“Right.” Tony glanced at the countdown clock on the screen, noting that they had less than fifteen minutes until it would start getting bumpy. “Houston, let’s get on with this. Give me the breaker sequence now.”
Tony had both gloves off and started flipping icon toggles on the computer touch screen. He had to have all the right breakers thrown so that the pressurization system wouldn’t just increase the oxygen flow into the cabin to make up for a leak. That took a couple of minutes. Then he was ready.
“Alright, everybody clear!” He scanned the cabin for an all clear from Xu, and then Hui. “Bill, here goes.”
Tony gripped the pistol in his hands. He raised his arms as best he could in his suit and took aim just to the right of the apex of the cone where the docking hatch was located.
“Firing in three, two, one, no shot.” Tony instinctively pulled at the trigger again. “What the…?”
“You didn’t disengage the safety,” Hui pointed out.
“Oh. I see.” Tony used his thumb to push the safety off and then raised the weapon again. “Once more. Firing in three, two, one!”
The pistol fired and tossed an empty casing across the cabin. The casing ricocheted off a couple of panels, making a clinking noise as it did so, and then began a slow-drifting trajectory about the cabin. The bullet, on the other hand, slammed against the interior wall panel a good half meter from where Tony thought he had been aiming. But it didn’t really matter as long as it worked.
“Mercy I, mission control.”
“Go ahead, Houston,” Tony answered.
“We show you’ve sprung a leak and are losing cabin pressure.”
“Hold on, Houston. I’ll check it out.”
“Before you do, put these on.” Hui handed Tony his suit gloves. Tony waved them off, handed her the pistol, and tapped at the control screen. He could have sworn he was hearing a faint hissing sound, but his ears were ringing from the pistol report, so he wasn’t certain.
“We’ve got a red light on the pressure panel. The question is, are we leaking fast enough, Houston?” Tony held his breath while he waited on mission control’s response. It seemed like forever before he got it.
“Hold on, Mercy I. We’re running the numbers now.”
“It’s gonna work,” Tony said to nobody in particular, but everybody heard it.
“Negative, Mercy I. Looks like at your current leakage rate, it will take about twenty minutes before the cabin is empty.” Tony felt his heart sink again.
“What!?”
“It was a good try, Tony. I knew it was risky.”
“Bill, are you still clear?”
“Yes, but why do—?”
Tony grabbed the pistol from Hui unexpectedly, took aim, and fired two quick rounds just to the top and right of the docking-hatch door. The sound of the reports rang like a bell inside the cabin, hurting his ears. He hadn’t balanced himself as well this time, and the pistol firing pushed him hard enough to make him tumble over. Newton’s law of reciprocal force, action and reaction, got him. He quickly grabbed on to a handhold and righted himself. He held the pistol up once more, considering firing it again.
“Tony! Stop it before you endanger the entire mission!” Bill shouted back at him.
“That ought to do it.” Tony thumbed the safety on the pistol and handed it to Hui. “Put that thing away for me, will ya?”
“Yes.” Hui looked nervously at Tony. “I think I should.”
Tony went to check the status panel. He looked at the reentry countdown to see where they stood. There were about nine minutes remaining before things started getting too close for comfort.
“Mercy I, we show an increase in the depressurization. What’s going on?”
“I made two more leaks,” Tony said nonchalantly and half expecting Houston to respond with a “You did what?”—but they didn’t.
“Understood, Mercy I. Be advised that the engineers don’t recommend adding any more.”
“Uh-huh.” Tony sat down and began working his gloves. He watched the countdown clock continue getting closer to the aerocapture. “Bill, I suggest you get to the main hatch and stand by.”
“Well, I’m ahead of you, Tony. I’m already on my way,” Bill said.
“Should we start trying to cycle the hatch?” Hui asked. Tony hadn’t bothered to ask where she had put the pistol. He didn’t care. He didn’t need the thing any longer.
“Good idea. Let me finish with this glove. You got the patch kit ready?”
“Here.” Hui held up the kit.
“Great.” Tony put the hatch on cycle, but the icon went red and didn’t open.
The ship was beginning to have a noticeable vibration. Tony gripped the console to shore himself up.
“Hey, do you guys feel that?”
“What?” Hui gripped the console’s edge with her glove. From the look in her eyes, Tony knew the answer before she said it. “Yes. What is that?”
“I can feel it out here, Tony,” Bill answered. “Ignore it and keep focusing on the job at hand.”
“Roger that, Bill,” Tony replied. Bill was right. They had to focus and get Bill inside the cabin before it was too late.
The ship had penetrated far enough into the exosphere to begin experiencing turbulence. The exosphere of Earth extended out as far as ten thousand kilometers. The Orion was traveling over fifteen kilometers per second. It would take the ship less than ten minutes to travel into the denser portions of the thermosphere, where the real turbulence would start. They had less than five to seven minutes, depending on the computer model used, to get Stetson inside.
Chapter 30
“Come on, dammit!” Tony watched the hatch icon still showing red. The countdown clock gave them three minutes left. The NASA engineers at mission control didn’t like cutting it so close. Tony liked it even less. He could just imagine how much Stetson liked it. “Bill, hang on out there.”
The vibration of the ship had continued to grow to the point where it was no longer a subtle thing that could barely be felt with a tight grip. Tony was pretty sure he could see things starting to vibrate.
“What’s taking us so long in there, Tony? Not to be antsy or anything, but Earth is looking really big!”
“Just be ready!”
“Roger that!”
“Hui, be ready with that patch kit. As soon as the hatch icon goes green, you start patching the holes!” Tony hit the hatch-cycle routine again. It went red. “Come on!”
“Yes, Tony. I will.” Hui held the kit at the ready, looking like a lioness ready to pounce on a gazelle. Tony thought that the Chinese had made a good decision in picking her as their first Moon mission commander.
“God, if you can hear me, now would be a good time to help us out!” Tony hit the hatch icon again. For the millisecond it took for the electrons to travel from the screen to the central processor of the computer, the processor to understand and process the signal, and send a response, Tony held his breath for what seemed like an eternity.
“Green light! Go, Hui! Go!” Tony shouted, not quite gleefully but close enough, as Orion’s main hatch started to cycle open. Tony yanked on the handle and pulled the latch until he could see space outside. Hui pushed herself up to the apex of the cabin, and Tony turned to help his captain. “Bill, get your butt in here!” He held a handhold as close to the hatch door as he could manage. The door slid open, and as soon as it did, Bill’s hand poked through.
“Grab my hand, Tony!”
“Got it! Come on, Bill!” Tony grabbed at Bill’s arm and pulled as best he could. The ship lurched very gently, but just enough to give them concern. “We’re getting close!”