Episode 7
Chapter 17 part 1
Jacob
Personal log (voice), J. J. Stone, Captain of the Flying Dutchman, 11:30 am, October 29th 2006.
The Hades was the second of the Dutchman class vessels to be launched under the command of Jacob Jehosophat Stone. It was the first of it's kind to circle the earth at 45 miles altitude.
It was also, as far as I knew, the only manned craft to fly comfortably at that height.
Everybody aboard the Hades was in position. Since this was a simple flight, they were mainly here for window dressing. No use letting the world know just how advanced this ship really was.
With a smile, I got up and checked the stuff in the kitchen area of the workroom. The pizzas were in their thermal packages, so they'd be hot and fresh for another forty five minutes. That would be more than long enough. The sodas were chilling nicely too. I almost wished we had some beer aboard, but that was pushing it. They may be getting me to relax, however that much relaxing I do not think I could get away with.
I went back and sat in the command chair. "Everybody ready?"
Bob smiled. "Ready as we can be."
"Ashley?"
"Ready I suppose."
"You suppose?"
"This is not my normal thing, what can I say? How many teenagers do you know that usually go into orbit?"
The same number that do drugs to get high?
I resisted saying that one though.
Megan looked a little bit uncomfortable. "Ashley has a point. Don't get us wrong, we trust you. You'd never do this if you were not sure it would be safe. It's still a little hard to accept."
"She has a point, Jacob."
"We can wait till you are all a little more comfortable."
Now Megan looked a little sheepish. "In my case, that could take a while."
I watched Bob look at Megan piercingly. "You mean?" he asked.
"Yup."
"Afraid of heights?"
"I wish. I'm starting to get stage fright."
"Stage fright??"
"Yes. Have you any idea how many people will be watching?"
"A lot?"
"A lot???? Millions! Millions for god's sake. Billions more will see the tape once the news service starts selling this segment. My favorite rock star would give his left lung for this sort of audience."
I sighed. "Millions, billions, what ever. They are just numbers. You'll never meet them all. Those you meet you can handle. Besides, look at it as a good opener on your resume."
Megan seemed shocked I could treat the situation like I was doing.
"Relax. I chose you for this because I knew you could handle it. Just talk. The ship's systems will handle the broadcast transmission and camera view according to what you say."
"One more question."
"Go ahead."
"Why?"
"I thought I explained why I chose you."
"Not that. Why have this broadcast made at all?"
"Because the secret is out after the flights the Flying Dutchman made last week. So I might as well make the announcement as dramatic as possible."
"Honey, what else would they expect of the legend of Jacob Jehosophat Stone?" Bob asked her reasonably.
Megan slowly got her composure together. "Ok. I guess I'm ready for this."
I looked around the ship. Everything was in readiness. My crew were about as ready as I could reasonably have expected. Perhaps my mistake was in the idea that everybody can see that the greatest events consist of smaller events. Smaller events that anybody can handle. All they have to do is act on these smaller events to deal with the greater, supposedly awe inspiring events. Am I the only one to see this?
Ah well, lets go make history.
"Action stations."
Everybody readied themselves.
"Ok Megan. Call your mother."
Megan turned to the com panel. "Wotan, call 1 410 BCS NEWS."
"Done."
"On speakers."
"Done."
"Baltimore Chesapeake Station. Helen speaking."
"Helen, this is Megan Hastings. Get my mother please. Tell her I'm ready for the broadcast."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Secondary news desk, local section. Mrs. Hastings speaking."
"Hi mom. You wanted me to call when we were ready, remember."
"Ready already? As in right now?"
"Yep."
"We are going to pre-empt the noon news for this. I like it. Stand by."
Bob gave me an evil grin. "Want to put the broadcast on visual?"
"In due time, my dear Bob, in due time."
"Shush... she should be going on now." Megan sounded like the girl who received an unending gift certificate to a fashion mall.
"Good afternoon and thanks for turning to channel 14, BCS. This is a breaking news story. We are in contact with a vessel about to go for the X Prize II. My daughter, Megan is a member of the county high school press club. She will be running the interview by telephone. Megan?"
"Thank you mom." Megan took a deep breath and fulfilled the dreams of every journalist. "My name is Megan Hastings, and I am reporting from the command deck of the Density Ship 'Hades'."
"The Density Ship Hades??" Mrs. Hastings' rival snorted. "What kind of BS are you pulling here?"
Mrs. Hastings grinned a 'you should have kept your mouth shut smile.' "Megan, can you give us a visual. My coworkers think we are making this up."
"Wotan, take the incoming phone call and send a visual signal to that location."
The regular anchormen looked in shock as Mrs. Hastings indicated the big screen.
The in-studio cameraman panned immediately to it.
"Megan, what exactly is going on?"
"As I stated before, I am aboard the Density Ship Hades, on it's maiden flight. It has suited the odd humor of it's creator to allow me to broadcast from the ship as he goes for the X Prize II. Without further ado, may I introduce the inventor of Density Technology, the creator of the Density Force, the Captain of the Hades, and incidently, a high school sophomore, Jacob Jehosophat Stone."
By the time she finished that sentence it was an even bet that the signal was being watched by every body who could get that signal. Or an affiliated station's signal.
"Hello all. I am indeed Jacob Jehosophat Stone. Welcome to the Hades."
"Thank you. Can you tell us about this ship."
"Not really. But I will take advantage of this broadcast to put everybody on notice that I am the only one who understands the practical applications of the Density theories I discovered. And let the world know that I have no intention of letting the Density Force become military pawns to anybody. And I truly mean anybody."
"Understandable. Can you tell me more about the X Prize II?"
"Yes. The X Prize II is a contest sponsored by the International Science Federation. To the first crewed privately owned ship that reaches orbit and maintains a sustained orbital flight for at least twenty minutes will be given a prize of Twenty Million Dollars."
"A lot of money for a teen."
"A bit yes." I said with my typical understatement.
"Can we meet your crew?"
"Sure. On weapons we have Bob. Navigation is being handled by Ashley."
Megan started, " Is that the same Ashley that... ?"
Ashley shook her head no subtly.
Megan took the hint. "Never mind. Jacob assigned me to be in charge of communications. Now back to the flight. Jacob, can you tell me where we are right now?"
"Certainly I can. We should be about twenty eight miles above the Earth's surface. Geographically we are about..." Jacob looked at Ashley.
"Just crossing the southeast coast of Greenland." Ashley supplied.
"Ah, Greenland. What a cool place." Jacob chuckled slightly at his pun and then continued with the explanations. "The common name for where we currently are is the stratosphere. For those who want to be technical about it, we are flying through the upper regions of the stratopause. While a lot of the viewers watching might not know this term, they have heard about this area a lot. Usually coupled with environmental warnings. Often this region of the atmosphere is called the ozone layer."
The anchorman at the station asked, "Can you prove it?"
"Check with your own satellites. Look about twenty two miles above the weather you usually use them to report on."
"Well?"
Their weatherman came over. "It's not clear because this is not what they were built to look for, but yes, something is definitely there."
"It looks like this is real folks." The anchorman tried to steal the spotlight and the story." For those of you just tuning in, this is Dan Brown with BCS, and I have arranged an exclusive interview with the creator of a whole new technology."
Mrs. Hastings was furious to the point of speechlessness.
Megan Hastings was livid. Unfortunately for the anchorman, she was never speechless. "You thieving, lying son of a bitch!"
"Megan!!!!!" Her mother gasped. "We're on the air!"
"Sorry people. I'm... I'm..."
"Rather ticked off?" Jacob suggested.
"Ticked off is putting it mildly. But I at least, will try to act ethically." Megan shot a pointed look at the anchorman. "To put the truth out, Captain Stone of the Hades asked me to be his communications officer. That includes speaking to the press or making press statements concerning the Hades. I agreed to do this broadcast though BCS so that my mother can get the credit. This is fair, as she is the one that supported my desire to be a journalist. Now, that the truth is out, where were we?"
"You were asking me where the ship was. I had just told you we are in the upper regions of the stratosphere, in the area that has the ozone layer."
"Very well. What's next?"
"Next we ascend to forty miles. Ashley?"
Ashley told Wotan, "Wotan. Ascend to forty standard miles."
"Done."
A few minutes later Ashley reported we're here.
"What's here?" Megan asked.
"Our environmental resupplying spot. You see, in this part of the mesosphere, it is rather like the conditions over the Himalayas. That is as close to the conditions where you are with the exception of very little water vapor. There is of course, more ozone up here. Bob, have the systems flush themselves out, then store the needed environmental supplies in the various containment units."
Bob thought for a second. "Wotan. Flush all non desirable materials from the Hades. Complete intake of all needed available supplies."
"Done. Ten minutes till completion."
"That will be all for the mesosphere. We will then ascend to seventy three standard miles."
"What's there?"
"You'll see. Just call it a little treat."
Eight minutes later Wotan said, "Done."
"Wotan. Seal the ship."
"Done."
"We will now go on internal supplies. Ashley?"
"Ascending now." She gave Wotan the needed instructions.
Fifteen minutes later there were several gasps on the bridge.
"It's beautiful." Ashley breathed.
The view through the holographic projectors was breathtaking.
Megan looked over at Jacob. "You knew about this, didn't you?"
"Yep. Bob, switch to orbital flight please."
"Can you explain it?"
"I hate to ruin such beauty for your guys by reducing it to science."
"Go on. Viewers down on earth should be told if this is normal. A lot of them would pay to see this up close."
"I bet. Very well. Above about sixty two kilometers, in the ionosphere, there is an increasing fraction of charged, or ionized, particles. This causes spectacular visible auroras to be generated in this region, particularly along circular zones around the poles, by episodic precipitation of energetic particles."
Everybody watched the ion storms for a few minutes.
"Excuse me." Mrs. Hastings interrupted. "Exciting as this view is,..."
"You want us to get on with going into orbit."
"True. You guys will pass this again on the way down."
"Ok. Well, for those who just tuned in and those who have been watching the entire broadcast, this is the moment we have been waiting for. My name is Megan Hastings. I am aboard the Density Ship Hades and we are about to make our push to win the X Prize II. To win this prize, a privately owned spacecraft must make an orbital flight totally outside the earth's atmosphere. It's the Captain's plan to remain there at least an hour. The captain, Jacob Stone, has brought us this far without incident. Jacob, any comments as you prepare to leave earth's atmosphere?"
I smiled. This was not the moment for the speech I have been dreaming of making since I was eight. Come to think of it, I really had no planned speech for this particular moment. It was only just a group of teenagers going from here to there after all. It's not like I've cured cancer or brought sense to national politics. Still I suppose I should try to give them what they expect.
Time to play the legend.
I stood up. "My name is Captain Jacob Jehosophat Stone of the Density Ship Hades. I am sixteen. My crew ranges from fifteen to seventeen. I mention this because of a song quote many people may have heard. 'The youth will lead the way.' While I forget the writer of the song, I recognize it's truth. The youth, limited as we are seen to be, are often the ones most willing to go beyond the limitations of possibility. We are stubborn enough to try things others who think themselves wiser say are impossible. Age does not insure wisdom. Having more experiences does not guarantee wisdom either. A person must learn from those experiences."
I lifted my left hand.
Chapter 17 part 2
Jacob
Personal log (voice), J. J. Stone, Captain of the Flying Dutchman, 11:30 am, October 29th 2006.
Ashley readied herself.
A few moments later a worthy enough phrase finally came to me. "Let us rise above the madness of men and into the serenity of space."
The Hades left the earth's atmosphere.
Then another inspiration struck me. I hit a couple buttons. In the background the song 'It's The End Of The World As We Know It' started playing.
We all watched the view change as they passed a space shuttle and weaved their way through all the satellites that cluttered Earth's inner orbit.
Soon we were passing by the International Space Station, and then past the Russian MIR space station.
Then Megan spoke to the world again. "So it was that a few minutes after noon on the twenty ninth day of October in the year two thousand and four that the Density Ship Hades made history. This flight has broken so many records that I'm betting the number of records broken is in fact a record number in and of itself. Youngest crew, furthest flight by a private spacecraft, furthest manned flight by a private spacecraft, largest crewed flight, first spaceflight by a non conventional technology, the list could probably go on for another five minutes. This is Megan Hastings, broadcasting live and exclusively on behalf of BCS from the bridge of the Density Ship Hades signing off."