The Methuselan Circuit (3 page)

CHAPTER 2: Rocket Ride

He wasn’t in another room and he wasn’t outside. Alexander was in what looked to be a very nice bus. It wasn’t nice in that it was comfortable or well appointed; actually it was quite the opposite. The interior was austere. The metal ribs showed through the smooth insulating panels of the walls. In between each pair of ribs was a small window and next to each window was a row of seats. A central aisle gave access to ten rows of two seats each, one on either side. Each seat was pseudo-leather, liked the stripped down economy version of an airliner.

“It’s got to be a military shuttle,” he mused aloud. “Why, where am I going?”

There was no answer. Alexander thought about it. He had two choices: either sit down or turn back and leave. He didn’t want to turn back. He went up the aisle. Each row of seats had a panel. At first he assumed it was a training shuttle, something that a lot of kids could ride and practice the same things, except that each seat had a different setup. He wandered up and down the aisle inspecting each one. None of them were the same so he gave up and chose the most complicated panel he could find with the most display screens. He sat down.

An opaque energy screen closed around Alexander’s station. He could see out the window, but he couldn’t see any of the other seats. He waited for direction. Nothing happened. He looked around, not wanting to touch anything he wasn’t supposed to. There weren’t any reference checklist, labels, signs—nothing. Finally, curiosity got the better of him and he touched a screen. Alexander jumped as all the displays and control boards came to life.

There were seven display screens in all, three smaller screens on either side of a single large screen. The large screen had a menu, just like his hologames. Without wasting any more time he got right to it. There were start up routines, system routines, questions, problems to be solved—he went through them all, except for one. On the first page of the first start up routine was a caution that read,

Pushing the Red Button will begin the Main Sequence, use only when called for by set criteria.

That made no sense to him. He wondered what the Red Button did, but he resisted doing anything about it until he found out when and under what conditions he could use it. He had other things to do regardless.

After about half an hour, Alexander heard a whirring sound. He scanned his displays. On the upper left bank he saw the colored ribbons and digital readouts for four engines. They wound up, settled down and stabilized. A minute later the shuttle moved. He looked out the window and saw that they were rising straight up into the air. He started. He’d forgotten his seat belt! He dug around his seat but there weren’t just two straps. There were five straps and a central buckle. It took some experimentation to figure out, which was made all that much tougher because the shuttle started to bounce around either because of turbulent air or by design. Eventually he got strapped in, but the shuttle kept bucking around like a wild horse. The air grew hot and Alexander began to feel a bit queasy.

He tried looking out the window, but the sight of the ground moving away faster and faster only made him feel worse. He turned back to his displays, picking up the last routine where he left off. Maybe, just maybe if he kept himself busy he’d forget about throwing up. If only it were cooler.

Then it struck him: he had engine displays! Wasn’t the air conditioner a system just like the engines? He looked around, paging through one display after another until he found something labeled “Pneumatic Air Bleed System.” Well, it said “Air” at least. At first all he could make out were a bunch of thick green lines going from some objects to other objects. He thought hard.
Is that air moving from one place to another?
He couldn’t tell, but one of the objects at the top of the page said “Pressurized NO2” and the object at the end of the lines said “Air Conditioning Pack.” Next to the “Pack” was a number: “35 degrees C.”

“No wonder it’s so hot!” He touched the bar next to the temperature readout and moved his finger down the screen until it read “17 degrees C.”

At once cool air began to blow on Alexander and he felt much better. A surge of accomplishment brought a smile to his face. He’d actually done something! His sour stomach disappeared, and Alexander dared a look out the window to see where they might be. The window was black with a sprinkling of bright stars.
It can’t be night already!
He leaned close to the window, so close he could feel the chill from the Plexiglas. Looking down he saw the bright blue and white limb of the Earth.

Alexander was in space.

The view was mesmerizing. It was one thing to see it on his visiplate at home, but here, even through the small window it was a completely different experience. He was actually
in
space and not watching it. Alexander pressed his hand against the window. It was cold. Wow!

A buzzer began to sound, on and off. He looked to his board. The borders around one of the secondary screens flashed red; and a message on the main screens read, “Primary Power Coupling Failure.”

He was twelve. He had no idea what a primary power coupling was. What was he supposed to do? He looked around, but there was nothing to see beyond the opaque energy screen. He took a deep breath. “I guess I have to do something about it.”

The first place to look was obvious. He studied the secondary screen with the flashing red border. It appeared to show energy routing through the engines and out the thrusters. Yes, there was the matter—anti-matter convection chamber. Fuel flowed into the chamber where it was converted to anti-matter and then routed through magnetic manifolds to the engines. Everybody knew that much, even kids his age. He’d learned about it by reading National Geographic. They always had articles on space flight, the frontier planets in the adjoining solar systems and all sorts of other stuff. He’d even read about the Space Academy.

“Ok back to the problem, this is really cool and all, but I’ve got a job to do,” he reminded himself. What to do, that was the problem. His Dad always told him to focus. He studied the screen and followed the energy flow. There was a blockage in the flow. One piece of equipment flashed red, and the label read, “Primary Power Coupling.” Next to it was a similar piece of equipment. It was gray on the screen and had no energy flowing either into it or out of it. The label read, “Secondary Power Coupling.”

The ship rocked and began to shake wildly. Alexander looked out the window. The stars and the earth spun around, disappearing from sight only to reappear seconds later. The ship was out of control! He began to feel sick. Steam hissed out of one of his vents, clouding his view of the screens. Then the screens began to go dark. “I have to switch to the Secondary Power Coupling and fast!”

How?

He touched the image of the Secondary Power Coupling. It brightened. The word “Armed” showed beneath it, but no energy flowed into or out of it. The shaking grew worse. He looked back at the main screen. The message describing the failure was now flashing with a bright red box around it. Instinctively he reached out and touched it.

Beneath the message a checklist came onto the screen. He looked it over and saw where it told him to activate the Secondary Power Coupling by selecting it on the Engine Display. “I did that,” he objected, but even as he said that he noticed that was step two and not step one. That read,

“Step 1: Deactivate the malfunctioning Primary Power Coupling by selecting the icon on the Secondary Engine Display.”

He groaned. Rule number one—don’t hurry. Rule number two—follow directions. Alexander reached over and deselected the Primary Power Coupling by touching it. The icon changed color to a dark gray. The energy stopped flowing into it and rerouted to the Secondary Power Coupling which was now armed and ready. Energy went through the coupling and into the engines. The ship stopped shaking.

Alexander relaxed and looked out the window. The view of the earth and stars steadied. The emergency was over. He relaxed. Leaning back in his seat, he glanced at the main screen again. The checklist was still there. It had five steps, and it occurred to him that he’d only done two. Everything seemed to be working, but he couldn’t help but think they wouldn’t have made it five steps long if two steps would have done just as well. He finished it.

When he completed the final step the secondary screens went dark. The main screen changed to show a distinguished looked man in a black and silver uniform. The man had silver hair that matched his uniform and a full mustache. He looked at Alexander from beneath bushy brows, and said, “I’m Admiral Sten Augesburcke IV, the Commandant of the US Space Academy. Congratulations Alexander, you’ve completed the first phase of testing for a probationary year at the Space Academy. Now I don’t want to get your hopes up too high, because there are other steps that need to be taken before you are accepted as a Brevet Cadet, many of these steps depend on you and some depend on your parents.

“As you know, the Academy is located in Earth Orbit, 100 miles above the planet” The screen shifted to show the silver-white complex of the Academy built around the mottled metal monstrosity that was a mile long captured Methuselan ship. “Part of the reason the Academy is there is so that the students can gain an appreciation for just how fragile our existence is, and how important it is for the military, that might mean you, to uphold our traditions of honor and service to country. Less than a hundred years ago we almost lost all of that, but we persevered, we kept our faith in our nation, ourselves and in our God and we persevered.”

The image returned to Admiral Augesburcke. “Our world and our people have been through a great deal in the last two centuries, from the rise of Alexander and the Ascension Wars, the Methuselan invasion and finally the painful Caliphate Wars of seventy-five years ago. Through that turmoil and through the challenge of expanding into space, dealing with extraterrestrial cultures and the like one thing has kept us steady—the resolve and honor of the military. It is at the Academy where you will train and learn to be a soldier, a centurion and perhaps even an officer, if you have the merit. The Service is the greatest force for peace in the galaxy! We think you have this inside you Alexander. You are now set to begin your six week break. We need a decision in two weeks so that we can begin to prepare you for your Probationary Year at the Academy. Congratulations and good luck!”

CHAPTER 3: Attitude

Alexander could barely contain himself. He was so excited he never felt the shuttle land. It was only when the opaque screen around his seat disappeared that he realized the flight was over. He unbuckled and stood up, seeing two other boys and two girls. To his surprise Lisa was one of the girls and James was one of the boys.

Lisa came up to him, an excited smile on her face. “How did it go, are they going to send you to the Academy too?”

“I’ve got two weeks to make up my mind,” he nodded carefully. “I want to go, and I’m pretty sure my folks will let me; though they won’t be happy about me being gone so long.”

“My Dad will never let me go,” James said. His long face told them everything they needed to know. “I’m the one who does the cooking and the cleaning; I’m a virtual slave there. He’ll never let me go. I’ll have to wait until I’m eighteen and apply for a Settler’s slot.”

“That’s terrible, how can your Dad say no; it’s a chance for you to become a Citizen,” Alexander asked, amazed that anyone could be so selfish.

“That’s my Dad,” James shrugged. “He’s so lazy all he could get was a Government job. He had the chance to move up and maybe even become a Citizen, but he thinks that’s for fools. As long as he has a roof over his head, money for beer and his motorcycle he’s fine with it.”

“That’s too bad,” Lisa said firmly. “If that’s all he wants Ok, but he shouldn’t ruin your life.”

“What are you guys waiting for; can we get off this thing yet?” It was the other boy. Alexander couldn’t remember his name, but they seemed to be in the way.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to leave. It was so great to actually fly into space! I can’t wait to tell my folks,” Alexander was still hopped up on the adrenaline of the experience. The other boy felt exactly the opposite.

“I don’t ever want to get near one of these things again,” he exclaimed. “Things are blowing up; alarms are going off—no thank you!”

“None of that was real,” chided the other girl. Alexander didn’t know her either; the Vashon School had a lot of students. “It was all fake. We never even left the ground.”

A wave of disappointment hit Alexander. Was she right, was this a simulator? He filed out of the back and stepped out the door back into the school. He was back in the room where he’d `been before. The Major was waiting for them.

“Well, I see three of you had a good time,” he smiled. He turned to the boy. He was just getting his color back. “There’s nothing to feel bad about son; some people just don’t acclimate well to space flight. There are plenty of other things you can do. With your test scores you should certainly concentrate on the sciences—only I think you should stick to research here on Terra Firma!”