Chapter 8

1957 familiar voices.

"Balto..."

I could hear someone whispering my name... Where was it coming from? I searched around the cabin, but not too surprisingly, there was nothing. The voice steadily whispered my name over and over, the high pitches ringing was fading away now.

All that remained was... Jenna?... Calling my name.

"Balto... Talk to me..."

"J-Jenna?" I replied quietly.

"There is a way out..."

I ignored it for now, and sniffed around the cooler parts of the cabin. I went back to what saved me earlier, the scolding pipeline that helped to warm me where I should have frozen to death. I "swam" there, best I could to pull myself against the cabin, and looked around more. It was... Cooler here. Mostly because it was out of direct sunlight.

"Balto, there is a way out..."the voice continued.

The words replayed in my mind over and over. I examined the cabin wall, and placed a paw on it. It was even cooler. I thought about the words, thought about if I should even reply this time. I would give anything to talk to Jenna again, maybe this was my answer.

"What do you mean?" I asked aloud.

The voice did not reply.

I stayed still and silent for about a minute, waiting for a reply that never came.

I looked towards where I heard the voice come from, and quickly learned that it wasn't a whisper; it was a voice coming from the radio piece...

"Nobody knows that my name is Balto, that has access to the radio..." I thought before turning my head away in disbelief.

The sound coming from the radio piece continued, and whatever static could be heard, was starting to fade away, and was replaced by a light Morse-code type sound, pulsating 5 times a second.

A minute passed before I gave in with frustration and pulled my way to the radio piece, and then put it over my left ear.

"Balto?" Jenna asked, though not like the harmonic whisper from earlier, no, this time she sounded alive and well, actually talking to me, and I wasn't going crazy.

"Jenna! How did you get this to work?"

"I got help."

Jenna replied in her normal, usual voice, completely changed from the harmonic, trance inducing voice that brought me to the radio piece in the first place.

"I'm so glad to hear your voice... I love you."

"I love you the same..."

Something was weird with the voice that I just couldn't put my paw on, but I ignored it.

"That's all I want to hear..."

"I can help you Balto..."

"Jenna, what?" I asked confused.

"We all miss you..." Jenna said in a changing tone, like she was on the verge of crying.

"We?" I asked.

"Yes Balto. We are all here... And we want you back" I heard a new voice come into play now.

"I love you uncle Balto! Thanks for keeping me safe..." Laika said.

"I'm glad I could do it Laika... I love you like the daughter I've never had." I said as a single tear developed and separated from my fur, and began floating around my face.

"You're a hero dad!" I heard Kodi say.

"You'll do great things someday too son... I love you all..."

I had a sad smile on my face, I was glad to be able to speak to them one last time. I knew I probably wasn't going to last a while longer... It was 40C now.

I cried tears of happiness as I spoke to Boris as he gave me a lecture on how a man acts during hard times... Saying that I was the best son he could ask for, then he went on about a time he had to cross a desert by himself while me and Kodi were unconscious. Then my three nieces as they synchronized in speaking, saying they were amazed that I was in space, and thanked me for saving their mother.

I heard that song again... In the background. American folk singers and their song for me, "muttnik".

I didn't want to believe the fact the this was a fantasy, false hope, because I knew that by now my radio piece had ran out of power... I let out another low howl... Missing my family, as voices were not all I heard, the ringing returned, joined by 41C.

"105F" I muttered under my breath.

(Note: if you watched The Walking Dead, this is indeed a reference to the "phone scene" with Rick during Season Three :D)

I thought about what just happened, more importantly, what Jenna said. "She kept saying there was a way out, and that she wanted to help me… I wonder what she meant?"

1956, Katja.

The ride into Baikonur was surprisingly short; Marci had passed the border nearly an hour ago at this point.

The officers' vehicle crossed a checkpoint without even slowing down and only got a nod from the security personnel managing it.

Over the horizon, I watched as a huge tower quickly came into view before us. One of several launch pads spread around the bases' property. I was shocked at the sheer ingenuity of the devices that seemed like they were out of some sci-fi picture.

"Wow..."

"Impressive, don't 'cha think? Yep, the Soviet Space Program built many of these launch pads. This is by far the largest. It's going to be the one that will put your dog into space next year.

I kept quiet, but was surprised that he told me the truth. I wanted to ask but I figured I'd keep my mouth shut for now.

"Your husband is currently training with the dogs in B-wing. And, coming up on your right is the main attraction!" The officer said with a smile.

As soon as we passed a large building, my view was opened to a vast concrete field that had many vehicles, and workers all working to build the Sputnik rocket.

"That is amazing..." I couldn't help but say.

The huge rocket booster alone was impressive, and stood nearly 50 feet into the sky. A metallic frame extended over the build portion suggested that this rocket was going to be much larger.

"Yep, it's a modified German V2 ICBM. The Americans think we're trying to start a war with them, heh. We're scientists, the only objective in our book is for the betterment of mankind. But I say let them be scared of us if they want to."

I have a soft courtesy laugh at his statement.

We pulled up to yet another security gate.

"Hey frank, do you really need my badge?" The officer joked

"You know I do." The security officer said with a laugh

The officer showed his badge and the security officer pressed the gate button without even looking at the badge. The gate pulled open and we drove in. After he parked his patrol car, I followed him to a minicart.

"We'll have to ride this into the infrastructure. If we walked it might take us all day to reach where your husband works haha."

I nodded in understanding and sat on the back of the minicart.

Within a few minutes we approached the garage and opened it, exposing the inside of the building. As the garage door sealed shut behind us, I noted how comfortable it was inside the building, versus the warmer temperatures that I was not used to, outside. We passed many interesting stations along the ride, there were scientists working on engine systems, computers, radio communications, and a few testing a glass windshield by shooting it with a handgun. Some of these jobs looked fun, but I quickly noted that there was not a single woman working at the stations. The only women I could see we're either cleaning, or working at a desk as a secretary.

"This is B-wing. Over 200 of Russia's top scientists, and a few German scientists work in this room. They're all working towards the same goal. Beautiful cooperation between supposed "sworn enemies." All for the space race!" The officer explained.

"Your husband, Fredrik, that name sounds German, yes?" He asked.

"Nope, he was born and raised in mother Russia as well as his parents, and their parents, and further back." I explained

"Good, good. And the same for you?"

"Yes." I lied to the officer, in reality, I met Fredrik in Germany.

We drove through the large room, and into a long narrow hallway. It was narrow enough for the cart to drive through, but if someone else was coming from the other direction, we'd have a bit of a problem.

Eventually we came to a glass room, one that could only be described as a "safe from contaminates" room. The men that worked here wore large white full-body suites, and the only way to get in was to go through decontamination.

"In there, scientists are working on the main interior cabin. Such precise work that if a single speck of dust got on one of the glass shields, it is discarded."

"Why so clean?"

"When we launch Sputnik into space this summer, nobody knows exactly what's out there. If microbes or bacteria were to get into space, again, nobody knows what would happen. They might mutate due to the large doses of radiation and come back to earth as giant versions of their microscopic selves."

"Scary."

"Yeah, but the main reason is to make sure the instruments don't pick up dust and create interference, when it's up in space, there is no way to clean or recalibrate them."

"You should have told me that explanation first" I said with a smile.

The officer chuckled and nearly missed a right turn.

"And we are finally here, look who is waiting for you!"

"Thanks for the ride mister."

"No prob ma'am." The officer tipped his hat then drove off.

My husband was still working on something as I walked up to him, but a quick look at me and he took his goggles off.

"Katja! What are you doing here? The officer said I had visitors, but he wasn't specific at all!" Fredrik said

I walked up to hug him but he hesitated and backed away.

"Better let me take this off first haha"

Fredrik took off his lab coat that was visibly stained by some chemical.

"It was nothing, just some sulfuric acid, now come here love." He pulled me closer and kissed me, I missed my husband and didn't care that the entire lab station was staring at us making out.

"Well, I was preparing to live without you for a full month while you we're away, but Marci came over and suggested she drive me all the way down here to be with you and Laika. She's going to lease an apartment here somewhere for us."

"Isn't that nice of her. But you know I would have come back earlier. My leave is a month away, but it doesn't mean I any just walk out if this place and drive up to see you whenever I wanted."

"This is better because now were closer."

"Haha I suppose so."

He smiled at me and kissed my hand before returning to work on something.

"Just let me finish this here and I'll show you around a bit. Check out those high tech magnets on the table over there. Interesting stuff."

I smiled as I watched my husband put his lab coat and goggles back on. He was finally doing what he loved, working on the first rocket to go into space, rather than flying an airplane shooting at German soldiers.

I played with the magnets for a bit, whatever alloy they were it made then very strong, and it was pretty hard to separate them if you got opposite sides touching. But as fun as they were, I still had questions bothering me. I wanted to ask Fredrik why he lied to the press, more importantly, I wondered where Laika was.

After a while, I heard Fredrik say he was done, and after he took the part to his boss, he came back to show me around.

"I was working on a very important part of the space ship. Most likely it won't go on the first Sputnik, but it might go on the second one if we ever get to it. Whichever dog we send up with Sputnik II will be safe as long as that Core Block A I just built is fully functional, it controls the thermal instruments so that the doggy won't get too hot or too cold."

(What luck he has...)

"Speaking of dogs, where is Laika?" Katja asked.

"She's training in another sector. They're in a building a few miles south of here." Fredrik explained.

"We'll go see her and the other dogs soon, I have to head over there and help with training for a bit before my shift ends." He added.

"Yeah, and hopefully I can meet up with Marci soon." Katja added.


Chapter 9 coming very soon.