“Good. That’s good,” Ann cooed. “What are we waiting for, Kai? Let’s hook up and get aboard.”
“Hold your water, Senator,” Raydon said. “I don’t like distractions when I’m flying, so everyone pipe down. That’s an order.” He flexed his fingers one more time, then unstowed the thruster controls and carefully placed his hands on them. Resembling small bathtub faucet knobs, the controls could be twisted, pushed, pulled, and jockeyed sideways or up and down to activate the small hydrazine thrusters arrayed around the Black Stallion. The controls were “standardized,” meaning that the same manual controls had been used in manned spacecraft since Mercury and extending all the way to the Black Stallion.
With the closure rate now less than five miles an hour between the spaceplane and the station, Raydon activated the exterior cameras and began his approach. Armstrong Station had two docking points, one designed for manned spacecraft such as the Shuttle and USS America spaceplane, and one for unmanned cargo modules such as Agena. The docking port for manned spacecraft was on the side of the upper “tower,” about halfway between the top of the tower and the keel.
Raydon began by flying the Black Stallion beside the tower directly opposite from the docking port, then gently stopping the spaceplane so the port was slightly behind his left shoulder but clearly visible out the side windscreen. There was an electronic positioning device straight ahead, but several pieces were missing and the indicators were dark. “Looks like the positioning target has been damaged,” Raydon said.
“Thank the Russians for that,” Ann said. “Their ‘Elektron’ spaceplanes did a lot…”
“I said, be quiet,” Raydon interrupted. “I didn’t want to chat, Senator. Button it.” Ann shook her head and snorted her frustration so hard it briefly fogged the inside of her helmet. “I’ll just have to line it up by feel and guide it in after I translate.” Raydon made a few more barely perceptible adjustments with the controls. The only sound anyone heard was the briefest of puffs from the thrusters. Then slowly, ever so slowly, the Black Stallion started a roll to the left so the top of the spaceplane was pointed at the station.
Just then, they heard a strange humming noise. Boomer checked his readouts — everything was normal. “Crew, station check,” he ordered.
“Quiet, Captain.”
“I hear a funny sound.”
“That’s me, Noble. Now be quiet.” Sure enough, a moment later the humming sound came back, getting louder and louder as Raydon nudged the Black Stallion ever so slowly toward the tower. “Clear the docking tunnel, Senator,” he said.
“Tunnel’s clear.”
“I asked you to clear it, not talk!” Raydon snapped. “What part of ‘be quiet’ don’t you jokers understand?” Ann had to bite her tongue to keep silent. “Okay, Captain, extend the tunnel…slowly.” Boomer hit a switch, and the docking tunnel extended out the top of the spaceplane. “Stop.” Raydon made a few more imperceptible adjustments. “Okay, extend…stop.” Another nudge of the controls; then they heard a deep “CLUUNK!” and four sharp snaps. “Contact, locks engaged,” Raydon said. “Senator, double-check your suit status lights, and tell me what they say.” Silence. Raydon waited a moment longer, then said irritably, “You can talk now, all of you.”
“Four green, no red,” Ann Page said. “My, Colonel, what a fart you are.”
“Thank you, Senator. I’m just doing my job. Lieutenant?”
“Four green, no red. I’ve double-checked Ann’s controls — she’s ready.”
“I’ve checked Nano’s controls,” Ann said. “She’s good to go.”
“Roger. Captain?”
“I’ve got four green, no red,” Boomer responded. “I’m ready.”
“Roger. I’m showing four green, no red. Flight crew is ready for cabin depressurization, and passenger module is ready for equalization with the transfer module. Senator, Lieutenant, ready to go?”
“We’re ready, Colonel.”
“Ready.”
“Very good. Captain?”
Boomer checked the status readouts being transmitted via an encoded datalink from the station. “Transfer module showing pressurized to nine point nine psid,” he reported.
“Good. Clear to match cabin pressure.”
“Roger. Bringing the passenger module pressure down to nine point nine.” Boomer hit a control. “Passing fourteen psid…twelve…ten…nine point nine pressure differential in both station transfer module and Stud passenger module.”
“Very good. Okay, Senator, Lieutenant, you’re cleared to unstrap, enter the tunnel, and open the hatch. Be sure to check the visual indicators first. Good luck.”
“We’re on our way,” Ann said. “And you still owe me a shot for every time you called me ‘Senator,’ Kai.” She and Nano carefully removed their seat restraints and floated free. Ann moved to the tunnel first and pulled herself up inside. At the top of the tunnel she opened a small shutter over an observation window, which lined up exactly with a similar window on the station’s transfer module. She flicked a switch, and a tiny LED light illuminated a pressure gauge inside the transfer module. “Transfer module shows nine point five on the gauge,” she said. “Close enough for government work. Here we go.” Ann twisted two recessed levers in the tunnel’s hatch, and the hatch unlatched. She floated back and swung the hatch in, then locked it in place. She then reached up to the hatch visible just a few inches away, double-checked the pressure differential gauge again, then twisted two handles and swung the hatch open. “Hatches are open. I’m going inside. See you when I see you.”
“We did it,” Boomer breathed.
“We’ve still got a long way to go, Captain,” Raydon said. “But we’ve cleared one incredible hurdle.”
Nano began by unstrapping several equipment cases and boxes inside the passenger module, floated them through the tunnel to Ann, then followed them inside. In a few minutes she was inside the station’s transfer module, and she secured the hatches behind her. “The hatches are closed and latched,” she reported from the transfer module. “Tunnel and module are pressurized and secure. This is so cool. Can’t believe all the room in this thing!”
“The transfer module is the smallest on Silver Tower,” Ann said. “Wait till you see the rest of the place. You might want to move up here permanently.”
“Awesome!”
Inside the station, Ann floated into an adjacent tunnel, turning on lights as she went, then entered the adjacent crew sleeping quarters. She had stayed on the station a few times in the past several years, and she was pleased to see many of her “womanly” touches still in place — some artificial silk flowers, a few pictures, and even a magnetic chess board floating in the middle of the module.
“Wow, this is huge!” Nano remarked. “You can sleep a dozen people in this thing with room to spare! And there’s a shower, closets, TVs, and desks — how cool! I thought it’d be all cramped like the Shuttle orbiter.”
“I told you you’d like it,” Ann said. She floated “down” to another connecting tunnel and checked the pressure gauges. “The cargo module is depressurized and checked, guys. Come on over.”
“Ready, Captain?” Raydon asked.
“As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess,” Boomer said.
“I’ll go over first,” Raydon said. “Follow me and do what I do. There’s nothing to it.”