A MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR: I've had this idea stuck in my head for a while. Maybe its good, and maybe its bad.
Set up!
Percy is mission commander of Apollo 18 (The flight that was scheduled to launch but the Apollo program was scrubbed before it did.) and he and his crew mad it to the moon safely in the Command Module (CM) Neptune.
After re-emerging from signal black out on the dark side of the moon Neptune and it's Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), Poseidon, separate. Pilot Frank Zang remains in the CM as Commander Percy Jackson and Mission Specialist Leo Valdez descend to the moon in Poseidon.
They successfully land and begin their Extra Vehicular Activities (EVA), or space walks, as they are commonly known.
That's where the story picks up.
Enjoy!
Chapter 1: Neptune
POV: Percy
Three days, three hours, and forty-nine minutes. That's how long I've been trapped in Neptune. That's how long it takes to get from the Earth to the moon. Then I piloted Poseidon down for the landing. Now I was standing on the ladder of Poseidon, ready to take my first steps on the moon.
"Huston this is Poseidon, Beginning EVA." I said into my mic.
"Copy Poseidon," Came the crackly voice of the Communications Commander (CapCom) of ground control. "You are cleared for your EVA. Have fun Percy."
I smiled. I was on the moon!
"Thanks, Jason." I said. "Here goes nothing."
As I said this I took my first step off of the LEM and onto the moon.
I marveled at how my boot sank into the fine powder of the lunar dust.
"Leo," I spoke into my mic. "I'm going to set up the flag. Get out here and help."
"Copy, Percy." Came Leo's voice over the mic. "I'll be right out. Just running final systems check on my suit."
"Copy." I said into my mic.
As I waited I looked up to se the Earth, suspended in the darkness of space. It looked like a bright blue orb. A beacon in the dark. I could raise my thumb and cover the Earth with it from where I stood. It made me feel small.
"You have to see this view." I said in aw. "The view alone is worth the trip."
"To bad that's not why we were sent here." Leo said. "So lets go set up the seismic machines to measure the moon's activity."
I turned around to find Leo bouncing towards me.
"We still have to plant the flag." I told him. "Then we can work on your precious machines."
I couldn't see his face through his reflective visor bet he gave me a thumbs up.
"Sounds good." He said.
And so we put up the flag and saluted it. Then we put our lunar rover together so we could drive to the locations where we needed to plant the machines.
"Neptune, this is Huston." Came Jason's voice over the mic. "We need you to continue with the check list now."
"Copy, Huston." Frank responded. "I'm doing it right…." His speech was drowned out by a loud blaring noise. "Huston, (Garbled static) Pressure failure (Static) Nav ball"s all over the (More static) Oh GOD, THE HATCH! (Static)"
Eventually the static stopped.
"Neptune this is Huston." Jason said seriously. "Can you repeat your last, we didn't catch all of it."
There was no response.
"Neptune this is Huston." Jason repeated. "Do you copy?"
Again, nothing.
"Poseidon, this is Huston, Do you copy?"
"We copy." I responded.
"Flight wants you back in the LEM until we figure out this Neptune problem." Jason said in a shake-y voice.
"Copy, Huston." I said. "Returning to Poseidon now."
And so Leo and I hopped back to the LEM to wait for our orders.
Once we were inside and out of our suits Leo turned to me.
"Are we on VOX?" He asked me.
He was referring to the voice-activated mic, which would transmit every thing we were saying.
"No," I responded. "Were on Push To Talk." (PTT)
"Good." He answered. "Cuz' we nead to talk."
I frowned.
"About what?" I asked.
"Zang's dead." He said flatly. "He said he was having Pressure issues and his nav ball was all over the place." Leo shook his head. "That would mean he was leaking a gas out into space at such high rates that it acted like a thruster and started to spin him. Then he screamed something about the hatch. If the cabin was flooding with too much gasses then it's possible that it over stressed the hatch and caused the porthole to crack or the hatch to be blown off entirely."
I frowned at him.
"Our connection to Huston is relayed through Neptune." I said, skeptically. "If Neptune was destroyed then we wouldn't be able to talk to them."
Leo sighed and shook his head.
"That's running under the assumption that Neptune's communication antenna and power systems were destroyed." He said. "But if it was just a blown hatch and leaking gasses then it would only kill Frank. The ship would still be ok."
"So what are you saying?" I asked him.
"I'm saying that Zang's gone and now were trapped up here." He grumbled. "With out a pilot in Neptune we can't dock with it much less make it back to Earth."
My face went into a shocked expression as I realized he was right. If Frank was dead then our only hope of getting home was gone.
"Poseidon this is Huston, come in." Came Jason's voice out of nowhere.
The sudden interruption made both Leo and I jump.
"Are you sure we're on PTT?" He asked.
I nodded as I pushed the button on my mic.
"Huston, this is Poseidon, go ahead." I replied.
"Look, Percy." Came Jasons voice.
He sounded like he was struggling to stay calm.
"We haven't had any contact with frank and time is a factor here so were sending a rescue mission." Jason said in a hurried tone. "Nineteen is ready for its launch so were going to sent it up with Travis to come and get you two."
Leo and I eyed each other as Jason spoke. Not liking where this was going.
"What about Frank?" Leo asked, pushing his mic button.
"He's in a CM so if he's alive he can do the scheduled burn and come home." Jason said. "But if we don't launch nineteen now then you two will run out of air."
"Copy, Huston." Leo said. "Make it quick."
With that he let go of his mic button and I did two.
"So this is how it ends." Leo sighed as he shook his head. "On the fucking moon!"
"What do you mean?" I asked him. "They're sending Travis."
Leo laughed and shook his head.
"Poseidon can support two people for two days." He shouted with bitter tone. It takes three days, three hours and forty-nine minutes to get here with a pre set launch window. On the fly…" He shook his head and laughed. "My guess is for days plus a few hours."
"So we need to conserve our oxygen." I began before a thought hit me. "An our power. We don't want to run out of electricity or we'll never be able to take off, much less dock with nineteen."
Leo nodded.
"The only hope I can think of is to try and find some power cells in the storage unit of Tranquility base." He said. "By rover it would take a an hour or so. But it's the closest one to us."
I nodded.
"Sounds like we're visiting Apollo eleven then." I said.
As we suited up again I couldn't help but think of my wife back home. Annabeth was one of the smartest scientists I knew and I was often amused that she married me. I mean I'm nothing more then a crazy test pilot that volunteered to get strapped into an experimental rocket and get shot off into deep space. She really could have done better but now as I was strapping into my suit I couldn't help but think I could die happy if I could just hear her voice again.
A MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR: Well? What do ya think? Want more? Post a review. The more reviews the faster I update!