Authors: R Davison
Soon, they could make out the strobe light of the CRV ahead of them and the running lights of Alpha Rescue Two closing rapidly on the little ship. Andrew and Jazzy could see that Alpha Rescue Two had its high-intensity spotlight trained on the CRV as it made its fly-by. The CRV was moving much slower than the C-130 could fly and therefore the Hercules had to continuously fly in tight circles to stay with the slower craft. On each pass, they used the spotlight to check out the condition of the CRV and parafoil to make sure that everything was nominal.
The radio in the CRV crackled just as the crew heard, and felt the C-130 rumble past. “CRV…CRV…this is Alpha Rescue Two…do you copy?”
“We copy Alpha Rescue Two…just heard you come by!” Nicholas answered.
“CRV…Everything looks good from here. Some tearing in the parafoil but it does not seem to be significant. Copy?”
“Alpha Rescue Two, we copy. Thank you for the information. Everything on board seems to be functioning okay. We are under autopilot control.”
“CRV…CRV…this is Alpha Rescue One…we are going to pass on your port side. Copy?”
“Copy Alpha Rescue One. Thanks for the escort.”
“No problem, CRV,” Jazzy’s voice crackled over the speaker. “That’s what we are here for.” As Alpha Rescue One passed by, they too trained their spotlight on the CRV and tried to assess the condition of the ship. All available personnel were at the windows trying to get a glimpse of the spacecraft as they flew by. “CRV…everything looks good on the port side. We will do another inspection on the next pass.”
“Copy that, Alpha Rescue One. Thank you.”
As the sound of Alpha Rescue One died on the port side, they could hear the rumble of her sister ship coming by on the starboard side. Nicholas looked over his shoulder at Paul and could see a smile on his tired face. “We are almost there Paul, hang on.”
“I can almost smell the grass!” Paul reached over to check on Jerry. As he felt for a pulse, Jerry moaned softly but did not awaken. “Jerry’s pulse is very faint, I don’t think that’s a good sign. The sooner we get down, the better for the two of them.”
“Unfortunately, we can not rush this,” Nicholas said, “we should be down soon.” He turned to the speaker. “Alpha Rescue…Alpha Rescue…we have two people, seriously injured on board and will need medical attention as soon as possible. Do you copy?”
Jazzy looked at Andrew. “That’s not good,” she said.
“No, but they should be ready for them when they land. We should be handing them over to Beta Rescue shortly. Advise them of that, maybe that will put them a bit at ease.”
“CRV…CRV this is Alpha Rescue One, we copy, two injured. We will be passing you over to Beta Rescue, a helicopter that will escort you to your touchdown point. You are about ten miles from touchdown. Should not be long now.”
Nicholas felt a brief sense of relief at these words, but reminded himself that they were still not on the ground. “Thank you, Alpha Rescue. We are enjoying the ride.”
“Alpha Rescue…Alpha Rescue…this is Bird’s Eye, break off and return to base. Beta Rescue is up and in service.”
“Bird’s Eye…Alpha Rescue One…we copy, returning to base. Good luck, CRV…see you on the ground,” Jazzy said, and then switched the radio over to the base frequency to get their landing authorization. Before engaging the mic, she turned to Andrew. “They’re almost home. That must have been some ride for them.”
“Almost home? In a sense I guess you’re right, back on terra firma. But the Americans will have a harder journey getting back to the States. Not one that I would want to make, not in the least!”
Jazzy thought about that for a minute. She realized that she was so caught up in the mission that she had completely blocked out the horrible images of destruction in the States that she had seen on the television. Even the computer simulations they endlessly replayed on the news, showing how the dust cloud was going to spread, had not seeped into her mind to distract her from the mission: until now. She shuddered at the thought and felt a pang of sorrow for the astronauts. Obviously, this had touched them each personally. She knew that this was not a good time to start thinking about these things and forced herself to continue with the call to the base. The busier she stayed the better, she reminded herself.
Beta Rescue One was a new Sikorsky, Super Stallion, heavy-lift helicopter that the military was using for search and rescue. The crew already had the CRV in sight when Alpha Rescue turned onto its base heading. The pilot skillfully maneuvered the helicopter behind and to the right of the CRV, at a discrete distance to avoid disturbing it with the large rotor wash that the helicopter generated. Bird’s Eye had given full control of the last minutes of the CRV’s flight to Beta Rescue One, and they too were returning to base.
“CRV…CRV, this is Beta Rescue One, on your starboard side. You are looking good. Landing zone is within visual at this time. What is your status?”
Nicholas checked the camera display and adjusted it until he could see a large illuminated area in a sea of black. He could also make out the lights of a town, or base just passing out of view on the screen. “Thank you, Beta Rescue One. Everything here is nominal, as far as I can tell.”
“CRV, we understand that you have two injured on board. Can you give us any details?”
Nicholas looked over his shoulder toward Paul. “What should I tell them?” he asked.
Paul checked Jerry’s pulse, and felt his forehead. Jerry moaned and rolled his head to the side. “Jerry still has a weak pulse and his skin is clammy. I am sure that he has a severe concussion. Alexander, what about Ivan?”
Alexander stretched to see Ivan and to his surprise, Ivan was staring back at him! “Comrade, you are awake! How are you feeling?”
Ivan blinked his eyes a few times, and in a raspy voice replied, “My head feels like it is split open, and my vision is still blurry, but not as bad as before.”
“Nicholas, I am sure that he has a concussion also, but not as bad as Jerry’s,” Paul said.
“Beta Rescue One, we think both people have concussions, one much worse than the other. In fact, the one with the more serious injury has been unconscious for the entire return trip.”
“Copy that, CRV. We will make the necessary preparations for them. Is the rest of the crew okay?”
“We are fine. Just anxious to get on the ground.”
“Copy that, CRV. Not much longer now.”
Nicholas turned his attentions back to the display and noticed a light glinting off an object at the nearest edge of the landing zone. He could not tell what it was with the resolution of the camera and the small display, but he noticed that it was not moving and seemed to be in their flight path. “Beta Rescue One, I am seeing a structure at the leading edge of the landing zone. Can you tell me what it is?” There were a few moments of silence that Nicholas found disturbing, as the object was getting closer by the minute.
“CRV…the object you may be seeing is a telemetry tower. The are spaced about a kilometer apart around the rocket range…over.”
Nicholas digested the information for a second or two and studied the display some more. He could now see that it was a tower with some cross bars on it, undoubtedly carrying all sorts of antennae Nicholas thought. He could not tell how tall the towers were, though. “Beta Rescue One, I copy that. Can you tell me how tall the towers are?”
“…CRV…not sure of exact height, but I would guess about fifty to seventy meters or so…over.”
A shiver ran through Nicholas’ spine. He looked at the image of the tower and then checked the computer display, which was showing their current altitude and speed. After some quick mental calculations, he was beginning to feel very uncomfortable that the tower was right in their flight path. He checked the camera display again. It was too close for comfort. “Beta Rescue One. Be advised, I am going to alter course to port to clear the tower.”
“CRV, we copy.” The helicopter slowed down to give the CRV more maneuvering room.
Nicholas grabbed the control stick and pushed it to the left, but nothing happened! He cursed aloud, realizing that he had to switch the computer to manual control and reached up to press the appropriate button on the screen. He glanced at the camera display; the tower was now looming in the view. “Hang on, we are going to change course!” he announced to the others.
He again threw the stick to the left and watched the tower growing ever bigger in the display. The CRV slowly started to respond to the input and the tower began to slide to the right of the view screen, but not fast enough Nicholas feared! The CRV scraped by the tower, taking several antennae with it. Inside the cabin, the crew heard the ship hit the tower and felt a slight bump as they went by.
Nicholas let out his breath but before he could relax he noticed that because of the hard turn their altitude was dropping very fast and their forward velocity had increased. He checked the camera display again and could see that they were in the middle of the rocket range, which was good. But at the edge of the range were some large hills and boulders that were now coming into view.
“I think we are going to have to take a hard landing,” he advised the others.
“Why?” Alexander asked.
“Because if we do not land with a high sink rate, then we will stop
very suddenly
when we hit those big rocks at the edge of the landing zone!”
“That is a good reason for a hard landing,” Alexander agreed.
“By all means get us on the ground!” Paul shouted.
Nicholas slammed the stick forward and again the CRV slowly responded. The computer monitoring the altitude deployed the landing skids, which they heard as a loud thump inside the cabin.
“Are we down?” Paul asked.
“No, not yet!” Nicholas shouted, the stress showing through in his voice. He was trying to judge the right moment to flare the craft in hopes of reducing the forward velocity before they touched down. Too soon, and they would fall like a rock; too late, and it would be ineffective. He checked the altimeter and yanked the stick all the way back.
Once more, the CRV responded at its leisure. This time, Nicholas got it right and the craft slowed down and settled on the ground with a firm thud, which collapsed the left skid, causing the CRV to slide to a stop, cutting a sharp curve in the muddy field. They were on the ground at last!
“CRV…nice landing! Welcome home. We will be there shortly…over.” The helicopter landed about a quarter of a mile away, so as not to inflate the parafoil and cause the CRV to be dragged away. Before the craft touched the ground, the doors were thrown open and the crew was heading for the CRV in a dead run.
Nicholas fell back in his seat and let out an audible sigh. He wiped the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve and closed his eyes.
“Good work, comrade,” Alexander said.
“Thanks, Nicholas,” said Paul. “It’s good to be home.”
“It was not me, it was this ship, and those who made it that got us here. And, yes, it is good to be home!”
Alexander had unbuckled himself and was moving to release Ivan from his restraints when Ivan grabbed his arm. “Susan?” he asked looking Alexander deeply in his eyes.
Alexander put his hand on Ivan’s and patted it, “She is not here, comrade. She is still on the station. She is safe.” He was not so sure about the last part.
Safe? Maybe, but for how long
, he wondered silently to himself while he watched Ivan’s eyes for an indication as to what he was thinking. Alexander could not convince himself that she was safe for the moment, not knowing what happened after they abandoned the station, but he could not let Ivan know of his doubts.
“She will be okay, Ivan. She is a strong woman, and she is smart. She will be okay.”
Ivan closed his eyes and waited quietly for Alexander to release his harness. He could feel Alexander tugging on the harness and could hear the sounds coming from Nicholas and Paul, but all he could see was Susan’s face in his mind, as everything else faded away.
Ivan’s view suddenly switched from Susan to his prone body being fussed over by Alexander. Gradually, like some cinematographic effect, the view pulled back showing everyone in the CRV, then the CRV from the outside getting smaller as he floated higher and higher.
Soon he heard nothing in the cabin, but gazed down on the entire continent of Australia as he continued to climb higher. Ivan stopped looking downward and cast his gaze at the horizon, a sharply defined curve of sapphire blue and infinite black, looking for the space station and inside, Susan. Ivan let his mind carry him to the station, and then he searched it, module by module looking for Susan. He found her in the cupola, sleeping peacefully. Ivan smiled.
XXVII
Five hundred miles above Earth and almost half a world away from the muddy rocket range in Australia, the International Space Station Alpha silently continued its endless journey around the wounded planet. The massive structure sparkled with the reflected starlight as it majestically floated above the night side of Earth. Flashes of light radiated from the upper atmosphere as if a crowd of enthusiasts were taking pictures of the station as it passed by. The reality of this surrealistic scene was much darker though; the flashes were just the final gasp given up by the fragments of Mother Earth returning to her bosom after being so violently torn away. The people on the planet could not see this spectacular light show because of the dense cloud cover. But, at that time, most people on Earth probably would not have appreciated the natural beauty of this event, for it would only remind them of the catastrophe that had just befallen them. The only human who could witness and possibly appreciate this natural light show floated in a catatonic state, totally oblivious of the fiery reunions taking place below her, totally oblivious to everything.
Even the artificial intelligence that kept the station running paid no attention to the awesome spectacle on display below; its only concern was that the station’s parameters matched the parameters, within a tolerable error, that were imbedded in its programming. It had no poetic self-being, no soul that could admire the wonders that lie before it and weave fanciful, illustrative tales to pass on to future generations. For the time being, only the stars could watch the show in their ancient, silent, regal manner: never speaking, never diverting their gaze, always attentive to the slightest detail, but still mute witnesses to the cataclysmic evolution of this insignificant planet, in an insignificant part of the universe.
The sun slowly moved across Susan’s sleeping form, gently caressing her awake. As the first beams of sunlight flowed over her closed eyelids, Susan stirred and stretched delicately in her bed. Slowly, she opened her eyes to accept the new day. She peered out her window at the blue sky and white puffy clouds that floated across the windowpane, urged on by a gentle breeze that she could hear rustling outside her open window.
With a start, she suddenly realized that today was the day of the launch. Throwing off her covers, she scurried over to the window and gazed at Endeavour, glistening in the new morning sun. She could not believe that this day had finally arrived after so many years of hard work and training; she would now be put to the ultimate test of commanding her first shuttle mission.
Slowly, Susan scanned the distant shuttle with its sleek white form contrasting against the bulbous, rusty-red fuel tank, as the sunbeams illuminated more and more of the ship. The sun glinted off one of the shuttle’s windows and Susan squinted as she tried to finish her survey of the craft. The reflected sunlight grew more intense. Susan raised her hand to shield her eyes but to no avail, the sun was too bright, blindingly bright and she blinked her eyes and turned away.
Susan blinked her eyes again trying to clear her vision to focus on the window frame. What she saw was not the faded white, painted wood frame of her room, but a riveted metal framework that surrounded the cupola’s observation window on the space station. She focused on the scratched metal and blinked her eyes as if the white wood frame and blue sky would reappear. Reality, and her dream world, slowly assumed their correct places and Susan’s gaze moved beyond the window frame to the clouded planet spinning below her.
“No…” the word softly escaped her dry lips, as reality firmly planted itself in her world, crushing the frail framework of her dream. She pushed herself over to one side of the cupola to avoid the bright sunlight that was streaming in and took a few moments to gather her thoughts.
Susan forced herself to review the past events in hopes that it would give her a clearer idea of what she needed to do now. As she began to construct her list of tasks, Ivan’s image formed in her mind, immediately distracting her. Her eyes began to well up with tears and her heart ached with savage passion as she allowed herself to focus on Ivan’s image. She permitted herself the painful pleasure of remembering how he felt in her arms, how soft his kisses were.
Susan wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to push these thoughts out of her mind. They would not help her now. She began to wonder why he would have left without her. Nothing she could come up with made sense. She knew that their window was closing to deorbit, but there was still time to leave safely.
“Why, Ivan? Why did you leave me?” Susan cried out. Hearing her voice echo off the walls of the cupola, she fought to gain control of herself. “You can’t afford this now!” she shouted. “You got what you wanted, now deal with it!” Susan turned to look out at the planet below. “Oh, Ivan…I miss you…I wish you well, my love.”
Earth turned below her for a few more moments and grew blurry, Susan dabbed the tears from her eyes again. Taking a long, deep breath, she pushed herself to consider just what might have happened in the CRV.
Maybe the computer program initiated the separation
, she thought. She wasn’t convinced that this was the case. It would be too dangerous to have the CRV separate under its own command. It required that someone hit the launch button after the hatch was secured: Jerry!
“Damn him to hell!” Susan shouted out as she realized, deep in her bones, that Jerry was behind her being stranded. She pounded the bulkhead with her fist, and the pain brought her back to the moment at hand. Rubbing her bruised fingers, she closed her eyes and let her breath out very slowly and deliberately.
Thoughts and visions of the crew floated across her mind’s eye. When Jerry’s face appeared, Susan said to him, “I will survive, Jerry. There is no way you will win this one.” Pushing Jerry out of her view, she allowed herself one more moment with Ivan. “Until later, my love.” Susan said, forcing Ivan from her mind and focusing on the list she had started to create…
“Power,” she said aloud, hoping that talking out loud would help her keep her mind focused. “I have to conserve power and resources.” Slowly, she floated back into the sunlight and accepted the warmth it gave her. Gazing down upon the Earth, she continued to construct her mental list of things that needed to be done. She found herself wondering just what was happening beneath the blanket of clouds that hid her view of her home planet’s surface. She forced her gaze away and turned to the computer monitor to see what it might be telling her, hoping for a distraction.
The screen blinked at her with the message that the communications system was off and questioned her if she wanted it online again. Staring at the words for a moment, she spoke softly to the machine. “Not yet my friend…but soon…first I have a garden to start.”