Pilgrimage (The New World) by Kurt Winans Page B

of the five in the current fleet. The engines roared to life, and moon dust shot out from behind the vehicle as it moved forward on the wheels and skis below.
    Little did Ross know that the entire operation was being viewed from a distance, as his new alien friends had come to see the spectacle. With only one-sixth the gravity of Earth, the shuttle rose easily from the surface of the Moon. Per the flight plan Ross gained altitude slowly until reaching a safe height, jettisoned the skies, retracted the landing gear, and put the shuttle into orbit around the Moon. He then increased speed with a continued engine burn while orbiting a half dozen times before the three day return trip to Earth.

 

     
     
    THE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY glowed in the fiery intensity of re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, as Ross handled the controls during the bumpy ride. He was having as much fun with the flight as in previous missions, but this time there was no one to share the joy with. He glanced over at the chair where Dennis should have been seated, and said into the microphone that he was missing a great ride. The ship was currently in a time of communication blackout with mission control due to the ionization build up caused during re-entry, so they didn’t hear what Ross had said. That didn’t matter though, because it would be recorded in the official transcript.
    Ross had looked over at the empty chair probably dozens of times during the three day return trip from the Moon, and visited the body strapped onto a bunk a few times as well. It had been a lonely three days with only the occasional communication with mission control back home to break up the solitude, but it was almost over. He wondered if anyone on Earth other than NASA was aware of what had happened to Dennis. They would inherently want to keep the mishap from the public, but news of this magnitude would be difficult to keep from leaking out somehow.
    Soon those waiting for the landing in Florida would hear the twin sonic booms created by the shuttle informing them that the time was near. Ross performed a series of turns to help spill off some speed, and the guidance computer helped him line up with the new runway at Cape Canaveral. In the early days of the shuttle program all landings had been at Edwards Air Force Base in California, with one landing at White Sands in New Mexico due to poor weather conditions over the California site, but NASA had now built a long enough runway adjacent to the launch facility in Florida.
    Ross brought the Discovery down to a smooth textbook landing, and at “wheels stop” spoke his customary “What a fun ride” into the microphone before signing off. Many had doubted that he could bring the shuttle safely back to Earth, but were glad to hear that in spite of the added pressure of a solo landing, he still maintained a certain amount of levity. As the commander of the flight, Ross refused to leave the ship until Dennis had been properly removed, so a platform was brought up next to the escape hatch of the Discovery. Four technicians that Ross knew well from pre-launch then came aboard with a gurney to remove the body, and took turns shaking Ross’ hand.
    Unafraid of any repercussions or interpretations by NASA or the media, Ross stood at attention by the escape hatch and saluted his old friend and fellow astronaut as he was rolled onto the awaiting platform. Only after the body of Dennis was safely at ground level did Ross disembark the Discovery and begin the walk towards the awaiting recovery vehicles.
    The debriefing was of course much different than his two previous flights into space, and the media was everywhere. Ross now had an answer to his internal question of a few minutes before, as it was obvious that the news about the accident on the Moon had gotten out somehow. Ross felt bad about not being able to field all the questions from the media straight away, but there was information about the mission that Ross couldn’t tell