top off your fuel tank
before making the long voyage.”