She had gone through more than her share of training runs where they had simulated computer failure and had them cut circuits and operate the craft manually. You could mostly figure out your attitude and position by using the onboard porthole to look at the land below you. She remembered Mukai saying that all the equipment inside the capsules were stand-alone components. Each one could be removed without harming the rest of the machinery. She just hadn’t imagined that all of them would be removed at the same time.
Reentry was no walk in the park. An object flying just shy of eight kilometers per second hit the atmosphere like a bug hitting a windshield.
The capsules were equipped with heat-resistant shields capable of withstanding flames as hot as a blowtorch, but if they came in at the wrong angle, the shields wouldn’t do them any good, and the capsule would burn to a cinder in the blink of an eye.
Without any transmitters left, even if they managed to survive reentry, they had no way of letting anyone know their position.
Miss their timing by even ten seconds and they’d overshoot their splashdown point by a whole eighty kilometers. Yukari had a hard time believing that a boat or helicopter would be able to spot their capsule—hardly larger than an old phone booth—at that distance. If they didn’t land exactly where the rescue team expected them to, there was a good chance they could be lost at sea.
Yukari glanced down at her left wrist. Her only chronograph was her Omega wristwatch. They would have to thread the needle with only this and a few fuse panel switches.
Of course, the Soyuz was still an option.
She shook the thought out of her head as soon as she had it. She wouldn’t expose two other people to the vacuum of space just to save her own life.
Yukari made up her mind, by herself. Just like a real astronaut.
“Commander Belyayev. I will be going home in this capsule.”
“You are quite sure about this?”
“Just watch us!” Yukari replied with an enthusiasm she didn’t feel.
Yukari stuck a foot inside the capsule, and Matsuri grabbed hold and pulled her in.
“Yipes! Tight fit.”
“C’mon, you can get in further.”
“It’s r-really cramped.” Yukari had to twist until she was practically sitting on Matsuri in order to get all the way inside.
“Yukari, the hatch.”
“Right.”
Air filled the capsule, and the two took off their helmets and backpacks, pushing them down by their feet.
“How are we ever going to time the deorbit burn? We have to adjust for load too.”
“That’ll be your department, Yukari. Just do it like Kinoshita taught you. I’m not really up on all that stuff—though I do have a calculator!”
“Well, that’s something.”
Yukari pulled the calculator and operation manual from the navigational aid pouch.
“I had them attach an orbital path chart at the end,” Matsuri told her. “We’re supposed to go down into the Arafura Sea on our second pass.”
“That’s right…here. We don’t have much time, do we.” Yukari began furiously punching numbers into the calculator. If she subtracted the weight of the equipment Matsuri had jettisoned from her own body weight, she found that the capsule was now five kilos heavier. She could use that to determine the deorbit burn timings and thrust. “I guess we have to do the burn over Brazil— in another six minutes, nine seconds.”
“How’s our attitude looking?”
“Fine, I think. Wait a second—my hip’s on the control stick.” She twisted a little, managing to lift slightly off the stick.
“Yukari, I can’t see the porthole from here. You’ll have to look at it for me.”
“Right…”
And so on they went, down through the long list of procedures and adjustments to be made.
Yukari looked between her watch and the manual as she gave directions. “…Three, two, one, cut engines!”
“Hoi.”
“Nitrogen blower, on.”
“Hoi.”
“Retract OMS nozzle.”
“Green light.”
“Close OMS bay. Check latches one through four.”
“Hoi. All green.”
It was a major feat for two people to do what a computer did in seconds. As soon as the deorbit burn stopped, the capsule began to descend. Yukari checked the angle of the horizon to make sure their orientation was good.
“Pitch control…plus two.”
“Hoi.”
“That’s too far. Minus one.”
“Hoi.”
“Just a little more!”
“How’s that?”
“Good…I think.” Yukari felt her own heart racing. “Can we go ahead and jettison our extra fuel now?”
“Can’t check from here. Your call.”
If they jettisoned their extra fuel, there wouldn’t be any more adjustments to their course. They’d be locked on their current trajectory, for better or for worse. But if they didn’t get rid of it, there was a chance it could ignite from the heat of reentry.
“Let’s ditch it. Open valves B5, B6. Quick.”
“Hoi.”
Yukari felt the first vibration as they entered the atmosphere over Mindanao.
“Here it comes.”
Faint at first, the vibrations steadily grew in intensity. Yukari suddenly became aware of Matsuri’s chest pressing against her back.
“Matsuri, you okay? I’m not squishing you, am I?”
“No problem here.”
“Okay, but—wait!”
It dawned on Yukari that pressures during reentry climbed to as high as 10 G. Their bodies together would weigh as much as eight hundred kilograms—and Matsuri was on the bottom!
“What are we going to do, Matsuri!? You’re going to be a pancake!”
“No worries. We Taliho women are built tough.”
“But still—”
The g-forces relentlessly increased. The window was already red with heat. Yukari panicked, but there was nothing she could do. She couldn’t even move. There wasn’t any space in the capsule that wasn’t directly on top of Matsuri. “No! I’m going to crush you!”
“No, you won’t.”
“Yes, I will!”
“Dad—” Matsuri seemed to be having trouble breathing. “Dad told me to look out for you, s-so don’t…worry…”
“Hey! No! Mat—”
An incredible rumbling vibration drowned out Yukari’s voice as the g-forces enveloped the capsule. Yukari felt herself being pressed down into Matsuri’s body. She tried to brace herself with her arms, but they were pinned by her sides.
After three minutes that felt like an eternity, the weight finally lifted.
Yukari called Matsuri’s name over and over, but there was no response.
“What is it with everybody sacrificing themselves? You’re not allowed to do that, okay? You’re not allowed to die!”
The capsule shot downward like an arrow, and Yukari wept until the last corner of her rational mind remembered something she had to do.
Yukari groped for the fuse panel, found the switch to deploy the parachute, and threw it. She felt several quick impacts as the capsule passed through the cloud layer, and the main chute opened only moments before they hit the surface of the water. After the floats had fully deployed, Yukari threw open the hatch and crawled out into the bright sunlight on the surface of the hull. Crouching, she reached back into the capsule and undid Matsuri’s harness, giving her a shake.
“Matsuri! Wake up!” Yukari wiped at her eyes and stared at her sister’s face. “Matsuri…”
Matsuri’s eyelashes twitched. Then her eyelids opened, and she stared straight up at Yukari with her large, catlike eyes. “Hoi? Yukari? Where are we?”
“Earth,” Yukari said with a sob. “We’re home.”
✦ ✦ ✦
The sky and sea were blue as far as the eye could see. There was no land in sight. The two girls sat side by side on the capsule, feet in the water, letting the salty wind blow through their hair.
That blue, Yukari thought. It’s the same deep, equatorial, vibrant blue.
“You know,” she said, “we may not be too far off our splashdown point after all.”
Matsuri smiled. “I think you may be right.”
✦ ✦ ✦
It was only a few moments later that they heard the whine from the turbines of an approaching helicopter.
✦ ✦ ✦
[ACT 9]
✦ ✦ ✦
BY THE END of the year, Maltide was the center of a worldwide media frenzy.
Director Nasuda’s announcement of a seven-figure price for a manned space mission that would have cost the space shuttle nine figures to pull off had shaken the space industry.
The cost of building satellites dropped like a stone now that follow-up maintenance was a real possibility. No longer did a company have one chance only to make a satellite that would never fail. This also brought down soaring satellite insurance premiums, cutting overall program costs by a third.
When the economic impact of the Solomon Space Association became clear, the Japanese government backed off their earlier threats of funding cuts and doubled funding for the coming year.
For Yukari and Matsuri, the media attention meant instant international stardom. But Yukari refused all the banquet invitations and parade plans, instead choosing to focus on getting ready for her return to school the following semester. Director Nasuda literally groveled at her feet to give at least one press conference, but she was unmovable.
She had had enough of parties.
✦ ✦ ✦
What changed her mind was a short international phone call from her mother that came the day before she was to return to Japan.
“Your school found out about your job,” her mother told her. “You’ve been expelled.”