The Apollo Academy (10 page)

Aurora wasn’t sure what exactly she was seeing at first and gasped in surprise when she finally figured out what the Professor had done. In the few minutes they had their eyes closed, the room had been transformed. They were surrounded by glowing planets, moving asteroids, moons, and the sun, brightest of all, which stood at the center of it all. Her teacher had uploaded a moving representation of the solar system and now it was virtually displayed for everyone to see three dimensionally.

Aurora watched in awe as the planets moved about the room. Each planet was unique in its own way, each one a different color and size. They slowly turned on their own axis as they rotated around the sun. The room was cast in shadows, but at the center of it all stood the glowing sun, lighting everything that moved near it. She felt like she was finally at home. The small piece of her soul that she knew was missing, seemed to be filled in as she looked on in wonder. She took a huge breath. It was the most gorgeous thing Aurora had ever seen.

She couldn’t get over how damaged, yet still beautiful the earth looked as it passed by her desk. It was one of the most unusual planets in their solar system. Unique in every way with its swirls of white, blues, and small patches of green, its beauty marred by larger patches of brown where cities and trash consumed what remained of the available land. She didn’t think anyone could ever realize how irreplaceable the earth was until they were looking from the outside in. It was a shame to realize that humans were to the point of using resources faster than the earth was able to produce them. They were a growing race running out of options, and the Academy taught them that they would be responsible for helping all the people left behind.

Her professor tore her attention from Earth, to the planet slowly following behind it. “Everyone take a look at the planet Mars. The rusty red planet has been called many things throughout history and gains the most attention because of its similarities to Earth. As a possible second home for humankind and our next closest source of natural resources after the moon, its importance cannot be overlooked.”

Mars was beautiful in its own desolate way. It reminded her of the Big Island of Hawaii and of Loihi, the most recent addition to the Hawaiian Island chain. Like Hawaii, Mars was molded by its many volcanic eruptions that had left visible scars on its surface.

As Aurora looked more closely, she saw the white polar ice caps on the north and south poles of the planet. She could also see the pock-marked craters that were formed from the many asteroid hits the planet received. Mr. Fontaine began tapping again and managed to increase the size of Mars before their very eyes as he zoomed in on some of the planet’s most distinct features.

“Mars boasts some of the most highly varied and interesting terrain in our solar system.” He used his finger to point at a large wide mound that rose slowly until it peaked above Mars’s atmosphere. “Anyone know what this is?”

“It’s the biggest volcano in the solar system. It’s three and a half times the height of Mount Everest,” Aurora stated.

“That’s exactly right, Aurora,” Professor Fontaine said.

Everyone stopped looking at the swirling universe to look at her. She shrugged, trying not to get embarrassed. It was no wonder that she related more to the fictional characters she read about than to the people around her. She wanted to yell out,
It’s called reading
, but really it was a miracle she’d spoken at all.
One step at a time, Aurora.

Professor Fontaine pointed to a different location. “You can see here Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in our solar system. Makes our Grand Canyon look tiny.”

Professor Fontaine spent the remaining class time going into details of the red planet and answering any questions they had.

Kaylana, of course, had the courage to ask, “So when are we settling on Mars?”

“What?” Hailen squeaked out, like the idea had never occurred to her. “When?” She looked at the Professor with wide eyes.

Professor Fontaine rubbed his beard as if he was contemplating how to answer the question. He finally replied cryptically with, “Sooner than you would think.”

That caused some commotion in the class, and people spoke quickly to one another. Knowing that he had lost everyone’s attention, he released the class a few minutes early. Aurora and probably every other cadet in the room left the classroom wondering if maybe they would get a chance to be a part of that mission.

AURORA

A
urora and Kaylana walked toward the hypobaric chamber for their scheduled high-altitude training. The entire class was required to attend because everyone would need to know how their body would react in a high-altitude, low-oxygen situation. Astronauts, and especially Aurora as a pilot, would be at high risk for oxygen deprivation.

Kaylana seemed especially excited about this training unit. “I heard this exercise is going to be nova. We basically get to watch people make fools of themselves. It’s amazing what a little hypoxia will do to a person.”

Aurora just smiled as she listened to Kaylana rambling on. “They record the sessions too, so we’ll be able to watch how everyone reacts.”

That made Aurora nervous. She hoped she didn’t do anything worth watching a second time. Since the incident with Sky, she tried to keep a lower profile by not causing any more trouble. She’d been working hard with additional simulator training, and Sky had backed off a little bit. He failed systems on her all the time and watched her constantly, but at least there were no further confrontations.

Kaylana stopped her giddy banter as the Hypobaric Chamber appeared before them. It was a large, beige, metal contraption with no windows, only a large door for people to enter. The inside of the chamber held seating for twenty people. Recorders were placed throughout the room so that anyone outside the chamber could watch what was happening inside.

Aurora had read ahead in her Flight Physiology book a few weeks ago, so she knew that today people would experience what was known as Hypoxic Hypoxia, a totally redundant name.

Hypoxic Hypoxia occurred when there weren’t enough available oxygen molecules to breathe combined with insufficient pressure when one ascended in altitude, basically causing a lack of oxygen to the brain. The higher the altitude, the less pressure and oxygen, ultimately resulting in a limited amount of time a person could effectively perform. Aurora was such a nerd: she couldn’t believe she’d retained all of that.

Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Jackson paced in front of the chamber, waiting for everyone to arrive. He was conducting their training, and many of the cadets looked terrified when they stopped in front of him. Aurora knew he was an ex-Navy pilot, which contributed to the commanding no-nonsense air about him. She had found him kind and quirky but incredibly serious when it came to training. As the cadets continued to arrive, they all instinctively quieted.

After watching everyone’s interactions, Aurora began to wonder if this exercise would be as fun as Kaylana thought. Everyone seemed so serious, even Kaylana had lost some of her earlier excitement.

Lieutenant Colonel Jackson looked around the class to verify that everyone was in attendance and began briefing. “We will separate the class into two groups. The first group will enter the chamber while the second group watches in a separate classroom. Once the first group is finished, you’ll switch places. The purpose of this exercise is to allow you to observe your own and others’ reactions to a lack of oxygen. This is very important because the sooner you recognize your individual symptoms, the sooner you will be able to react. At eighteen thousand feet you will have typically twenty to thirty minutes of effective performance time or EPT. EPT is the time where your brain is still functioning properly for you to address the problem. However, let’s say you lose oxygen at fifty thousand feet. You’ll only have nine to twelve seconds.”

Brianna petulantly asked, “Why do the non-pilots need this training?”

Aurora knew from experience that interrupting the Lieutenant Colonel mid-speech was not a good idea, especially to ask a question that should have been obvious.

Lieutenant Colonel Jackson pegged Brianna with his steely eyes. “All astronauts need to be able to recognize a low-oxygen situation as soon as possible. An oxygen leak while in space is a highly dangerous and life-threatening situation. The more people trained to recognize low-oxygen symptoms, the more likely lives will be saved. Of course the flight AOC cadets need to be especially alert so they can respond to any decompression situation as soon as possible, but everyone needs to realize the dangers of hypoxia.”

Lieutenant Colonel Jackson segued from Brianna’s question to his initial lecture as if he had not been interrupted. “With lower amounts of oxygen reaching your brain, your mental ability to recognize and address this type of situation significantly decreases. There are four stages to hypoxia, all of which you should familiarize yourself with.

“The first stage of hypoxia is the indifferent stage, which causes the first symptom of oxygen deprivation, a decrease in your vision. The second stage is the compensatory stage, which can cause a variety of feelings in different people. Drowsiness, poor judgment, and impaired coordination are the most common.” The Lieutenant Colonel paced in front of the class, his arms placed behind his back, hands clasped. “The third stage is the disturbance stage. A person’s chance of recovering from this stage is slim. This stage includes headaches, severe fatigue, euphoria, impaired speech, and poor coordination.” He stopped and looked at the class. “The last stage is called the critical stage at which point you have lost consciousness. Now, can anyone tell me in their own words, why this training is important to everyone?”

“This training will help us recognize symptoms of a decrease in oxygen to our brain. The only way to know our specific response is to experience it.” Zane took a moment to swallow, as if he just realized he had the entire class watching him. He cleared his throat. “With this experience we would hopefully recognize a low-oxygen situation and be able to take quick action if we find ourselves experiencing these same symptoms again.”

Lieutenant Colonel Jackson nodded his head. “That’s exactly right. Each cadet will react differently as some of you are more physically fit than others. Smoking, alcohol, and fatigue will also lower your threshold. Astronauts are always in an oxygen-controlled environment so everyone needs to understand this phenomenon.” He paused and moved toward the open hypobaric chamber doors. “Now let’s get started.”

Since the chamber only held twenty people, they were sorted into two groups. Aurora and Kaylana had been assigned to group one along with Brianna, Zane, Akemi, Jean-Pierre, and four others. They would be the first group to go into the hypobaric chamber while group two watched.

Lieutenant Colonel Jackson motioned for group one to follow him into the chamber, so they all silently followed him in single file and took seats that were lined in rows facing each other. As Aurora sat down, she noticed that Sky and Dr. Stevenson were already in the room. Dr. Stevenson was there to ensure everyone’s medical safety, and Sky was there to help with training.

Aurora’s pulse began to race. She touched her necklace, hoping it would calm her. At least she wasn’t the only girl in this class. Kaylana would be sitting next to her the whole time. She took a deep breath and calmly listened to Lieutenant Colonel Jackson as he began speaking.

“All right, let’s get started. The person sitting across from you will be your partner for any exercise where teamwork is needed.”

Aurora glanced up, meeting Zane’s eyes as they calmly assessed her. Of course her partner wouldn’t be the person sitting next to her, but the hot guy sitting across from her.

“Cadets, please put on your oxygen masks, and we’ll come around to ensure they are fitted properly,” Lieutenant Colonel Jackson barked.

Aurora pulled her mask down from behind her. She placed the black facemask over her nose and mouth and began to secure the band around the back of her head. She hadn’t thought to braid her hair this morning and was now regretting it. She had trouble getting the mask to work with her hair, but she eventually wrangled it into submission and felt the tight seal around her nose and mouth, allowing her to breathe the air already being pumped in.

Lieutenant Colonel Jackson spoke to the cadets one by one, and Dr. Stevenson followed behind him as they made their way down the row of chairs, both verifying that everyone had their masks properly placed.

A few students had trouble getting theirs on correctly. Aurora looked over to see how Zane handled his mask and found that he was seated back in his chair with his mask firmly in place, silently watching everything around him. He apparently had no problem getting his on.

Within a few minutes, everyone’s masks were properly secured.

“Right now we’re breathing what’s known as standard atmosphere. In a few minutes the chamber’s pressure will decrease, simulating a climb to a higher altitude level, known as pressure altitude. Once there you will be instructed to remove your masks and to do a variety of tasks.”

Sky handed out paper and pens, so they could take notes of what they felt at different altitudes. When Sky handed her a pen and paper, he managed to do so without looking at her. Things had been weird after their very public confrontation. She was disappointed that he hadn’t changed his opinion of her, but she brushed the feeling away. She’d rather be ignored than have another all-out fight with him.

Aurora looked at Kaylana again, but her friend was focused on her partner. Akemi’s dark eyes were just as focused on her blonde friend. Even when they tried to concentrate on more important things, they were paired with the boys that caused the most distraction.

The vacuum pumps whirring on reminded her to focus. The pumps hummed as they removed air from the chamber. After a few minutes Aurora grew accustomed to the noise and no longer heard their constant hum.

“Okay, we are at twenty thousand feet atmospheric pressure. Everyone, remove your masks,” Lieutenant Colonel Jackson instructed.

Aurora unclipped her oxygen mask, and it swung free to hang down just below her chin. She left it there so she would be able to clip the mask back in place.

Now there was nothing left to do but look around and wait. Aurora saw that Kaylana’s face had slight indentations around her mouth and nose from the oxygen mask being on too tight. Aurora rubbed her cheek; she probably had the same markings.

A few boring minutes passed while everyone looked wide eyed at each other, waiting for something to happen.

Lieutenant Colonel Jackson paced in between the two rows of chairs. “Everyone should be writing down how you’re feeling.”

Aurora had the usual rocket ships in her stomach, but she didn’t think that had anything to do with the lower amount of oxygen. An extremely excited Kaylana prevented her from writing anything down.

“Nova. My nails are purple!” Kaylana exclaimed, thrusting both hands in front of Aurora’s face causing her to drop the piece of paper she had been writing on. She made no move to pick it up and looked at Kaylana’s nails instead. “Oh. Okay.” She didn’t see why Kaylana thought she should be impressed by this; the girl always had her nails painted in a riot of colors.

“It could be a new color for me. We could call it hypoxic purple!” Kaylana laughed at her own joke, but Aurora just shook her head.

Zane leaned forward. “Kaylana, I think you’re nails are purple because you’re hypoxic.”

Kaylana looked appalled, like she was mortally offended. “Oh, who’s the doctor now? I didn’t think you were in the medical program,
Zane
.”

Zane looked unconcerned, not caring whether or not she believed him.

Lieutenant Colonel Jackson moved his way between them, breaking up what was probably going to be a very entertaining argument. “Zane, Aurora, Kaylana, and Akemi please put your masks back on.”

They all quickly placed their masks back on, and sanity returned with every breath.

“I want you to watch this.” Lieutenant Colonel turned and focused his attention on Jean-Pierre, who sat on Kaylana’s other side, still without a mask.

“Jean-Pierre, your task is to name animals you can find in a zoo.” He paused. “Go!”

“Well, I guess zeres, uh, eh, lion?”

“Good. Okay, a lion. What else?”

“Well, um, a zebra?”

“Yep, that’s a good one. Can you think of another?”

“Oui, um, hm. I can picture it, but I cannot zink of zee stupid name,” Jean-Pierre slurred.

“Okay, Jean-Pierre, you did great. Now get your mask back—”

“
Le rhinocéros
!” he declared, noticeably proud of his accomplishment.

“Mask!” the Lieutenant Colonel demanded.

“
Vive la France
!” Jean-Pierre oddly yelled before securing his mask in front of his face.

Aurora looked at Kayalana and saw her eyes alight with laughter, but before she gave in to the urge to laugh, the Lieutenant Colonel decided it was her turn to be experimented with. “Zane and Aurora, please remove your masks and play patty cake.”

Aurora scooted forward in her seat in order to meet Zane’s hands. Patty cake, an old child’s game, was deceptively simple. Aurora clapped her hands together in front of her and began alternating claps with one of Zane’s hands until they created a pattern that they smoothly began to repeat over and over.

But she felt as if she were drifting away on a cloud with the occasional electric shock of lightning when Zane’s hands touched hers.