Chapter 32

1986

There was another disaster to prevent, this one was just as important as the others, at least to us. The problem was that we simply did not know how to stop it. Unless we could make someone at NASA listen, we would have to watch the Challenger explode all over again on January 28th.

We tried contacting Thiokol, our Congressman, and finally, NASA before playing dirty. I still had a phone number in my wallet but first I needed backup. There was someone whose honest and frustrated testimony I remembered well from the Roger's commission investigation of the Challenger disaster.

Roger Boisjoly was an engineer at Thiokol who had been trying to get the o-rings redesigned since the beginning of the shuttle project. He knew what could happen if a launch was attempted at the temperatures that were projected for this one.

His home phone number was even listed. After his immediate acceptance of my offer to help he was put on hold while I made the call. Surprisingly, I was put right through to the President.

After the pleasantries, I broached the subject. I first explained how the o-rings worked and then how they were affected by temperature. Reagan quickly grasped the implications but asked how it could be proven.

Roger volunteered that the only way it could be proven conclusively to everyone was by conducting an actual low temperature test. Reagan was amazed that this hadn't already been done. He promised to have the launch delayed until it was and after Roger suggested that the design needed to be changed to increase safety anyway, the President offered to call a temporary halt until this was done also.

I figured this would be a good time to help prevent the Columbia being destroyed at the same time and covered the problem of the insulating foam separation and how the effects of that could be tested as well. My opinion of the guy was going through some drastic changes, especially when he agreed.

The lead story in the news the next day was that President Reagan had called for a halt of all shuttle launches until safety concerns that had recently come to his attention were addressed.

His insistence of the tests and exactly how they would be conducted took the experts by surprise but they were forced to agree to them. The booster test at 35 degrees proved that the o-ring design was inadequate and the test in which a briefcase sized chunk of insulating foam was propelled at the real-world speed that would occur at launch blew a hole in the leading edge wing material.

I found out the guy had some serious integrity, too. Roger was strongly suspected of leaking information and his job was threatened. That changed on opening day of the baseball season.

Reagan threw out the first pitch at our game with Toronto in Arlington. He made it a point to shake my hand before returning to sit with his "special guest" Roger Boisjoly, the person he named as "one of the two people who saved the space program and helped prevent disaster".

Nobody would dare fire him now. The Challenger had a successful and uneventful mission on April 16th, 1986. Both problems were fixed. The redesign now had three o-rings, each of which was heated to 80 degrees and the Mojave Space Center became the new supplier for the insulating material on the propellant canister.

I would be glad when the shuttle project was cancelled. Not only did they occasionally get in our way, but the damn things were still too dangerous. No matter what they did, launching with what amounted to a silo of explosives strapped to your ass would never be a safe undertaking.

Every one of my mates, along with Bryan and Carl (and theirs) traveled with me to the Pro Bowl. The girls knew I was a huge Nicole Kidman fan and invited her to the game. I found out later that she wasn't much interested in football but it had been mentioned that Lea and I were contemplating a new movie and liked her work.

Windrider had just been released and the 19 year old Nicole was in Hawaii to visit friends. After the game, we all went out to dinner and she discovered fairly fast that the new movie was news to me.

She was even cuter when angry but I calmed her down by explaining that my "manager" often made plans without informing me (with a pointed look at a Tina who was desperately trying to appear innocent and failing) and that I really did enjoy her work.

I promised that if she liked the script, I would be happy to do the film with her. She had appeared flustered and confused all evening but got even more so after that. We talked her into coming back to the hotel for a drink and to let her (and me) read the script.

She must not have been used to drinking much. She poured it down like water as she read thing with me. Once the alcohol took over she lost it.

We about shit when she started crying and slurred out "this can't be happening, it didn't go like this before! I never even met you people or did this movie!"

She seemed to realize what she was saying then and started crying so hard she couldn't talk. I hugged her and she held on sobbing and hiccupping occasionally until she went silent. Upon closer examination, we discovered that she had passed out and put her in the bed to sleep it off.

We talked about the implications and the script among other things until five AM. That's when a very disheveled looking Nicole emerged from the bedroom and said "I feel like shit. Please tell me I didn't say crazy things last night..."

Lea interrupted her with a hug and assured her that she shouldn't worry, explaining that she knew exactly how Nicole felt. "It blew me away, too. All that time thinking that I was the only one and then finding out that a lot of other people were in the same boat was a bit much at first but once you get used to it, things are much better because of it."

Obvious hope showed in her eyes as she said "are you sure about that? I think before I say another word I need to be convinced that you know what you're talking about."

It only took a couple of minutes to do that. A few comments about her future career and what would happen years from now was all it took. She quickly became happier but groaned "I never could drink very well" while holding her head. That was rectified in moments and the real Nicole came back and joined in an animated conversation.

I gave Rhonda a stern look when she asked "whatever did you see in Tom Cruise, anyway?"

Nicole waved me off and said "it's OK Matt. Actually, I did love the guy but that was before that scientology crap brainwashed him. He became a fanatic about it. That was the main reason we didn't have any kids. He insisted they would follow his beliefs, and as for mine... well, you can imagine how he felt about my religion. It all got to be a bit much, and when it became obvious he wasn't going to come to his senses, we split."

Bryan seemed to be just as big a fan of hers as I was. He hadn't taken his eyes off of her once since we'd arrived at the house. It quickly dawned on me that he wasn't a fan of hers because of her career though. Bryan hadn't been alive to see her on the screen.

I paid a bit closer to Nicole after that and realized she had problems keeping her eyes off of Bryan, too. I figured there was no need to prolong the agony, so I picked her up and put her in his lap.

After the surprise wore off Nicole asked "was I that obvious?"

Bryan hugged her and replied "I thought he did it because of me. I hope you don't mind

Nicole smiled "I like it here. It is a bit uncomfortable though. Tell me" she said, looking at Paula, "does he always carry a salami in his pocket? I know he's a large lad but surely he wouldn't need to pack such a big one around!"

That got a bigger laugh and my darling wives volunteered to take the rest of us shopping while they "rehearsed their love scenes". Both of them seemed to think that was a lovely idea

The movie was a post apocalyptic flick in which the world had been virtually de-populated by a biological war. Of the survivors, 85% were female. This required some major re-thinking of morality since the total world population numbered in the thousands at wars end. Once we got past the similarities of what had happened before, we really got into it.

I'm not easily impressed but when I saw the final cut, I was speechless. The girls were brilliant and I thought I even did pretty well. Bryan surprised the Hel out of everyone. The guy could really act! Maybe it was because he was paired with Nicole. The best part was the special effects. With the computer equipment we had developed, Adam did some truly amazing work. I was kind of worried when the critics got to see it but there wasn't a single bad review.

We met a new friend while doing some filming in California. While there, we were staying in one of the houses the local group owned and when Tina started to answer the door I stopped her. No one but our friends was supposed to know where we were and they would have just come on in.

I had never met the beautiful woman at the door but knew who she was. Why she was here had me confused though. For lack of any better idea, I invited her in.

Tina recognized her too and when she said "Patsy Kensit? The visitor smiled and said "you must be Tina. Mattie and the rest said I could find you here. I hope you don't mind that I dropped in unannounced. I just wanted to introduce myself." We didn't mind at all and had a lovely time becoming very well acquainted before morning. I'm pretty sure we even convinced her not to get the breast implants this time. At the moment, she looked just as she had in Lethal Weapon II (perfect).

While we were filming our first "official" space flight took place. The Omega II was larger than the original version and we had added wings to eliminate some questions. The ship was roughly the size of a large transport plane and made an impressive horizontal takeoff before going vertical. The plume of fire was for effect and was actually a hologram.

So was the simulated ejection of the "propellant canister" under the ship. It had never been there. We deployed five "communications satellites" containing the advertised features plus some of our additions. After that we dropped off some supplies for future projects on the moon and returned to Mojave, making a perfect landing and taxiing to the reviewing stand.

We would not answer any questions or comments about the spacecraft but did release a statement that we would be happy to contract to the government or any industry for future flights. One idiot we did answer.

He asked if we were aware that several scientists and aeronautical engineers had said there was no way our design would fly, much less reach orbit. Angie gave him a flat stare as she said "they say that about the bumblebee too. It seems to do just fine and it seems as if they're wrong about this as well, doesn't it?"

They were probably referring to the fake propellant canister and were most likely correct. Let them figure it out.

Brian and Brianna promised a much longer journey the next time, in distance if not in time. The paper I had recreated from memory had gotten them well on the way to interstellar travel. The first prototype was almost ready and they assured us it would be unmanned for the first test flight.

They explained that "warp drive" wasn't a bad description because what it did was actually warp time to move through space. The leading edge of the field created for this was labeled the wedge and the trailing field was the tail.

They described the process this way. "The Warp Drive alters space-time in such a way that the region directly in front of the ship contracts, while the region directly behind the ship expands. The net effect of this is that the ship is propelled on a weightless geodesic path through space-time."

They visited the set to give us an update and I had one problem with it. I could understand the theory but had one question. "Wouldn't that require massive, renewable power? Assuming you could make the trip out, how could you ensure you had the energy to return?"

They both broke into wide grins and Brianna said "that's the best part, daddy-o! We have designed what we call the "inertia drive". Space is full of energy just waiting to be used and we think that we know how to tap it."

I was gob-smacked "do you mean to tell me that you have come up with a drive that requires no energy storage?" I got two nods and a "yep!"

Brianna continued with "first we were going to use the ions that are all over the place in space but eventually came to the conclusion that we might not be able to tap enough power from them. Then my darling brother here (nodding to Brian) came up with this idea. People have been trying to decipher inertia since they named it with no luck but thanks to our fabulous genes and immense intellect, we did it in a month."

She was smiling as she said this, folks. They are not egotists, even if it would be understandable if they were.

For their first test flight they were sending the smallest ship they could. It would be about 120 feet in diameter. They explained that if it hadn't had to travel through the atmosphere it could have been much smaller. The gravity drive took up a lot of space. It could've been smaller for Earth gravity but they wanted to make it more powerful in case a planet needed to be scoped out with heavier gravity. They were targeting the barred spiral in the Fornax cluster, a distance of roughly 50 million light years.

I asked why they picked that as a destination and wasn't surprised that they had thought ahead. They strongly believed that there was a black hole at the center of that galaxy and wanted to take some gravitational readings to determine how strong the drive would be so we didn't get sucked into something like that through lack of knowledge.

The first healthy cash crops ever were harvested on reservation land that summer. Cattle and Buffalo were also grazing on lush grassland that had been barren the year before.

I loved it on the reservation and spent most of my brief vacation helping herd and tend cattle and then take in hay. It was also a great place to dodge the media and spend time with all my children. We also took our first trip into space in a ship designed to fool no one that spring. It felt strange traveling in what people would undoubtedly label a UFO if we were spotted (picture the ship from "Lost in Space). We only went to the moon because of time limitations but it was a lot of fun.

Sometimes playing ball got to be a drag, especially baseball. There were too many games too close together for me to have enough time with the family.

Between the games, interviews, and community service programs there just wasn't much leisure time. When I lamented this once too often I found myself in possession of a cattle ranch in Texas large enough to be secluded and remote enough for frequent visitors to go unnoticed.

Connie caught up with me whenever she could. We were often joined by others when we were on the road or in one case, we joined them. Being in the same league as Rhonda was nice, she had a great apartment and on this particular road trip we could at least get comfortable.

We didn't get a lot of rest but we had a great time. She was still the starting first baseman but people had stopped thinking of it as a publicity stunt log ago. She was the best lead-off hitter in baseball with a .347 average and 32 stolen bases. I pitched one of the three games there and she got two of the three hits off of me.

The unusual visit in Boston caught me by surprise. We were in town to play the (other) Sox and just settled down after returning to the room after game two when we heard a tentative knock on the hotel room door.

I didn't recognize her until she said "I guess I should have shaved" and ran her fingers through her long red mane.

It hit me then "Alice! Wow, you're even hotter with hair!"

I dragged her in and the three of us had a group hug before playing catch-up. "Man was it tough sneaking up here" she said "I had to pick the locks and disable the alarms on the fire doors to do it."

Tina and I exchanged a look. Kathy wouldn't like to hear that. We asked why she needed to see us so fast and she said "I want to apply for a job. You said I could, remember?" A assured her I did and asked what for.

She looked us in the eyes and said "I want to be a pilot and I want to go into space. Jim does too. You remember him don't you? He was sick when I was and you helped him too."

We both remembered him well and asked how he was doing. "Great" she bubbled "we've been married for two years now. He'd be here but he got sidetracked creating a diversion for me."

I gave her another hug and said "that's fantastic Alice. Say, do either of you like baseball?"

She practically gushed "oh yeah, but they don't like us much here because we're always rooting for the Rangers, it's the same thing with football because we cheer for Miami."

I handed her two front row box seat tickets right next to the visitors dugout and asked if she thought she and Jim could use them and meet us after the game for dinner to discuss their future. She left no doubt in our minds that they'd be there.

I admit it, I showed off for them. I pitched a perfect game to go with three home runs and a double. They watched the game with Connie, Wes, Tina, Angel, and Jackie, along with a dozen kids from the cancer ward at Children's Hospital that were much better after our visit with them yesterday.

After talking to the kids and me and my teammates signing some stuff for them we went across the street to a little brew pub that I stopped at every time I was here. It was right across from the back side of "The Green Monster" and was both simple and good. Their beers were fantastic and all made at the restaurant.

We munched on the pail of peanuts while waiting on dinner and talking. They spent some time kidding me about the disguise that I wore to keep from being recognized. When they were done, Angel (being the better judge of pilots) took the lead and soon gave me a thumbs-up.

"OK, you're in" I stated "can you be at Mojave next week?"

Jim almost choked on his beer and spluttered "that's it? No flight test or anything?"

Angel studied him with the gaze that seemed to cut right through a person and said "flight tests wouldn't tell me a thing about your ability. You'll be piloting things straight out of your imagination. Jet fighters ain't shit compared to our stuff."

She looked at the rest of us and said "I like these two" when they chorused "cool"

To their credit, neither of them mentioned the fact that a child had passed judgment on them. Wait until they saw her fly! Her nickname suited her. She could make a ship do about anything!

The rest of the season went well and we took another series, this time beating the Mets 4 games to 1. I wish I could say the same about the football season but we only went 10-6.

The only real excitement had been the return of the probe we sent out. There weren't any habitable planets discovered but we learned a lot about the capabilities of the new drive system.

The probe could have been back in ten days if it hadn't been put through its paces. We couldn't do nearly enough remotely to satisfy our concerns because of the time delay. Every move had to be pre-programmed into the system. This fault was about to be rectified.

1987

We left on February 9th on the first manned mission man had ever made outside our solar system. The first target was Alpha Centauri.

We had picked this simply because it was the closest possibility of finding a habitable planet. Unfortunately unless you liked worlds without atmosphere or consisting of poisonous gases, it wasn't to be.

We only had time for a couple of more tries and our next one had been deemed more likely. The rest of the list consisted of sun-like stars that were too far away from Earth to determine if they had satellites.

We got lucky on the first try. 18 Scorpii was located 45.7 light-years from Sol in the constellation Scorpio (just off the left claw, if you want to peek). We found one habitable planet there with no sign of life.

It wasn't an ideal location due to its actual age but would do in a pinch if needed. By age, I mean it was a young world and still a bit unstable geologically. Earthquakes and volcanic activity seemed to be quite common on much of the land mass.

We chalked it up as a "possible" and moved on to 58 Eridani. We had some reservations about this one. Common conjecture had it as younger than Sol and unlikely to have developed a planet with an atmosphere.

They were wrong in a very big way. We discovered twin paradises. Not only were the planets Earth-like, it was the Earth before man had screwed it up, at least if you ignored the obvious differences in land mass configuration.

On the first there were several Islands the size of Australia and three large continents. Life had also evolved but not in the same way as on our home world. There were some similarities but nothing remotely resembling man.

As near as we could determine, there were no intelligent life forms. Just in case we had missed something, we left several canisters with information about us. Some was printed and others were in DVD format with a player. The player had 4 buttons, forward, pause, reverse, and stop.

What struck us the most was the air quality. It's amazing what truly clean air feels like with absolutely no pollution. We tested the atmosphere before leaving the ship and found that the oxygen content was 12% higher than on Earth and much cleaner.

The second planet was slightly smaller and almost exactly on the other side of the sun. Plant life was plentiful but animal life was almost non-existent. We left more of the canisters anyway. It looked like animals would thrive if introduced. We had found our new home(s).

The "kids" told me about some of the new developments while we traveled. The ship was constructed out of a material that Aaron and Mandy (who had invented it) had named "Gleipnirite" after the Dwarven "Gleipnir" of the Eddas that was supposed to be the strongest material ever known.