Chapter 12: The Clock is Running

By the time I made the drive back to the main building the lander had already been brought inside. Up close it was larger than I had expected. Picture a wide, three-story tall cone.

The lander was being attached to a support cradle which would invert it so that its lower surface heat shield could be refurbished. The underside was charred and still warm and it would need to be stripped and a new ablative coating applied. I stood off to the side watching until the unit was fully inverted.

I spoke to the air, “So, when will our first launch be?”

— The launch window opens at 20:04, Friday, November 3^rd. the duration of the window is twenty-three seconds.—

I looked at my watch. That was tomorrow night. The A.I’s did not mess around. I continued to watch the nose cone refurbishment for a few more minutes before deciding to go find myself some lunch. When my little storage crate car pulled up to my quarters I noted a small electric barbeque unit smoking near the entry. I walked in to find Ohmu at the kitchen table preparing my lunch. Her body’s image was of a cute little chef’s outfit.

“Hi, Honey! Lunch is about ready. Grab yourself a beer and have a seat,” she said.

I smiled as I did just that while she left my quarters with a plate. Half a minute later she returned carrying the makings of a perfect cheeseburger. Melted cheese on a nice-looking beef patty on a toasted bun. There were pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions all stacked neatly to the side.

I started assembling my burger while she retrieved a plate of golden fries from a device that resembled an air cooker. Everything looked and smelled great ... now to sample the taste. Delicious! I set to work demolishing the burger with gusto.

While I ate, Ohmu sat on my bed and asked, “How is your day going, Honey?”

I was torn between the humor in her question and her antics today and the powerful memories they triggered in me. How many similar meals had I enjoyed back when my family was alive and when my wife would cook me lunch. I was taken back to distant times when I had been busy working around the house and she had to come and find me to tell me that lunch was ready. I finished my mouthful and paused in my lunch to focus on Ohmu.

“I want to thank you for how well you take care of me. You have become a part of my life which I would rather not do without.”

Ohmu looked to be about to make some quip back at me when she paused. I swear I saw her cock her head as me slightly. After an abnormally long moment for her, she replied, “You are most welcome, John. It is my honor.”

The rest of my lunch was spent in silence. While I ate I continued to daydream about days long past. Ohmu was ... well, she just sat there watching me eat. I might have blown one of her circuit breakers or something.

Finally, I broke the silence by asking what her plans were for the next few days. She surprised me when she went into detail about the upcoming launch of the cargo launch vehicle to the master A.I.’s satellite base. I learned that this was to be the start of a major intelligence-gathering operation for her. The launch vehicle would be taking some very advanced scanning and espionage gear up to orbit.

I learned that the gear included micro-bots that would attach themselves to the exterior of the enemy satellite. They would be powered by induction and solar energy and would act as relays between other spy devices we would be leaving at the station and the base down here. The transmissions would be by low probability of detection encrypted laser pulses. The downside was that the data bandwidth would be very low. The nose cone would be returning and would also carry data back directly.

Also, during its approach and departure, the lander would be scanning the orbital station with extremely high-resolution cameras and sensors. These would cover the full spectrum and would include magnetic, radiation, and thermal scans. Once it was docked, very precise instruments would measure vibrations and mass changes as cargo was shifted. She hoped all this would help in developing an accurate model of the station.

I was concerned that if any of this was discovered, we would be toast. Naomi agreed it was a risk, but it was vital to get more intelligence on the orbital satellite. Also, some of the devices would not begin operating until after our lander had departed. She had begun planning various methods to infiltrate the space station but so far, nothing was promising, and all options had too many gaps in the information needed.

Naomi hoped to have the specialized gear constructed by midnight. This would give her almost a whole day to get it hidden aboard the launch vehicle before its launch tomorrow night. I offered to help but she declined saying that she wanted to isolate me from the lander as much as possible. DNA in any floating hair or whatnot was always a risk.

She then gave me various options for how to spend the afternoon. The one that piqued my interest was scuba diving. She said that new gear could be fabricated within the hour and that Habu could fly me and Ohmu over and drop us bomber-style into the water near a few small offshore rocks which had been known for great diving back in the days of the tourist.

With a plan set, I took a bit of time to use the newly improved toilet chamber that was now adjacent to my quarters. Shortly, a wheeled mobile unit delivered to me a scuba suit and a rebreather. I carried it to a nearby exterior doorway where Habu was to meet me. Half an hour later I was being carried through the air in a clear pod slung below the black aircraft as we skimmed along just above the wave tops.

I was dropped into the ocean along with Ohmu at a dive site once called Gordon Rocks. The tiny rock outcroppings were eighteen kilometers southeast of Baltra or just a few kilometers east of Santa Cruz. The site had been one of the premier dive sites in the archipelago and I looked forward to seeing abundant underwater life. Ohmu had a gear bag with her that included a pair of electric propulsion units and an assortment of spearguns and shark sticks.

We spent the afternoon exploring the ocean around the rocks. As I hoped, it was spectacular. At one point a school of hammerhead sharks swam by that must have numbered in the hundreds. I was above them and tucked up tight to a coral ledge with Ohmu standing by. Other times we moved around using the electric drives to counter the extremely strong current. Oh, the undersea life though! Hundreds of rays, sea turtles, you name it; it was there feeding in the rich upwelling current.

A few hours later I was exhausted. Ohmu signaled that Habu was overhead and we headed to the surface where a new clear plastic shell had been lowered into the water. Ohmu helped me inside and I waited underwater in the pod for a moment while she went above first. I watched her climb up a short cable to her bomb bay.

She had to move like a gymnast to get herself and the gear bag tucked inside but eventually made it. Next, Habu raised me out of the water until my pod was stuck tight to the aircraft’s underside. I had a smile plastered to my face as we flew back ‘home.’ It had been a while since we had a fun day and I had needed it.

Habu approached the launch pad’s connecting causeway as we neared the base and lined up with the long slick surface. At about five hundred meters from the large hangar doors, Habu dropped down until it was flying along just a half meter above the smooth roadbed. What the hell!

—bombs away — I heard just as the pod broke free and dropped me onto the roadway. We had ‘only’ been flying about fifty kilometers per hour and now I was sliding down the slick surface like a torpedo in the water.

“OHMU!” I yelled as I realized what she had done. I craned my head around to see her sliding along behind me on top of the gear bag. Once I realize that I was not going to instantly die I started to laugh and enjoy it. The assembly building door was approaching quickly though, and we had not yet slowed by much. I was beginning to worry as the closed door grew larger quickly.

Just as panic was about to make me start yelling, the large doors parted and began to slide open. We shot through the narrow opening still going almost twenty kilometers per hour and entered the hanger’s dark interior. I remembered that the booster had been parked just inside! But, instead of crashing into the solid metal booster, there was a SPLUCK! as we hit a pile of new sticky foam and stopped almost instantly.

I lay there for a minute continuing to laugh my ass off. A mobile unit arrived and began spraying a solvent of some sort which caused the foam to instantly break down to a wet puddle. Another unit arrived and began sucking up the liquid. Soon, the pod was opened, and I was helped to my feet. Ohmu guided me off the slick surface to the edge of the assembly building and helped me out of the sticky wetsuit.

“Ohmu! What the hell would have I done if your aim had been off?”

She retorted with, “I predict nothing important would have been damaged.” She forestalled my continued outrage by pointing at the open building doors. A mobile unit came in from outside. It had some sort of net gun installed. Ah.

My racing crate was there waiting and soon I was being whisked back to my quarters. Ohmu had remained by the launch vehicle to help with the installation of the spy gear. I was going to take a shower and enjoy a nap before supper. As tired as I felt from the diving, I was looking forward to a quiet evening reading. After a supper of pizza, that is just what I did, read the night away.

The next day was spent with many short trips to the east end of the assembly building to watch the launch vehicle grow. The ceiling-mounted gantry cranes were busy stacking the various stages of the craft. The nosecone reentry vehicle was last. Its ablative heat shield had been restored and the worst of the char scoured off. The cache of spying and recording devices had been hidden in both the cargo in the lower hull and in the nose cone.

At 14:20 the final stages were stacked, and the complete launch vehicle stood just inside the final large bay of the long assembly building. Naomi had created additional banks of lights just so I could have a decent view before she slid the craft out to the end of the launch causeway. It was amazing. The entire stack stood almost sixty-five meters tall.

Starting at its twenty-meter diameter base, the first twenty-five meters tapered as it rose. These were the booster and main propulsion sections. On top of those was the sixteen-meter diameter cargo section. This second extended upwards without tapering about thirty meters and made for a cargo volume of just over six thousand cubic meters. The final part of the launch vehicle was the nosecone. This stage was sixteen meters in diameter and just over ten meters high and tapered to a rough point.

The nosecone contained the DETs which provided all the electrical energy the craft needed to function. Since these DET’s were locked to fixed Earthly fusion plants, we should be getting back the same nosecone to insure power transmission losses due to distance issues remained constant and known. Each launching location tried to use the same nosecone and DETs for its launch vehicle for simplicity.

We could have probably swapped nosecones with any of the nearby launching locations, but it was easier just to return the same nosecone to the base that launched it. Naomi had reported that they had been swapped in the past depending on orbital docking or maneuvering needs, so there was a small chance that we would receive a different nosecone instead of the one we were launching. Since Naomi hoped this one would return with her hidden devices and ample stolen data, we needed lady luck’s help once again.

Ohmu and I moved back into the huge final assembly bay keeping well away from the large open doorway facing east. This time they were fully open including the top sections. Daylight spilled into the vast cavernous space and I removed my goggles. Silently the launch vehicle began to move out of the building and down the long causeway. I felt just a slight vibration in the floor as the ground struggled to bear the moving weight of the launch vehicle. The kilometer trip to the launch pad would take nearly an hour.

A locomotive sized support truck followed behind the retreating launch vehicle. This would keep the rocket’s upper stage topped off with hydrogen reaction mass and provide other services while the launch vehicle completed its short wait at the launch pad. As the massive rocket moved further away I asked Ohmu from where I could view the launch.