Adventures of Space Cadets 101: Space Pirates, Allies and Aliens. Darryl Dean Wright
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let the catering crew in as he was putting the film in an envelope already addressed to N.A.S.A. He walked over to the slit in the wall and dropped the envelope in it, preventing anybody from touching it.
“I know you weren’t expecting karaoke night, and the film was a little dark. I just want to make sure we all make it back.” They all applauded him.
The caterers were already setting everything up. Derek handed Kirk a pile of forms to be passed out to all the club members. “These are the waiver forms. If anything happens from launch to six months later, Houston Inc. will not be held responsible for anything. You work here so you have health and life benefits. Then if, God forbid, something should happen after six months in space, Houston Inc. will pay your beneficiary one million dollars. We do this because you all only signed up for a six month tour. So if we are still out there for some reason, then it will be mine and my brother’s fault as captains. Our contract is set up with Judge Jones right here in Houston. Should we disappear, he has instructions to carry out the policies.”
No one was holding the negative meeting against Mr. Houston. They knew that he was just doing what he had to do. Normally, his meetings were a whole lot of fun.
“Alright, Cadets, let’s eat. Of course I still will be giving a speech. It’s what I do, and you know how much I love to talk.” There were some statements and giggling.
Derek was drinking some expensive Champagne while he was talking. “I see that all of you passed the sensory deprivation course. Looks like you women scored higher than the men?” The women cheered and started pointing at all the guys. Kim Hart was pointing at Derek while giggling. Derek told her that he and Austen both scored a hundred on every test, and passed their captains tests with Aces. He wasn’t bragging; he was letting her know she was in good hands.
Kirk said, “Probably had to get in touch with his feminine side to score that high.” Then everyone was laughing including his father. Noah gave Kirk a high-five for his remark.
Derek continued, “You all passed the centrifuge ride. That was a lot of fun wasn’t it?”
Faith Jones said that that ride was a pretty good diet. Of course, she was talking about puking.
Derek smiled at her and said to the class, “And you all tested stable although I still have some doubts. Yeah, you people know who I’m talking about.” More laughter from the tables grew louder. “You all passed the swimming course, although young Will had to repeat the course three times. He didn’t understand what swimming had to do with space, but he does now. I made sure that he can swim. Stand up, Will, and takes a bow.” Everyone applauded him as he blushed, stood up, and sat back down quickly. Then he thanked everyone, especially Mr. Houston for not giving up on him.
Derek continued, “He was nervous at first because he didn’t know how to swim, but he did the right thing by telling me and all is fine now. Let him serve as an example, though; astronauts are not allowed to say that they’re nervous. Nothing in space is routine. It is a vast and unforgiving mistress, so don’t go up if you’re not down with that.”
Noah said jokingly, “Oh God; he’s going to start singing.”
Derek was just about done with his lecture. “Tomorrow morning, we will spend ten hours putting on and taking off our astronaut suits, and yes, they are one size fits all. You will learn everything that there is to know about these suits. They will be your lifeline so treat them like your best friend.”
Someone yelled, “And our bathroom!”
Derek agreed, “Yes, we will be going over the waste fluid and recycling in the suits also. It’s not as easy as it sounds, but once you get the hang of it…”
Kirk said, “Dad! We’re eating!”
Noah said to his uncle, “I can’t believe we are this close to launch!” Then he said that it felt like he had been training and holding his breath forever.
Will said, “Actually it has only been 4 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days.” Everyone just stared at Will so he became quiet by shoving food in his mouth.
Derek was finished talking so he had sat down with his family to eat when his cell rang. He pulled it out; there was an e-mail from Austen. Deana had made a plate of food for him, and it was on the table right in front of him, but when he saw his e-mail, he pushed his plate away from him with a sigh which caught his son’s attention.
Kirk asked, “What is wrong, Dad?”
He whispered to Kirk, “Your uncle JR is in trouble, and I think he’s bringing it our way.” Kirk told his father that they could come up with a solution that night. His dad said, “Or we could just let him tour the dark side of the moon.”
Kirk said, “That is not funny, Dad.”
Disciplined scholars, researchers, grunts, engineers, marines, pilots, and a few kids were in the big wing at Houston Inc. the next day. They were all going over their astronauts suits. It seems that they really were one size fits all. Some people were putting funny bumper stickers on their suits to mark them as theirs.
As astronauts go, only a third of these astronauts had experience, but everyone got along with each other, and that was extremely important. It was going to be a long trip.
Jack Wong was introducing himself to some of Derek’s crew. He was of Chinese decent, and he was using the bad joke of how these classes were named after him, “crew ‘orient’ation.” He used to be a guard at N.A.S.A., and sometimes he was funny.
The astronauts were in a wing that was as big as a hospital. It was a cross between a hospital and a very large school, size-wise. They were locked in until launch day when they would all board busses and shuttle over to the shuttle spaceship.
They were learning as much as they could before they left Earth. Both crews were getting used to each other, and they were getting along amicably.
There were quite a few pilots on this flight. Both captains and the other pilots were in a class to go over the flight simulations, launch, control, flight deck operations, trajectory, and launch survival. The whole “kit and caboodle” class was called, “Space - A Fools Game,” and it was a tough class. Competition was fierce and intense except for the captains who owned their own ship, so they could fly it any time they wanted to.
Other classes included medical training, electronics, and math. Crossing and connecting wires was a little like surgery if you think about it. Tying off an artery or bypassing primary wires to secondary ones were done the same way. In space, there are no surgeons, dentists, or plumbers. So everyone had to train to do it all.
The next day, JR had still not been apprehended. The car chase had gone all the way to the Mississippi/Alabama line. Several days later he managed to make it to the Louisiana border. For some reason, the F.B.I. and C.I.A. were involved in capturing the fugitive at large. They had him boxed in at a roadblock, but right before the car ran into it, a helicopter showed up out of nowhere with a rope ladder hanging from it. JR grabbed it at the last second and climbed up for his getaway. They missed him again.
The F.B.I. figured that the direction JR was heading was for his brothers’ launch. So the One-Oh-One launch site would soon be receiving F.B.I., C.I.A., D.E.A., and Earth Defense mixed with the local police. Now for some reason, JR was labeled a terrorist, and not for the first time.
Every astronaut was escorted to the shuttle rocket personally by E.D. in case JR was posing as one of the astronauts. No one had received any new information that JR was there after they lost him, but they weren’t going to chance it. If they got lucky and he showed up, then they would be ready for him.
The launch was on every channel on the screen because liftoffs were still a big deal even in this century.
All the astronauts were on the One-Oh-One, and they were all strapped in. The countdown had already begun.
"We have tower separation, launch is a go and on standby." Houston Mission Control was going through the motions and procedures. Tim Johnson in the nav. seat said, “Let’s go and conquer the universe!”