“Roger. Thanks again, son.”
Peter quickly jumped in. “Yeah, thanks, Dmitri. You’ve made it easier for me to share this tiny ship with your dad. Over.”
“Roger, just make sure you two take a shower. Over and out.”
Both men took their headsets off.
“Yeah, baby! The Chinese are still on the ground.” Peter did a little jig in his seat. “We’re going to beat those suckers!”
Viktor nodded sagely, as if he knew they would get the head start. Peter wondered if his partner had known all along.
“How come you’ve been so confident? Did you know something?”
Viktor smiled. “I had a good idea. I call Dmitri before launch. Ask about latest Russian intelligence on Chinese rocket. He say U.S. intelligence wrong, rocket not fueled. We agree Anya pass any change to SpaceQuest. You say Allen not mention Anya when he cancel mission. I hope for best.”
“Oh, that’s why you asked about Anya. So why didn’t you tell me? It would have made my decision easier.” Peter rolled his head on his shoulders, releasing tension.
“I not sure Russia Intelligence better than U.S. I want you make decision yourself.”
“Well I’m glad I decided to support you.”
Viktor smiled. “Okay, let’s jettison booster before Mission Control radio with course corrections.”
“Roger, let’s hope our handiwork did the job.” Peter hoped he’d wired up the explosive bolts right.
Viktor leaned over to flip the switch. “Here we go, cross fingers,” he said before flipping the switch.
Peter was relieved to hear a quick set of mini explosions fire off in sequence behind them. Music to his ears. Yeah, baby! After the explosions were complete, he turned to give Viktor their fist bump but held off after seeing a troubled look on his partner’s face. “What’s the matter?”
“I hear only nine explosions,” said Viktor in a distressed tone.
“What? Are you sure?” Peter had no idea—he hadn’t counted. He’d installed ten bolts. There should have been ten mini-explosions.
“Yes. Just nine. One not fire.” Viktor quickly looked down into the eye piece of a periscope that extended underneath the Soyuz. Turning it so it pointed to the back end of the ship, he peered for a moment doing minor adjustments to the eye piece. Dejectedly he said, “It still there!”
“Damn it, are you sure?” The booster engine had to be removed or they were screwed. The VASIMR engine covered the Soyuz engine, which was needed to slow the spacecraft down and get them into lunar orbit. If they were unable to use that engine, they would have no way of braking and would fly right past the moon.
“Yes. I sure,” said Viktor sadly.
TANG SAT STRAPPED in his seat next to his fellow taikonaut Nei Zango on top of the large Long March rocket, listening to the countdown echo in his helmet. Both men had finished all their prechecks and were eagerly awaiting their second launch to the moon after almost three months. Their mission was to beat the Americans to the back side, where Nei would reprogram and arm the MK laser. Tang was anxious to get going—even though the Americans were in a slower rocket, they still had a good head start. Everything needed to go according to plan if they were going to have a chance of catching them, including the new procedures needed to get out of orbit quickly. He spent the last few weeks training for this and was confident he could pull it off.
Tang was honored to be given this second opportunity to go to the moon, even though it was a top secret mission and no one outside of CNSA would ever know about it. The future of his nation depended on their success and he planned on doing everything in his power to accomplish this. If they were successful, the Americans would die, but to him, this was war. They were fighting for the moon. China versus America.
“ONE OF US NEEDS TO DO A SPACEWALK and loosen that engine,” said Peter clenching his hand in frustration. Viktor had already tried shaking the engine loose by maneuvering the spacecraft, but had no luck. Both men knew it was a dangerous spacewalk; if the bolt exploded while being worked on, flying shrapnel could be lethal. Peter was the only one scheduled to do a spacewalk at the moon, so they’d left Viktor’s gloves on the Galileo. “Since we only have my gloves, I guess I’m the lucky one.”
“Too dangerous. Only you know how to reprogram laser. I go,” said Viktor.
Peter tilted his head as he pointed to his other hand, “You don’t have gloves.”
“You could not wear mine, but I can wear yours—just have extra room. Still work.”
Even though Peter felt his partner was right because Viktor’s hands were smaller, Peter still wondered if the old man could physically handle the spacewalk. “Are you sure you can do this?”
“Sure. Help me put on EMU and get me out there.” Viktor floated through the hatch to the Orbital Module where the EMU was stored.
“Shouldn’t we let Mission Control know first?” asked Peter eyeing the bottom of Viktor’s boots passing through the hatch.
Viktor’s feet quickly disappeared before his head poked back into the Descent Module. “No! If tell them, they say too dangerous and force us try free return around moon. Do not give them idea.”
His partner was right. The less Mission Control knew the better. “Well, then you better not blow yourself up,” said Peter, trying to ease the tension.
“Nothing happen,” said Viktor with a wink.
32
ANOTHER CHALLENGE
Sweat pooled around Viktor’s face inside his EMU space helmet as he exerted as much force as he could trying to pry the engine loose from the Soyuz spacecraft. He had already tried unscrewing the bolt with a socket wrench, but it wouldn’t budge. He was now on the opposite side of the stuck bolt, the safest place if it exploded, trying to manhandle the engine to snap the bolt. He was tethered to the Soyuz by two lines and had both feet pushing out against the VASIMR engine. He had been working for almost an hour, and though the engine had loosened, it still seemed far off from breaking free.
“How’s it going Viktor?” radioed Peter with concern is his voice.
Viktor stopped for a moment to catch his breath and shake the pools of sweat off his face before answering. “It loose, but I not have luck breaking bolt.” He was definitely feeling his age as he gasped for air. Trying to keep the moment light, he said between heavy breaths, “It stubborn like Anya.”
Viktor continued for another fifteen minutes but wasn’t making any headway. Peter finally radioed, sounding impatient, “Viktor, why don’t you come back in, I’ll go out and give it a try?”
Viktor rested against the insulation of the Soyuz trying to figure out what to do. “Give me couple minutes.” Viktor accepted he wasn’t going to be able to pry the engine free and felt Peter wouldn’t either. His only option was to work directly on the bolt, hoping to break it free somehow. This could kill him, but it was a risk he was willing to take so Peter could finish the mission. “I have no luck. I try cut bolt with saw.”
“No!” Peter’s vehemence distorted his voice over the radio. “It’ll explode!”
“We have no choice.” Viktor undid his tether lines and started working his way over to the other side of the engine where the bolt was seated.
“Viktor, let me give it a try before you do that!”
“You sit tight. Don’t worry,” said Viktor.
“Damn it, I don’t agree with this. I guess we now know where your daughter gets her stubbornness.” Getting no response from Viktor, Peter said, “Okay, how can I help?”
“Not sure. Tell you when I get there.” Viktor slowly worked his way over to the other side of the engine.
When he arrived at the bolt, he studied it for a while. A small area of threads visible in-between the bolt cap and the engine flange would be the best place to cut. He would cut as much as he could before trying to break off the top with a hammer. “Okay, looks like there place to cut.”