[ACT 5]
✦ ✦ ✦
DIRECTOR NASUDA HUNG up the phone. “The soonest they can have a shuttle up is four days—two weeks for a Soyuz. Nothing but inflexible, hulking leviathans.”
Matsuri sprang to her feet. “Hoi, Mukai. How soon can our third rocket fly?”
“That’s right—we have another rocket!”
The SSA had prepared three LS-5A boosters for this mission: Pathfinder, Tampopo, and a third still on its side in the VAB waiting to be assembled.
Mukai ran the numbers through his head. “Forty…no, twenty-four hours should do it.”
“But the capsule will only hold one person,” said Director Nasuda. “We can’t use it to perform a rescue.”
“Sure we can,” said Matsuri. “We just have to launch it empty for a rendezvous with Yukari.”
“It might work, but we don’t have twenty-four hours. Yukari’s life support will only last another eight—maybe twelve if we’re careful.”
“But she could use the liquid oxygen for the fuel. She can do another space walk and—”
“Matsuri, even if Yukari had enough oxygen, we would need some way to scrub the carbon dioxide out of the air,” said Satsuki.
Matsuri fell silent, her eyes filling with tears.
Kinoshita, who up until now had been staring at his terminal, raised his voice. “These spirits of yours, Matsuri. They enjoy playing pranks, do they?”
“Hoi. Evils spirits love pranks. Sometimes they can even kill people.”
Everyone turned toward Kinoshita to see where he was going with this.
“Well, I don’t know whether to call this coincidence or what, but—look at the screen.”
The screen displayed Tampopo’s orbit, and beside it, a second sine wave.
“Kinoshita, is that what I think it is?” asked Director Nasuda.
“That’s the Russian space station—Mir. Its orbit is going to cross Tampopo’s at almost the exact same time. It should pass about two hundred kilometers above Tampopo on the next orbit. We couldn’t have matched up the orbits better if we tried.”
“Maybe things are finally turning our way. But climbing another two hundred kilometers isn’t going to be easy.”
“I ran the calculations, and if we jettison the parachute system, it can be done. The capsule will be stranded in orbit, but we can save Yukari. Mir has a three-man Soyuz docked that can bring her home.”
“It’s all coming together,” said Director Nasuda with a pump of his fist.
This would add an unscheduled orbital rendezvous to the unscheduled EVA they had just completed. It would be difficult for people outside of the aerospace community to understand, but to accomplish so much on their first manned flight would be nothing short of a miracle.
“But we can’t bring her home in a Ruskie ship—that would label the whole mission a failure. Mukai, I want that third ship on a rendezvous with Mir, and I want it yesterday.”
“You don’t have to ask twice.”
✦ ✦ ✦
[ACT 6]
✦ ✦ ✦
PROFITABILITY IN THE space business took more than the ability to reach orbit—you had to be able to make your way to a satellite or ship once you got there. Tampopo may have been small, but it could execute dramatic orbital changes, and that was its great advantage. Any number of Tampopo’s features had been pared back to reduce size and weight, but not her OMS engine— the engine that was going to boost her to Mir.
Yukari listened as Kinoshita went over the steps they were about to take.
“We only get one shot at this. Your first burn will be at perigee in thirty-seven minutes—that will put you in a Hohmann transfer orbit. Forty-four minutes later you’ll perform another burn to align your vector with Mir. Do you copy?”
“Roger. Just like we learned in class.”
“That’s right. Things are going to get a little hectic. Matsuri’s back with us. She’ll be providing your ground support again.”
“Copy that. You there, Matsuri? Everything’s going okay up here.”
“Hoi, I’m here. We still need to be careful, Yukari. Stay sharp.”
“I know, I know. So, where do you wanna start?”
“First we’re going to jettison the parachute system, then we’re going to program the sequencer. We need to check the clock and the engine too. It’s a pretty long list.”
“Copy that.”
✦ ✦ ✦
An hour and twenty minutes passed. The first burn came and went without incident. Tampopo had entered an elliptical orbit that would bring it within striking distance of Mir’s own. Mir would be approaching from behind, and when it was just about to overtake Tampopo, Yukari would perform an apogee burn to match speed.
For now, Mir was nowhere in sight.
“So…what’s going on? Should I radio to let them know I’m coming?”
“Actually, Yukari, the talks with the Russians are still a work in progress. They’re worried about the possibility of a collision, so they haven’t given Tampopo permission to approach yet.”
“They…what?”
Yukari couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Were they really going to negotiate over her life?
The idea wasn’t as absurd as it first sounded. Granting docking rights to a foreign country was a big deal; if something went wrong, astronomical sums of money were on the line, not to mention lives. They only had one chance for Tampopo to make the rendezvous with Mir, so they had taken it, a leap of faith that she would be welcome when she got there. But there was a real possibility that she would be turned away at the door.
“You’re approaching Mir according to plan,” said Matsuri. “U.S. Space Command is tracking your position for us. You’re currently seventy-four kilometers from Mir, and nine kilometers below.”
“I should be in ship-to-ship communications range by now.”
“Hoi, affirmative. Want to give it a try?”
“They speak English, don’t they?”
“Only one way to find out.”
“Here goes. Let’s see if they’re willing to sit on their hands while a teenage girl dies.”
Yukari flipped through the operations manual and tuned her radio to the common frequency used by international spacecraft.
“Um, hello, Mir?” Yukari spoke in English. “This is Tampopo from SSA, Yukari Morita speaking. Over.”
On her second attempt, a reply came in English. “This is Mir. We hear you loud and clear, SSA Tampopo.” It was a man’s voice, deep and resonating.
Yukari was ecstatic as she pressed the talk button. “This is Tampopo. I hear you loud and clear too. Tampopo can’t make reentry. I was hoping you’d let me stay with you. Over.”
“Mir to SSA Tampopo. TsUP mission control has informed us of your situation, but we have not yet received permission for you to dock.”
Yukari realized it was now or never.
“So the Russians are just going to let a young girl die with the whole world watching?”
The Russian response came almost immediately. “Mir to SSA Tampopo. I want you to listen carefully to what I am going to tell you, Yukari. Cosmonauts, astronauts—we have all answered the same noble calling. As far as we are concerned, everyone on the ground can piss off.”
Yukari couldn’t have been more thrilled by what she had heard if it had been in her own native Japanese. In a place lonelier than any on Earth, she had forged a bond with another human being.
“Thank you, Mir. I’m glad we had the chance to meet like this. Oh, I still don’t know your name, do I?”
“I am Oleg Kamanin. With me is my commander, Nikolai Belyayev.”
“Just two of you?”
“Correct. We have been here six months. Nikolai is depressurizing and prebreathing to prepare so he can meet you outside the station. It will be two hours before he can go out. Can you wait until then?”
“Two hours is no problem. Life support should last another four.”
“Copy that. TsUP told us your suit does not require prebreathing. This is true?”
“Of course. I thought that’s how they all were.”
“An amazing technology. This is good, but there will be other difficulties with docking. We will need to moor your vessel to the station with tethers, and our air lock is only large enough for one person at a time. Nikolai will help you tie up your ship and show you to the air lock.”
“Roger. First I need to get there though. I still have seventy kilometers to go. How am I going to find you? I don’t have much fuel, so I need to get it right the first time.”
“This concerned us too, Yukari. That is why we already track you on radar. We have a good fix on your position. We will guide you to us.”
“You’re a lifesaver, Oleg.”