center of the room with Sebastian, Jayce, and a few other senior staff. “We're all here because we know what we have to do. All we need to do now, is do it. I don't need to tell you that this is one of the most significant endeavors of mankind, or that the history books will record what happens here today …” I was perspiring from my underarms now. “The only thing I'm going to tell you is to do your job. You all know who I am. You know my record. I'll be damned if anything is going to tarnish that record on the most important flight in recent history. Do I make myself clear?” The room was in silent agreement. You could cut the tension with a knife. “Okay then, let's get it done! OPS, kick it off. Give me Go, No-Go.”
There was a short back and forth with the operators and the flight director and then a final confirmation from Cara. I heard the vibration of trillions of charged particles before I ever saw the flash. The docking clamps didn’t have time to release as the shuttle was catapulted through the concentric rings and rails of the gate, ripping the clamps free and sending them shooting into space in divergent paths. A blue-white supernova of light blinked in and flooded past the control tower. Through squinted eyelids and sunspot halos of vision, I never saw the shuttle depart. It hurdled through space faster than I ever imagined possible, and from the reaction to the flight crew, faster than they had calculated.
“Power surge has started a chain reaction back to the main relay!” shouted an engineer.
“Shut down the relay! Do it now! Switch to reserve power and notify Energy Management to run on aux!” Sebastian barked.
“Logic gate to relay has been closed, coils are depolarizing,” confirmed another operator.
“Where the hell is the shuttle? OPS, give me position!” demanded Reinz.
“Shuttle is on course and approaching maximum velocity. Radio blackout clock has started. One hour of radio silence until electromagnetic field on the shuttle dissipates,” the chief operations officer replied. “Vital signs from inside the shuttle are green. Heart rate and blood pressure are climbing, but within acceptable levels.”
“Hang in there, girl,” Reinz said aloud, but mostly to himself. “One hour of Hell to see Heaven. If anyone still prays, this is the time to do it.”
That hour proved the theory of relatively unequivocally. Time crept forward, moving through a dense field of slowly vibrating negative emotions and doubt. Despite the busy crew and all of the action going on around me, minutes passed like hours. Jayce was running interference between Futura, Energy Management, and the Lunar Council. He shot a few concerned glances my direction, but did not have time to talk. I thought about asking if I could lend a hand, but I neither felt like moving from my spot in the back of the room, nor thought that I would be of any use. Helplessness and self-pity form the most satisfying bond in times of distress.
“ Athena , this is Mission Control, please respond,” the operations officer repeated for the umpteenth time. “Cara, do you copy?”
“Electromagnetic field on the shuttle has dissipated. We should have had radio communications fifteen minutes ago, sir,” an engineer announced to Reinz.
Reinz paced down the aisles of computer terminals, spinning and clicking his pen nervously, no longer keeping rhythm as before. “Engineering, give me the levels of—”
“Mission Control, this is Athena , do you copy?” Cara’s voice came crackling over the radio.
The weight of fear and worry lifted from my body at the sound of Cara’s voice. Feelings that I did not know I had were now rushing to the surface. I’d let myself fall in love on Luna and had not fully appreciated the depth of that gravity well until now. A feint yearning to once again be lighter on my soul crept into my heart.
“All systems green. What the hell was with that jump? According to my instruments, I was three
There was a short back and forth with the operators and the flight director and then a final confirmation from Cara. I heard the vibration of trillions of charged particles before I ever saw the flash. The docking clamps didn’t have time to release as the shuttle was catapulted through the concentric rings and rails of the gate, ripping the clamps free and sending them shooting into space in divergent paths. A blue-white supernova of light blinked in and flooded past the control tower. Through squinted eyelids and sunspot halos of vision, I never saw the shuttle depart. It hurdled through space faster than I ever imagined possible, and from the reaction to the flight crew, faster than they had calculated.
“Power surge has started a chain reaction back to the main relay!” shouted an engineer.
“Shut down the relay! Do it now! Switch to reserve power and notify Energy Management to run on aux!” Sebastian barked.
“Logic gate to relay has been closed, coils are depolarizing,” confirmed another operator.
“Where the hell is the shuttle? OPS, give me position!” demanded Reinz.
“Shuttle is on course and approaching maximum velocity. Radio blackout clock has started. One hour of radio silence until electromagnetic field on the shuttle dissipates,” the chief operations officer replied. “Vital signs from inside the shuttle are green. Heart rate and blood pressure are climbing, but within acceptable levels.”
“Hang in there, girl,” Reinz said aloud, but mostly to himself. “One hour of Hell to see Heaven. If anyone still prays, this is the time to do it.”
That hour proved the theory of relatively unequivocally. Time crept forward, moving through a dense field of slowly vibrating negative emotions and doubt. Despite the busy crew and all of the action going on around me, minutes passed like hours. Jayce was running interference between Futura, Energy Management, and the Lunar Council. He shot a few concerned glances my direction, but did not have time to talk. I thought about asking if I could lend a hand, but I neither felt like moving from my spot in the back of the room, nor thought that I would be of any use. Helplessness and self-pity form the most satisfying bond in times of distress.
“ Athena , this is Mission Control, please respond,” the operations officer repeated for the umpteenth time. “Cara, do you copy?”
“Electromagnetic field on the shuttle has dissipated. We should have had radio communications fifteen minutes ago, sir,” an engineer announced to Reinz.
Reinz paced down the aisles of computer terminals, spinning and clicking his pen nervously, no longer keeping rhythm as before. “Engineering, give me the levels of—”
“Mission Control, this is Athena , do you copy?” Cara’s voice came crackling over the radio.
The weight of fear and worry lifted from my body at the sound of Cara’s voice. Feelings that I did not know I had were now rushing to the surface. I’d let myself fall in love on Luna and had not fully appreciated the depth of that gravity well until now. A feint yearning to once again be lighter on my soul crept into my heart.
“All systems green. What the hell was with that jump? According to my instruments, I was three
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