EVERY SCREEN IN the control room was off. The only thing moving was the countdown clock in one corner. T PLUS 1 DAY 2 HR 17 MIN 5 SEC. At the rearmost terminal in the central row, chief controller Kazuya Kinoshita was on the phone.
“I see… So the goldfish were okay? …Right. Good job. …No, OECF Operations should take care of that. What about today? Sure, just keep it under control. Right. Take it easy.”
Quietly, he set down the receiver and raised his voice. “Everyone, listen up. Our astronauts are at the Space Lab. This wraps up control operations for this mission. It may not have been pretty, but we did it. Good job, everyone.”
There was no clapping. Everyone seated at the terminals stood up as one, stretched, and began collecting their papers.
Kinoshita jotted something down in his logbook and went into the guest room to report to Nasuda. “The orbiter and its crew have arrived at the Space Lab. The craft took a little damage, but the goldfish are fine. Our astronauts are giving their report to Professor Miyamoto now. The girls plan on staying at Yukari’s house tonight.”
“I see. Well then, the mission was a success.”
“A partial success, maybe.”
“Success is success. All’s well that ends well, right?”
Nasuda turned to Director Holden and spoke in English. “As you can see, our mission was a complete success. We accomplished a second test flight with a multiple-seat orbiter, broadcast video of a spacewalk, and completed our vestibular adaptation experiment using goldfish.”
“A complete success?” The director raised an eyebrow. “I seem to recall a malfunction in your test equipment, aberrant departure from orbit, lost position, and emergency splashdown. These matters don’t concern you at all?”
“I admit there were some events that we failed to predict,” Nasuda said, “yet our crew and test subjects have returned unharmed. Their actions in orbit and our response on the ground kept it together.”
“To me it seems like there was a fair bit of luck involved,” the director said with a shake of his head. “Thank you for inviting me here. It was certainly a fascinating experience, I’ll give you that. The SSA’s work is worthy of attention. After all, this is the third manned space program after the U.S. and Russia, and you’ve shown impressive results while managing to maintain a far-smaller-scale operation.”
“That we have.” Nasuda was practically beaming.
“But let me be frank. I’m afraid that, all things considered, it would be premature for your program to participate in the construction of an international space station.”
“But, Director—”
Holden raised a hand, cutting off Nasuda mid-objection. “Don’t get me wrong. We’re not trying to hold you back or make you toe the line. Our shuttle fleet is overworked. We need all the help we can get. And we know you are the only ones with the skintight space suit technology and hybrid engines.” Holden stood. “But your results are still weak. I look forward to more progress from you in the future.”