Reece Danielson

CHAPTER ONE: LIFT-OFF

Space, the adventure of a lifetime. Reece Danielson had to chuckle at the irony. He never wanted to go to space, a dream for so many in his generation. He had nothing against them or this opportunity. He was overjoyed to be selected for the latest four-person mission to Zhengzhou Space Station. It just simply never occurred to him to try for such a lofty goal. The long odds for selection to become an astronaut made it an unattainable career goal in his estimation. He'd focused on something within his grasp, the marines.

When the selection letter arrived for him at Marine Headquarters, he didn't believe it at first. He went around and around with the admins who eventually took it up the chain. He didn't want to get his hopes up and then have them dashed when it was revealed to be a mistake. The admins assured him that it wasn't a mistake. He was going to space. Nothing could remove the smile from his face.

Still, it was strange, considering he was confident that someone needed to actually apply in order to be selected into the program. He had done no such thing and he couldn't think of anyone who would have sent in an application for him. Certainly not his girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend rather. She was pissed at the assignment and ended up sleeping with his ex-best friend to get back at him. It never occurred to her that this wasn't his doing. Her mistake... he made sure to tell her that when he sent her packing. That diminished his smile, but only for a while.

The reality of becoming an astronaut was about to happen. It may not have been his dream growing up, but it was still an amazing opportunity, and he was thrilled to be going. He decided at the beginning of the six-month training regimen that he would make the most of it and forget his exes, "turn that frown upside down" as his old supervisor liked to say. Those six months flew by and now it was "GO" time. Strapped to the most advanced vehicle ever created by humanity, he was about to embark on a journey that would end well past Earth's upper atmosphere.

Reece was going to be the new mission engineer and would be responsible for all the mechanical and electronic components of both the shuttles and the space station. He understood that it would be a demanding job and the biggest challenge of his life.

Casting his musings aside, Reece got his head in the game. Taking stock, the first thing he noticed was that his body still ached. He wondered if the other three crewmembers on this mission felt any better. Reece and the others had been lashed to the aluminum seat for an eternity. Commander Rogers and Pasha Novak sat up front. He and Sora Park sat in the back; their seats staggered to afford them a better view. With the shuttle tipped on its end for lift-off, they were all laying uncomfortably in their chairs.

Reece could feel Earth’s gravity pulling him relentlessly into the lightly padded chairback, a dozen straps and buckles holding him firmly in place. With little to do but wait for the launch, he looked over the shuttle’s cabin area for anything out of place. A massive console filled the front of the cabin, splayed out in front of Rogers and Novak. The dark grey console consisted of hundreds of switches, toggles, levers, buttons, and had OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) indicators for each one as well as back-lit white lettering to describe its function.

Above the console were thick polymer windows stretched across the front third of the cabin. They allowed the astronauts to view their surroundings but right now, all Reece could see was blue sky. Above the windows hung several monitors, the largest an organic liquid display which would display the countdown to launch.

The rest of the cabin area was made up of conduit, access panels, indicator lights, and toggle switches for a hundred different fail-safes. Five feet behind Reece and Sora was the back of the cabin and the door that led to the cargo bay. Reece quickly verified everything was nominal, but his mind wouldn’t slow down. A hundred separate preparations played through his head while the launch technicians continued to double and triple-check everything. He needed to calm down.

Deciding to try a relaxation technique, Reece focused on what he could feel. His head was cool from the fresh haircut and shave. The shuttle doors had only recently been closed from the early spring morning, and what remained of his sandy-brown hair did little to protect his head from a lingering chill. That was okay. His time in the marine corps had gotten him used to mild discomfort. He flexed his muscles to keep them from getting too stiff. He could feel the soreness from his last workout underneath the aches of sitting still too long.

Stuck in the seat, he just grinned the annoying pain away. It was his fault anyhow. Having never been on a mission anything like this, he had figured it would be a while before he could resume his training regimen. Therefore, he had over-intensified his martial exercises on his practice bag. His arms and legs were jelly after so many kicks and punches.

Realizing that the relaxation technique had helped, Reece focused on his crewmates. After spending six-months with them, he had a good idea of their personalities. He studied each of them, wondering what they were thinking about as they prepared themselves for whatever trials were to come.

The new mission commander, Alex Rogers, was seated in front of him and just to his left. He was no-nonsense, had little sense of humor, and was a total hard ass. He had the body and size of a professional Battleball line-defender. His square jaw and deadpan gaze made his piercing blue eyes seem even more intimidating. Everything about the man was intimidating and he seemed to enjoy it, little smirks giving it away.

Reece had found the man to be a bully though he had never been on the receiving end of it. Rogers seemed bent on creating an inner circle amongst the many astronauts during training and he had continually tried to pull Reece in. It never worked. Reece hated bullies and on top of that, he kept getting a very bad vibe from the larger man. Regardless, Reece was a professional and he learned to tolerate the man. He was up the chain of command from him, after all.

Looking to the right of Rogers, Reece glanced at the mission and shuttle co-pilot, Pasha Novak. Thin and wiry, he would’ve passed for a marine if not for the brown hair sticking out at odd angles and hanging around his eyes and down below his chin.

Directly to his right sat Sora Park, a Korean biologist. Reece thought she would be cute with her button nose and pouty lips if it wasn’t for the intense look that she always seemed to give him. Reece had heard she was assigned to some special project that was ongoing on the space station.

Static blared over the intercom, interrupting his thoughts. It was immediately followed by a male voice, smooth and clear, which Reece recognized as one of Ground Control’s operators.

“All stations have checked in and all systems are in the green,” said the man. “Commander Rogers, are you ready for take-off? Over.”

“Comms check everyone. Are you ready?” queried Commander Rogers.

“My mother always used to say, never go to the pub without money!” exclaimed an excited Pasha.

“Now, what in Hades does that mean?” demanded the instantly aggravated Commander.

“I am prepared, of course... Commander,” replied Pasha with supreme confidence.

“Alright then, Ms. Park?” grumbled the Commander, continuing through the crew comms checks.

“Ready, sir,” Sora softly replied.

“How about you, Danielson?”

“Good to go,” Reece replied, clenching his teeth.

“Okay, Ground Control. We’re ready for take-off. Over,” stated Rogers.

The operator’s voice piped up over the static of the intercom in reply to the commander’s statement. “In that case, good luck, and may the speed of Hermes propel you to your destination. Prepare for countdown. Over.”

A ‘90’ in glowing green numerals appeared on the large monitor above the main console area. This is what Reece was waiting for. After a few seconds, the glowing green number started counting down. By the time it hit ‘60’, Reece started feeling cold and clammy.

Trying to calm down again, he began taking long, deep breaths as he glanced over to Sora and smiled. She was a bit pale, and her eyes were scrunched but she was able to weakly smile back, furrowing her thin eyebrows in the attempt. At ‘30’, the anxiety started to melt away as they focused on the imminent launch and their training kicked in.

By the time the counter hit ‘10’, a loud robotic voice started chanting the numbers as they flashed by, and Reece was completely calm. Another benefit of his experiences in the marines. At ‘1’, the spacecraft started to rumble as the solid rocket boosters flared to life. Reece kept his jaw clenched to keep his teeth from chattering.

He and his crew were forced back hard into their seats as the spacecraft accelerated into the sky at almost 3Gs with nearly 8 million pounds of thrust. The sleek new shuttle was a far cry from the old-fashioned ones from the previous century. Still sporting the trademark white over grey motif, that’s where the similarity ended. Longer than the original generations of shuttles, it had a much sleeker look to it. This was accentuated by the smoothly swept body, curved wings, and tapered tail that were designed to virtually eliminate the plasma cloud and friction variables that would super-heat the older shuttles upon reentry.

Despite its professional and sporty look, the high-pitched whine of the slipstream and the constant shaking of the boosters made it seem like the shuttle might break up, but after a couple of minutes the boosters separated with small explosions and the shuttle smoothed out and quieted down for the remainder of the ascent. As the boosters autonomously returned to the launch area, the space shuttle continued to accelerate spaceward under its own powerful fusion thrusters.

The crew traveled at a more tolerable 1G for a short while before slowly accelerating more and more once they escaped the friction of the atmosphere. Near the end of the burn, the shuttle was going nearly Mach twenty-seven. Reece felt like he had a four-hundred-pound gorilla sitting on his ribcage, then it lifted. The violent ascent was over, and Reece experienced the true weightlessness of space. He breathed a sigh of relief and loosened the white-knuckled grip he had on his armrests. As they achieved a stable orbit, he looked over at Sora again and she gave a weak smile back.

“This must be what it feels like to have an elephant on top of you,” she grumbled.

“Yeah, or a really big woman,” added Pasha, straining to smirk. “Isn’t that right, Commander Rogers?”

“Ouch, Pasha...” replied the distressed geologist before the commander cut her off.

“Silence!” chastised the already irritated commander.

“That’s no way to talk to a lady,” said Pasha in mock sadness.

“Are you talking about Sora or yourself?” Reece asked jokingly.

“Well, I am a lesbian trapped in a man’s body,” quipped Pasha.

“Cut the chatter!” barked the commander, and the crew quieted down for the moment.

“We’ve all switched over to internal comms, Commander,” provided Reece, eager to calm the agitated man. “Only folks that can hear us are on this boat.”

“Fine,” mumbled Rogers reluctantly. “Just keep it down. I have to check in now.”

For once, the crew remained silent.

“Ground Control,” announced Rogers over the main intercom. “We had a successful launch, and we are now in orbit. Over.”

The intercom clicked back on, and the crew could hear cheering in the background as Ground Control replied. “Copy that, Commander. You are cleared to proceed with the mission. Report in when you’ve docked with the station. And Commander Rogers…good job. Over.”

“Copy that and thanks,” replied the commander. “We’re on our way. Over and out.”

The crew’s anxiety seemed to disperse as the co-pilot, Pasha Novak selected rendezvous coordinates with the space station. Reece felt the subtle momentum shift as the shuttle changed velocity to facilitate the docking of the shuttle to the station. It was on Zhengzhou space station where their mission would truly begin.

“So, lady and gentlemen,” said Novak. “We’ll be drinking beer with our space station friends in just under an hour. The Nav System has it from here. Anyone have a deck of cards? I could teach you all Taroky while we wait.”

“While I admire your enthusiasm,” replied the commander. “I think we should relax, get our heads straight, and prepare for the mission. We have a very long day ahead of us, and I doubt anyone else even knows what Taroky is.”

Pasha shrugged and smiled before looking back, winking at Reece. A look of wonder crossed Sora’s face, momentarily replacing the strained look that the mission seemed to be bringing out of her. Reece even caught Rogers smiling for a moment. They had all seemingly taken a break from the constant weight of responsibility thrust upon them. Their collective moment grounded Reece and had him feeling more aware and prepared than at any time since entering the shuttle.

Soon, the navigation computer’s timer went off and the computerized voice spoke again. “This is your five-minute warning. We will reach our destination soon. Prepare for docking maneuvers."