The tablets were popular with all the spacers, but Dolf was inseparable from his tablet, even before liftoff. He swore that he was finally going to write that textbook on orbital mechanics he'd been planning for years. He was often heard to complain about the fact that the PC in his quarters was not equipped with the interface. Somehow, he'd managed to accumulate nearly half a kilo of SD cards in his personal baggage.
Soichiro, called "Yoshi" for no reason anyone could figure out, seemed to take a personal pride in the tablets and their interface with the onboard system. Apparently, he had been involved in the design of one or the other. Any mild complaint about the tablet system sent him into frenzied action to resolve the problem, no matter how trivial it was. When not actively training, he strutted around the computer building, shouting at people and ordering them around like a General. Frank suspected that the computer staff would be gladder than most when the ship lifted off.
Ron Mbele seemed nearly as attached to his tablet as Dolf was. His long fingers could be seen caressing its case when he became distracted. His partition contained details on nearly every mechanical system aboard, and he spent any free moment reviewing the information.
Yuri was Deputy Commander and Payload Specialist, but his partition was mostly filled with information on the operation and maintenance of the small nuclear reactor they were smuggling, which was also his responsibility. His military duties had included training and limited experience with nuclear submarine reactors, so he at least had more than a layman's familiarity with nuclear power. At any rate, he was the best Frank had.
As the clock ticked down to launch day, the Alcântara Launch Station came to resemble a kicked anthill, with frantic activity going on everywhere.
On launch day minus four, the supply ship was launched. Under remote control from Alcântara, it would send its payload ahead toward the comet. Once it arrived, its onboard computer would put it into orbit around the comet, where it would await the arrival of Man's Hope, with the precious cargo that would permit them to live through their trip around the Sun.
Finally, the day had come. The spacers gathered for their final briefing before heading off to get suited up.
Frank gave a short pep talk, but he knew they had heard it all before, so he restrained his enthusiasm. But there was no doubt as he simply finished, "All of you know I would give my last dollar to be going with you. But an old fart like me would just endanger the mission. Go, with my blessing and the hopes of mankind." He turned abruptly and left, his eyes wet with unshed tears.
David stood and moved to the front of the room. "All right," he began, "We've been over this a dozen times. One last time, and I'll shut up, I promise." There were chuckles and hoots of derision.
David waved a hand, and silence fell. "All right. Liftoff positions. I'm in the pilot's seat, Yuri is in the second seat, and you passengers are tied down in your seats below, so Yoshi can't play with the pretty knobs and stuff." More hoots and laughter as Yoshi smiled shyly.
"Okay. Control lights off the big candle, and suddenly we all weigh as much as Raoul. Luckily, for us it's only a few minutes!"
He turned serious. "Here's where the big kicker comes in. We would like it a lot if we could haul the core stage into space with us, and we've got beefed up strap-ons to help us do it.
"The trouble is, nobody knows for sure whether it'll work or not. All we know for sure is that the original strap-ons and core stage were not enough to get the original Buran into GTO, Geostationary Transfer Orbit. The Original orbiter had to have a 67 meter-per-second burn to achieve a stable LEO, low earth orbit. Now, we think we're lighter than the original, and we have three-stage strap ons instead of singles, and we'll be driving straight out, instead of trying to insert into LEO, so we think we might be able to blow right past GTO and straight to TLI, Trans Lunar Insertion. But think is not the same as do. So, Anton fixed me up with this nifty panic button.
"The computers are programmed to drop the boosters, but not the core stage. If the core stage runs out of fuel before we reach GTO or even TLI, I can punch the panic button and dump it. But I'm with Frank on this one. It would be very cool to hang onto that big ol' tank and those big ol' engines, since we're going to a place with lots of hydrogen and oxygen. Think of it as our lifeboat, a way to get a lift back if something goes wrong.
"Besides, I don't really want to spend ten months or a year getting to that damned comet. Ion engines are neat, but they're really wimpy. Yes, we'll have constant boost, but at .001G. So I'm hoping those big Energia mothers give us a great big boost toward that comet before they run out of gas. We all know how NASA does it; boost to Low Earth Orbit, hang around there until Houston says you can burn for GTO, then wait there awhile until they decide you can boost for Lunar Insertion. Well, as Frank keeps saying, we aren't NASA. Control's computers are set up to sling us straight into TLI and on toward the comet, if the fuel holds out.
"If not, they have several alternative programs to put us into GTO or TLI, if necessary. There, we'll light off the ion engines and head for the comet ourselves. Trouble is, we might have to wait a few orbits to get everything set up. We'll be watched by telescopes all over the world, which means we can't light off the reactor without it being spotted.
"So, that's when you guys downstairs start to earn your pay. You guys will go outside (I hate the term 'EVA'!) and start spreading all those neat roll-up solar panels Frank bought. That should impress our viewers, and it will let us start up the ion engines, as soon as Yuri is done lighting off the reactor. Timing may be a bit tricky. We can't light off the ion engines until Yuri gets the reactor set up, but as soon as it is operating properly, it starts putting out radiation, without cover from the ions. Yuri, as soon as that thing starts putting out, you get your ass away from behind those ion boosters, and let me know I can fire them up."
"Do not worry, David, I plan to have children someday. I will not hang around." It was said with a dead straight face, pure Yuri.
"Yuri's children," said Raoul. "Now there's a scary thought!"
"Now," David said pointedly, returning to the subject. "Those boosters are so weak it'll take almost a week to add 60 miles per hour to our speed. That's why I'm hoping to get a solid boost from the core stage, even if we have to dump it. Our liftoff time was very carefully calculated to let us skip orbiting entirely, and head straight for the comet, if we can. The theory is that the residual delta vee from the boosters might give us a big enough head start to let Dolf plan an interception orbit that we can reach with the ions.
"The whole first part of this mission is full of 'ifs' and 'maybes' and 'we hopes'. We can't relax until we get our butts firmly planted on that comet and start digging in. So I'm not going to try to brief the rest of the mission. Once we know whether we're taking the core stage along, or whether we're going to have to use the ions to get past GTO, then we can discuss everything else. Anyone disagree?" Silence and two shaken heads were the only reply. "Okay, then let's go ruin NASA's day."
They stood and filed out toward the dressing room, where they would be donning their space suits for liftoff.
Yuri hung back, and stopped David. "You know very well there are reasons for the NASA and the Federal Space Agency procedures. Safety reasons."
David nodded. "I know, Yuri. And they are good reasons. But this is amateur night. We're dealing with 'way too many 'ifs' and 'maybes' to operate like the pros. For instance, the upper stages of those boosters are supposed to be able to be stopped and restarted. But suppose I shut them down to do a course correction, and they don't restart. There we would sit, maybe not even at LEO, and I'd have to fire the core stage engines just to achieve GTO. NASA would just have the crew sit there while they calculated a return orbit, and would try again later. For us, there is no 'later'. This is our only shot. Would we have enough juice to achieve TLI? I don't know. Oh, we could ditch the core stage at GTO, and light off the ion engines, and eventually, we'd make it to the comet. After ten months or so. If we didn't miss the rendezvous.