Work in Progress

Chapter 5

         "Well, are we ready to become heroes again?"  Mike asked the crew with a large grin.
         Lana gave him a sour look, but didn't break the narrative she was delivering to Moscow.  Sharon was doing the same to Atlanta.
         Mike could see the broadcast on one of the video monitors.  There was a 4-way split screen showing the shots of the asteroid from Mike's satellite, a shot of each reporter, and a wide shot of the interior of the command deck and crew.
         The command deck was more like a luxurious living room with electronics on one side than a utilitarian cockpit of a space shuttle.  General Gerasov sat at the controls with his wife next to him at the navigator's console.  Oksana sat next to Carol at the engineering console.
         The three briefly went through their pre-flight checklist and the General turned around to Mike.  "We're good to go."
         Mike just said with a straight face, "Sounds good to me.  What better way to start out to save the world than from a cow pasture?"
         Oksana giggled and Mikhail turned back to his controls.  The side and rear monitors showed that they were slowly lifting off.  Soon the blackness of space enveloped them.
         Carol rattled off a set of coordinates and Misha punched them into his console.
         "We should be within range in about an hour and a half," Mikhail said.  "Normally I'd go make something to eat, but Olga's got me so stuffed, I may not eat for a week."
         Oksana giggled again.
         "John, like to join me in a beer?"
         "No thanks.  I've gotten used to the laws on the Reservation, so I never touch the stuff."
         "Admiral, a little bourbon and branch?"
         "Don't mind if I do.  Everybody else is hard at work and I'm feeling a little useless at the moment."
         "I might join you for a soda," John said as the three made their way to the elevator.
         They exited on the second deck where the galley and staterooms were.  They passed through the living area, which was like a large living room complete with couches and end tables.  The quarters were set off around this area and the galley was to one side.
         The galley was large with two walk-in freezers and a large table in the center that could easily seat 12.  Through a door at the back, there was another "wardroom" for occasions that are more formal.
         Mike opened a refrigerator.  "RC, right John?"
         The young man nodded and accepted the soda.
         Mike then took a mug from the freezer and drew a Guinness from a tap on the wall.  He set that on the table, took a bottle of Maker's Mark from a cabinet along with a glass, and set them down in front of the Admiral.  He then removed a bottle of water from the refrigerator before closing the door.
         The Admiral poured himself about two fingers of amber liquid and splashed some water into it.  "I don't think I'm ever going to get used to this.  When I was with you, we were sending people into space on glorified firecrackers.  Now you take off from airports and cow pastures without spooking the animals."
         Mike sipped at his stout.  "Don't forget that we're just about the same age.  I remember that, too.  I just figured there had to be a better way."
         "We may be the same age, but you still look 20 years younger.  Moreover, the doctor here, and the three kids upstairs, all look like they are playing hooky from high school.  I've got recruits that look older than the General."
         "I could take you up one of these days to visit D'am and Y'va."
         "Not on your life!" the Admiral snorted.  "I told you once that your lifespan is more of a curse than a blessing.  When it's my time, it's my time."
         Mike shrugged.  "Suit yourself.  The upside for me is that I get all that time with Svetlana."
         The Admiral raised his glass and nodded.
         "That brings me to another subject," Mike said as he turned to John.  "You and Oksana aren't getting any younger, either.  Fourteen years ago, you were a lovesick puppy.  What happened?"
         John looked embarrassed.  "Nothing happened.  Literally.  I don't know how to take her most of the time.  I know she loves me and she knows I love her.  Whenever I've started to approach asking her, she changes the subject."
         "Two things," Mike said.  "Never, ever, try to understand a woman.  It can't be done.  Second, does the word shy ring a bell?  That woman is still so painfully shy, it hurts me to watch sometimes.  You'd think that at 32 with a PhD. and a full professorship, she'd loosen up.  She hasn't.  This isn't something you're going to be able to go gently with.  You're going to have to take the lead and just come out with it."
         "I know.  I'm just afraid she'll turn me down."
         "If you honestly believe that, then I've severely underestimated both of you."
         "I totally agree with the Chief," the Admiral pitched in as he took another swallow.  "Now I've only known the two of you for a couple of years, but I'm not blind and I'm not stupid.  That woman upstairs is head over heels in love with you.  The General didn't waste any time corralling Carol.  Neither did the Chief here with Lana."
         "First Pavel, then Mike, now you..."
         "Carpe diem; seize the day!"  Mike blurted.  "I thought I was happy being a bachelor.  I will tell you right now, the happiest 12 years of my life have been being married with Lana."
         "Don't you ever forget that, mister," Lana's voice came through the door of the galley.
         "How long have you been out there eavesdropping?" Mike wailed.
         "Long enough to know that you're giving John a long overdue father-son talk."  She entered the room and sat down across from John.  "I'll be perfectly honest with you; I wasn't particularly thrilled when Misha announced that he'd asked Carol to marry him.  It was the best thing he's ever done.  Every time I see them together, I can feel the electricity and excitement.  It's tempered him and given him a purpose.  The military was good for him; marriage is better."
         John knew he was cornered and was silent as he looked at his hands clasped on the table.  Lana took the opportunity to remove a bottle of Putinka vodka from the freezer.  She took a bottle of vermouth and a martini glass from the cupboard.  She poured a shot and a half of the vodka into the glass, shook vermouth and then removed the cork and stirred the alcohol with it before replacing the cork.  She then took a small onion from the refrigerator and plopped it into her drink before resuming her place at the table.
         "Well?" She asked.
         "All right, I'll do it," John mumbled.
         "Good."  Lana took a long swallow of her gimlet.
         "What are you doing down here?" Mike asked Lana.
         "There are only so many ways I can say the same thing.  CNN is interviewing Sharon so I have Vesna translating for my feed."
         Mike looked at his watch.  "We should be in position in about 15 minutes.  I'll want to be up there for that."
         They all finished off their drinks in silence and trooped out of the galley toward the elevator.
         
         "How's it going up here?" Mike asked when they entered the command deck.
         "We're putting the final adjustments to our position in now," Carol answered without turning around.
         "Vesna," Mike called out.  "Pull the satellite out of the way so we don't suck it in also.  I think your cameras are powerful enough for a bird's-eye view from this distance."
         "Already done."
         "Why do I even bother?" Mike said under his breath.  Admiral Teramore smirked, as did Lana.
         "We're there," Carol announced.  "We're 100,000 klicks from the asteroid and synchronized with it to the side of its trajectory.  Oksana, you can set the aiming now."
         Carol rattled off a set of coordinates and Oksana punched them into her console.
         "We're all set, Sir," Mikhail said over his shoulder.
         "Vesna, keep a very close watch on this thing with everything you've got.  We don't want it to start breaking up or anything else weird."
         Chirp.
         There was a giggle from all three youngsters at the controls.
         Mike ignored the computer.  "OK General.  Five second bursts with enough time for Carol to check our position and the object in between."
         "Aye, aye."  The young man pressed a button on his console and then released it.
         Carol's eyes were glued to her monitors.  "No effect."
         "Again," Mike barked out and Misha repeated the process.
         After the tenth time, Carol called out, "It's moving!"
         "All right!  Let's keep it up until we get it where Carol wants it."
         After 30 minutes, Carol finally said, "It'll miss the Earth and Moon by at least a million kilometers."
         "Anything else in its way?"
         "Not that I can see.  It's now on a clean trajectory to impact the sun in about five weeks."
         "Fantastic.  Think you can find your way home while I treat everybody to a soda pop Vesna?"
         Chirp.
         "Machines," Mike muttered.




Ben W. Gardner
Sedona, Arizona

"I do not fear computers. I fear lack of them." --Isaac Asimov

http://ca.geocities.com/vladilyich/

In The Beginning - ISBN:  1-4116-3848-4
Just In Time - ISBN 1-4116-3851-4
Ad Astra - ISBN: 978-1-84728-518-8
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