Kate was very proud to have been chosen for such an honor, yet she still burned over the memory of her briefing at NASA headquarters in Houston. She had been called to the office of Admiral James Hunter, the decorated and beloved godfather of warp-drive exploration. It was Hunter who had gone out with Jerry Roth on the first mission to explore Andromeda, the closest galaxy at 2.2 million light years away. Without warp drive and cryosleep, such a trip would not have been possible.
After six months in stasis, Hunter and Roth awoke to a wonder never before seen by human eyes except through distant telescopes—new planetary systems, and with them, new opportunities to find life. Andromeda is a huge galaxy, one-and-a-half times as large as our own Milky Way. It stretches one-hundred-fifty thousand light years across. The astronauts had just two months to explore a handful of the thousands of suns that whirled around in the galaxy. The starship could not land on the planets they came across and the crew had no shuttle craft, so all their explorations were done with probes sent to the surfaces below.
New minerals, bacteria and plant species were discovered on one of the planets. On another world, they found some reptiles and amphibians. That they found no intelligent life didn’t matter to NASA. After charting a tiny fraction of the system and exhausting their probes, Hunter and Roth returned to Earth as conquering heroes.
While they had been gone a little over a year—twelve months traveling and two months exploring—Earth had aged two years. It was Einstein’s theory proven fact. This just made their safe return all the more remarkable. Ticker tape parades greeted them. Roth later left NASA to head a multinational corporation, and Hunter rose to head the agency.
His past glory didn’t excuse his treatment of Kate Dyson when she was brought in to accept the assignment. Hunter told her he had been under pressure to approve the “all-girl” mission, as he kept calling it. He thought it was a bad idea.
“I’ll tell you right now, I’m against this. What if you girls get stuck out there? Are you going to expect us to come rescue you because you’re women?” he asked her as she stood in front of his desk, trapped between conflicting emotions. She was thrilled to be given the job, yet despised this Neanderthal who thought women needed rescuing.
“I wouldn’t expect treatment any different than you give to the male astronauts,” she had said, keeping her voice neutral.
“Damn right,” Hunter said. “But think how that will play out at home. You get your tits in a wringer out there and we don’t do anything, we’ll look like uncaring jerks. This mission could be a disaster that sets NASA back 20 years.”
Kate’s face burned, but she said nothing for a moment. She had to be careful. She was willing to endure this abuse if it meant getting the assignment. “We won’t let you down,” she said lamely.
He stared at her. He knew he was being bullshitted. “I’m going to announce this all-girl mission tomorrow. I’ve got no choice. My Congressman made that very clear. The crew’s already been selected.” He handed her a folder. “But I’m telling you right now it’s imperative that you don’t fuck up out there. The space program depends on it.”
“We’ll be careful, sir.”
Hunter pointed a stubby finger at her. “Off the record, I’ll tell you this: If you get hung up out there, don’t call us up and cry for help. That will just make things worse. It’ll be better for the space program if you do an Amelia Earhart out there. If we hear from you, it’ll be like the Rochester all over again.”
Kate cringed inwardly. The U.S.S. Rochester was NASA’s biggest failure since the Challenger explosion in the 1980s. Manned by four men and a token woman, the Rochester rocketed off into the Milky Way galaxy eight years ago for a mapping mission and ran into some kind of trouble. The only radio message Earth received said they had “hit some space debris” and were attempting to make repairs.
There was a hue and cry to go rescue them until scientists pointed out that because of the lag time and the space-time continuum, it would be another six months before a ship could reach them. By that time, either they would be long dead, or they would have already returned to Earth, provided they were able to make repairs. The rescue mission would have squandered already tight resources. That didn’t make anyone feel any better, but because the captain and most of the crew were men, America decided they could fend for themselves.
Unfortunately, they were never heard from again. Their fate remains a mystery to this day. Every anniversary of the launch, the media reminds the public of this failure and headlines ask the annual question: “What Happened to the Rochester?” A parade of “experts” would speculate on how they met their grisly end. Everyone at NASA was sick of it and most had known the Rochester crew personally. It just didn’t do any good to keep dwelling on it.
Kate knew what was at stake when “girls” were allowed to take the newest starship in the fleet out for a quick spin. If they succeeded, they might be able to shut up assholes like Hunter. If they failed, they’d prove the bastards right.
This mission would be exceptionally crucial because it represented just the third time that a crew would attempt to land on any “Class M” planet it discovered. Advances in technology had made this feat more practical. After all, why travel two million light years or more and not visit a planet? Probes could only do so much.
In the two previous landings on planets in Andromeda’s many solar systems, astronauts brought back a treasure trove of information. To date, however, none had discovered intelligent life. That remained the Holy Grail that each new crew hoped to find. Kate wanted to be the first. That would really prove the mettle of her “all-girl” crew.
The trip had an inauspicious beginning. Once the announcement was made, it didn’t take long for wags to dub the new ship the “Lesbanya.” Ha ha. Kate didn’t recall the first small star ship, the U.S.S. Dickson, after the popular, pro-NASA president, being called some rude name just because it was led by four men. Following the “Lesbanya” crack came the jokes about PMS, women drivers and the number of suitcases they’ll need on the two-year trip.
Kate felt the weight of not only the world on her shoulders, but also that of women’s rights. One hundred fifty years after women got the vote in this country, and they’re still considered “too delicate” for certain jobs. Kate was determined to prove them wrong.
She glided to the cockpit and strapped herself into the chair. Checking the controls, she found they were on course, on time. Coming out of warp in five hours, just ten thousand kilometers outside the section of the Andromeda system they were to explore. She ran through the diagnostics, checking every control, system and section. It took her ninety minutes before she could breathe a sigh of relief. Remarkably, the ship was shipshape. Kate smiled.
“Maybe we ‘girls’ can handle this after all,” she murmured aloud. Of course, so far, the ship had done all the work.
The control panel beeped. The other crew members were being awakened. Kate wanted to be there.
Chapter 2
Kate stood by the cocoon as the air hissed into it, releasing her second-in-command, Commander Allyson Egerton. Of all the women in the space program, Kate was glad NASA had assigned the smart, funny, self-deprecating redhead to the crew. She had met Ally eight years ago and the two hit it off right away. Kate couldn’t have picked a better, more qualified “No. 1.”
She waited until Ally’s eyes fluttered open, then grinned at the groggy crew woman. “Reveille was,” Kate made a show of looking at her watch, “214 days ago, commander. You planning on sleeping through the entire trip?”