Chapter 28: Space The Final Frontier

Life on the Station

We had to float ourselves out to the boarding dock into Yuri Gagarin City. Thank God for Velcro booties and wrist pads. When we got to the hub, we had to negotiate the rotating hub air lock. We would get to do that a lot. In the hub there were six elevator-like doors. They opened into compartments that went from the hub to the wheel. These were to transition from zero G's at the hub to 0.8 G's at the rim of the wheel. There were also access tubes that had ladders. I was glad to use the elevator.

When we got to the rim we all had to go through a WE ID process. That took one minute. They had two people stowaway just to get to space. People, food and materials were expensive to ship and support. Everyone had to have a needed job. Yuri Gagarin City did not have tourists, at least not yet.

We met Bob M, Mary/Fran, Abe, Willamina, Rick and Kit in the waiting room outside of identification. Hey, half of us were here.

A small lady with the name Regan James escorted us to our quarters and gave us a quick tour of the station. There were six cafeterias. Each cafeteria was next to an elevator tube. She explained the emergency air lock/fire doors between segments of the wheel. We would have fifteen seconds after the alarm sounds to clear the door. The door was bordered by a one foot wide fluorescent red strip. It had a knife edge and would cut a body in half if necessary. Do not stand in the emergency door frame.

Regan told us we would have 20 hours to rest and get used to 0.8 G's. We were waiting for the second ship to bring the rest of the Graton Squadron. None of us had eaten before we left the surface. We were all hungry. After we stored our equipment we headed for the closest cafeteria.

The Cafeteria was nice and we could look out windows at the Earth below. Dad always told me not to eat in restaurants at the top of a high rise. They would pay more attention to the view and the food was neglected. Well this is the highest high rise. The food was one step down from an MRE! We all tried different dishes. The super nachos were just ok. The salad was fresh. The coffee was weak like tea.

I looked at Cynthia's boobs and drooled. At least her milk was fresh and tasted good.

"What should I eat to keep production up?" she asked me.

God, she is smart!

We went to our quarters, 7-05-A. They were as spartan as the barracks at the UNASA Academy. The closet and drawers were built into a common wall with the quarters next to ours. There was a toilet and a sink in each unit. The shower was in a common area for each segment of the wheel. The wheel had twelve segments. Two segments were offices and meeting rooms.

We had 16 hours to kill. I looked at Cynthia and we both had the same idea at the same time. This really was a mile high championship location. We went to our quarters and started kissing, rubbing, fondling and sucking. It was not long before we both had an orgasm.

Cynthia liked the woman superior position. It gives her control of the intercourse process. She rolled me on my back and climbed aboard. My cock quickly found its docking port. We came then fell asleep. We woke up eight hours later. Our bed was wet. We needed new linen.

I contacted Regan on net.

She said we were responsible for laundering our own linens. We were issued one set of linens per couple. There was a laundry next to each cafeteria. Cynthia and I headed for the laundry. We met Mary/Fran and Bob M., and Rick and Kit washing their bedding there too.

I smiled at my crew!

I found out the rest of the squadron would be arriving in twenty minutes. We went to the cafeteria next to the ID station to wait for them to arrive. I got Cynthia and me a cup of tea each. We could at least control the concentration.

I contacted all of the squadron and let them know to meet us at spoke five cafeteria.

Reagan James came and asked me to bring the squadron to conference room 6-B (Segment 8 Conference room B) after we got them settled in their quarters. We were all assigned to rooms in segment 7. Each segment had an A or B hall. There were fifteen rooms in the residence segments. We were scattered through segment 7. Reagan asked that we be in conference room at 2200 local time. We would meet our captain! We had one hour.

We all walked together to conference room 6-B. When we walked in, I was surprised. Reagan was talking to a man with his back to us. He turned around and there was Captain Fritz Maytag, our old DI!

We all snapped to attention.

Fritz said, "At ease."

He asked us to each take a seat. There were fourteen seats.

He rose and said, "Welcome to Yuri Gagarin City. This is the home base of the Graton Squadron. I have been selected to be the first captain of the Asteroid Defense Ship Enterprise. It is presently under construction in space dock five. This is your ship. The name Enterprise has been used on four previous Earth ships. It is a proud name and has a special place in history. Our ship is a proud ship. I am sure it will live up to and exceed the honor that name imparts."

"I have four officers that I would like to introduce. First, you all know Commander Tom Savage; he is our Executive Officer. You met Commander Reagan James she is our engineering officer. Lieutenant Leona Penniwinkle is our Communications specialist. Lieutenant Abe Johnson is our weapons officer. Commander Savage will post the other crew assignments on the 7-AA bulletin board."

"We have six Soyuz tugs ready for service. For the next week we will be on garbage detail. We will travel around the near space and collect any space junk and bring it back for proper disposal on the moon. These exercises will be better than the Soyuz simulators for familiarizing you with the characteristics of the tugs. You will get plenty of experience docking, fueling and positioning equipment (junk.) I am dividing the squadron into two teams. My commanders will be heading the teams. While one team is picking trash the other team will be providing tactical and engineering support. We will work together. I have seen your teamwork capabilities at the Academy. We are going to test that teamwork NOW."

"We will have a one hour meal break and a six hour rest period. We want to be fresh when we blast that trash! Commander Savage you are the first away team. See all of you here in Conference Room 6-B at 0500 local. You are dismissed. Tom and Reagan, may I see you in my quarters in ten minutes? We have a lot to go over."

Well that was a shock! We had a ship name. We knew who the major officers were. We knew what we would be doing in the next week. I had to meet with Fritz in ten minutes. I took Cynthia to the cafeteria. I told her that I would meet her back at our quarters. I did not know how long Fritz would talk with Reagan and me.

Fritz was quartered in 7-04-B. As I walked up to the door, I met Reagan coming the other way. I knocked. We were invited in.

Fritz was sitting behind a very small desk. He was looking at plans on his laptop. He looked up and smiled. He said, "Welcome. I have something for you two. It is two laptops with a complete set of plans for both the ADS Enterprise and our Soyuz tugs. By this time tomorrow I want both of you to have them memorized. We need one other officer and I am going to let Tom select the best qualified person. We need a medical officer. Who should it be Tom?"

I thought for a minute then I knew. "Your Medical officer should be Mary/Fran. She has the best connection to the WE in our bodies. She is a controller. Mary/Fran was involved in curing Cynthia's back when we first connected. She also has psychological skills she used on Adam and Elizabeth. She will be leaving after a year so it will be important for her to start training a replacement. I recommend Willamina for her assistant."

Fritz turned to Reagan and said, "You have reviewed the Squadrons bio's. We need an assistant engineer. Who would you choose?"

Reagan thought for a few minutes then said, "My choice is Rick Hightower. He was definitely a nerd growing up. And Engineering is a home for nerds. I want Rick."

Fritz smiled and said, "Tom make it so."

I thought I heard that before somewhere.

We were dismissed. I had to make my crew assignments. I took my laptop and returned to Cynthia. I decided that I wanted back up people for each command position. That meant I needed XO, Com, and weapons back up officers. The Squadron also had to be divided into two parts for Soyuz fleet assignment. These were my initial assignments:

I posted the crew assignments outside my room. I opened my laptop and started looking at the plans for the ADS Enterprise. Cynthia came over and looked over my shoulder. We spent the next two hours studying the plans. Cynthia and I had every drawing and database recorded in our total recall brains. We were ready for Fritz. I called Reagan on net and asked, if she had talked to Rick about studying the plans for the ADS Enterprise.

She had not. She would get Rick and do that now.

Cynthia and I went to sleep. I set my chronometer, so did Cynthia.

Morning was artificial on the station. We rose at 0400 local and ran the wheel. If you ran in the A hallway you could run all the way around the wheel. One lap was 1/4 of a mile. We ran 20 laps and headed for the showers. We then headed for the Roach Pit aka the cafeteria. Only roaches would eat the garbage served for food. I got some Shredded Wheat, two apples and tea. Cynthia and the others had the same. It was the only eatable food on the menu.

Fritz was there and came over and sat with us.

Reagan and Rick came stumbling in at 0450.

"You got those plans memorized, Fritz said.

Reagan and I said, "Yes sir."

"Good." He said, "Later this week the five of us are going on a tour of our ship. I want us all to help inspect every inch of her. We will be living on her for the next year. If something goes wrong we get to fix it. I would prefer that nothing goes wrong.

We all agreed with him.

I asked to speak freely.

"OK"

"Could anything be done about the quality of the food?" I asked, "I would prefer to eat MREs than the slop served here. Even the coffee is bad."

He smiled, "We will be living on MREs when we are on a mission."

I responded, "My wife Neva is in the Culinary Arts Program at Santa Rosa J.C. May I ask that she and her classmates fix us some meals to replace the MRE and this cafeteria food? Neva is an excellent chef. We could give them at least three weeks before we would need the meals. It would be good training for them and we would not have to become anorexics."

Fritz laughed and said, "Let it be so. The MREs won't be shipped for four weeks."

I know I have heard that somewhere before. I called Neva on net. It was 0200 in Graton.

She was not pleased with the call until she recognized that it was her husband. She both woke up and became pleasant in the same minute.

I explained our plight and need.

She thought it was a good idea. She would have to run it past her instructor and program chairman. She would get back to me later today with their decisions.

Fritz said, "Meeting time."

We had two minutes to get to the conference room. Fritz did not like starting anything late.

The squadron was ready. The tables were gone.

I gave my report on staff assignments.

Reagan talked about the new ship It would have both chemical rockets and ion drives. She wanted all crew members to plan on spending time familiarizing themselves on both propulsion systems.

Fritz then led us in 1/2 hour of Tai Chi.

He then showed us a video of the space junk left after 40 years of space flight. The junk was becoming a navigation hazard. We had been given the job of cleaning the area around Yuri Gagarin City. Other squadrons would get their volume of space to clean as they graduated.

"Each cleaning mission will familiarize the squadron on the dynamics of the Soyuz space craft, the fuel needs, and navigation in space. It is a real pain to run out of fuel 15 miles from your home port. I do not want to run any rescue missions for lack of planning."

"The Soyuz simulators are located in Conference Room 1-AB. We will go there and plan a mission and fly it. Flight Crew A will plan the mission for Flight Crew B. We will break for lunch for one hour at 1200. Then Flight Crew B will plan the mission for Flight Crew A."

"We will meet back here at 1800 to critique the day's activities. You are dismissed. See you at 1-AB in ten minutes."

Fritz motioned for Reagan and myself to come to him. After everyone left he said, "I want you two to monitor the two crews. Reagan, you have Flight Crew B and Tom you have Flight Crew A. Yes, Tom, I am splitting you and your wife up. It will be just for this exercise."

I did not like it but I could see the wisdom in that arrangement.

We went to the simulators and flew the plan for Flight Crew B. They all ran out of fuel 1000 feet from the docking ports. Flight crew A did not run out of fuel but they had too much space junk to store at the space dock. Reagan and I were glad this was only a simulation. Fritz just shook his head in dismay. We all knew we had a lot of simulator time to do before we would be ready to move an asteroid. The crews knew it too. There were no happy campers this evening.

We adjourned to conference Room 6-B for the debriefing. Fritz went over the reasons for the errors. The main error was the Flight Crews accepting the flight plans without checking for problems. The pilot and navigator of each Soyuz is ultimately responsible for a successful mission. We would all meet at 1-AB at 0500 tomorrow. We were to study our missions and see where they were in error, then generate a corrected flight plan.

We all went to the Roach Pit for a very quiet dinner.

While at dinner I got a net call from Neva. Good news. The JC just got a surplus food irradiator. The department head really wanted to try it out. We tried a MRE. We are sure that we can do better. We have three teams working on meal plans. We hope to have some samples for the Graton Squadron in five days. Dad says he will pay the shipping for the samples. We will make them lighter than the MREs. If they are a 'go' we could have a production line ready in ten days.

I forwarded the information to Fritz. We had some political fences to climb. The cafeteria chefs were really not happy that most people were ordering MREs instead of the food they prepared. If we brought in food from Earth the Yuri Gagarin City might be in jeopardy of six big explosions at their spoke connections.

"Rachael said to watch the squadron like a hawk," Fritz said. "OK I will arrange a meeting with food services and you. You will be given an opportunity to make your proposal. Do not be surprised if you are scrubbing potatoes for the next five weeks. You are on very thin ice. It is partially my fault. I did give you permission to call your sister. I did not expect the result you got. Your family is dangerous to careers. Rachael told me. She told me to be careful. I really don't want to work for the Food and Home Corps."

I was on the spot. Fritz had the three chefs in the 7 cafeteria. They were waiting for me. What did my wife call me? Fearless Leader!

Fritz introduced me to the head chef. He was named Joseph Winston.

Joseph looked at me. "What do you feel is needed to improve the meals in Yuri Gagarin City?"

I was on the spot big time. Their food was cold when it should be hot and warm when it should be cold and everything had one taste. It tasted like cardboard. The coffee was weaker than tea and still tasted like cardboard. All of the Graton Squadron had been spoiled by my sisters. I told them my family history; with two sisters one cousin and a wife, all gourmet chefs, our expectations may have been a little high. We had all had MRE meals while at Top Gun school and they at least had some flavor and were hot when we ate them. We expected better than that with the cafeteria food. We are all disappointed. We needed real coffee and hot tasty food and cold tasty food.

"How would you fix the meals here?" Joseph asked.

"I cannot," I said,. "I am busy defending the Earth from Asteroids. I would have my sister Maria Zebulon come and survey your kitchens and have her make menu recommendations. She is the head chief at Teddy's restaurant in Graton CA. They serve about 1000 meals a day."

Joseph asked, "Would she do that?

"I do not know. I could ask her. You would have to pay her lift flight costs."

He looked sad. "You know that you are not the only one to complain. You are the first one to do so by name. You do have chutzpah. Ok, please ask her. We will pay for her lift flight. I am tired throwing out half of the food we prepare each day. It is not just you. You were the only one to sign their name. I do appreciate your candor."

I called Maria and asked her if she would help. I shared with her my prior conversation with Joseph.

Maria thought for a few minutes. Then she agreed if Neva could come with her. She wanted a good prep chef to help her.

"Could Maria bring my wife along?" I asked Joseph. "Maria wants a good prep chief she knows."

Joseph consulted with his partners. They agreed. I had him contact Maria and Neva to make the travel arrangements.

I offered to help with breakfast. "I serve a mean pancake," I told him. We would need to put coffee in the coffee makers for starts."

Joseph thought for a minute. He said you're on. What will you need?

I thought I would make chocolate l'orange pancakes. I would need orange zest and cocoa powder and a simple pancake mix.

He said we have all that. See you at kitchen 6 at 0330.

I went back to my quarters. On the way I met Fritz.

"Tom, I see you are still alive. How many potatoes do you have to scrub?"

I smiled and answered, "None. I just have to make my chocolate l'orange pancakes for breakfast tomorrow. I think you will like it. By the way, I got Joseph to add coffee to the coffee makers. That is a small victory. I better get to sleep, reveille is at 0315 for me."