Read Online The getaway special by Jerry Oltion - Free Book Online Page A

document and every memo that led up to it. There were bound to be some interesting surprises in the paper trail.
    She didn't plan to let it get that far. She said, "Thank you, Mr. President," and switched back to the space station frequency. "All right, Mary, we've got what we asked for, I'll bring it in for docking, but I'm going to take it slow. That hit we took could have screwed up our maneuvering engines." Mary evidently didn't want to risk a shuttle crashing into her space station, either. She said,
    "Understood, Discovery . Take your time."
    Judy did, using the aft work station controls to inch the shuttle closer to the habitat's airlock with tiny bursts of the smallest thrusters. She managed to stretch it out for over an hour, which gave them just fifteen minutes before they would be in position to make their break.
    Carl had been watching her work, criticizing her timid piloting all the while. She'd been counting on that; when the shuttle was still a couple hundred feet away, she turned to him and said, "All right, then, you finish it," and pushed away from the controls. He leaped to the task like any backseat driver given a chance to prove his superior talent, and while he concentrated on the docking, Judy pulled Allen with her down into the mid-deck.
    "Okay," she said when they were out of Carl's hearing. "You get a choice. You can go back on the next shuttle and stand trial, or you can leave with me in one of Fred 's emergency descent modules. We've got a twenty-minute window of opportunity opening up about ten minutes from now." Allen blinked in surprise. "You mean there's another way down?" From his bunk, Gerry said, "No, there isn't. Those things were never meant to be used. They were meant to make the public think NASA was doing something for safety." Judy had been filling her spacesuit's pockets with valuables from her personal locker; she stopped and looked over at Gerry. "The cynical spy speaks," she said.
    "Spy or not, I'm trying to save your lives. If you take an EDM, you'll burn up in the atmosphere."
    "What makes you so sure of that?"
    "I was on the committee that approved them."
    Was he? Judy tried to remember, but astronauts were on so many committees she could never keep straight who was on what. But even if he was, should she believe him about the modules' safety?
    NASA would never approve an emergency system that didn't work, would they? If an emergency ever happened, it would make them look even worse than if they had no system at all. Gerry said, "I mean it. Judy might survive if she goes alone and skips a couple of times before she takes the final drop, but Allen, you're fifty pounds too heavy. Even if you take your own module, you'll go down like a meteor the whole way."
    Judy finished loading her pockets. "Bullshit, Gerry. The EDMs are old technology. It worked with the Gemini capsules, and it'll work now. Allen, put on your suit." He didn't move. "Are you sure, Judy? What's Gerry got to gain by lying to us?"
    "I'll tell you what he's got to gain," Judy said as she straightened out the bottom half of her spacesuit, did a half somersault, and stuck both feet at once through the waist ring into the legs. "Two more scapegoats to share the blame with. Without us, all the heat's going to fall on him." Allen didn't look convinced, especially not when Gerry laughed and said, "Nice rationalization, Judy, but it doesn't change anything. Those EDMs are death traps." Judy didn't have the time to argue with him. She would have just ignored him, but Allen wasn't suiting up, and they had to be out the airlock before Carl docked the shuttle with the space station; otherwise their airlock would open directly into captivity. So she said the only thing she could think of to convince him.
    "All right, Gerry, I'll call your bluff. How about if I let you come with us?"
    "What?"
    "If I turn you loose, I'm betting you'll opt for an EDM, too." Gerry bit his lip, then laughed. "No way. Besides, there's only two