AMERICA ONE (20 page)

“I am not interested in the current race to space. If somebody else wins, that’s fine with me as long as the race distracts outside interest from our project. Yes, we are going to space. It is just that we won’t come back when expected, and when we do, we will have a cargo the world will pay top dollar for; platinum, radium and iridium will be among the precious cargos we bring back, not once, but hopefully three times before DX2014 flies out of range. All our secrecy is to give us as big a lead time as possible against our competition, which will begin to crawl out of the woodwork once they know what we are doing. Astermine, the parent company, is my company, and I am the 100% shareholder. Astermine is not working any other type of program, other than long-term space survival and space mining. Astermine has no other hidden or secret agenda. Please understand that. We are not anti-government or anti-military. We are a private company permitted by the state and the federal government to do the business we are in. We are not breaking any state, federal, or international laws. We are not against anybody, nor should anybody be against us. These are the rules of a free country, our free country. However, certain government agencies are extremely curious about our project and are attempting to discover exactly what we are doing and how we are doing it, with or without our knowledge. If they find out what we are doing, it is likely they will want to intervene and assume some governmental control for political and/or financial reasons.

“If—and when—we succeed, we will have achieved something no one else has even thought of. If we fail, and never get to space, we will be nothing more than a joke. So all of you now know our first mission. Other personnel know only smaller parts of the plan than you do; please remember you still only know only a small part of the whole plan yourselves. Once we return from DX2014, I promise you, everybody in this meeting will know of the whole plan. That is all for this meeting.”

A lot of water goes under the bridge.

“Do you think the government is really so interested in this company?” asked Maggie as she left the hangar with VIN and Penny.

“I think that Ryan is putting something together here that he understands will naturally get more and more scrutiny from the U.S. government,” replied VIN.

“Are you sure that he is not one of these mad scientists portrayed in Hollywood?” asked Penny.

“I wish sometimes it was that easy, Ms. Sullivan,” replied Ryan himself catching up to them.

“I’m sorry for saying that, but this is all so new to me and I think, like the colonel here, that we are trying to swim in uncharted waters!” replied Penny, apologizing, and immediately embarrassed.

“And I’m sorry I heard your conversation. This is still a free country, and you have those freedoms inside my boundaries on this airfield, Ms. Sullivan. Give yourself a few weeks, and you will be as happy to be part of this project, as are the others here, and some of whom I might add, have been working on this for decades, since I was nineteen. Ms. Sinclair, I came over to ask you if you would like to spend time in the flight engineering department. Ms. Sullivan may join you if she is interested as we will begin flight training the C-5 in about ten days.”

Maggie immediately agreed; the two girls headed off with Ryan in the direction of Hangar Six. VIN decided to go and see how his legs were coming along in Hangar Five.

When he entered he was happy to see Suzi already suited up, and this time she didn’t look like Suzi. Her whole body was covered in silver and gold metal, and she was working on walking with the added weight.

“Come on VIN!” she shouted. “Your suit is ready too. This is so much fun!”

His excitement grew as first his new legs, then his lower suit was placed on him, and then the new upper portion with the addition of a backpack, a breast plate, and finally a new helmet that resembled those worn by commercial divers and that had to be screwed onto the neck of his suit by technicians. He looked into Suzi’s shiny face plate and, yes! Now he was beginning to look a little like Iron Man, but right now more like an astronaut, a diver or even a knight, and he felt like asking for his horse.

Standing there waiting for the dozen technicians around him to complete fitting him up, he felt happy. That morning during the run, and for the first time since he had been at the air field, he felt so useless without his legs. Even seventy-year old women were beating him on the run. He was a damn Marine! A Force Recon officer! One of the toughest and best there ever was in any department of the military. Now he was being passed in a two-mile race by half a mile, by the slowest old ladies on the base! One even limped when she walked around for heaven’s sake!

“Suzi, on Friday we are running with our new legs. I’m sick of being the last over the line!”

“I agree,”
she replied through their intercom, and behind her new entanglement of metal and other products hiding her beautiful face.
“We will be doing that, and without our new upper bodies. Just the lower set we have waltzed with.”

For the next two days they worked together, working every part of their new upper suits, getting them to work together with the lower parts they had pretty much perfected.

The suits were hot and cold at the same time. The metal was cold, but the skin’s ability to cool a hard working body was being hampered by the suits’ inefficient cooling systems, and the temperature in the hangar was reduced by ten degrees to the 60s to accommodate them. Suzi and VIN walked together, shook hands and punched each other, clanking metal on metal, and were even asked to head butt each other to see what would happen to the electronics after a hard hit.

Several times they sat together, cooling down and talking while their upper suits were removed to modify a part. They even held real hands to feel what it was like after holding metal hands, and often both had hair that was wet with sweat after really hard workouts.

Late at night on their second full day they sat and waited for a modification. Both had now been in their bottom suits for twenty-six of the last thirty-six hours; they were sweaty and had just completed a series of push-ups and jumping-jacks on the stage.

They weren’t normal push-ups; when VIN pushed his new arms to straighten them, his upper body had pushed itself a foot or two off the ground. On one jumping-jack, he just about hit a metal beam across the hangar ceiling twenty feet above his head, and nearly went through the wooden stage when he landed.

Equipment and people had toppled over and Suzi just sat there laughing, the force of VIN hitting the ground even propelling her off the ground. The scientists decided to decrease the power output of VIN’s hydraulics that did the work around his major muscles. Sitting there VIN decided to ask an interesting question.

“Suzi are we supposed to wear these suits all the time while we are in space?”

“No” she replied “only when we are space walking, or walking outside the spacecraft. We will have the oxygen packs fitted to our backs, and I believe we will be allowed outside for only three hours a day. It will take our partners an hour to help us on and off with our suits. Why?”

“Well, I was thinking. If we are to wear these suits, or even other types of suits in space all the time, and we remain out there….how will we….I mean humans ever be able to have kids in space….you know what I mean?” he said shyly.

“Herr VIN,” stated Suzi sharply and trying to look stern, putting her hands on her hips and staring at him directly in his eyes. “If I want to have children with you, I will rip off my suit, and then I will rip off your suit, and then you and I will have children, understand?”

Totally shocked, he couldn’t come up with a reply to this comment, and he just nodded. “You Americans,” she said looking up at the hangar roof and rolling her eyes. “You Americans are so weird when it comes to sex,” she laughed as she was called back to suit up again.

Five hours later, and with a couple of hours of sleep, VIN was again suited up for the next morning’s run. He wore his lower section only tightly bound around his waist for support. Both he and Suzi wore two T-shirts, one underneath the binding supports and one over to hide the straps and mid-body mechanics from the tank-building workers in the specially fenced off area where they would be starting work. Under the T-shirts, oversized jogging trousers were worn to hide the leg metal, and then VIN placed new track shoes over his new metal feet. His feet were still a couple of sizes larger than his old feet, and he looked a little out of proportion–a six-foot tall person with size fourteen track shoes instead of his usual ten and a half.

He was excited having his first opportunity to walk around outside with the new track shoes, waiting for the start of the exercises. Even though it was still dark, the workmen could be heard a quarter of a mile away behind Hangar Four, tools clanking, and machines already moving dirt.

Jonesy was still only half awake and didn’t notice any changes to VIN, apart from the motorbike helmet. The two new Air Force girls arrived and also looked half awake. Even the technicians who had just put him together arrived in their exercise clothes and joined the group waiting for the exercises to begin.

As usual a voice shouted out orders, first for them to form up in loose formation and then shouted for the organized squads to warm up. VIN looked for Suzi and saw her, hidden underneath a tracksuit with a hood. She looked a little bigger, and slightly overweight compared to the others around her; the scientists looking in her direction were trying to see who this unfamiliar person was.

Ryan arrived, headed over to his usual spot in front and did not seem to notice Suzi or VIN.

They began the exercises and VIN tried his best to look normal. He just felt so much more powerful, and his push-ups were fast and rhythmic. His jumping-jacks were harder to control and even with an extra fifty pounds of added weight around him, he felt strong and struggled to jump less than a foot or so high.

“Something eating your butt?” asked Jonesy during the third round of push-ups. “You look like a fat, friggin’ horse dancing around in a jumping ring. Why are you wearing that helmet? You haven’t guzzled all our beers have you? You are putting on weight, kid!”

“Well, you look like you have lost weight, Mr. Jones” VIN joked, speaking like Ryan did to Jonesy. Your stomach looks flatter, you look fitter, and you seem to be able to jog for a change.”

“I’ve spent the last four days on a constant damn workout routine. I’m not giving up my senior pilot position away to that tall colonel she-pilot. I reckon I can out run anybody here today.”

“Bet you can’t,” replied VIN.

“How much you want to bet?” Jonesy panted, sounding serious as they began the last set of jumping-jacks.

“How much you got, Mr. Superman?” replied VIN. “I think you will lose to Superfraülein, Ryan, and the two Air Force chicks. They are all fit and fast. Hell, maybe I might even try running for once and whip your butt, Mr. Fancy Pilot!”

Jonesy sniggered and said nothing. He knew that only four days wasn’t enough to get super fit.

The whistle blew and the group all began heading in the usual direction across the apron and running towards the runway.

VIN took it easy and slowly let his machinery get used to the tarmac surface beneath his feet. He had been warned to stay on the asphalt, not close to the edge, and even with new non-slip track shoes he had to get used to bringing his feet down and connecting with the dark, hard surface below him.

It took time and Suzi slowed to allow him to run with her. “Look up VIN, don’t look down. Let your brain make the calculations it has done all your life. Look, look at your friend Jonesy! He is chasing Ryan and the two girls like a dog after a rabbit. We can see them now!”

VIN’s head came up and as he watched, his friend headed out in front of them. Jonesy was the last in a forward silhouetted group of a dozen; as the light grew brighter over the horizon VIN could see further than just the area around him.

He was getting a rhythm. It was almost like his real legs were back, but with little to no feeling. He tried to imagine that his real legs were there, looked at Suzi, smiled, saw the old lady who usually limped in front of him and forced his body to go faster.

“Not too fast Herr Olympic runner,” laughed Suzi as she did the same to keep up with him. They swept past the first lady, and began overtaking groups of people.

“Not too fast VIN,” stated one of his technicians as he passed another group. “Remember, stopping is half the work.”

Suzi caught up to him and laughed. “Your running form looks good. Your butt looks very, very good. How is my form?” she asked and suddenly she sped ahead, nearly running down a few scientists in front of her. VIN studied her running technique, She looked a little over weight in the lower body area, or like a winter runner heavily clothed. What was important was that Suzi looked like an everyday girl in Central Park jogging in winter. What really surprised him was the speed she actually put on to get in front of him. It didn’t look real. It looked like she just shot forward, her stride doubling in length. He concentrated on turning the corner carefully, and then headed along the runway end. He looked for the leaders; they were already a hundred yards or so past the second turn and there were four of them, Ryan still in the lead.

It was time to increase speed, and his mind wanted more power and got it. He caught up to Suzi and overtook her before they reached the corner to turn right and head back the way they had come. She realized his move and stayed abreast of him. Now they were passing people quickly.

“Suzi, make your legs pump faster. Your strides are far too long and don’t look right.” Suzi did as he suggested and her speed increased as she pumped her legs up and down faster and harder. Now they were catching the forward runners and passing them pretty quickly.

Then VIN saw the two pilot girls fifty yards ahead and Jonesy a few yards behind them putting pressure on them. The “she-pilots” as his partner called them, still looked fresh looking back at Jonesy every few seconds, playing with the older man. Then the girls noticed VIN just behind his partner, and Suzi without her wheelchair, and their eyes enlarged; not believing what they saw both looked forward to put on speed to catch Ryan only a hundred feet or so ahead of them.