e-Ghosts of Rogue Planet

Chapter 2

The girls were assigned to training on extraterrestrial planet exploration difficulties. They had to worry about possible contamination with alien pathogens and the problems of exploring a planet with an atmosphere different than that of the Earth's.

James and I were assigned the task of learning how to fly the new lander down through a planetary atmosphere. We spent time practicing on a simulator before we were scheduled to fly a lander down through Earth's atmosphere from Hero-2, NASA's main space station in orbit around Earth.

On our way to the shuttle bay, we were met with an old friend of James's, Conan O'Riley.

"Hey, Jimmy, me boy," Conan said as he swaggered down the hall. "I hear you're going out on a mission."

Conan had flaming red hair and a pugnacious face.

James turned to me. "No keeping secrets on board this place."

I gave him an acknowledging grin.

"Yes I am, Conan," James told him.

Conan gave James a teasing smirk. "I hear you're taking that Nubian wife of yours. You'll be having a sweet time of it, won't you?"

"She's not Nubian," James shot back with a frown. "She's African American."

"Whatever, Jimmy, me boy. Where are you going?"

I decided to take that one. "We don't know yet. It could be to Mars."

"And you're Ryan, the boy wonder," Conan said with a toying smirk. "And, I suppose you'll be taking your lassie too."

I gave him a sly smile. "That's right. We consider it perks."

"Ah!" Conan beamed. "You lucky bastards, you."

We watched Conan stroll away chuckling.

"Thanks," James said. "He can be obnoxious at times."

"He's probably jealous."

"Oh, I can guarantee you that he is," James said. "He's been passed over quite a few times because of his attitude."

"You're always going to get that," I said. "Actually, I feel fortunate to be going out again. I didn't think it would ever happen."

"I think the only reason they're sending Alisha and I with you is because we're married."

I smiled. "Yes, I see what you mean."

We arrived at the space station's shuttle bay and took time to admire the new SA-520 shuttle. It had a sleek swept wing design for flying down into a planet's atmosphere, but instead of relying on friction to slow it down, the shuttle had a breaking rocket in front to make the shuttle drop like a rock. The only problem with that idea is that we'll be subjected to harsh G-forces.

Entering through a hatch on the side, we took our places behind a dash that contained a main screen. The shuttle had no windows because the heat of reentry would melt any known transparent material. We would be essentially flying blind, especially if the outward-looking cameras failed.

I was the pilot for the first trial, while James served as engineer. He will be responsible for adjusting engine thrust and performance while I guide the shuttle.

The controls were simple: a joystick for attitude control, a throttle lever for engine control and a virtual button (touch pad) panel embedded into the dash. Most of the real work is done by the computer system. COMA, the main computer communications and control artificial intelligence agent, would guide us through the process of launching, flying and landing the SA-520.

"Good morning, Ryan and James," the sultry computer voice said. "Are you prepared for a wild ride?"

"Yes we are, COMA," I said, smiling to myself. "Initiate launch sequence."

"Launch sequence will commence in ten point two seconds."

The shuttle bay depressurized and the bay door retracted to reveal a magnificent planet Earth below. The shuttle slid out of the bay on rails and small thrusters moved it away from the space station. When it was separated a safe distance, the breaking engine fired, causing the shuttle to slow and the space station to fly away, even though the space station remained in its orbit around Earth. The visual effect was unnerving and the G-forces were horrific. Our heads would have smacked into the shuttle's dash if it weren't for straps securing our helmets to the backs of our seats.

I felt as if my eyeballs were going to pop out. My peripheral vision went to hell as the shuttle plunged down into Earth's stratosphere. I fought to gain control by pulling back on the stick. The shuttle slowed from Mach eight to three as the outer hull glowed red. At sixty thousand feet above the ground, the wings began to afford some control and I banked to the right to put us on course for NASA's ground station at the Nevada Missile Testing Range. The shuttle was in glide mode, but I still had control via the thrusters.

"Wow!" James said. "That was intense."

"Yes it was," I said. "We should be on course to land where they told us to."

"How are we going to know where to land on an unknown and unexplored planet?" he asked.

"We'll have plenty of time to explore the planet's surface using probes. Whether we go down depends on what we find."

"It is rather exciting, isn't it?" James said, smiling from inside his pressurized helmet."

"Yes it is," I replied, even though I had experienced lots of excitement previously. "We'll be stepping on a completely unknown extraterrestrial planet."

"Not to changed the subject, but how . . . what do you and Marie do about . . . "

"You mean how do we have sex?" I said, grinning.

James grinned back but his was more cautious.

"We found a way to do it in zero gravity inside the tunnels that go through the crew compartment's spin axis. Those locations are not monitored very well."

"You'll have to train us on your technique," James said, sounding amused.

"We could do that," I said.

James laughed.

I pulled back on the joystick to put the lander into a final approach onto a long runway. The concrete ribbon glistened in bright sunlight but heat thermals made it seem as if it were undulating. But, I wasn't going to make a normal landing. Instead, I used the landing thrusters to set the shuttle down near a hanger.

COMA did the work of shutting the shuttle down. We removed our helmets and exited the hatch to stand on terra firma.

"Nice job!" Wally Evans, a NASA engineer exclaimed as he approached. Three assistants, who went immediately to work examining the shuttle for possible damage, accompanied him. Wally and his assistants were attired in the usual lab coats over white shirts and ties.

"Thank you," I said.

"Did you encounter any problems on the way down?" Wally asked.

"Other than the G-forces, nothing," I replied. "Everything went as expected."

"Good. We'll check it out and if everything is hunky-dory, you can be on your way back up."

I turned to James. "You can fly it back up to the station."

"Gee, thanks," he said in a facetious manner.

We laughed.