One Giant Leap Read online

  Once completed the base would contain almost three thousand personal and be completely self-sustaining. Completing the project would take at least another year.

  Today’s flight was to pick up three living pods for delivery to the Moon. Each crossing would take six hours. Maybe a little less, he loved pushing his G-1 to perform.

  At 5am he was on the line rested up after a 24 hour Earth Bound pass and he was ripe to get started. It’s a wonder what 4 meals, 18 hours sleep and 3 showers can do for a man.

  He watched his relief team set his Shuttle down at Vandenberg Air Force Base and taxi into the loading bay. He could tell they were treating his girl with kit gloves the Shuttle touch down was so smooth.

  He helped get the mobile staircase lined up to the Crew Hatch and was at the top of the stairs to help open the hatch for the departing crew. “Commander, welcome home.” He was greeted as the hatch was secured. These two young pilots were taking off on vacation to climb Mount Shasta. Both shook his hand and thanked him for the chance to take up his ship while he got some well-deserved sack time. “We had her washed and waxed, tires rotated, tuned up, detailed the cabin and cockpit and left you a mint on your pillow Sir.” The Co-pilot jest, saying his farewells.

  “Thanks. Don’t trip and fall down a mountain.” Joshua shot back waving them goodbye.

  He spotted the greenhorn that would take the co-pilots seat waiting just inside the hanger bay doors. This would be his first time flying with him. So far the kid had only flown old Columbia Class shuttles.

  Joshua handpicked him for this mission from the graduating class of new pilots; he was good and flew like an eagle had birthed him.

  “Do you plan to stand around all day?” Joshua barked at the greenhorn. He wanted to razz him a bit before bringing him into the flock. “Get it in gear and get your rotting, festering carcass into the left seat Con Man. We don’t have all year to stand around watching them load this old girl; we have work to do. That is unless you plan to be a loader instead of a pilot?”

  “Yes Sir.” Con Man stammered coming too attention. “The left seat Sir?” He thought he was hearing things. No one fresh out of flight school flew left seat in a Galaxy Class Shuttle. Not in his wildest dreams had he hoped to fly in a Galaxy Class, and definitely not next to Joshua ‘Jackal’ Chisholm. To him Jackal was something just short of a God wrapped in a shuttle.

  “Co-pilots sit in the left seat Con Man, or didn’t you know that?” Joshua asked with a straight face.

  Pete couldn’t believe his ears, but he didn’t plan to question his Commander. “Yes Sir, left seat is the co-pilots seat Sir, I’m on it Sir.” He turned, and jogged towards Suit-Up before Joshua had a chance to change his mind.

  Joshua planned to groom this green pilot for the Galaxy Shuttle Service. He had graduated flight school just yesterday, and most of the new pilots had met at the base Officers Club to celebrate. They were now sleeping off the drink of last night’s party and dreaming of their next assignment. But not this kid, he was stone cold sober, on the line waiting for an assignment. He was proving he was made to fly, he was proving he had the right stuff to be an ace pilot, with the balls to be Joshua’s wingman.

  Top of his flight class and just a little bit of a rebel. Pete [Con Man] Connelly was a man in the making. Young, as shuttle pilots go at just twenty-six, he had a promising career ahead of him. His high scores had gotten him in the left seat years before any of those graduating would have the chance.

  Joshua thought. “God he looks like a kid.” When meeting Con Man officially a few days earlier at N.A.S.A. Mission Control.

  He was there to give a lecture on {Emergency Reentries in Disabled Shuttles which had Sustained Impact Damage from Space Debris on Final Approach} It was just three days from graduation, most of the flight had their minds on the new lives awaiting them, not the information being given them. Most of the members of the flight had started calling this the Kiss It Goodbye course.

  But Con Man was on the edge of his seat, asking half a dozen questions that gave light to a subject most felt useless at best. Most believed that surviving a damaged shuttle reentry was in God’s hands, and trying to control a damaged shuttle up to its blazing end was an act of futility. He wanted to be ready if it happened to him and the words Jackal conveyed to them was his best chance of learning how to do it right. He knew that if it ever happened, it was just the roll of the dice. Most shuttles would simply burn up as the atmosphere heated the ship, it would become a fireball on its way to an explosive impact.

  But with a truckload of luck, and the knowledge he was gleaning, if there were any chance, he would have some options. He felt some chance was better than just sitting there waiting for the explosion.

  Con Man read of the massive debris impact Jackal had survived on the Galaxy Class Shuttle G-3. A satellite had exploded less then one hundred miles from the shuttles flight path just seconds before Jackal began descending to the outer atmosphere. The debris blocked his path, he was past the point of no return, riding it out and praying for the best was the only choice left to him. His skill as a pilot saved the crew and ship that day. Con Man wanted a chance if it ever happened to a ship he was piloting. He memorized everything Joshua said during the four-hour lecture.

  Jackal was a living legend for saving G-3 from destruction as it tried to burn up in reentry. To just be in the room with him had Con Man on the edge of his seat. Jackal was the best of the best and the pilot he was going to emulate.

  At just twenty-nine years of age Joshua [Jackal] Chisholm was considered to be the Old Man of the fleet by the other shuttle pilots. He had a few years on his junior pilots flying G-Class Shuttles. Those years of work were what earned him the mission to be first to land a Shuttle on the Moon as construction began on the Schwarzenegger Moon Base. [S.M.B.]

  That had been a landing for the books. “Not a scratch on her!” Jackal would kid that he… “Didn’t even get dust on the shuttle’s tires!”

  * * *

  Con Man got back to the shuttle just as the last of the cargo was secured and cargo hold doors where being closed for the return flight to SMB. He found Joshua in the pilot’s seat going through the preflight checklist and chatting with the crew chief on the ground. “Looks like we have a low pressure reading on inboard port main landing gear struts, you getting this also?” He turned to Con Man as he took the co-pilots seat. “Check out communications and plot us a window to SMB, shortest crossing time possible!”

  Con Man gave him a hearty “Yes Sir” and got to work. He was going to show Jackal that he was the best there was from his graduating flight. They had all heard that Jackal was looking for a new co-pilot; he was losing the one he had to full time duty in California. Fun and sun had taken more than a few good pilots away from the dangers of Space Shuttle Service.

  He planned to fill that slot.

  With the preflight check complete and the struts checked, the Galaxy Class Shuttle was ready for takeoff. Joshua lay back in the pilot’s seat and relaxed. “Well Con Man, The Moon is the big ball of rock that is just two hundred and seventy thousand miles, straight up. Think you could get this lady off the planet and on her way?”

  Con Man almost screamed for joy, he didn’t care why Jackal was giving him this chance. Regulations stated that he had to log in two hundred hours as a co-pilot before taking off with the G-Class. He had twice that much time on the simulator doing this exact mission he was now on. But it was Jackals butt as Mission Commander if the Brass found out he was piloting it on his first mission. He was going to do as ordered, and do his best. “Sir, I’ve been waiting all my life to do just that.” He hit the control switches giving control of the ship to the co-pilot station and radioed flight control for permission to takeoff.

  “Jackal, what are you doing? Con Man just graduated yesterday!” The crew chiefs voice came through his head set.

  “It’s called on the job training; I need a pilot not a passenger!” Joshua shot back.

  “It’s your b
acon; the Old Man is going to fry it hard for this one. Have a good flight; we’ll be ready for your next load before you return… If you return. Out!” He disconnected from the communications link and pulled the tire chocks to ready the flight. He figured when Jackal stood before The Man for this one even his wings would get flamed. He wondered what the price would be for allowing a green pilot to take off in 4.5 billion dollars worth of spacecraft? And on his first mission too?

  Con Man lined up with the runway and never let up. He gave the shuttle 40% power and the shuttle leapt into the air like a humming bird. He had done his homework and checked for cargo and fuel weights and calculated the needed thrust to leave the ground. He even added three percent more power to it just to make sure. His first G-Class take off was flawless and one for the record books.

  No pilot before had been given the pilots seat on their first flight in the G-Class. Even Joshua had two hundred and fifty-six hours as a co-pilot before he took the pilots position his first time in the G-Class.

  He was no fool and knew he was being groomed for Joshua’s copilot’s slot. He was not aware of just what being Joshua’s second in command was going to cost him, but he was soon going to find out. No cost was too high to learn from the best of the best personally.

  Joshua took over control of the ship as they neared the Moon. It was one thing to takeoff with a light load like they had onboard; it was another thing landing on the Moon for the first time with any load in a G-Class. Con Man understood that and felt comfortable when Joshua took control.

  As Joshua lined up for the approach five thousand miles out from the site of S.M.B. the onboard navigational radar begin tracking inbound movement. Con Man was on the ball watching the radar screen to check their progress. He turned up the radar gain and focused its beam on the runways. He had everything online and working by the numbers. It was then he spotted something he didn’t expect to see. “Sir, it’s a rock”

  “More input Con Man, there are lots of rocks, what are we talking about?” Joshua shot back.

  “Iron-nickel, approximately three meters across.” Pete called out, setting the radar to scan the object directly.

  “Heading?”

  “It’s just over the edge of the Moon at three o’clock. It will miss us and the Moon Sir. But it’s a dead hit on the Big Blue… somewhere over the Eastern seaboard of North America.” Pete shot back as he worked to glean all the information he could find.

  “Inform N.A.S.A. give them a heads up and download everything you have to them. They didn’t tell us to watch for this, so I’m sure they don’t know it’s on the way”

  “Yes sir.” Pete switched over to the communications console. “N.A.S.A. Mission Control, this is Space Shuttle G-1, come in, over”

  “G-1 this is N.A.S.A. Mission Control, what can we do for you today? Over.”

  “N.A.S.A. we spotted a meteoroid heading your way. Its small, estimate three meters across, inbound at twenty six thousand miles an hour. It’s coming in from around the Moon, don’t think you can see it yet, but it’s still there. Do you copy? Over.” Pete filled them in.

  “We copy G-1, over.”

  “N.A.S.A. we estimate impact in ten hours. Commander Chisholm wanted you to have a heads up, over.”

  They where checking their Early Warning Screens but could see nothing. “Copy that G-1, we see nothing inbound as yet.” With concern in his voice the controller asked. “Can you give us a hint where to look? Over.”

  “Incoming from behind the Moon Sir, it will just kiss it as it skims by. Check at Moons three o’clock. You should be picking it up shortly, copy that? Over.”

  “Copy that G-1, thanks for the heads up. We’ll take it from here. At three meters, it shouldn’t hit us at all. We will send up an eight by ten color photo of its breakup, copy? Over.”

  “We copy that N.A.S.A. could you send a pizza and six pack with it? Where hungry up here! Over?” Pete shot back.

  “A-Ok G-1, Master Flight Controller said for you to stop playing space cowboy’s, and get back to work, by the way, welcome to the big leagues Con Man.” The Mission Controller barked.

  “Copy that N.A.S.A. Ouch, thanks, over and out.” Pete signed off. “Jackal, do you think it could impact the Earth?” He asked.

  “A rock that size should be eaten up in entry Con Man, just some dust to add to the landmass at best. If they find a softball-sized chunk of it, it would be like winning the lotto. Let’s get back to landing this bird. The rock is N.A.S.A.’s problem now.” He was impressed with Con Man’s work. “Do you think you can land this load without denting her? If you can spot space dust while readying for landing you can just go on and take her in yourself.”

  “Me Sir? Yes Sir.” A smile lit Pete’s face in reply. He was realizing this was not a joy ride to the Moon and got to work.

  Joshua decided to reward him for spotting the inbound meter. “Then take her in, but remember the landing gear!” Joshua gave his orders.

  “Ten four good buddy. I’ll set her down on golden wings.” Pete replied with confidence. This was going to be his first live landing on the Moon. He had done it hundreds of times in the simulator, so he knew what to do and how to do it.

  Joshua liked the strength of this rookies will. It reminded him of himself when he was young and new to the service. If he was going to groom him to be the best there was no time like the present to begin training. “You have to cut your teeth some time. Take her in easy, and by the numbers. Just do it right, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life paying for this bird if you crack it up.” He leaned back in his chair and acted as if he was going to take a nap. “Wake me when we land. I'll show you around the base. You don’t go roaming around up here on your own.”

  “I like your style Commander. Thanks for your trust, starting final approach now. Landing gear down, and locked, breaking thrusters on line and ready, flaps at seventy-five percent, speed three hundred miles per hour, and slowing.” Pete called out as he readied G-1 for landing.

  “You’re doing well Green Horn. Use a light hand with her, she’ll respond to your touch. Show this old man you can do this.” Joshua tried to lighten Pete’s anxiety faking a yon.

  Pete hit the radio. “S.M.B., this is Shuttle G-1 on final approach, requesting permission to land on runway Alfa? Over”

  “This is S.M.B. Mission Control, permission to land on runway Alfa granted. Welcome to the Moon. Over.”

  Pete felt goose flesh growing over his arms as he took the massive ship down. He only spent a millisecond thinking of how the other cadet pilots would respond when he informed them that he had landed a Galaxy Class Shuttle on the Moon on his first mission. With Jackal himself in the pilot’s seat next to him, this was the stuff of legend. His ranking as a pilot just took a great leap forward.

  He set the ship down like an old hat. It landed with little more than a bump. Doing it any better would have been hard for the most experienced pilot.

  “Are we there yet?” Joshua teased as the ship taxied toward the docking bays.

  “Yes sir; and in one piece.” Pete said with a smile. “S.M.B. Mission Control, G-1 will be docking at docking bay number one. Time is twelve forty-five GMT [general Moon time] Over.” He turned to Joshua. “Thanks again Commander.”

  “Copy that G-1. Over and out.” Came the Moon Mission Control response.

  “Don’t thank me yet, you don’t know what I’ve got in store for you. You think your training was hard before; it was child’s play, now you’re in the big leagues my friend. This flight was no simple ride to the Moon. I’m your teacher now and you will learn what they didn’t teach you in flight school.” Joshua informed him. “When I say jump, you just jump. We will figure out how high on your way up. We need real pilots to man these big old ladies and our mission will only get bigger with time. If you really want it, I’ll show you how to get it. What do you say Con Man?”

  He couldn’t believe his luck. The best of the best just offered to train him personally. If he had to h
ave a dream of his future this was it. “I say yes to it all. I’m your man Jackal, where you lead, I follow.”

  Jackal took Con Man to Suit Up and got out of their space suits before entering the base. He introduced Berry, the Commander of Suit Up, and Berry complimented him on his skills with the G-Class Shuttle on this his first mission.

  “Your dead meat. The boss wants you standing tall at once, the jig is up.” Berry informed Jackal.

  Pete’s heart sank, he figured his days in a G- Class just crashed.

  “Berry take over with his tour if you please, and no drinking, we are going back as soon as she’s unloaded. When I get back you may have to get me a smaller pant size for my suit!”

  He took a quick detour to his quarters, had a shower, shave and was dry and in dress whites in ten minutes flat. He knew how to play this game too. He ran to his Commanders office without stopping.

  “Commander Chisholm to see…” He started to address the Commanders secretary and was cut off by a bellow from the inner office.

  “PRIVATE CHISHOLM FRONT AND CENTER NOW!!!”

  “The Commander will see you now.” He stood out of Jackals way and started collecting his things to retreat for lunch while the office was under fire.

  Jackal entered the office and came to attention center desk. “Commander Chisholm reporting as ordered Sir.”

  “CHISHOLM THAT SHUTTLE COST THE TAX PAYERS FOUR POINT FIVE BILLION DOLLARS, DO YOU HAVE FOUR POINT FIVE BILLION DOLLARS TO REPLACE IT WITH IF YOU CRAKE IT UP ALOWING GREENHORNES TO FLY IT? IS THAT YOUR G-CLASS SHUTTLE TO DO WITH AS YOU WISH? NO! IT IS MY G-CLASS SHUTTLE AND I WILL BE THE ONE TO SAY WHO WILL FLY MY G-CLASS SHUTTLES.” He had trained for this part all his life and had honed his skills to a fine edge. He was able to cut down rock hard Officers with a single volley broadside. He noticed right away this one didn’t flinch.’

  “I SWEAR TO GOD ALL MIGHTY HIMSELF, IF I HAD A CHOICE I WOULD GROUND YOU RIGHT NOW FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE AND REFUSE TO LET YOU GO BACK TO EARTH EVER AGAIN JUST TO MAKE SURE YOU NEVER FLY AGAIN… DO I MAKE MYSELF PERFECTLY CLEAR?”