Origin & Earth (The Orris Project Book 1), page 34
10
When the light from Garrett’s solid rocket faded out, most of the crowd dispersed. Lauren walked from the private deck into the emptying pavilion and sat on one of the many benches. The rest of the family members followed her slowly, concerned. Denise’s husband, Brad, whispered into her ear, and she shook her head.
“No, I’m going to stay with her. Take them home, I’ll meet you there.” Brad shrugged and led the three blonde haired kids out of the pavilion after planting a kiss on his sister-in-law’s cheek. The children all hugged their Aunt Lauren, and she kissed the tops of their heads.
Cynthia whispered to Denise, “Alan and I can bring you home later, if you want.” Denise shook her head.
“I think I’ll be spending the night with her.” She gestured to her sister. Cynthia nodded.
The bench Lauren had chosen faced another, only ten feet from it. Cynthia and Denise flanked Lauren on the one, and Brenia, Rodney, Alan, and the young Rodney Junior sat on the other. As they got settled, the crackling voice flooded the mostly empty pavilion.
“Garrett, this is Commander Harris, can you still hear me?”
“Loud and clear, sir.” Lauren’s expression brightened.
“Excellent. Garrett, it looks like your orbit around Osa is right on target and you’re approaching the start of the parabolic burn. Are you still wearing your gloves?”
“No, sir, gloves are off. Sterilex is in hand.” Lauren looked up at the screen, which still displayed the photograph of Garrett in addition to his flight status.
“Excellent, Garrett. The navigation system has confirmed it is ready. I have an indication that the transport has reached vertical orientation. Can you confirm that for me?”
“Vertical orientation confirmed,” Garrett said. Lauren was cherishing every word she heard from him. She did not want it to end but knew there was not a lot of time left.
“Great. Okay, Garrett, the rockets are going to fire in thirty seconds. You will have about forty-five seconds of sloppy gravity, so move quickly.”
“Copy,” Garrett said. Lauren took a deep breath and waited. Cynthia and Denise were comforting her. Alan was wide eyed and staring at the monitor. Brenia and Rodney were dealing with their child, who was becoming fussy.
After a minute, Garrett came back on. “Sterilex administered, packed up, and stowed. Apex approaching.”
“Very good, Garrett. Select the nuclear controls screen and activate plate compression.” A few seconds passed before Garrett answered.
“Plate compression activated. 30% power,” he said. There was no response from the command center. Lauren grew worried and thought they had cut the pavilion off from the transmission. She looked up at her sister in alarm, but before she could say anything, “60% power, apex achieved. Beginning descent,” Garrett announced.
“Confirmed, 60% power, beginning descent. We won’t be able to communicate further. Godspeed, Envoy.” They were the last words from the command center. Tense seconds passed; Lauren looked from person to person in the small group.
“90% power, eight seconds until the tangent. Preparing to engage flex. 95% power, Lauren, my heart is yours for eternity, I love you, nerd! 100% power, engaging flex.” Lauren shivered. Fifteen seconds later, the loudest thunder any of them had ever heard crashed down on the pavilion, startling all its inhabitants. As Garrett passed overhead, the transport flex field had clipped the denser atmosphere of Osa, creating a shock wave.
11
Engineering and mechanics are complicated things. Fasteners, for instance, can be beneficial or detrimental depending on the type, application, environment, and any applied forces, either fixed or varied. This was also true for the launch rail, just outside of Dinesta, Republic of Korrah. A heavy, impact-resistant hard rubber bumper fixed along the entire length of the triple rail system used thick bolts and nuts as fasteners. The bumpers existed for the rare occasions when the carriage physically contacted the track. The large bolts were an inch thick and a foot and a half long. Track maintenance fixed each bolt and nut set with a locking mechanism to prevent the nut from loosening. Four miles off the ground, on the right side of the track, one of the locking mechanisms had an impurity in the steel, and when Ken Chase had launched, it finally cracked. When Kyle Gellar launched, it vibrated so badly that it fell off, all four miles to the ground below. The next four launches loosened the nut dramatically, and when Joe Burkman launched, the nut itself traveled the four miles to the ground, and the bolt shifted up seven inches.
Garrett’s transport missed certain disaster by only one-and-a-quarter inch, as the proximity sensors passed over the exposed bolt head two hundred yards before the trigger blocks. The vibration and resulting harmonics from the passing body moved the bolt further.
The rail maintenance team was also responsible for inspecting the whole track the day before each launch. Three inspectors walked the entire level ground section of track, looking for any alarming failures or even areas of concern. They did the inspections in the morning when the sun was at their backs. If there were any issues, they would radio back and have a maintenance team sent to make the needed repairs. As the rail bent up toward the sky, a group of three drones went up remotely, with three operating inspectors monitoring them from the control center. The ground and drone inspections happened simultaneously. With the sun brightly illuminating the rail system, all three of the aerial inspectors missed the loosened bolt… twice. Had they done the inspection in the late morning or even at noon, they would have seen a long, awkward shadow cast by the bolt down the length of the track. With the sun at their backs, it was just a bright point of reflected light, among other bright points of light.
12
Denise stayed with Lauren for the first night and, after some prodding, convinced her to stay with her and her family for a few days. The arrangement pleased Brad, because when Lauren visited, his wife’s daily stresses disappeared. Lauren helped with everything, including the children, and made life easier for both Denise and Brad while she was present.
As an instructor, she would attend the last launch of the year for the Migration Division. That, of course, was Terry Stone, who occupied Garrett’s launch position due to the unfortunate death of Jonroe Daniels. Lauren had agreed to stay with Denise until Terry launched, and then she said she would have to begin living her new life.
The night before Terry’s launch, Christine Paige called Lauren. Lauren answered the phone happily. She had an exceptionally good relationship with Dr. Paige, and although she was a little surprised to receive a call from her at that late hour, she answered anyway.
“Hi Christine!” Lauren said.
“Hi sweetie, how are you doing?” Christine asked.
“Well, I’m staying with my sister and her husband and three children, so you could say I’m embracing the distractions.” They both laughed.
“Well, Lauren, the reason I’m calling is I talked to Terry this afternoon. He said that he understood the position you are in, and he would not be offended if you wanted to skip the launch tomorrow.”
The idea had not crossed Lauren’s mind. She thought about it only briefly. “No, but thank you. No, I’m definitely going. When Jonroe died, Terry found out that he had lost an entire year on Osa with his family. The least I can do is show up and send him off with my best wishes.”
“Okay, sweetie. I had an idea that was what you would say. Come find me as soon as you arrive tomorrow. We can hang out together with Olive.”
“That sounds great, Christine, thank you.” They said their good nights and ended the call.
13
Olive was waiting for Lauren at the front door of the Dinesta Control Center and Launch Rail, not even inside the door but outside, as though she were the facility’s greeter. When Lauren came into view, Olive called out to her, and she looked up and smiled. As soon as the two met, Olive embraced her with her substantial arms.
“Oh, how are you doing, Laur?” Olive asked. Lauren giggled as she found herself a hostage in the large woman’s hug.
“Fine! I’m fine,” Lauren said. Olive let her go and led her into the facility. They talked as they walked down to ground level to see Terry off. Lauren mentioned how much she had grown to hate that long staircase.
When Terry saw Lauren follow Olive out to the patio, his face lit up.
“Dr. Astor!” He shook his head, “I mean, Dr. Rhodes! I didn’t think you would come.” Lauren smiled and walked up to Terry, hugged him, and kissed his cheek.
“Of course I came. This is an amazing day for you and all of Osa, and you were my student for a year. I wouldn’t have missed it,” she said. He smiled and thanked her. “Do you have family here?”
“Yes, my uncle. I’m sorry to say he is the only family I have left.” Lauren nodded, able to sympathize with his losses. A balding man of medium height with a large gut and glasses approached them, clapping a hand on Terry’s back.
“My boy!” the man said.
“Dr. Rhodes, this is my uncle, Manny,” Terry said.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Uncle Manny.” Lauren smiled and shook the man’s hand.
“The pleasure is all mine, Doctor.” Terry’s uncle winked at her, Lauren flushed red and returned a small smile, embarrassed.
Alex rescued her, resting a hand on Terry’s shoulder and announcing that it was time. Terry waved to everyone and hugged his uncle hard. It touched Lauren to see a tear in Manny’s eye as he kissed his nephew on the cheek.
“I’m so proud of ‘ya, Ter. I love ‘ya, son!” Manny yelled as Terry walked through the gate.
The group moved up to the pavilion and waited for the countdown to start. Lauren led Olive and Christine to the spot where Garrett had taken her a month before, when Ken had launched. The three women chatted about their lives while they waited for the minutes leading up to the launch to pass. Once they hit the sixth minute, the voice of Commander Harris flooded the pavilion again, giving his normal speech and announcements. He went through his ready check, and when he finally finished, the crowd chanted the countdown.
Lauren, not participating in the countdown, nor even paying attention to it, jumped when she saw the craft flash before her eyes. She fixed her gaze on the white dot, watching the last of her students leave for what was sure to be a fantastic adventure. The dot rose. It moved higher and higher into the sky, and then Terry’s voice filled the pavilion.
“I hit something. There was a loud bang and the whole transport shook hard.” The craft continued to rise at an amazing speed, but the flash never came. “I’m off the track, and I do not have ignition!” Terry was yelling, panicked. A voice new to the pavilion PA system replied.
“Terry, we’re going to light the rockets. You’re still in the carriage, and we have to get you out of it before you can deploy the emergency parachutes. That’s the red and yellow lever, right between your knees. Pull it hard as soon as you see the carriage slide back.” Pulling the emergency abort chutes also ejected the solid fuel rockets.
“Copy, abort after carriage is jettisoned.” The radio went silent. From the pavilion the observers witnessed the flash, but it was much dimmer than on previous launches, and it appeared to flicker.
“Terry? The carriage should be separated now. Can you confirm the abort?” Silence. Lauren watched the flickering light. She could sense that it was spinning and falling rapidly.
“Terry, can you hear me?” The radio silence continued. The next sound that came was a loud, high-pitched pop, as they disconnected the pavilion sound system from their radio transmissions.
Chapter 13
Alaska
1
Saturday evening, while Garrett was waiting for their Chinese food to arrive, he anxiously checked the DSRTA folder for an update to the signal. Nothing new was available, as he should have known. Mike had been on the phone with Becky, and he emerged from his bedroom and put his phone on the charger in the kitchen.
“Hey, I’m going to take a shower, but it’s my turn to buy dinner,” Mike said. He handed Garrett a ten and a twenty. Five minutes after he disappeared into the bathroom, there was a knock at the door, and Garrett received and paid for the food. As he placed it on the kitchen island, Mike’s phone rang. The display said “Stan Liang.” Garrett hesitated for a moment, but then answered it.
“Hi, Mr. Liang, it’s Garrett. Mike’s in the shower.”
“That’s fine, Garrett. I called him because I needed to talk to you, anyway. I need you to come back to NASA on Monday with Mike. Can you do that?”
“Sure, what time?” Garrett asked. The request piqued his curiosity. Never had things transpired so quickly on any other planet he visited.
“First thing, just go in with Mike. I’ll come find you in his office.”
“Can I ask what exactly I’m needed for?” There was a brief pause on the other end of the connection.
“I don’t know, Garrett,” Stan said, exasperated, “Jim Lambert called me at home and told me to make sure you were there first thing Monday morning, so I am just doing as he instructed.”
“I understand, Mr. Liang. I’ll see you Monday morning.”
“Good. And stop calling me Mr. Liang, it’s weird. Just call me Stan.”
“No problem, Stan, good night.” Garrett unpacked the food, and Mike emerged a few minutes later. Garrett filled him in on the call from Stan.
“Wow, that’s something else. You said they took your blood, right?” Mike asked.
“Yeah, three vials. Enough to do a thousand DNA tests.”
“They’re probably doing more than just DNA tests, Gar.”
Garrett nodded again. “I know. It’s too fast though, Mike. I’ve been through this kind of thing before. It usually takes a week or more. At least three or four days. It’s barely been one day.”
“When the top brass wants something fast, they get it fast,” Mike said, and smiled. He was in a good mood.
“So, the call with Becky went well?” Garrett asked. Mike had never stopped smiling. He nodded comically.
2
Sunday was uneventful. Garrett intermittently checked the DSRTA site and on two occasions got an update, which he queued for processing, and otherwise watched television. Mike spent most of the day on three separate calls to Becky. When he finally hung up with her late Sunday night, he joined Garrett in the living room.
“So, do you know when you’re going to Alaska yet?” Garrett asked, only half-kidding. Mike shook his head.
“We’ve been tossing ideas around, but me going to Alaska serves no purpose. We decided to wait at least a few days and see what happens with you. There’s a chance all of that will bring us together again and we won’t have to pay for it out of our pocket.” Garrett smiled, knowing it was a likely thing to happen.
“That’s good, Mike. I know it’s taxing not knowing when, but that is an intelligent decision. If I have the opportunity to affect her being called back, I’ll do so with the permission of the two of you.” Mike raised his eyebrows. “Hadn’t thought of that?” Garrett asked.
“No, but that’s awesome. Thanks, man.”
Garret nodded and smiled. “Mike, you’ve helped me more than I could ever ask of anyone. I’ll always do whatever I can for you, but I’ll need more of your help in the future. With that said, please ask any time you think there is any help I can provide for you or Becky. I am at your service.” Mike smiled and offered his hand to Garrett.
“Thanks, man, and I’ll tell you, although I’m a lot more convinced of your story than I was, when everything else shakes out, you’re just a good guy. I’m happy to know you.” Garrett shook his hand. Mike stood up and walked to the hallway but paused and turned back to Garrett. “I know it’s a long way off, but if one of my kids, or grandkids, wanted to travel to Orris, would you tell me that was a good idea, or not?”
