Matt Black - Book 1 of Re-Forge

Shuttle Lost

The President of the Luna Colony, Omar Aziz, waved a hand over his desktop Coms unit to accept an urgent incoming call. He greeted the woman, saying: "Good morning, I see the switchboard AI has put your call through to me as a matter of urgency. How can I help?"

The woman sounded distressed as she said: "Mr. President, I am the duty traffic controller at the spaceport today. Please excuse my interruption, but I was told to call you directly if there were any problems with incoming passenger flight, PF011 from Earth. Sir, we do have a problem."

Omar felt as if his gut had turned to stone but said: "Continue, please."

The Controller said: "The shuttle disappeared from our screens at 09:05 hours. The last logged communication with that shuttle was your message to the passengers. Not much is known about the flight except that the shuttle sustained some damage after take-off." The Controller hesitated before saying: "The shuttle failed to re-join the beam for the descent to the Luna surface staging point and it did not make it into orbit. We will know more after we hear from the investigation team."

The apprehension Omar felt in the pit of his stomach grew and he thought: "Very few people knew the shuttle was attacked or that the pilot intended to put his shuttle into a low Luna orbit. It should have been a straightforward insertion manoeuvre and the pilot is one of our best. What could have happened?"

Omar asked: "Controller, were you able to track the shuttle after it separated from the Ion Beam?"

The Controller answered: "We were able to track the shuttle for a while, but our last contact showed it to be in a shallow descent toward the Luna surface. The shuttle will impact in approximately fifteen minutes, at a speed of more than fifteen hundred kilometres per hour."

Omar said: "Get the SAR teams on their way. Thank you, Controller."

The Controller replied: "The SAR centre has already been notified, Sir."

Omar closed the link and sat quietly for a few seconds absorbing everything he heard in total silence.

His heart thudded with trepidation, and he thought: "Fifty of the smartest and fittest young people may be dead in less than fifteen minutes... and one of those passengers is my girl. How will I ever tell her mother?"

The on-duty SAR team scrambled, and their purpose-built craft was soon accelerating at low altitude over the Luna surface toward the calculated point of impact.

Omar spoke to his desk-top AI-com: "AI-com, patch me through to the SAR craft and display the commander's face and all the Craft's external cameras on my office's flat screen."

The AI-com complied, and the large screen on the wall divided into twelve smaller screens showing internal and external views from the rescue shuttle. The grey Luna surface sped down one of the screens, another showed a live feed of the cockpit.

Omar asked: "AI-com, what is the name of the SAR shuttle's Commander?"

The AI-com said: "The commander's name is Jerry Hill, Sir."

Omar opened a direct communications link to the pilot and introduced himself: "Commander Hill of the SAR-01 shuttle, this is the Luna Council President, are you able to talk?"

Jerry was shocked by the unexpected call, and exclaimed: "Mr. President?"

Omar Replied: "Yes, commander, may I call you Jerry?"

Jerry answered: "Yes, Sir. You honour me."

Omar said: "Jerry, the shuttle you're searching for has passengers who are critical to the colony and a few that are important to me personally. They will need your team as quickly as possible. What is your ETA?"