First Steps (Founding of the Federation) (14 page)

Nick
sighed. "Yeah, I get yah, if you have to horse trade, do it."
He looked out the window. "Damn politics." He looked over
to Luigi. "You sure there isn't enough room for one more? Maybe
a stow away?" he asked plaintively. Luigi laughed.

...*...*...*...*...

"So
did they go for it?" Luigi smiled. "You bet, Hudson will be
the first outfitted with a magsail," he replied and then
grimaced. "It better work too, I had to sign in blood for this
one." He'd wanted Columbus to have the full treatment but no
such luck.

Mario
chuckled. "It'll work, hell, if it doesn't you can get out and
push little brother while I drive."

Luigi
frowned then punched his brother on the arm. "Hey, why do I have
to push, you’re the big one! I built it!" Mario chuckled.

Nick
came into the control room and looked things over. "Looks like
mission control from the Apollo days."

Luigi
grimaced. "Hardly." He waved to the bank of computers
behind Nick.

"No
tape beyond red tape,” Nick snorted, looking as well. The
control room was fully modernized. "Probably cost a mint."

Luigi
smiled. "Not really. I got it off e-bay for a song."

Nick
stared at him. "You didn't." Luigi's grin widened. "Oh
god you did." Nick shook his head, but he smiled. "You’re
going to have to teach me that, I am going to need it. The women are
trying to bankrupt me again."

Luigi
chuckled. "Aren't they always? Daughter or mother?"

Nick
sighed as he sat down. "Both. Ever since that one reporter
ambushed me the two of them are going out to get a facial, nails and
their hair done every week." He shook his head as Luigi
chuckled. "How the hell can a hair cut cost three hundred
dollars each?" Luigi's chuckles turned into guffaws. "A
quarter inch! Three hundred bucks!" Nick grumbled, sitting back
and glaring. "Oh sure, your no help," he sighed.
"Everyone's a comedian," he growled. Luigi slapped his
thigh. "Yuck it up bud, your turns coming eventually," Nick
warned ominously. Luigi smiled as he got his laughter under control.

...*...*...*...*...

"So,
they are named after the video game characters?" Julia asked.
Benny nodded. "Must have been tough in school."

Benny
chuckled. "From what I heard they wore it as a badge of honor,
adopted the fist bump, and even wore the costumes at Halloween
parties."

She
chuckled. "Good to know."

“Catch
comedy central last night?” Nick shook his head, still
engrossed in his display. Benny chuckled. “I did. That Mario
skit Gabriel Iglesias did was a riot; he even did the theme song!”

Julia
giggled. “Do du do du dodedo be be beba...”

Luigi
came in and snickered. “No, it's Do do do, duwhap a be do do de
do de data tedo de do...” Julia gaped at him then giggled.

Benny
sighed. “And here we go, he'll never stop now.”

“I
liked Dunham's better. The whole astronaut thing,” Nick
commented and looked up to see his boss still humming his theme song.
“All right, who got him going on that?” he sighed
scowling. Julia ducked then slowly raised her hand when Benny pointed
to her. She was biting her lip trying not to laugh or meet Nick's
accusing glare.

Benny
chuckled. “You’re in the dog house now...”

...*...*...*...*...

Luigi
grimaced as he adjusted the suit. “I feel like I have a
wedgie,” he complained.

Betsy
snorted. “Yeah, the diaper is a pain,” she sighed.
Another test fitting of the skin suit. Hopefully they'd get it sorted
out. She wasn't looking forward to wearing the thing for three years.

“Better
get used to it,” Wanda teased. Mario grimaced.

“No
fair, you've had years of practice with pads.” He shook his
head as he held his helmet up to the light. The clear visor began to
darken.

“Nice,
self polarizing?” Wanda asked.

“Yeah,
just like sunglasses and it even has a hud built in that projects
data on the inside.”

Wanda
smiled. “Good to know. Glad we finally get to try out the real
thing.”

She
buckled the safety harness around her waist then raised her arms to
let the suit technician check her connections. “You're good,”
he said then moved on.

“So
these are the final suits?” Betsy asked.

“Yeah,
we'll have a pressure suit for each astronaut as well as backups,”
Luigi replied as he put his helmet on with practiced ease. “All
set.” He locked the seals down and then jumped up and down in
place. He held his gloved hands up in front of his helmet and wiggled
his fingers then made fists. “Gotta love it. Try doing this
sort of articulation with a pressure suit!” he smiled.

“Yeah,
but they are a pain to get into,” Commander Bower grumped. “I
thought the pressure suit was a work out.” He put a sweat band
on, then his snoopy cap. He seated the earphone and mike then put his
helmet on.

“Bitch
bitch. It'll all be worth it on Mars,” Mario replied.

“Okay
let's do this,” Luigi waved to the airlock door. The tech
nearby opened it and stepped aside.

“Once
more unto the breech, or at least into the testing chamber,”
Betsy joked.

...*...*...*...*...

"Santa
Maria power up test complete," the voice over the communication
channel confirmed the readouts in front of Benny.

"I
think we're about ready to light this baby's candle and see what she
can do if that's okay with you mission control?" He smiled as he
looked over to Julia and rolled his eyes.

"Light
her Benny; let’s get this show on the road." The voice had
been replaced by the recognizable Doctor Luigi Irons.

"Sure
thing boss." He looked at the cylindrical craft then away and
put on his shades. "Everyone ready?" The craft floated up
and away from the window, out of sight.

"Why
the glasses?" Julia asked.

"You'll
see. Three...two...one... ignition." A bright light shined
through the porthole. Julia cried out in surprise and covered her arm
with her outstretched arm. "Damn." She went into a tumble.

Benny
caught her instinctively, while still looking out the porthole.
"Ignition confirmed. All boards are normal."

"Go
baby go," he murmured.

"Amen.
Santa Maria is flying hot straight and true, next stop Saturn,"
Mission control returned.

"Roger
that. Next up... let’s see, clean the head. Great." Benny
looked over to Julia who was wiping her eyes. "You okay?"
He took the glasses off. The light had faded to normal as the craft
accelerated away.

"You
could have warned me!" she snarled.

He
chuckled. "I did, twice. The glasses should have been a
giveaway," he teased. She grimaced.

...*...*...*...*...

Luigi
rolled his shoulders, glad to be back stateside. He didn't mind
Houston but he did mind being stuck here now. It was far too hot and
muggy now that it was summer.

“You're
wallet or your life!” a voice snarled behind Luigi.

He
paused and started to turn. “Bro if that is you it isn't
funny...” Something hit him from behind dropping him to his
knees.

“I
said the wallet smart ass, NOW!” the unfamiliar voice snarled.
He felt someone kick him.

“Look
here it is...” Luigi started to reach for his wallet as he felt
the first trickle of fear.

“Man
we should plug him right now man, we ain't got time for this...”
another voice came out of the darkness behind him.

“Shut
up man, they said make it look like a mugging!” the first
snarled. Luigi heard footfalls then saw a police officer round the
corner weapon drawn.

“Police
officer drop the weapon!” Footfalls sounded behind him. Luigi
curled up into a ball and rolled away. The police officer ran past
him.

...*...*...*...*...

"We
have ERV signal, clean signal. ERV is in orbit," Benny nodded.
He had spent his six months in orbit and now was doing a rotation on
the ground in mission control. "Receiving data now. Looks five
by five." He gave Luigi a thumbs up. Luigi nodded. "Cargo
lander on final, we should be receiving in
five...four...three....two...one..." A hush washed over mission
control.

Julia
held her hand to her ear piece. "Got it. I am getting a faint
signal. Hab one is down."

Mario
smiled. "So that leaves the MAV right? Tomorrow?" He looked
over to Luigi who nodded.

"Good.
Glad everything worked. Get me a hot wash on my desk by close of day
folks then you can pop the champagne." Mission control was
oblivious, people were cheering loudly. Luigi smiled tightly as he
left.

"Talk
about your wet blanket." Benny sighed. "What's eating him?"
He motioned to Luigi.

Mario
sighed. "I think all the politics and shenanigans are getting to
him. He was mugged the other day too."

Benny's
eyes widened. "You don't say! Someone mugged him?"

Julia
came over and propped herself up on the edge of the desk. "I
heard about that, a nearby off duty cop managed to save him,"
she sighed. "Houston is getting as bad as New York." She
shook her head. "We're going to celebrate at Chili's tonight are
you coming Mario?"

Mario
shook his head. "Not tonight, I have to catch the red eye,
training in Georgia tomorrow, and then I am off to Canada for some
real life sim time."

Benny
grimaced. "Luigi coming?"

Mario
shook his head. "No the whiz kid did his bit a while ago; he
will meet me in Canada Friday night. Spend the weekend and then back
to DC for more backsides to smooch Monday."

Julia
laughed. "No wonder he has that puckered look. I thought it was
his jeans!"

Benny
laughed along with Mario. "No, he wants to be here for the
landing tomorrow, then off back to jet setting. I gotta pack good
work." Mario got up and walked out with a wave.

"Well,
looks like we get to herd this rowdy lot into writing the report."
Benny looked around to the group celebrating.

"Oy
vey," Julia groaned.

Beating:

"We
have clear signal on MAV two it is picking up a faint signal two
hundred kilometers off the shuttle's landing zone. Looks like it had
a problem." Benny looked up and sighed. "This can't be
right, it... Flight are the inertials squirrelly? It says it is on
its side?"

Luigi
sighed. "Most likely because it is. I just checked the computer
log, look at line three ninety nine, landing leg two didn't fully
extend."

Benny
groaned. "Damn! You mean it fell over? Can we get anything out
of it?" Julia looked up. "She will never fly again, that
kind of impact on the tanks and electronics?"

She
shook her head wearily. "No way. Not even if they winched it
upright, I wouldn't try," Luigi replied. "Right the bird is
too banged up to fly. Ah well." An engineer waved. He clicked
over to a side channel, murmured for a few moments, checked an e-mail
then looked up as he clicked off.

"Looks
like the hydrogen tank burst; it is about empty according to our
readings," Benny groaned. "So much for the nuke and the
robot, the greens are going to have a conniption!"

Luigi
shook his head as he stood. "All right people, according to our
readings the ship has had a hard landing and is in minimum status. I
want a radiation and full system check done
now
, then a hot
wash. Get on it people."

He
felt his shoulder's hunch as he tried not to look at the viewer
gallery behind his back. After a moment he straightened his tie, took
a deep breath then picked up his coat and put it on. "I'll be in
the press room. Get me a report in five minutes." He waved to
Benny who looked up waved him off then went back to the monitor.

"Okay,
no radiation beyond background norm, got it." He jotted it down.
"One good thing out of this mess," he muttered.

...*...*...*...*...

"So,
it crashed?" the congressman asked as he sipped his bourbon. The
lander crash had preempted just about every other news event.

"In
a manner of speaking congressman yes. It landed, but one of the legs
failed so it fell over," Luigi sighed, stirring his drink. He
wasn't happy about this, having to fly out to the capital to deal
with a different form of fall out.

"In
other words it crashed. No leaks?" another congressman asked.

"Fuel
and hydrogen feedstock only, the reactor scrammed."

The
congressman looked confused. "Scrammed?"

Another
smiled. "It locked down into safe mode Bert."

The
congressman nodded. "Good to hear." He saluted Luigi with
his drink. "You know we're going to catch flack right? Greenies
will have a field day."

Luigi
sighed. "Yes sir. She is a bent ship, and will never fly again.
We'll have to accelerate the back up and get it out with the next
flight."

Another
congressman looked up concerned. "This going to take more
funding right?"

Luigi
shook his head. "Minimal, we have the bird built as a backup
already. We just have to launch it during the window."

The
congressman nodded. "Good, get on it. Our elections may ride on
it."

Luigi
nodded. "We'll do our best sir."

...*...*...*...*...

Nick
sighed as he sat down. "I think we spend entirely too much time
here." He murmured to Luigi. Now that the crash investigation
had a preliminary finding the space program enemies were out
sharpening their knives expecting heads to roll.

Luigi
smiled. "Yeah, I was thinking about renting space." He
unbuttoned his coat and sat down.

"Gentleman
we have a short time slot and a lot to go over," Senator
Grantham gaveled the session into order. "We are here about the
asteroid, according to the latest report it is projected to pass less
than five hundred miles away from the Earth two and a half years from
now. I for one am a little nervous about that." He looked over
to his colleagues. Several looked bored a few nodded.