Ancient Birthright (61 page)

Beldon, Dantee, and Tuuan continued answering questions until it was time to board the smart ships and head for the
Universe Explorer
.

Chapter-73

“Captain Lincoln, you’re with me,” Dantee said as she turned to head to one of the original PTOs they’d brought to the Moon. “Lieutenant Pena will fly with Reedn in the other PTO. The casroo engineers have already packaged the space debris into manageably sized packages and loaded them in the cargo area of the two PTOs we’ll take to the
Universe Explorer
.”

“Step through the access hatch and take the seat to the right of the center pilot’s couch. This ship is a much older design than the smart ships and doesn’t have the ability to extrude couches and control panels. The PTOs were developed at the same time as the
Universe Explorer
was growing. We use them to lift equipment and supplies from Earth to the
UE
, thus the name ‘Planet to Orbit’ or PTO. As you can see, this PTO can easily carry ten crew and passengers with a cargo capacity of fifty-thousand pounds when taking off from Earth.”

“Did I get the seat belt latched properly?” Captain Lincoln asked.

“You’re good to go. We have a third crewmember traveling with us today. This is Engineer Danna. He will be acting as loadmaster to make sure our cargo stays in place. This craft does not have artificial gravity like the smart ships. We will be in zero-gee when we’re not under acceleration or deceleration.”

“The cargo is secure, and I’m ready for launch when you are,” Engineer Danna said.

“Ground crew
PTO One
is ready to cycle through the airlock.”

“Roger,
PTO One
. Moving you now,” responded a voice over the radio.

Dantee felt a lurch as the tractors began pulling them into the open airlock. The view screens showed Reedn’s ship moving into the airlock next to them.

Dantee got Captain Lincoln’s attention, “Watch what I do when we are clear of the airlock and the tractors have pulled back. I’ll explain the controls and displays as I use them.”

A few minutes later, “
PTO One
, tractors are clear.”

“Copy, ground crew. Beginning rotation to launch attitude,” Dantee called over the radio.

“We need to rotate our orientation so we are standing with the main engine pointed toward the Moon’s surface. I’ll use the attitude thrusters to lift the nose. I couldn’t do this on Earth, but with the Moon’s gravity being one sixth that of Earth, we can just manage it.” The PTO rotated onto its tail.

“Hey Dantee,
PTO One
and
Two
are really lame call signs. I think we need to come up with something better,” Reedn called over the radio.

Dantee glanced at Captain Lincoln. “Any suggestions?”

“How about ‘
Solar Flare’
,” Captain Lincoln said.

“I like it,” Dantee replied. “Reedn, we are going to be ‘
Solar Flare
.”

“Okay, I’m going to be ‘
Patooee’
,” Reedn responded. “That sounds like tobacco juice hitting a spittoon.”

“
Patooee
, this is
Solar Flare
, ready for launch.”

“I’m going to have you fly the launch, Captain Lincoln,” Dantee said.

“When I’m flying, my handle is ‘Reaper’. Are you sure you want me to do this. I’ve never even come close to doing anything like this before.”

“You’ll do fine, Reaper. I’ll be watching and ready to step in if anything gets out of hand. I’ve plotted the launch trajectory, so just use the controls to keep the cross hairs centered on the trajectory indicator. The engine throttle is the tee-lever under your left hand. When you’re ready, advance the throttle all the way to the forward stop until you feel the weight of acceleration then slowly pull it back until the accelerometer shows two-point-five gees.”

“
Patooee
,
Solar Flare
is ready for launch.”

“
Solar Flare
,
Patooee
is ready, and will follow with five-second separation.”

“Okay Reaper, the ship is yours.”

Captain Lincoln took a deep breath and settled himself more comfortably into the couch. He made eye contact with Engineer Danna and received a nod. Dantee placed her hand lightly over his on the throttle and gave him an encouraging smile.

Dantee followed Reapers movements and noted that he had a very light, easy touch on the controls. The accelerometer smoothly climbed to two point six before he eased off on the throttle. “Very nicely done for your first launch. You need to start throttling back just a little sooner, so you don’t overshoot, but that will come to you as you get the feel of the controls. Now keep the track indicator centered in the cross hairs, and the system will let you know when we are half way there. You will then rotate 180 degrees so we can use the main engine to decelerate. Do you have any questions?”

“This seems so simple. Why does it take two years to become a PTO pilot?”

“This was the easiest planetary launch scenario, a light-gravity body without atmosphere and no obstructions to your destination. Hang on a second.” Dantee spoke in the radio. “
Patooee
,
Solar Flare
is going to do some spin-roll recovery maneuvers. Please give us some separation.”

Reedn came back with, “Roger,
Solar Flare
.
Patooee
will clear a thousand miles to your nine o’clock and do the same.”

Dantee turned to Reaper. “I’m going to put us in a gentle spin and have you recover from it. Be careful not to overcorrect, or we will spin the other way and develop a roll along with the spin. Remember we do not have atmosphere to dampen the motion, so everything has to be done with the attitude thrusters. The first step is to bring the main engine throttle to the cutoff stop. If we do start to roll, and the main engine is providing thrust, we could end up pin-wheeling all over the universe. Second, watch the flight attitude indicator for a few seconds and determine what the ship is doing around all three axes. I believe you call it pitch, roll and yaw. Determine which axis has the least movement, and begin slowly correcting it until you cancel the motion. Repeat the process until you have stabilized the ship. Ready? Watch me do it the first time. I have the ship.” Dantee put the craft into a slow spin around its center axis and then smoothly reduced the spin until they were stable. “Now you try.”

Twenty minutes later, Reaper wiped the sweat from his eyes and massaged the back of his neck. “I think that’s enough for your first lesson,” Dantee said. “The body and brain can only absorb so much without taking a little time to analyze the information. Bring us back on course and back to two-point-five gees. I will recalculate our trajectory and give you the new course as soon as I can.”

Dantee flipped the navigation input terminal up into her lap and began tapping pads as fast as her fingers could move. The course indicators shifted, giving them a new aim point that would bring them to the
Universe Explorer,
since they had traveled off the original path during the lesson.

“
Patooee
,
Solar Flare
has completed the training session and is resuming course to
UE
.”

“Roger,
Solar Flare
. We are closing on you, and will take trail position with five mile separation. Lieutenant Pena is a little green, but he did surprisingly well,” Reedn said.

“Someday I’d like to try flying an atmospheric craft. It must be really different having wings to provide lift and control,” Dantee said.

“The next time you’re at Andrews, give me a call, and I’ll see if I can get a plane. I’m not sure how we’ll handle your tail in the ejection seat but we’ll work something out. I’ll probably have to control the rudder pedals but you should be able to handle the control stick and throttles. Dantee, I just wanted to tell you that you’re a great instructor. Your directions were clear and concise, and even when I was making dumb mistakes, you calmly talked me through the problems.” Reaper corrected a slight spin as it started. “I must admit, you’ve been one of the best instructors I’ve ever had.”

Dantee’s skin flashed several colors so quickly that she seemed to glow. “Thanks, Reaper. I appreciate that,” her voice trailed off. “We’re coming up on the deceleration point so get ready to cut the main engine, and use pitch or yaw to point us in the other direction before you set the engine to provide two-point-five gees of deceleration.”

A little over an hour later, the two PTOs were aboard the
Universe Explorer
, and locked into holding cradles.

“We are on the central axis of the
Universe Explorer
. As you can feel, there is no gravity,” Dantee said. “Move slowly and think about where you want to go before you push off or try to take a step. Move too fast or push off too hard and it could take a long time to get to another surface to make a correction.”

They stepped out of
Solar Flare
to see Reedn and Lieutenant Pena doing the same from
Patooee
.

“Holy smoly...this room is huge,” Captain Lincoln said.

“This is the storage and staging area for the load pods and pteros, so it has to be big.”

“What’s a ptero?”

“I’ll show you in a few minutes. The Discovery Network program is going to be shown in the ptero growthbay.”

“Dantee, Reedn, bring your guests. The program is starting in a few minutes,” Caraa Garuu called from the launch bay entrance.

“That’s Ops Prime Caraa Garuu, second in command of the
Universe Explorer
.”

“She’s your grandmother, isn’t she?”

“Yup. That’s Granny.” Dantee jerked to a stop. “Ah—don’t tell her I called her that.”

Captain Lincoln made a move to climb down the access ladder since they’d been cradled in the second PTO slot above the floor.

“Not that way,” Dantee said as she held out her hand. “Just relax and give a little hop.”

When he did, Dantee pushed off from the hatch and sailed toward Caraa. They slowly settled to the floor about ten feet from her. Reedn and Lieutenant Pena joined them a second later. Introductions made, they headed toward the growthbay as quickly as they could in the light gravity. Their speed increased as the gravity increased and permitted more control.

Traffic picked up, as they got closer to their destination. Caraa told them that all but a handful of the crew would be attending the viewing. Chairs and couches from just about every occupied cabin had been moved into the growthbay to provide seating. All of the seats close to the front of the room had already filled.

“I need to join Command Prime on the stage, so I’ll talk to you later,” Caraa said.

“Reedn, Dantee, up here,” called a deep raspy voice.

Dantee looked up to the top launch balcony and saw Baany fluttering his wings. “Baany saved us seats with him,” Dantee told Reedn as she pointed up.

She turned to direct Captain Lincoln to the steps leading up to the launch balcony fifty feet above the floor. He seemed frozen in place with his mouth open. “That’s Baany, one of the pteros. There are six of them altogether. You’ll see a segment on them in the program tonight. You’ll like him. He’s got a great sense of humor.” Dantee looked down the growthbay, “It looks like the others are giving rides.” She pointed to the flying pteros in the distance.

“How big are they?” Captain Lincoln asked.

“Baany’s the biggest. He has a wingspan of one-hundred and sixty-two feet. Beautiful aren’t they,” Dantee said as the other five pteros sailed overhead and made the turn to deliver their passengers to the loading platform. Dantee noticed the President, his wife and two of the Secret Service agents climb from the basket.

“Let’s get upstairs before all the seats are gone,” Reedn complained.

He led the way up the five flights of steps and walked directly to the space between Baany’s legs. Tuuan was already there with her brothers and sister who had been clutched at the same time as Saigg and Renna’s second clutch. The Metzler children were with Tuuan as well as Dantee and Reedn’s younger siblings.

Reedn made the introductions then took a seat next to Tuuan.

Dantee told Baany about the two Air Force pilots and described the training sessions they’d had on the way to the
Universe Explorer
.

“I have great respect for you pilots on Earth, risking your lives in little more than a couple of sticks, baling wire and a piece of cloth. So how fast can you fly? Have you broken the fifty mile an hour barrier yet?”

Captain Lincoln looked like he was ready to launch into a long speech on the advancements in modern Earth aircraft when Dantee’s laughter stopped him.

“Baany and his friends are avid followers of all types of aircraft. He was just pulling your leg,” Dantee explained. “Captain Lincoln and Lieutenant Pena fly F22’s,” Dantee told Baany.

“I can’t wait to get a close look at one of those. The pictures I’ve seen, and the few videos I’ve come across are really intriguing. Laminar flow technology and vectored thrust in a high Mach plane must make it a real screamer. Is it a handful to fly?” Baany asked.

Captain Lincoln’s answer was cut short. “It looks like the program is about to get started,” Dantee said.

Chapter-74

Beldon walked Cindy to her seat on the stage then introduced the First Lady to his extended human family. As normally happens, when mothers of older children meet, Susan and Beldon’s mother and mother-in-law launched into details of their children and their accomplishments as well as their grandchild production.

Look at them. They could be relatives who’ve not seen one another for a while. Just catching up and trying to out brag each other.

Beldon watched as Command Prime Garuu stepped up to the podium. “If everyone will take your seats, we will get started with this evening’s program.” Prime Garuu made the announcement in Common and repeated it in English. He introduced the humans and souls seated on the stage with a short biography of each. The humans applauded, and the souls in the audience soon followed suit. Prime Garuu then turned the podium over to Saigg and Beldon.