“Roger. Viktor, how about you?” asked Bernie.
“10-4,” said Viktor, still out of breath.
“Gentlemen, we will be lowering you both in a moment. Just a reminder, those bolts you will be working with have sensors to measure the torque you apply. If you over-torque those babies, we’ll know it. Of course, if you do that in space, you die. So be gentle with them and stay within the limits.”
Peter understood the danger of working with explosive bolts in space. “Roger that.”
After a few moments Bernie came back on the radio. “All right, gentlemen, we’re good to go. Hold on.”
Peter felt a jolt as the gears in the mobile crane above him started to turn and the platform began to lower. He stretched out his neck to look down and watch the water slowly seep through the grate below him. Water gradually started covering his boots and continued up his legs. With the suit fairly rigid and its internal temperature kept at a cozy 70 F, his body did not feel the effects of the water as he was lowered into it. If he closed his eyes, he could not tell where the water level was in reference to his body, giving him an odd disconnected sensation. The water reached the bottom of his visor and his suit started to float, relieving its weight against his body. Since the suit was not neutrally buoyant, he started to float upward; however, the straps kept him affixed to the hoist and pulled him down. Since Peter’s back was to his partner, he radioed, “All okay, Viktor?”
“I okay and feel good,” said Viktor with excitement in his voice.
Soon, the metal platform hit the bottom of the pool with a light thud. Swimming around them were a couple of divers with video cameras and a few support divers to monitor their activity and help with any problems. They also were there to help the astronauts get weighted right and not experience any buoyant force, either up or down or in rotation. The goal was for the astronauts to experience as close to zero gravity as possible, to float in place. The two support divers unstrapped Peter, and once freed, he started to slowly drift up… not good. The divers started adding small weights to make him neutrally buoyant, to not float up or down. Eventually they had him perfect.
Peter shot the divers a thumbs-up sign and was eager to get to work. Before he was able to check on Viktor, one of the support divers came around from his back side and gave a thumbs-down signal, indicating there was something wrong. Peter assumed the diver was informing him there was something wrong with Viktor. He turned around and saw his partner giving his all to his divers. When Viktor saw Peter looking his way, he flashed a thumbs-up sign along with a big grin. Damn, he seems okay, is there something wrong with me? Peter turned back to the diver, lifting his hands to question what the problem was. “Bernie, diver 2 is signaling I have a problem, any idea what it is?”
Bernie replied, “He radioed that you have a valve leak on your backpack. It looks like a hairline crack, so I’m talking to one of the suit engineers now, hold on.”
Peter again turned to Viktor, who was now rolling around head over heels in the water like a kid, demonstrating his buoyancy to his divers. Peter smiled when Viktor stopped in the upside down position. Floating stationary, he looked at Peter, saying, “This fun. Like old time.”
Peter chuckled seeing his partner being silly. “Let’s hope I get to play too.” Discouraged, he held onto the bar of the hoist waiting to hear back from Bernie.
“Sorry, gentleman, we’re told Peter’s leak could get worse. We’re going to have to cancel this drill until we can put him into a new suit,” said Bernie over the open channel.
Peter sighed. Both men were ready to do the drill and they did not have much time to waste. Every passing moment was critical.
Viktor chimed in, “Why I don’t do drill? My suit fine and I can do alone. We don’t want to waste training time.”
Peter figured it would be at least two hours before they would be back in this same position and radioed, “Bernie, I think that’s a great idea.”
Peter could hear some discussion going on over the radio and then overheard one of the operators say, “Hell, let’s see what the old fart can do.”
Bernie radioed back, “Okay, gentlemen. Viktor, you will do the drill on your own. Peter, you come back up and we’ll put you into another suit.”
“Roger,” said Peter as Viktor gave him a thumbs-up, no longer upside down.
ALLEN KNEW PETER AND VIKTOR were going to have their first training exercise in the NBTL and was curious how things were progressing. Both had taken physicals with SpaceQuest physicians per Allen’s request, and both passed. The last thing he needed was for the old man to have a heart attack in his pool. He was delighted to hear the doctors were astounded at Viktor’s good health and physical strength.
Allen walked into the NBTL facility to witness firsthand how the exercise was playing out. He walked straight to the edge of the pool and looked down expecting to see two astronauts training, but saw just one. He walked a few feet along the pool deck to make sure there wasn’t another astronaut blocked from his sight. Damn, only one of them down there. As he stood and watched, he was impressed with what he saw. The lone astronaut seemed to be working with ease, moving around effortlessly attaching the bolts for the exercise. Allen understood the difficulties working in water with a spacesuit, especially with the significant amount of drag water produced, typically tiring out the astronauts. With the astronaut moving around so easily, Allen was positive he was watching Peter. He wondered what the issue was with Viktor. I knew he wouldn’t be able to cut it. The more he watched, the more pissed he became seeing only one astronaut training.
Frustrated, Allen stormed up the stairs to the control room. He walked in unnoticed behind Bernie, who was monitoring the control panel and talking to the astronaut. Looking over his shoulder, Allen observed the monitor showing the view from the astronaut’s helmet camera. He watched as the astronaut used the pistol grip to tighten a bolt and overheard Bernie say, “Roger, tightening bolt number nine. You’re doing a great job, only one more bolt after this one.” Ten bolts were necessary to attach the engine and Allen was impressed one astronaut was doing the whole task on his own. After watching the monitor for awhile, he tapped Bernie on the shoulder.
“Where the hell is Viktor?”
Bernie, with a slight smirk, took off his headset and handed it to Allen. Allen assumed he wanted Peter to explain why he was the only one in the pool. He yanked the headset out of Bernie’s hand and put it on. Coming from the other end he heard the astronaut whistling. Allen listened for a moment as he watched the monitor, observing the astronaut work while he whistled. He was glad Peter was enjoying himself, but he was still irritated he was on his own. He pushed the talk button. “Peter, it’s Allen, how’s the drill coming along?”
The whistling and work stopped. There was dead silence. Bernie tapped on Allen’s arm, shaking his head “No.” Allen stared at his flight director, wondering what he was referring to. Receiving no feedback, he asked again, “Peter, is everything okay down there?” Again silence. Bernie just tilted his head with a cocky grin, doing nothing, as if he knew something Allen didn’t. Since the astronaut had stopped working, Allen wondered if something was wrong.
Finally after a long pause the astronaut said, “Allen, Peter not here. Just me working.”
Allen peered at Bernie with a shocked look and mouthed while pointing to the headphones, “That’s Viktor?”
Bernie nodded. “Yes.”
Allen radioed back to Viktor, “Oh, hi, Viktor. Looks like you’re doing a great job. Keep up the good work.”