That’s space travel for you! Deal with it. But as she donned her spacesuit, she grew somber. She was part of the technical expertise Blake had hired, and as such it was her job to help him make this mission a success. It’s precisely because of the fact that Blake doesn’t know what he’s doing that you’re here . So don’t make fun of him, help him. That’s your job.
She snapped her helmet into place and activated the comm system to the frequency Dallas and Blake were using. “...too close to Black Sky’s landing site, damn it! You have to move!”
“Once again, sir, as it is I’m going to need to run thorough diagnostics ship-wide, especially on the ascent stage, to make sure we don’t have another guidance control issue resulting from that lightning hit. That would need to be completed before we can even think about moving the LEM. We’re stuck where we are, sir. We’ll just have to make the best of it.”
Dallas was so calm and in control, Caitlin thought. She wished she could be more like him. She wanted to yell at Blake, You’re lucky we didn’t abort the landing altogether! You should be glad we’re here at all, in one piece! Blake uttered a few choice oaths and then told Dallas to keep him updated.
“Copy that, sir. I’ll keep you posted. Have fun out there and stay safe.”
Caitlin cut in. “Swain here, boys. I’m go for EVA, over.”
“Copy that, Caitlin , you are go for EVA,” Dallas returned.
“Hurry up if you can.” This from Blake. “ We’re behind schedule because of this unfamiliar terrain. And switch back to the common frequency now, but make no mention of the landing screw-up.”
She bit back an acidic reply, something about how the “screw-up” had given him the chance to complete his mission when most astronauts would have either aborted or crashed. Be like Dallas.
“On my way, sir.” She hit a button and the outer airlock door slid up. She sucked her breath in sharply as she took in the mind-blowing moonscape with the Earth suspended above in a tapestry of black. It was much different than even looking through the LEM’s windows. At last she was witness to the “magnificent desolation” Buzz Aldrin had spoken of decades earlier. She waved to the group assembled nearby in a loose circle. Blake returned the gesture first, his wave appearing stiff and exaggerated in the space suit.
A couple of the others were facing away from the LEM. In addition to the Outer Limits logo prominently displayed on the front of the suits, there were large name patches sewn onto both the front and back of their custom-fitted spacesuits. HUGHES appeared to be gazing at the Earth in a trance, while GARNER seemed to be preoccupied with the lunar dirt, along with IMURA. BURTON was watching Caitlin intently. The rest were facing Blake, including CALDERON, who was filming.
The astronaut backed carefully down the ladder and dropped onto the lunar surface with a puff of dust.
“Well hello, Caitlin!” Blake said. “Glad you could join us. Ladies and gentlemen, I believe our Command Module Pilot has a surprise for us. Something not on the itinerary.”
“You bet!” Caitlin took a few steps to the right, walking along the outside of the LEM. She stopped in front of a rectangular flat panel and flipped a switch. “I’m guessing you didn’t know that we had a garage on the lunar lander.” The panel slid to one side to reveal what looked like a storage area of some kind behind it. Inside it was dark, but when Suzette turned the video camera on it, its light revealed wheels, a chassis, and a parabolic dish.
“Walking long distances on the moon is dangerous and consumes more of our precious oxygen,” Caitlin said, squeezing into the garage alongside the object it contained. “And so, like some of the legendary Apollo missions before us, we’ve brought our own surface transportation.”
Blake nodded his hearty approval, the image of the group gathered around him bobbing crazily up and
She snapped her helmet into place and activated the comm system to the frequency Dallas and Blake were using. “...too close to Black Sky’s landing site, damn it! You have to move!”
“Once again, sir, as it is I’m going to need to run thorough diagnostics ship-wide, especially on the ascent stage, to make sure we don’t have another guidance control issue resulting from that lightning hit. That would need to be completed before we can even think about moving the LEM. We’re stuck where we are, sir. We’ll just have to make the best of it.”
Dallas was so calm and in control, Caitlin thought. She wished she could be more like him. She wanted to yell at Blake, You’re lucky we didn’t abort the landing altogether! You should be glad we’re here at all, in one piece! Blake uttered a few choice oaths and then told Dallas to keep him updated.
“Copy that, sir. I’ll keep you posted. Have fun out there and stay safe.”
Caitlin cut in. “Swain here, boys. I’m go for EVA, over.”
“Copy that, Caitlin , you are go for EVA,” Dallas returned.
“Hurry up if you can.” This from Blake. “ We’re behind schedule because of this unfamiliar terrain. And switch back to the common frequency now, but make no mention of the landing screw-up.”
She bit back an acidic reply, something about how the “screw-up” had given him the chance to complete his mission when most astronauts would have either aborted or crashed. Be like Dallas.
“On my way, sir.” She hit a button and the outer airlock door slid up. She sucked her breath in sharply as she took in the mind-blowing moonscape with the Earth suspended above in a tapestry of black. It was much different than even looking through the LEM’s windows. At last she was witness to the “magnificent desolation” Buzz Aldrin had spoken of decades earlier. She waved to the group assembled nearby in a loose circle. Blake returned the gesture first, his wave appearing stiff and exaggerated in the space suit.
A couple of the others were facing away from the LEM. In addition to the Outer Limits logo prominently displayed on the front of the suits, there were large name patches sewn onto both the front and back of their custom-fitted spacesuits. HUGHES appeared to be gazing at the Earth in a trance, while GARNER seemed to be preoccupied with the lunar dirt, along with IMURA. BURTON was watching Caitlin intently. The rest were facing Blake, including CALDERON, who was filming.
The astronaut backed carefully down the ladder and dropped onto the lunar surface with a puff of dust.
“Well hello, Caitlin!” Blake said. “Glad you could join us. Ladies and gentlemen, I believe our Command Module Pilot has a surprise for us. Something not on the itinerary.”
“You bet!” Caitlin took a few steps to the right, walking along the outside of the LEM. She stopped in front of a rectangular flat panel and flipped a switch. “I’m guessing you didn’t know that we had a garage on the lunar lander.” The panel slid to one side to reveal what looked like a storage area of some kind behind it. Inside it was dark, but when Suzette turned the video camera on it, its light revealed wheels, a chassis, and a parabolic dish.
“Walking long distances on the moon is dangerous and consumes more of our precious oxygen,” Caitlin said, squeezing into the garage alongside the object it contained. “And so, like some of the legendary Apollo missions before us, we’ve brought our own surface transportation.”
Blake nodded his hearty approval, the image of the group gathered around him bobbing crazily up and
Similar Books
