The Bonding (5 page)

           
“How
does it feel to be the first woman to have sex in space?” he asked, stroking
her hair.

           
“How
does it feel to be the first man to have sex in space?” she murmured in his
ear.

           
“If
it was as good for you as it was for me, then you’re feeling pretty damn good,”
he replied.

           
“I’m
feeling pretty damn good,” she said. They kissed and held each other as they
floated silently.

           
Outside
her quarters, Oliver floated by and smiled. “Good-night young lovers,” he
whispered.

Chapter
Three

           
Early
the next morning, Janet and Ron went to the galley for breakfast. Oliver was
already there and grinning mischievously when Ron and Janet arrived. He kept
looking back and forth from one to the other. Ron smiled, but didn’t say
anything.

           
“Well...?”
Oliver quizzed. “Are you going to keep me waiting all morning, or are you going
to tell me how it was to have sex in space? I’m dying to know.”

           
Ron
looked over at the camera. “You turned it back on?”

           
“Hey,
the mission commander said we needed to leave them on,” Oliver said
defensively. “If you want privacy, there are no cameras in your quarters.”

           
“I
hope not!” Janet exclaimed. “If there are, then NASA got quite the show last
night.”

           
A
voice crackled across the radio. It was the mission commander, Matt Johnson.
“So, how was it joining the 200,000 mile high club?”

           
“I
don’t know what you’re talking about,” Janet replied.

           
“Right!
We’ll expect a full report when you get back, with
all
of the scientific
details,” Matt added.

           
Ron
butted in. “There’s nothing scientific about it. It’s the same as on Earth,
only without the gravity.” He winked at the camera. “We’ll talk later, Matt.”

           
Janet
backhanded him across the chest. “No you won’t!”

           
Ron
looked into the camera and winked.

           
“Okay
folks. It looks like we’ve got a busy day of experiments to do,” Matt noted.
“I’ve already talked with the lander crews and everything is on schedule at the
moon base. Other than that, it’s routine as usual. You guys have anything to
report, besides your extracurricular activities?”

           
“No!”
Janet replied. “Everything is quiet and going well.”

           
“Good!
You’ve got Moonwalker up there for three more days to keep you company.
Commander Rand, you have anything to add to this morning’s conference?” Matt
asked.

           
“Morning
mates! No! Everything here is ticketty-boo.”

           
“Ticketty-boo?”
Janet questioned. “What the hell is ticketty-boo?”

           
Bill
sighed in disgust. “You Americans need to learn the English language. It means
everything is just fine.” Then he looked at Ron on the monitor. “Ron, I’d also
like to know how you and Commander Shelby’s off the record experiment turned
out,” he said snickering.

           
“All
right you guys. Knock it off!” Janet warned. “That’s enough of the
testosterone.”

           
Commander
Rand put his face up close to the camera and whispered. “Ron, give me a call
later, when she’s not around.”

           
Ron
held up his hand in an OK sign, and Janet slugged his arm. “Ow! Damn that
hurt!” Ron said, rubbing it, as he turned and winked at Bill.

           
“It’s
going to hurt a lot more if you give him the details,” she warned again.

           
“All
righty then,” Commander Rand added, “I think that’s a good sign that it’s time
to go. Cheers! Talk to you later.”

           
“Cheers,”
they all replied in unison.

           
At
the moon base, the crews were busily finishing the final touches and getting
all of the systems tested. There would be a ribbon cutting ceremony on the
surface of the moon, broadcast throughout the world. Cameras were set up at
every angle to capture the moment. Even one of the orbiting shuttles would be
giving a zoomed in aerial shot. Only six days remained for the completion of
phase one of mankind’s first moon base. The crews were very excited and anxious
to have everything perfect for the world to see.

           
The
day was drawing to an end. Both shuttles and the moon base crews had wrapped up
the day’s activities and were getting ready for supper. Most of the lander
crews were gathered in the galley, prepping their pasty gourmet meals and
playing cards or dominos. But the peacefulness was suddenly shattered with a
wailing siren, and the radios blurted out a warning from the Houston control
center.

           
“Attention
everyone! Attention everyone!
 
The
spacescan radar satellite has just picked up a group of small meteoroids heading
directly towards you. You need to get the shuttles clear of the moon. Moon base
One, you need to move into the meteor shelters immediately. I repeat,
immediately! There is no time for securing anything. We estimate the meteoroids
will be upon you in less than three minutes. Intrepid! Moonwalker! Get the hell
out of there, now!”

           
“Moon
base copies,” Lieutenant Bob Leddy replied. “We’re heading for the shelters.”
Cards and dominos went flying as the men jumped up from the tables and
scrambled down the tube towards the shelter. They knew how serious one
meteorite could be, from a previous incident where an entire building was
destroyed. Fortunately, it was being used as a storage area and nobody was
injured. But now, Houston was warning of multiple meteorites. This could be
devastating.

           
Commander
Shelby was already in the flight deck finishing instrument checks when the call
came in. “Intrepid copies. Prepping for burn.”

           
“Moonwalker
copies,” First Officer John Bibb confirmed. He was also in the flight deck
doing instrument checks. “Commander Rand is on his way to the flight deck.”

           
Commander
Rand raced to the pilot’s seat. He had been at the very back of the shuttle
finishing some experiments. Bibb was already strapped in and beginning the
rocket-firing checklist by the time Rand arrived.

           
“Ron,
Oliver, get strapped in. I’m burning in ten seconds,” Janet warned. They were
both in the galley preparing dinner and slammed the galley compartment doors
closed.

“This shit is serious,” Oliver said,
pulling his seat harness over his shoulders.

“You bet your ass it is,” Ron replied, as
he picked up the interphone. “We’re ready to go.”

           
“Hold
on then, I’m kickin’ it in the ass,” Janet commanded. She finished the preburn
preps and hit the rockets. There was no time to calculate a course. The
objective was to clear the moon. Once clear, the shuttles would turn around and
wait for Houston to give them the okay to resume orbit.

           
Intrepid
was on the sector of the orbit that aimed it into outer space, away from the
Earth and moon. Moonwalker was currently on a path that would put it parallel
with the Earth.

           
Commander
Shelby, Ron and Oliver were pushed against their seats as the rocket engines
burst alive and the hot gas erupted from the nozzles.

           
“Yee
haw!” Oliver shouted.

           
Ron
looked at him and laughed, even though it was no laughing situation.

On Moonwalker, Commander Rand was about
to fire the rockets when a small meteoroid crashed into one of the three
exhaust nozzles, totally smashing and knocking it into one of the other
nozzles. The entire shuttle was jolted from the collision and began to spin.
Bill and John looked at each other, then down to the instrument panel where a
red warning light flashed. Immediately the computers picked up the malfunctions
and shut down the rocket firing circuits.

           
“Shit!
What the fuck is going on?” Rand shouted. “John, check the computer. Find out
what the fuck is happening and do it quickly.”

           
“Commander,
it appears that we’ve been hit by one of the meteoroids. It’s disabled two of
the engines. The computer has shut us down.”

           
“And
we’re spinning,” Rand noted, pointing to the gyro. “Fuck!” He immediately hit
the stabilizing jets.

“You got it, Commander, looks like it’s
coming back on course.”

“We’re still going to have to fire the
last one manually,” Rand commanded.

           
“Commander,
you know that with only one engine, the shuttle could tumble from the off-sided
trajectory of the blast,” John warned.

           
“I
know! Trust me, John. I’ll make it work. I’ve done it in the simulator and I
can do it now.”

           
He
flipped up a guard and pushed the manual override button. The rocket fired and
the shuttle immediately pitched over and began a rapid descent toward the
moon’s surface.

           
“Commander?”
John nervously warned. He had seen many men, including
himself
,
fail this scenario in the simulator, and his gut feeling was telling him that
they were going to crash onto the moon.

           
“I
know! I’ve got it! Trust me!” Rand said firmly. He immediately fired the
stabilizing jets from the front of the shuttle to raise the nose. The first
blast couldn’t overcome the tremendous thrust of the rocket and they continued
descending.

           
“Shit!”
Rand scowled. “Get your nose up, you bitch!”

He
fired the jets again, holding the switch this time, and also fired the upper
steering jets near the aft end of the shuttle, to push the tail down. Slowly
the nose began to move up.

“All right baby! That’s it! Come on up!”
he shouted, smiling at John. The nose cleared the horizon and the stars
reappeared in the window.

“Damn! I just knew we were going to crash,”
John sighed. “Glad you know what the hell you’re doing.”

“Just got to have your shit together,”
Rand bragged.

John laughed. “Got to give it to you,
Commander, you pulled that one off real nice.” They hit their hands together in
a high five, and at that moment, the rocket engine made a loud coughing noise,
shaking the entire shuttle, and then it died.

           
“Oh
shit!” Rand exclaimed. “What the fuck is happening now?”

           
“Commander,
apparently the manual mode has also shut down. The computers see a potentially
deadly situation if we fire the rocket again.”

           
“Potentially
deadly! What the fuck do you call a bunch of meteoroids coming up our ass? Get
this fucking thing going!”

           
“I’m
working on it sir. One good thing, the stabilizing jets have made us regain our
altitude.
 
We’re going to clear the
moon.”

           
Rand
looked over at him. “It’s not the moon that I’m worried about. It’s those
fucking space rocks.”

           
They
both worked furiously trying to refire the rocket, but it would not respond.

John looked over at Bill with a blank
expression. “What do we do now?”

“Only two choices that I see,” Rand
replied. “Pray that the damned things miss us, or bend over and kiss your ass
good-bye.”

The next group of meteoroids approached
and, unknown to them, a very large one passed only a few feet behind the
shuttle. It was close enough for the surrounding debris to pelt against the
skin, but not cause any additional damage. Rand and Bibb looked around in
silent prayer as they heard the debris pinging against the metal hull.

           
On
the surface of the moon, the work crews huddled in the shelter watching the
base from a monitor that was linked to all of the cameras. The meteorites pummeled
into the lunar landscape, kicking up moon dust and slinging it high above the
ground. Muffled thumps, like mortars exploded all around them, and the ground
vibrated as each one ended its journey inside the cold lunar surface.
Lieutenant Leddy saw that his men were extremely nervous.

“Don’t worry guys. This shelter is
supposed to withstand the impact of a five meter rock traveling at 20,000 miles
per hour.”