Abort Abort Abort, Terry Wilson [cool books to read txt] 📗

which he waved, and reached for the aluminum ring to pull it down so they could see his face, the suit hid a fit body. It was obvious to the two astronauts that he had just climbed into it and was still stretching out his limbs.

Thomas was trying to place the face, "You're uh, one of the geologist finalists for Equinox. Harvey, isn't it?"

"Ronny

," he smiles, "I am

your geologist, now. The Mars Crew Selection Committee told me this morning."

"I'm sure it was Harvey," Lucy smiles, "Ronald Harvey. Am I right?"

"And you're the famous Lucy Graheme, the Society's original trajectory mastermind," he shakes her hand warmly, then turns to Thomas, "And you're the even more famous Thomas Shinra, heroic survivor of Sprint One. I'm in a hurry to get to know you, it's only

two and a half years before we land on Mars."

"So, you're going into the pool with us?" Thomas asks.

"Yeah," he says, "They want us to check out the new tent. Say, in what army did you get the rank of Major?"

With that, Thomas winces, wraps his arm around his shoulders and whispers, "Drop it."

Walking along, the blondie asks, "Or was it Loootenant? Lefftenant?"

"Honestly, he hasn't a day of military service in his whole career," Lucy says, trying to break the ice, "Major Tom comes from how his first mission resembled his favorite song, Coming Home by Peter Schilling."

"So, your favorite reporter must be Melissa Stokes, right?" Ronny asks.

"Why would you figure that?" Thomas asks, clearly disgusted at the question.

"Because she, first of all, was the only space reporter to get out of you in an interview, that Coming Home inspired you to become an astronaut," Ronny reflects, "but more

importantly, she's the only space reporter who has never referred to you by that title. Now that I know you were never really a Major, I realize now that she was being respectful."

Thomas pauses and looks at him, "You seriously thought I was a Major?"

"Part of me had a doubt," Ronny confesses, "but, yeah, I honestly thought, if every space reporter but Ms. Stokes is calling him Major on occasion... So what were you before?"

"A pilot for Mountain Lights Airlines," he says, "I did the acceptance of the NorSTOL K301 for them just before I got accepted into Canadian Aerospace Society as their chief astronaut."

"I flew the acceptance for the same aircraft, Royal Australian Air Force," says Lucy, "so I'm closer to being a major than he ever was."

Once in the pool, having climbed out of the Sprint mockup a few times, he asks, "Do you think you could have survived Autumn Rain?

"

Thomas turns to him and asks, "Do you mean that icing crash of Flight 929, a K270 a couple decades back?"

"That would be the one," Ronny confirms, "I probably could if I had a suit like this, but heck, that weather was too ugly for anything less."

"Minus forty-five the first night," Thomas confirms, "plus it was still raining for a couple minutes just after she hit. It would be quite the challenge if you got wet."

"I hope I don't suffer the fate of the K270's designer, Troy Watson. He was on the Autumn Rain," Ronny says, "I'm designing the all-terrain vehicles for Equinox, helping out with the big rovers, too."

"It would sure suck to die in a vehicle of your own design," Lucy says, "especially if you saw some way of improving it to prevent the accident that killed you. I know NorSTOL made improvements to the K270 after Autumn Rain, and the protection on the K301 is astounding."

"So, do you think you could make it?" Ronny asks.

"Absolutely not," Thomas says emphatically as he hangs onto the bouncing raft. Thinks he, I could never do such a thing to my Sandy.

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Publication Date: 11-21-2009

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