In order to make things look legit to anyone tracking on long range radar or telescope, at the same time the second stage engine disconnects, the DarkStar is going to launch from it.
I read the manuals and studied the interface, but I still have no damn idea what's going to happen.
What I can tell is that there's a very large cylinder between my legs like the hump of a long horse. This bad boy is filled with LMP-103S — a chemical that reacts with a catalyst and produces about 30 % more thrust than the hydrazine we use on the Unicorn spacecraft.
To really appreciate the situation I'm in, you can't think of me as sitting on top of a rocket as I get pushed into space: Instead, imagine a rocket engine itself with all those tubes and metal guts — and I'm strapped inside there. Basically, DarkStar is all engine and no rocket.
That's how Admiral Jessup's engineers figured out how to put one powerful rocket inside of another — they decided to have the astronaut straddle the most dangerous part.
Sure, there's some heat insulation that's supposed to protect my testicles from frying like eggs, but this has never been tested. For all I know, they melted the last three crash test dummies they put here.
The upside is that I'm pretty sure I'm going to black out the moment the rocket fires. The K1 is on the other side of the earth and I have to race like a bat out of hell to get into an elliptical orbit that will not only match its speed, but put me on a parallel path. All without them knowing I'm even sneaking up on them.
To do this, the DarkStar is designed to pick up another two thousand miles an hour of speed beyond the velocity of the Unicorn.
Most of it all at once.
Did I mention that the main rocket engine on the DarkStar is running between my legs?
Not in some cool this-is-my-pseudo-phalus kind of way. No, this is more of a this-monopropellant-thruster-is-about-to-violate-you-like-no-man-should-ever-be-violated kind of way.
"You ready to go?" asks Laney on the comm.
"No. Not really."
"Too bad. Time to man up."
"Baylor here, I'll be doing the countdown in mark…"
Oh, crap. Here we go…
65
Thruster
The rocket kicks on and I feel a rumble words cannot describe.
"MOTHER OF GOD!"
"You okay, Dixon?" asks Baylor.
"THIS IS INSANE!"
"I think he's enjoying it," says Laney.
"THE POWER! ALL THE POWER!"
I think I need a cigarette. Holy shit. I just got violated by a mothballed Navy secret weapon and I think I kind of liked it.
Hell. I know I did.
Jesus. Christ.
I don't care if the DarkStar doesn't return my texts tomorrow. There will always be this magical moment I can take with me forever.
In pilot circles there's a kind of physical envelope we all strive for. It's that borderline place between going so fast you're about to black out and the sensation that your body is moving impossibly fast and you're sort of at one with the universe.
Ernst Mach, the guy who got to name a whole unit of speed, once theorized that inertia was the property of the gravitational force of all the matter in the universe acting on a body.
Relativity provided a much better explanation, but in that perfect moment of acceleration you feel like the universe is trying to hold you back — and failing.
For several glorious minutes, the DarkStar thrusted me along that edge.
This is why I became a pilot. And to think I was going to let some Navy squid have all the fun. Not on my watch.
"Hey, Dixon," says Captain Baylor over my comm after the burn. "Did you survive?"
"Survived is an understatement. When I get back I'm changing my relationship status for this machine."
"I'm sure you two will make a great couple. The good news is your trajectory looks great. We're using the spread spectrum radio for telemetry since we can't pick you up on radar."
"What's the bad news?"
"What? Oh, there isn't any. I guess I phrased that poorly. Hold on, Markov wants to speak with you."
"Hello, David. How are you doing?"
"Fantastic." I know better than to mention that I spoke to Vin about the launch. Even within our small group of rocket thieves I have to be careful.
"Well, I'm the bearer of bad news. I have confirmation that Zhirov has his commanders working on a improvised trigger for the nuclear device."
"Um, dumb question, where is the rest of the crew on this? Any chance of getting them to mutiny and save us all some trouble?"
"Unfortunately, no. Although they have not been informed of what is actually taking place, they're not likely to be in a position to try to stop this."
I knew it was too much to hope for. Although the crew of Skylab 4 did a kind of mutiny back in 1973 when they thought they were being pushed too far. Ultimately they returned to work; although NASA never let any of the men fly again.
I imagine the fear of crossing Zhirov goes a bit beyond being forced to retire at your current government pay grade.
"You can expect that at least one or both men will be in the secure module when you arrive," says Markov.
"And your insider, they're all set?"
"Essentially."
"Essentially? What does that mean?"
"I still have to do some persuasion."
"Okay." I have no idea how he's talking to the cosmonaut, let alone what carrot he's dangling in front of them. Fast Passes for Space Mountain? Well… Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev did have a hissy fit back in 1959 when he was told he couldn't visit Disneyland because of security concerns.
"I'll let you know."
"Please do. I'm less than twenty minutes out from the K1. I'd like to know that when I knock on the door someone will let me in."
"Baylor here. So, uh Dixon, are you comfortable with Laney Washburn giving you the technical details of the K1? I know she's a civvy, but she knows more than anyone here."
"Is this a joke? Hell, yes."
Laney hops on the comm, "You know you're not supposed to knock, right?"
"Yes, Laney. It was a figure of speech."
"Okay. Just checking."
"I think I'll just poke my head into the main viewport and wave to everyone. Maybe moon them."
"Sure." She gets right down to business. "We got some schematics that show the collision radar for the K1. It looks like the DarkStar will be fine if you leave her at the end of the tether. They won't spot that.
"But as far as you're concerned, they'll definitely be able to detect your suit once you exit. However, since the explosive decompression of the airlock, they've been having issues with the sensors, plus there's debris still floating around the station."
Debris… "Um, Laney. Do you know if…"
"Yeah. Baylor says they retrieved her body. Side note, they're still refusing to turn them over to us."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. Markov says it's blustering by Zhirov to keep everyone distracted."
"What do they want? Oh, never mind." Me.
"Right. So anyway, once the DarkStar is over the K1, it'll orient itself nose down. You'll need to exit through the rear hatch and use your suit thrusters to make it to the station. Once you're within 50 meters you'll be inside their blindspot. From there you'll need to make your way to the spacewalk airlock on the south end of the station. Got it?"
"Roger."
"Here. Type 'CAMAFT.1' into the terminal. I found out they have a pinhole camera array embedded into the DarkStar's skin."
A screen pops up on my console and I see the tiny white speck of the K1 as it grows closer. "Oh, this is helpful."
"We'll be right here if you need anything. We're going to try to keep the chatter to a minimum though, in case they have an antenna listening for stray signals."