"5 minutes!"

The Arkbird has descended the atmosphere. It's decelerating. Preparing to enter geo-Synchronous orbit."

"Status on the SSTO"

""The SSTO and the payload are ready!"

"This is Flight Director Adam Gillman to all team leaders. Report on your status."

"Flight Control team, ready"

"Guidance team, ready"

"Weather team, report!"

"This is the Weather team. Wind speeds generated by the nearby storm above 40,000 ft. are above the flight dynamics calculation parameters!

"Can that affect the launch?"

"We don't know sir."

"4 minutes!"

"Flight Dynamics?"

"We're adjusting calculations now. Based on wind speed, payload weight, air pressure…"

"This is Navigation, the Arkbird is off the projected flight path!"

"Communications!"

"Establishing link to the Arkbird"

"I need a data link established right now!"

"3 minutes!"

"Sir, is this a go or a no go?"

"Team leaders, can we do this?"

"Yes sir we can!"

"This is Flight Dynamics, we are finishing the new calculations momentarily."

"Make it quick, our launch window closes in 2 minutes!"

"There! The calculations are complete!"

"This is Navigation, adjusting…"

"Guidance team, doing the same"

"Communications, send this data to the Arkbird now!"

"Sending."

"1 minute!"

"Disengage Mass Driver power supply, recalibrating with new limitations"

"This the Flight Director, perform last checks on all systems. Guidance, Navigation, Flight Control, Telemetry, Communications, Flight Dynamics are all green."

"Arkbird is entering the new interception point."

"This is going to be close."

"Powering up the Mass Driver catapult system"

"30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20…"

"Mass Driver power at 50 percent."

"15, 14, 13, 12, 11…"

"Power at 85 percent"

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5…"

"Power at 100 percent!"

"4, 3, 2, 1…"

"Launch!"

"SSTO accelerating, passing checkpoint one…"

"Passing checkpoint two…"

"SSTO Launch successful!"

"This is the Observation room, reporting status on launch."

"The SSTO is gaining altitude, passing 40,000 ft.,"

"SSTO disengaging, separating from the payload."

"The SSTO is decelerating, losing altitude."

"The payload is maintaining velocity and is exiting the atmosphere."

"Payload to Arkbird contact in two, one."

"Payload has hit the Arkbird!"

"This is the Arkbird…"

"…Bassett Space Center…"

"…Thanks for the Champagne!"

The outdoor view screen available to the public showed the video feed from the observation room, the Arkbird and the glittering shards of the wine bottle that crashed against its hull. A moment of silent awe, before the combined cheers of the Space Center staff and the spectators filled the air.

On a podium outside, right under the light of the golden sun stood the leaders of the two superpowers that built this facility. This was to be their "bridge of peace", the mass driver that let them into outer space. And this was their first step. The christening of the white bird of peace. The Arkbird.

"This is President Harling of the Osean Federation. Beside me stands the honorable Prime Minister of the Union of Yuktobanian Republics. What you have witnessed here will go down in history as the opening of a new era to our world. We stand hand in hand with the…"

The President's speech went long, but I didn't listen mostly. I simply looked up, and stared at the ivory wings of the bird of peace…