2: History

I’ve always wanted to go to space. I used to stay up late with my dad watching Star Trek reruns. I was only a little kid, maybe 5 years old. I remember I called the show “space men.” Then Dad deployed to Iraq for Operation Desert Storm. When he came home, he walked in the door in his flight jacket and aviator glasses. I thought he was the coolest. 

As a teen I continued staying up late with my dad talking about joining the Air Force, Star Trek playing in the background. We didn’t see eye to eye on some things. Dad thought we needed to fly to protect America from the treats out there. Flying was a means to an end. For me flying was about something more. I was all for protecting America, don’t get me wrong. But I always wanted to push the envelope. Fly higher, go faster, explore farther. Maybe it was Captain Kirk’s influence. 

I remember his face the day I graduated from the academy. Never one for large outbursts of emotion, he just smiled at me from his wheelchair. His eyes were shinier than usual, tears not daring to drop to his check. 

Our relationship grew rockier a few years later when I told him I was switching to test pilot, with plans to fly for NASA. He yelled. I didn’t get a chance to visit again after that night. He died of ALS a few weeks later. 

Dad thought I should focus on defending our nation, not boldly going where no one gives a crap." But then The Asset crashed right in front of me.

The Asset had more than just an FTL drive. Even though they are damaged beyond our ability to study, they came to our planet loaded with weapons. The joint chiefs thought this was a good enough reason to boldly go and take a look around out there. If only I could have one more evening chat with dad, he might agree. But I wouldn’t be allowed to tell him.

WIth all of this secrecy I haven’t been able to tell my family what I’ve been doing these last few months. I just talked to my brother on the phone last night. He pointedly asked how I was enjoying “space command” and exploring the galaxy in front of a computer screen. He thinks I’m a satellite repairman. Our conversation ended with “not only are you not flying, but you’re not even close to going to space. What do you think Dad would say?” 

He didn’t know I just missed out on the test flight of the first faster than light ship we’d ever built. Usually the hope of flying that ship gave me strength enough to put up with this, but he had hit too close to home this time. I was wasting my time. I only had a few months of flying left. I wasn’t going to get to fly in space after all.

***

“It’s go time people,” General Layton said from the back of the room, his voice loud in our wireless headsets. “Propulsion.”

“Go.”

“Gravity Generation”

“Go.”

“DPS.” (Data Processing System Engineer)

“Go.”

“Surgeon.”

“Go.”

“Fido.”

“Go,” Mac’s alto voice sounded in my ears.

“CAPCOM.”

I looked over my console’s key readouts. The communication links to the Eagle looked good. “Go.”

Space Force Mission Control is located in a sub-level of the _________(redacted) building at Hill Air Force Base. It is the size of a large conference room with a dozen terminals all facing a wall full of flatscreen monitors. 

General Layton was standing at the back of the room near his Flight Director console listening to his earpiece. He never sat down in this room. During our previous unmanned tests he was either prowling around looking at the large monitors, or leaning over his console when necessary. 

“Alright people, we’re making history today. Let’s have a safe flight. When all of this comes out one day we want our names to be famous, not infamous.”

The plan was that Zody would fly the Eagle out to Jupiter, perform a systems check, then he’d fly back to Earth orbit. Easy-peezy. The thing that sucked about being stuck here on the ground was that we would have to wait in radio silence while he was out there. Jupiter was about 40 light minutes away currently, so that’s how long it would take a radio signal to reach us.

Eagle’s flight to Jupiter and back would only take six minutes. He wasn’t even going to check when he got there because the communication lag was too long. Faster just to jump out there, and jump back. The whole test would be done before a radio signal could even reach Jupiter. 

If he ran into trouble out there, like engine failure or life support malfunction, it would take us 40 minutes to hear about it. We would be able to keep tabs on the Eagle by means of the Juno, a NASA space probe in orbit around Jupiter. If anything did go wrong, Eagle had automated signal buoys that would send out its location and Zody’s medical status. 

“Let’s hope we don’t need to test the DSRV today,” Mac said to me. Our consoles were right next to each other. 

In the event that a rescue became necessary, we had a prototype Deep Space Rescue Vehicle ready to go. Of course none of its flight systems had been tested yet. What do you test first? The prototype spaceship, or the prototype rescue ship? Instead of Eagle and DSRV, we should have named them the Chicken and Egg. 

“Alright Sharp,” Layton turned to me, “Let’s give Zody the go-ahead.”

“Roger,” I said. “Eagle, Hill, We’ve got all green lights down here. You are go to break orbit.” 

“‘Bout time!” He’d been up there for almost an hour already running systems checks. He was itching to get going. “I’m not getting any younger up here, yet...”

“And you won’t be any younger after this flight either,” Mac said. “The way we’re bending gravity, you should be insulated from Einstein's pesky theory.” 

“Too bad,” I chimed in. “I’m pretty sure I saw a grey hair before you took off Zody.”

“Alright, let’s cut the chatter,” Layton looked between Mac and me. We grinned as we turned back to our boards. “Colonel Zody, you have a go.”

“Roger that. Engaging graviton generator.”

The large center screen in the front of the room showed a representation of Earth, a green dot represented Eagle. The green dot began moving away from Earth. Power levels on the screen to the right increased dramatically. I had never seen a spacecraft use that much energy before. Eagle was more powerful than the unmanned drones we tested.

“Graviton generator looks good Flight,” came the voice of the guy monitoring the energy output. 

“Roger.”

“Confirmed. My feet are on the floor up here,” said Zody. “Accelerating to 0.25c.” One of the benefits of using artificially generated gravity in our propulsion was that it could also be used to generate gravity inside the ship. No more taking Dramamine so you don't lose your lunch. 

“Telemetry looks good,” Mac said. “Flight path is on course. Orbit exiting maneuver in progress.”

“Preparing to increase power,” Zody said as he got ready to go FTL.

“All readings still in the green,” said the DPS engineer. 

“Jack, tell him he is cleared to go FTL,” Layton said.

“Roger.” Mac caught my eye again. I winked at her. At this moment it seemed our future career plans were secure. The mission was going without a hitch. We’d be able to get up there in no time. Maybe even before the flight surgeons discovered my condition and grounded me. “Eagle, Hill, you are authorized to go FTL.”

“Roger Hill. Increasing power to FTL drive.” The green dot began to move faster. “See you on the other side.”

“Good luck Zody,” I said as Zody approached light speed.

“Don’t sound so hopeful that something will go wrong Jack.” Zody’s voice cracked over the channel. “There’s no guarantee that your untested ship won’t have the same problem as my untested ship.” If there was a problem, and it was within acceptable risk margins, Mac and I were on standby to rescue him in the DSRV.

Maybe I did have a hint of hope in my voice. But nothing was going to go wrong. We ran test after test on the Eagle. We launched dozens of drones. This was going to work. 

“I’m getting a little turbulence here Hill.” Zody’s voice sounded deeper, his speech slower. The doppler effect. As he got closer to the speed of light, his transmissions were affected.

“Confirmed Flight,”  the Data Processing Engineer said, looking at her board. “There’s a small unexpected resonance between inner and outer gravity tunnel.”

“Is it dangerous?” Layton asked.

“Compensating,” Zody’s low voice said over the speaker. He was trying to correct the problem. 

“It doesn’t appear to be affecting engine performance.”

The green dot on the board disappeared as Eagle began moving faster than our radar could track..

“The Eagle has reached light speed,” Mac announced. The room cheered. The tension in mission control had been tangible only seconds earlier. Now I was on my feet shaking hands with everyone from General Layton to the guy in glasses who was sitting behind me who I always see in the control room, but who I’ve never actually talked to. 

“Six minutes” I said to Mac as the room came down off of an incredible emotional release. A six minute timer had started on the big screen. 

“Six minutes takes hours down on the ground,” she said as she sat back in her chair. “I could always handle flying the combat missions, but time dragged on the ground while the other squadrons flew combat.” 

“Then waiting for the casualty list afterwards...” I said. “All things considered, I’d rather be in the cockpit.” Mac had deployed to Afghanistan as a part of Operation Enduring Freedom, as had I. 

“If only we’d have known each other back then.” Mac was looking at me thoughtfully.

I sat down and put my feet up on the console. “I’d have given you a run for your money just like I did when we met in test pilot school.” She punches me in the shoulder. She’s never done that before. I feel a little flutter in my chest. Was this what people meant by the phrase butterflies in their stomach? But then why wasn’t it in my stomach? Was I feeling something for Mac? Was she feeling something for me? 

All important questions, but nah. We were all in just a really good mood. We had just sent the first human flying at faster than light speeds. And in just a few minutes he’d be back to tell us all about it. 

Then six minutes passed and Zody did not return. Maybe he was having technical difficulties. We kept an eye on the clock, but after forty minutes we started to listen for a radio signal. But no signal came. No radio contact. He was just gone.