Saving The Mission, page 1
part #1 of The Race to Space Series
The Race to Space
I - Saving the Mission
By R.E.Cooper
Authors notes
R E Cooper is an average middle-aged woman. Married, with a house and four goldfish. She is not a professional writer, certainly not an astronaut or professional astrologist. Just a normal person living in Derbyshire with a keen interest in space. Hoping, like many of the characters in her book, that one day she will get the opportunity to look down at the Earth and see how small we all really are.
This book is the first in a trilogy called ‘The Race to Space’ and is R E Cooper’s debut novel.
So sit outside, with a glass of wine, on a clear night and look up and wonder, what if...
Acknowledgements
A big thank you to my mum and dad who always believed in me and always said that I could do anything I put my mind to. I think they believed I would be the next Ed Dayton and even though it hasn’t worked out that way, they always said they were proud of me nonetheless!
To my good friend Zak who read through my first draft with a keen eye and told me in a non-blunt way the bits that were terrible. He is a better writer than I will ever be!
Most of all to my husband James. Over the years he has taken on many roles in our marriage: carer, therapist and motivational speaker. He also helped me to edit the book and spent a lot of time researching and encouraging me to get it out there. There are not enough words to express my gratitude for all you have done. This book is for you. Thank you.
Disclaimer
Ed Dayton is a fictional character, not built or biased towards anyone in the past or present. Any similarities he or any other character has in the book to a real person are purely coincidental.
Although the book is loosely based on some incidents in our past, it is not scientifically accurate. For example, there was a programme to recruit a civilian into space at one time and there was a dog sent into space by the Russians who no-one knew had actually died. These historical events are used to loosely provide a background to our history with space.
I am not an astronaut or physicist. I have tried to make the book as scientifically accurate as I can but for any inaccuracies, I apologise. Now, go pick up a textbook.
Enjoy what is a purely fictional book and treat it as just that. The fantasies of a slightly mad, space interested, middle-aged woman.
© 2019 R.E.Cooper
Part 1 - The Race
1.
Ed Dayton stood and looked down from the platform in his hanger and thought of all the things he could have bought with £100 million, but to be fair it was one hell of a rocket. He was nervous, more nervous than usual, the Russians were getting close. Dayton Space didn’t seem to be making enough progress. He wondered how it was that they always seemed to be one step ahead. Ed wasn’t used to failing, owning a company worth billions which all revolved around catering for high-end travel for the super-rich had its flaws; mainly dealing with idiots, but very rich idiots. However, one thing was for certain, it was always abundant.
Ed had originally made his money working up the greasy pole as an investment banker. Dealing with people who gave off the air of genuineness but were really as corrupt as they come. He invested at the right time and pulled out at the right time before all hell broke loose in 2008. The money Ed made, he invested in a plane for the super-rich. Instead of an aircraft which could have easily fit two hundred people, it instead accommodated just twelve. With double beds, champagne throughout and generally every request catered for. It was a gamble in the crisis but one that paid off. As the working classes cut back in affording flights when the economy slumped, the super-rich were still spending. He now owned a fleet of planes in Dayton Airways, a travel company Dayton Leisure and a hotel chain Dayton Hotel Group. All of which were comprised under the umbrella Dayton Industries Ltd. Ed had well and truly made it. He was always eager to find the next big thing and the next big thing was space.
Ed had watched with keen interest as NASA and the Chinese travelled further afield to get closer looks at Mars and Venus. We were getting more technologically advanced and with that, more curious about the world around us. Ed recalled the day he was watching NASA’s Curiosity Rover explore Mars and its environment. He was watching this with his wife Lanette. Lanette was originally just meant to be a trophy wife. The wife he was rich enough to afford. Being an ex-supermodel, American and attractive, he met her at a Hollywood party. She was stunning, long blonde hair in perfect loose curls and curves in all the right places. She was unique in that she was not just slim but full-breasted and curvy. They hit it off, Lanette wasn’t the brightest button in the shop, she never truly understood what he did for a living but he found that she offered escapism from the real world that he had grown to like. After ten years of marriage, they had become somewhat of a Hollywood couple; a proof that the balding, forty-something can still keep hold of his trophy wife.
Although Ed tried to keep himself in good shape, recently he had let himself go a little. There was a slight bulge around his waist that did not used to be there, and his black hair was thinning, but Ed was not quite ready to let himself go under the knife just yet. He was quite tall and in business always wore a smart suit. He always had. To Ed, it was like his armour. When he put it on, he became the person they wanted him to be: the professional, the air of intelligence and most importantly the charismatic leader that made him who he was today.
While Ed and Lanette were watching the NASA probe land on Mars, Lanette said a passing comment of “it is a shame one of your planes can’t go there”. It was almost a challenge to a man like Ed and he could not get it out of his head. So Ed spent all night researching how much it would cost and how to go about launching his own commercial space company. He found it was outrageously expensive. Most of his money would be initially funding the project until he could get some commercial investors, but Ed could not stop thinking of the publicity. The first UK based commercial airline into space, now that was something to put on the grave.
The next day Ed approached his backers, most did not want to go near the mission and only one stood by him. His old friend Tim Sykes. Tim had set up a business empire in social networking, which had now gone global. He was worth even more than Ed, not that Ed dare admit it. After weeks of discussions and negotiating terms, Tim said he would financially support Ed’s plan to commercialise space flight on a 50/50 profit basis, if, and only if, the live stream of the first flight was broadcast exclusively on his social network, FriendFinder. Ed agreed and so Dayton Space was born.
It was never intended to be a race but after Ed’s announcement to the media, only one week later, Russia announced a Government-backed space program to rival that of Ed’s and so the race was on.
As Ed was watching the rocket being built with hundreds of scientists at its base working on the boost thrusters, he was interrupted by that of a voice he recognised and hated hearing.
“Ed, call for you, it’s Tim Sykes, he says it’s important”.
Ed sighed and cursed the fact that he needed commercial investors. He had broken his golden rule of never going into business with friends, they always turned out to be enemies. Ed turned his head and saw the quite beautiful and incredibly smart Director of Human Resources for Dayton Space and his right-hand woman, Ruth Merryweather. Ruth was wearing a black dress with a suit jacket and her long mahogany coloured hair cascaded to her shoulders. Ruth was a graduate of the University of Oxford, having studied Business and Finance. She was incredibly smart and had risen the ranks in his company. He had the utmost respect for her even though she often told him things he did not want to hear. Ed turned and said, “Tell him I’m with Hans and the other science guys and I’ll call him back.” Ruth was still walking towards him despite his hard glare.
“He said you’d say that and said if he doesn’t hear from you by the end of the day he is pulling out”. Ruth turned and walked away.
Ed sighed again and thought “bloody social media fanatics, they don’t live in the real world. These things take time, we are not just launching a new emoji. This was a long project.” To be fair Ed knew he would have been the same. The last test flight had been an absolute disaster. As recalled standing in the empty Dayton Space hanger in Warwickshire. Ed, Tim and a handful of the press had watched the initial test fight go into space. They had prepared everything perfectly. Upon launch, Ed felt something wasn’t right. Onboard were his two very experienced astronauts, straight from NASA. The launch had gone perfectly, the rocket Dayton Mark 1 had gone into space and had orbited around the Earth as expected. The shots were perfect, the press all over it. Twelve hours later, they watched on the monitors in the hanger as Dayton Mark 1 began its descent into the Earth's atmosphere.
As Ed watched, Dayton Mark 1 started to burn up upon its descent, which was nothing usual. Then it suddenly exploded upon entering Earth's atmosphere. The press had a field day calling it “the £1bn disaster”. Ed’s reputation was sliding as it wasn’t just Dayton Space with a bad reputation, his company Dayton Airways was seeing cancellations every day as people lost confidence in his corporate structure. Confidence in air travel is a fickle thing, one accidental disaster and your company can sink like a ship. Ed knew at that point, there was no going back. This personal mission would sink him or make him a genius. Ed knew that after the disastrous test flight, there was no going back. He needed his reputation again and the money it brought with it.
After the test flight, his old friend Tim turned to him and said “we need to talk” and since then Ed had found every reason not to. Tim was used to things going along steadily, not the ups and downs of air travel. He was used to the occasional scandal, dead teenagers FriendFinder pages being exploited, hell even the odd investigation for interfering with politics, but his money was constant. Even his reputation had been hit by this disaster, not to mention the millions in compensation to the two astronauts’ families.
There was very little to salvage from the rocket after the explosion, they had gathered together all the parts they could find and had run diagnostic tests to see if they could find what went wrong. Years later and they were still no wiser. In the meantime, they had rebuilt a new rocket at yet more expense. Ed still looked on with a sense of awe at the rocket that they had built. It was just like he had imagined. It was incredibly tall, so much so that to see the top from the ground you had to crane your neck and even then you couldn’t quite see the tip. On the side was written in blue letters Dayton Space to symbolise that this was his creation. It was narrower than he imagined and looking from a distance you can barely imagine that it would fit three people inside.
As Ed was staring at the rocket, he knew he could hold it off no longer. He had to speak to Tim. Ed looked at the scientists at the base of the rocket and wondered if they had worked out what went wrong. He walked his way across the hanger to his office. Ruth was already waiting.
“You can hold it off no longer Ed, you need to speak to him.”
Ed sighed “I know but the bloody idiot doesn’t have the balls to go against the ropes feeling the punches, waiting for the final bell”.
Ruth looked at him and said, “Well, either way, he is pulling out so what do you have to lose?” She handed him the phone and went to her office.
Ed looked at the phone, took a deep breath and dialled. “Tim, its Ed”.
Ed heard the voice on the other end which had more than a hint of cynicism in it. “Ahh the lone ranger returns, I thought I’d never hear from you again and you’d only notice I’d gone when my money disappeared. What the hell are you playing at? You are supposed to be a man of business and yet you are acting like a schoolboy running from the fight.”
Ed felt his face go red and his blood pressure rising, “Sorry mate, it’s been mad here. After the test run, dealing with the press and the scientists trying to rectify the issues”. Ed knew straight away he shouldn’t have said that, as he knew the next question that was coming.
“Well, what was the issue?”
Damn. “Well, they think it's to do with the thrusters that failed and then the outer rocket couldn't withstand the heat of impact”. He did not have a clue.
“Well isn’t that what a fucking rocket is supposed to do? This is ridiculous, I wish I’d never gotten into this stupid adventure of yours, I should have seen it for what it was, a mid-life crisis. It is only because you are a good friend that I even entertained the thought. You’ve got to sort it Ed, my money is running out and the public is losing interest. This mission has been going on for years now and we are still not any closer. Did you hear? The Russians are ready to launch. Tell me Ed, name me a member of the crew who landed second on the moon? Exactly. You’ve got one week to make this project relevant again Ed otherwise I’m pulling the plug.”
The phone died. Ed threw it at the wall in an uncontrollable burst of rage. He stormed across to the hanger and shouted down to his chief scientist, Hans. “You’ve got two days to figure this out or we are toast and you will forever be known as the scientist who failed and let the Russians win.” He stormed off. Two days for them to figure out the issue and three days to sort it. That left a couple of days to figure out how the hell to get the public back on side. Ed knew then his dream was likely to be over.
2.
Having heard the loud smash of yet another phone breaking, Ruth must have known that Ed was off the phone as she strolled into his office and asked the fatal question. “How did it go?”
Ed replied cynically, “better than expected we’ve at least got a week to get this project off the ground, which is better than our fucking rocket is doing right now. They are some of the best scientists in this country and from our so-called neighbours across the pond and yet they can’t figure out what went wrong let alone fix it. Fucking Americans, just like Tim. Maybe they aren’t our friends after all, maybe they want to ruin this project and take the glory for themselves.” Ed took a deep breath and said, “In reality, if they can’t sort this issue out in the next two days we are done for.”
Ed heard Ruth sigh and say “Who says we’ve got one week? Tim? Fuck him, we can get this project launched without him”.
Ed glared at Ruth harder than he has ever glared at anyone before “With whose money Ruth? Yours? I must have been mistaken because I thought you were living off the thousands I pay you. Unless you are a secret millionaire and have never mentioned it, in which case where the hell were you when I needed you!” He looked at Ruth whose face was flushed and incredibly angry, she was the only person he knew who had the balls to stand up to him, which is probably the reason she was his right-hand woman but right now he wanted her out of his sight. If he wanted stupid suggestions he would have spoken to Lanette, this was her fault after all. Ed thought, “stupid Lanette and her stupid throwaway comments.”
Ruth raised her voice to show she was indignant that he would speak to her like that “If you would actually listen to a word I am saying! We’ve got his money, we’ve got the equipment. If you had the public back on side you would have everything you need without him. Let him pull out thinking the projects dead, we can finish it off.”
Ed paused and considered this “maybe, but it still doesn’t solve the three main issues: money to finish the project, working out and solving the issue with the test flight and most importantly the public perception that they should actually give a damn about the whole thing.” Ed watched as Ruth paced in his office and carefully considered the three key dilemmas.
“Explosion, Money and Perception”. Ed watched as she wrote the three problems on her tablet in a diagram looping each one. Ruth then said “Let's think it through. Which is most important?”
Ed shouted immediately “Money! Without money, the rest is not possible!”
“What a surprise. The billionaire thinks money is the most important thing.” Ruth let out a hearty laugh and the tension in the room finally evaporated between them. At that moment, Ed thought Ruth had never looked so beautiful; he gazed into her soft hazel eyes and seemed to get lost in them. For that one moment, he seemed to completely forget that he was losing approximately £10 million a month. He snapped out of it. Ed was not about to lose the best asset this company had by an inappropriate lunge to a married woman.
Ed could imagine the headlines: “Billionaire loses space race and gains sexual harassment lawsuit”. At that moment Ed didn’t give a damn, not because Ruth was worth it but because there were so many headlines about him these days. “Billionaire being sued by bereaved families”, “Billionaire stole our son” and then the headline from ‘The Word’ “Billionaire marriage on the moon rocks!” God bless tabloid headlines.
As if reading his mind Ruth said “You’re wrong Ed. Money was important at the start but it is not now. We can make more money. Get the public on side, the publicity will generate us more money to fix the exploding rocket. You need to think of a plan to get them on side from thinking you are just a killing machine. At the moment you have got the same ratings as Tony Blair after the war in Iraq. People are seeing you as costing lives to no end.”
Ed paused. He looked at Ruth, then turned to look at the rocket. He knew she was right but also knew time was against them. Ed knew that Tim was right on one thing, rumours amongst the scientists confirmed his fears. The Russians were about a month away from launch. Ed smiled at Ruth and put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes “That’s why I pay you the most. Assemble the board, Ruth. We need to sort this.”
