An hour later, the captain called the entire crew to middeck.
“Let’s go over what we know. First of all, just so there’s no false hope, you should know that the situation is not looking good. The engine burn came when Orpheus was nearly ready for launch. It’s now fallen into a roughly three-thousand-kilometer-high elliptical orbit.
“That’s not all that different from its scheduled orbit, so if we could operate it remotely, it might be possible to refire the engine and send it on its way to Pluto. The fuel loss from the burn was still within tolerance levels.
“However, we’ve been unable to establish remote control over the probe from the ground. This is likely due to the safety tag still being attached.
“Furthermore, I’ve just heard from Houston about why this happened. While they can’t be certain until they actually see the probe, it seems likely that something happened during an unscheduled engine test before launch. Apparently, one of the technicians on the ground purposefully shorted the control circuits in order to fire the engines with the safety tag still on.
“Time is tight, they needed to do the test, and removing the safety tag requires a lot of paperwork. Furthermore, the technician has admitted he has no memory of removing the jumper he used to short the firing circuits.”
While the captain spoke, Yukari was watching Akane’s expression.
At first she looked relieved. But that relief soon shifted to quiet anger. The other crewmembers were making fists with their hands and cursing under their breaths.
“If we were able to rendezvous with Orpheus, the solution would be simple. All we’d have to do is remove the safety tag and the jumper wire from the circuit. However—” the captain paused to let his men prepare themselves for the bad news. “As I mentioned, the orbiter is on an elliptical orbit with an apogee of roughly three thousand kilometers. We don’t have enough fuel to accelerate Atlantis enough for a rendezvous with the probe. Not to mention the shuttle has an altitude limit of one thousand kilometers.”
“So we’re done here,” Luis said quietly with a shrug. “Let’s go home, have a few beers, and forget any of this ever happened.”
“That’s looking like the best course of action,” the captain admitted, shaking his head. “Incidentally—” He turned to Yukari. “What’s Mangosteen’s altitude limit?”
“Eight hundred kilometers.”
“As I thought.”
There was silence for a few moments.
No matter which craft they used, neither of them would be able to reach Orpheus. Though the probe would pass through the shuttle’s orbit at its closest point to Earth, there would be a speed differential of nearly 640 meters per second. Even if they could reach the same exact spot, without matching speeds there’d be no rendezvous.
Akane spoke. “So what happens to Orpheus?”
“It’s pretty low when it approaches the earth. Eventually it will bump up against the atmosphere, which will slow it down, and after several orbits it will plunge.”
“And what about after we return to Earth? Will there be no chance to save it after that?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
“Then, Captain,” Akane said, “I have a suggestion.”
The captain looked up at her.
“Neither of our ships on its own can catch Orpheus. But what if we combined the ships?”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Well, we could put Mangosteen inside Atlantis and accelerate as fast as the shuttle will go. Then we release Mangosteen and accelerate with her.”
“Yes, but—”
“It’s an addition problem,” Luis said, shaking his head. “One thousand plus eight hundred doesn’t equal three thousand.”
“Actually, it does,” Akane said. “What you’re saying would be true if the orbits were circular, but in order to match an elliptical orbit, we only need to accelerate half of the distance between us.”
“Wait, you’re right! We could hit an apogee of thirty-six hundred kilometers!”
“Correct. It helps if you think in terms of velocity instead of altitude.”
“But hold on,” the captain interjected. “We need fuel to adjust our orbital plane, but we also need fuel to get back home.”
“Actually, the orbital plane won’t change that much. And both of our ships can handle atmosphere. You won’t need much fuel to get back.”
“What’s Mangosteen’s mass?” Norman asked.
“Roughly two tons, including crew.”
“The shuttle weighs seventy thousand kilograms. That’s barely different than flying with an empty bay.”
“We’ll fit in the payload bay nicely too,” Yukari said. “Even at its widest point, our orbiter’s diameter is only three meters.”
“So we’ve established that theoretically, this is possible,” Gordon said, leaning forward. “As long as we got the rendezvous timing perfect.”
“It is possible. It’s totally possible!” Akane said.
“Now, hold on. Just hold on,” the captain said. “Loading a space shuttle with an unscheduled cargo and accelerating has never been attempted before. This isn’t some eighteen-wheeler we’re driving up here. If that orbiter were to, say, topple in the bay midflight we could be looking at a catastrophic explosion.
“Also, the shuttle needs an airport in order to land. If we change our course and have to make an emergency landing, we’ll be looking at a far worse disaster than just losing Orpheus. Not to mention that a height of three thousand kilometers hasn’t been attempted since the Apollo missions. There’s no telling what could happen up there.”
“And we’ll find out as much as we can! Call the Solomon base and the Johnson Space Center and have them plan the whole thing out!” Akane said, a mounting strength in her voice. “If you keep bringing up why we can’t succeed, it just means you aren’t up to doing it!”
The captain raised an eyebrow at her.
“It’s like she says,” Yukari joined in. “We’re ready to go to three thousand kilometers or thirty thousand kilometers, whatever it takes. As long as you’re up to it.”
The captain shook his head, then got on the intercom for the space transmission network. “Houston and Solomon, this is Atlantis. Do you copy?”
“Atlantis, this is Houston, we hear you loud and clear.”
“Hoi, Atlantis. Solomon here.”
“We need you to look into something for us. We have a possible way to rescue Orpheus. The idea’s from the SSA’s Miura, and it’s a bit…radical.”