Lunar Colony (4 page)

For several seconds, Glen heard nothing but beeping noises within the capsule and the rocket’s engines coming to life. At last, Slayton responded.

“Okay, son, it seems we have a little situation here. Apparently, Hatcher’s had a small case of the jitters and won’t be able to complete this mission. Luckily, I believe you have the right stuff to carry it out.”

“What?” shouted Glen. The lights within the capsule were flashing more quickly now. The engines roared, making it difficult for Glen to hear his own voice. “I’m just a kid. I don’t know how to fly a spaceship!”

“You’re not understanding me, son. This mission must be carried out, and I’m afraid we’ve already reached the point of no return. It’s too late to abort.”

Glen could hear an automated voice over the radio.

“Countdown commencing. Twenty, nineteen, eighteen . . .”

“Dad! Where’s my dad?” yelled Glen. He just wanted this to be over, to wake up and realize it was all a bad dream.

“I’m here, Glen.” Mr. Johns’s voice came in through the speakers. He struggled to sound reassuring, knowing that it would do Glen no good to hear his father panic. “They told me what happened and brought me to Mission Control.”

“Twelve, eleven, ten . . .”

“Dad, I’m so scared!”

“I know, Glen,” Mr. Johns said, his voice quivering, “but if you just listen to Mr. Slayton and follow his instructions, everything will be okay.”

“Dad!” shouted Glen. “I’m sorry I—”

“Son,” interrupted Slayton, “you’d better put on that helmet and strap yourself in,
now
! This may be a bumpy ride.”

“Three, two, one . . .”

Glen had just strapped himself into his seat when he felt the tremendous thrust of the booster rockets. The force mashed his body back into the seat, making him feel like an elephant was sitting on his chest. For several seconds, Glen couldn’t open his eyes, even if he’d wanted to. Instead, he could only hear the
whoosh
of the rockets as he flew skyward.

“Just hold on there, son,” said Slayton, coming in through the radio. “You’re passing through Earth’s atmosphere, which is causing the capsule to shake.”

Through gritted teeth, Glen managed to whisper, “How much longer?”

“You’re almost through the first layer of the atmosphere and are about to enter the stratosphere,” replied Slayton.

Glen kept his teeth clenched and hoped his head wouldn’t explode. He tried to distract himself by slowly counting backward from ten, just like he always did when the dentist drilled a cavity. He only made it to seven, though, before Slayton’s voice broke in again.

“You’re just about through the stratosphere, son. Things should start to get easier from here on out.”

It was true. The higher the ship flew, the less it shook, and the pressure on his body became less severe. Glen even managed to open his eyes for the first time and could see the blue sky outside growing darker. He was entering the upper levels of the atmosphere, just at the edge of outer space.

“Okay, son,” said Slayton, “we’re deploying the booster rockets in three . . . two . . . one!”

Glen felt a jolt as the rockets fell away from the capsule, dropping thousands of feet into the ocean below. The ship rolled, and Glen could see them falling toward the blue planet he’d just left.

“Dad, are you there?” asked Glen.

“Yes, Glen,” responded Mr. Johns. “Is
everything okay? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine, Dad,” Glen answered. And as he watched his planet grow smaller and smaller in the
window, he added, “You wouldn’t believe the view I have. Earth looks so different from up here.”

Mr. Johns couldn’t bring himself to respond.
He was happy to hear Glen’s voice and know that his son was okay. But he wouldn’t be able to feel any relief until Glen was back on the ground.

Glen was marveling at how tiny the Earth looked, when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. It was his backpack, floating in the capsule like a helium-filled balloon.

“Hey,” said Glen, “my backpack is weightless!” Unstrapping from his seat, he reached out and poked his bag, which slowly careened off the capsule’s walls.

“Affirmative,” said Slayton. “Now that you’re in outer space, you’ll find that the capsule is free of gravity.”

“Cool,” said Glen, more to himself than anyone. He stared in fascination as the backpack slowly floated around the pod. Then, snapping back to the reality of where he was, he said to the flight director, “Well, Mr. Slayton, you got the ship off the ground, so now I guess it’s time to bring me home.”

“I’m afraid we can’t do that just yet.”

“What do you mean?” asked Glen, once
again feeling alarmed. “The space program’s last mission was supposed to be one final launch. Well, you launched the ship, so I’m done and can come back home, right?”

“Negative. There’s more to the mission than just the launch,” answered Slayton. Mr. Johns, who was listening to the flight director, got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He’d been afraid of this.

“What do you mean?” Glen asked.

“Yes, Mr. Slayton,” Mr. Johns said, “what are you talking about?”

“One of our astronauts,” Slayton began, “has been living on a lunar base for quite some time. We can’t shut down the space program as long as there’s someone still up there.”

“Okay, fine,” Glen said. “But what does that have to do with me? Why doesn’t this astronaut just fly home?”

“This particular astronaut is Commander Rachel Salerno, who is . . . difficult,” Slayton continued. “She has decided to carry out an unauthorized mission and has ignored all orders to
shut down the facility and return home.”

Mr. Johns braced himself for the worst and asked, “Mr. Slayton, what are you saying? Where are you sending my son?”

“Let me finish. Because of her resistance, it has become necessary to send someone to relieve her of her post and escort her back to Earth.”

Glen hoped that “someone” wasn’t him, but he dared to ask. “Mr. Slayton, are you telling me that I’m going—”

“To the moon, son. Your ship is taking you there now. Once on the ground, you must take Salerno into custody and return her to Cape Carpenter.”

“Mr. Slayton,” said Mr. Johns, sounding angrier than Glen had heard him in years, “you can’t be serious! How can you send a thirteen-year-old boy to the moon?”

“This isn’t fair,” Glen added in protest. “You expect me to fly this ship to the moon and
then
capture an astronaut? I don’t even care about your dumb space program! Why should this be my problem?”

Glen had never spoken this way to an adult
before, but he was mad. He couldn’t believe what Slayton had told him.

“That ship of yours will take you straight into the moon’s orbit, where a landing vehicle will take you to the ground. Mr. Johns, Glen, you can both relax,” Slayton said. “Unless there’s some unforeseen event, there will be no need to lift a finger. And, Glen, as far as your feelings about the space program go, you can be glad that the sooner you complete this mission and bring Salerno back to Earth, the sooner this ‘dumb’ program will be terminated.”

Glen felt bitter about the situation he was in but was realizing that he had no option other than to do what he was told and get it over with. For his part, Mr. Johns sat with his face in his hands, wishing he and Glen had never come to Cape Carpenter.

“Now,” Slayton went on, “I should warn you about Salerno. She is quite clever, and catching her may not be so—”

Wham!

Something hit the ship.

What the heck was that?
Glen wondered.

“Asteroids!” shouted Slayton.

Glen’s head was still a little foggy from the collision, but he knew that this wasn’t a good situation. The red lights within the capsule were flashing again as a damage indicator blinked.

“You’re in an asteroid field!” Slayton said. “You’ll have to steer your way through it!”

“What?” Glen said, alarmed. “I thought I wouldn’t have to do any flying!”

“This . . . no time . . . questions!” Slayton responded. The field was disrupting the radio signal, making it difficult for Glen to understand him. “Strap . . . seat and . . . get out . . . before . . . another collision!”

Glen knew he needed to do something, and fast. Through the window he could see hundreds of asteroids hurtling his way. Glen kicked off from the capsule wall and flew to his seat. He buckled himself in with no time to spare. He was headed right for a big one, which was large enough to smash his ship to pieces.

Flipping a switch on the command console, Glen changed the flight operation from
AUTOPILOT
to
MANUAL
. He grabbed the steering controls and banked right, narrowly avoiding the incoming asteroid.

“Whew, that was close!” he said. But Glen didn’t have a chance to relax—a cluster of three smaller asteroids, each with the ability to do massive damage to his ship, was right in front of him. Glen veered to the left and then quickly to the right to escape the path of the first two, but the third one was coming in fast. Pulling back hard on the steering column, Glen put the ship in a
steep climb. He braced for the impact, but after a second, he realized that he’d cleared the projectile, however narrowly.