Foothold, page 3
part #1 of Foothold Series
“I guess we’d better not then,” David said.
“Well, he was so polite about it,” Grace added, and they both laughed again.
Then Mission Control cut back in.
“Grace, David, please stand by for a special message from the President.”
David and Grace look at each other in surprise. They had already seen the official broadcast from the President, which had been carefully scripted and clearly aimed for posterity. Another address was unexpected.
Their screen was briefly filled with the seal of the President of the United States, and then replaced with the visage of Thomas McKesson himself.
“David, Grace,” he said, “this is completely off-script and for your ears only. I know it wasn’t supposed to work out this way, but we find ourselves in a situation where once again the United States is leading the world in blazing a trail to the cosmos. This is our proudest moment since winning the race to the moon all those years ago, and I just wanted to let you know that we’ll be with you in spirit the whole way.” The President paused, and regarded them each in turn.
“Yes, sir. Thank you sir,” David and Grace both said at the same time.
“Frankly, this mission has been troublesome for us from the start. What, with the problems Congress has given us with the appropriations to complete our part of the deal, and the dissent from certain of our international partners, we could all use some good news. I know 39 years is a long time from now, but when the time comes some good news from the front line could really help rally the troops back here and provide a boost to our colonization program.”
Uh oh, here it comes, thought David.
“David, as mission commander, you will be the first to set foot on the soil of a new world and plant the American flag.”
Yes sir, thought David, along with the flags of the Russian Federation and the European Union…
“We think it would send a positive message to our folks back home if Grace were second out, and you were to raise the Stars and Stripes first. I know there will be others with you, but as mission specialists it won’t be unusual for them to bring up the rear. I’m sure you understand the sentiment here and will do the right thing when the time comes.”
“Yes sir,” David said, “you can count on me to do the right thing.”
The President hesitated, if not entirely sure he had heard what he wanted to hear. “I’m glad to hear it. I’m sure you will both do us proud.” He looked at them both for another moment, and then signed off with “Godspeed to you both”, and then he was gone.
David and Grace looked at each other.
“Subtle,” Grace said. “What will we do?” she asked with a hint of concern in her voice.
David motioned with his eyes towards the screen that was still displaying the presidential seal, indicating that they were probably being monitored.
“We do our duty. We do the right thing,” he replied, but his expression left no doubt that his interpretation of the right thing may not match that of the president.
The TV footage was soon replaced with a live two-way video feed with Mission Control in Houston. A large room wasn’t needed to control space voyages in the modern age, with extensive automation and the routine nature of flights to the stations in Earth orbit and the colonies within the solar system. But for this occasion a large room had been appropriated to make room for the media, family and friends that now greeted them.
David felt a lump in his throat as he spotted his Mom sitting next to Joyce. Joyce had her arm around his Mom and he could see they both had tears in their eyes. His Mom loved Joyce, and had made no secret of her wish to see them not only make a life together but also to provide her with some grandchildren to dote on.
Grace’s parents were also there with Vasily. Likewise they thought the world of Vasily and saw in him the son they had never had. Grace wondered if they were more disappointed than happy right now. She hoped in time they could forgive her.
The media, as usual, was preying on anyone they could. They spotted Vanessa Troy prowling the sidelines and cringed, hoping she didn’t spot either them on camera or their families. Vanessa hosted one of the most popular evening news shows and could be relied upon to find controversy in almost any situation. The media was supposedly there to observe and not participate, but whether they could be trusted to resist the temptation was quite another matter.
Any hope that she might stick to observation only was dashed when she noticed the video feed had been established and made a beeline for the couple that was seated between Joyce and Vasily, separating the two families. They both stood up and left as Vanessa arrived, and David realized that they must have been planted there to hold her spot.
Vanessa was her usual blonde perfection, tastefully dressed in power professional style, as she launched into her spiel.
“Good morning and welcome to the most momentous event in the history of manned space travel! Today we join with the families of the intrepid astronauts that make up the crew of humanity’s first ever starship! And with me right here are two prominent members of the two crews that have made the ultimate sacrifice, suffering heartbreak for the good of the mission to take mankind to the stars!”
Everyone, including David and Grace was stunned by the audacity of the intrusion.
Grace looked at Vasily and could see what was going to happen. Vanessa smiled at one of the hovering cameras and turned to Joyce, starting to ask a question, when suddenly she was pulled off her feet. Vasily had one big arm around her waist and a hand over her mouth. Never one for tact, they could hear him angrily telling the startled reporter, “Shut your mouth, you media whore! I will…” The sound was hurriedly killed as Vasily reached the side of the guest area and practically threw Vanessa at two waiting security guards.
David and Grace looked at each other. Any hope they had of diverting attention from their unfortunate situation had just evaporated.
Vasily paced angrily back to Joyce, took her hand and turned to face the cameras. He signaled that he wished to speak, and after some hesitation the Launch Controller nodded to the media crew.
“Let it be clear,” Vasily said, “mission has not gone as we expected,” indicating himself and Joyce, “but we all do our jobs as we said we do.”
Joyce added, “David and Grace have our full support. They will do the job and do it well, and make us all proud.”
Joyce looked at Vasily, who stated “No more of this. Now let us do what we are here to do.” He looked around as if daring anyone to disagree with him.
After a pause David spoke up.
“Vasily, thank you. We owe you one.” He grinned, defusing the situation. Vasily visibly relaxed and nodded.
Grace added, “Thank you for coming, you and Joyce both, to be with our families. It means a great deal to us.”
Everyone sat down again; Vasily and Joyce still holding hands for mutual comfort.
Mission Controller Petyr Ivanovich re-established control.
“Hope, this is Houston control, report status for departure.”
“Houston, this is Hope,” David replied, “all systems are green, ready to initiate departure sequence.”
Petyr started a call for departure readiness. In the background there was an excited buzz from the media team that all looked as if they were talking to thin air as they gave their last minute voice overs to their respective networks.
“Orbit control, confirm clear to depart?”
“Go, flight.”
“Flight system control?
“Go, flight.”
“Propulsion?”
“Go flight…”
David and Grace knew this was coming. Nobody launched missions like this anymore, it was all a show put on for the media, somewhat ironic considering the debacle that Vanessa had made of what should have been a poignant moment.
When the horse-trading that was the international mission agreement had taken place, it was agreed that the US would host the mission control center. As one of the European representatives had put it, “No one can put on a show quite like the Americans,” and now here they were, running the departure like a re-enactment of something from the days of the old Moon rockets.
“Stasis?”
“Go flight.”
Petyr paused for effect, with a slight smile on his face.
“We are “Go” for launch! Hope, initiate auto launch sequence in ten seconds from my mark… mark!”
David was now up. On screen in front of him was the flight control departure screen, with a large button labeled “Initiate”. All he had to do was touch it as scripted, and they were off.
But he departed from the script. Watched by billions, he reached out and took Grace’s hand. Her face held a wondering expression as he guided her finger over to the control screen and touched the Initiate button. With this small step he began to bridge the awkward space between them, and demonstrated to the world they were a united team.
The clock was now counting down from one minute, with the time left to go announced at ten-second intervals.
The tension could be cut with a knife, which of course was exactly the intent behind the whole show – the governments backing the project wanted their moment in the limelight, and the project wanted a groundswell of support for the Inspiration to follow.
The countdown reached zero, and deep within the ship the power from the two reactors was diverted to the drive accelerators. Powerful pumps began to push water from the central fuel tank. Vapor streamed from the drive exhausts at the rear of the ship and David and Grace could feel a gentle pressure building at their backs as gravity returned to the ship. The departure screen shifted to the main flight screen and lit up with green indicators.
Back on Earth, cheers broke out in Mission Control and around the world.
They were on their way.
Geneva, Earth
March 21, 2063
Edward Harper watched the coverage of the Hope’s departure dispassionately. He had little interest in any of the drama built around the event itself; all he was interested in was observing that the starship performed as expected. He could have obtained all of the information he required from a report; watching the launch live was a rare indulgence that he allowed himself, just this once.
Edward was not a man that allowed emotion to play any part in his decisions. Most people that knew him would describe him as cold and ruthless; Edward would not dispute this, if he cared to notice.
Edward and his older brother Evan had been brought up by a father who had little time for anything other than building and running his business empire. From the day they were old enough to understand, they knew that this was the only thing worth caring about.
Their mother, they had come to understand, was there to support her husband and provide him with an heir; if there was ever any love between them it was not on display for them to see.
When they came of age, as determined by their father, he tested them. He made it quite clear that one of them would inherit his business, and it was up to them to prove that it should be them, and not their brother, who won this prize.
The test was to give them the paltry sum of $10 million and over the course of 5 years to increase it as much as possible. The winner would be the one that had created the most value.
Evan, being the eldest, received his seed money first; and over the course of the allotted 5 years founded a technology company that he eventually sold just before the allocated time for $320 million, increasing his stake an incredible 32 times. For this, he received perhaps the first praise he could ever remember from his father, and an invitation to join him in managing his empire, while they waited for Edward to confirm or disprove his claim to the throne.
Edward had received his stake 2 years later, and had immediately started executing a plan that he had been working on for nearly 10 years, ever since he had comprehended what his father had intended.
To his father’s annoyance and his brother’s delight, he appeared to show no aptitude for business whatsoever. Where his brother had built a new company from scratch and sold it for a large profit, Edward had obtained loans and bought a string of poorly performing businesses in the United States. These included a fast-food chain that was frequently in the news for poor service and hygiene; several trucking and distribution companies that were barely profitable; strings of gas stations in an environment where electric cars were dominating the market; acres of land in poor areas of cities that people avoided; employment agencies; the list went on.
Two years later, he unveiled his plan. The vacant lots were converted into organic farms that employed low-cost labor from the surrounding neighborhoods. The fast-food chain was completely renovated and changed to a fast organic food chain, Harpers. The distribution companies were used to connect the farms to the food outlets. Famous chefs were employed to develop the menus, and the last of Edward’s money used to fund a massive advertising campaign.
He had hit the market at just the right time. People were more health-conscious than ever, but rarely had the time to prepare healthy food. Now they had a way to buy affordable, fast food without any guilt about eating anything unhealthy.
On the back of his initial success, Edward franchised the system and sold his outlets back to the franchisees. The gas stations proved to be sitting on lots perfect for new franchises; he used the money to expand internationally, splurging all of his money on a massive rollout to every country with a population over 20 million that could afford to buy his food.
By the end of his five years, his empire was worth $2.5 billion and the Harper name was a worldwide phenomenon. His inheritance was secured, as was the undying hatred of his brother.
Starship Hope, Sol System
March 22, 2063
Another of the technical breakthroughs that enabled the Hope’s mission to be possible, again courtesy of Europe, was the main propulsion system.
The principles remained the same as the earliest rockets - the Hope was propelled by pushing matter out of the ship in the opposite direction to which its crew wished it to travel, but the difference was that a way had been found to do this much more efficiently than ever before.
What had been discovered was a type of quantum field effect that could be used to eject almost any type of propellant at a significant portion of the speed of light, meaning that not as much fuel was required to accelerate a starship to relativistic speeds. This meant that the Hope could be accelerated to nearly 0.4c, enabling it to make the 12-light year voyage to Tau Ceti in only 39 years.
Water was chosen as the propellant as it was easy to work with, and as a bonus provided excellent shielding against radiation, which was still somewhat of an unknown factor.
Even with this technical advance, an enormous amount of water was required, hence the Hope’s three large spherical tanks. The center tank and most of the forward one would be used to accelerate the Hope towards its destination, and the remainder to decelerate. This would allow the crew quarters to be protected by the aft tank’s contents for as long as possible.
Despite the ceremony of the departure, it was in fact far from dramatic. At full thrust, fully loaded, the best the Hope could achieve was just short of 0.1g, which meant that there was no rapid departure from orbit. Instead it spiraled gracefully up out of low Earth orbit until finally it escaped the pull of Earth’s gravity and took on a heading towards Tau Ceti.
It was a day since their departure, and they were well on their way - not so far from Earth that they couldn’t find it easily enough if they looked for a bright blue star falling away astern, but the nose of the ship was now pointed directly at Tau Ceti, and slowly they were pulling away towards their destination.
Breakfast this day was scrambled eggs and bacon – they still enjoyed the luxury of fresh food and they were making the most of it.
Their galley was surprisingly spacious for a spaceship, but then the scale of the Hope meant that space was one luxury they could have. A point worth noting, David thought, as they drifted in the low gravity generated by the thrust of the engines, gravity low enough that it meant they were literally bouncing off the walls. He and Grace could have been at opposite ends of the galley if they chose, but in fact they were not quite respecting what most people would regard as being normal personal space.
David’s feelings were in a whirl. Intellectually, he knew what was required of him, and Grace must be as aware of that as he was. He missed Joyce, and there was an aching corner of his heart that was soaked in guilt for what he had done. But that didn’t prevent him from noticing Grace, either. Both of them were clad in what could be regarded as ‘casual ship ware’ – shorts, socks and a T-shirt, practical garments for an environment where there was no limit to the amount of waste heat from the fusion reactors to dispose of. And there was no denying that Grace was an extremely attractive woman – a woman who also happened to have been designated as his mate.
In the low gravity, their movements were languid and it was easy to overshoot one’s intended destination. More than once, they’d made physical contact as they ate – a knee brushing a knee, a steadying hand on an arm or a leg – and each touch of skin on skin had sent a frisson of awareness echoing through his senses.
He felt as if he shouldn’t be noticing this, shouldn’t be feeling this attraction, but he also didn’t want it to stop, layering fresh guilt on top of that already constricting his heart. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow, if he did anything to act on his growing attraction to Grace, he’d be betraying Joyce. Given their circumstances, that made no sense at all – the betrayal had happened three days ago when he’d brutally knifed his relationship with Joyce to claim his dream. But then, he thought ruefully, just when did human emotions ever make any sense at all?
