The next day gave way to more training. Each of the teams went their separate ways, trying to do
the best they could just to show Jareth they could do it. The red team led by SQ as the Shuttle
Commander, spent time in the Simulator learning what each of their jobs entailed. The green
team, led by Essy, took residence in the control room with Jareth overseeing their progress. With
a smile, he was certain that his team would prevail, given that it was headed by the Sith.
The blue team went through more of the strategic mains, as Andie once again took time to point
out every last aspect of what they were seeing.
"By the time you leave SpaceCamp, you will know the function of every circuit on the shuttle.
You may never get the chance to fly in it, but it won't be because you don't know how," Andie
stated, leading her team through to the anti-gravity chair.
Kara tugged at her jumper, appalled by the lack of originality.
"If you ever get to be astronauts, you'll thank us for making you wear these jumpsuits, because
they provide ease of movement and additional storage space in orbit," Andie finished, pulling
Kara along with them. Stopping at the Zero gravity chair, she smiled and motioned Kara into it.
After Kara suited up, she got into the chair and cringed knowing that soon she wouldn't have any
control over her motions because of the anti-gravity. She knew that the chair was pushed along
with cushions of air to simulate weightlessness an astronaut would experience during EVA- Extra
Vehicular Activity; the work done outside the shuttle.
"Cool huh?" Kara smiled, looking down at the group from her spot in the chair. With a small
kick, she sent the chair moving across the floor, her mouth falling open not sure what to do.
"To work in space, you have to know how to move in it. Don't push off Kara!" Andie called, a
bit too late as the chair went flying across the smooth floor. "Nothing will stop you unless you're
acted upon by an outside force!"
Kara hit the wall with a thud but was grateful to have stopped. Who would have thought that a
simple little chair like this would cause her so much grief? With a sigh, she waited patiently for
someone to help her down.
Over the next week, Andie's instructions lead her group onward toward being the best, contrary
to what Jareth wanted. Though his daughter was on that team, he wanted his team to excel. Jade
learned how to monitor all the onboard systems and feed the data to Selah who as Commander is
in charge of the orbiter.
"You can suit up in your EMU in five minutes Leelee once you get the hang of it. EMU- That's
Extravehicular Mobility Unit. You're gonna need it to do any activity in the vacuum of space."
"I am *not* doing activities in the vacuum of space. What if I float away? What if a meteor
shower hits? What if-" Leelee rattled on, all the possibilities of a quick and not so easy demise
flooding her brain.
"Just calm down and relax," Andie stated, shaking her head slightly. "Has anyone ever told you
that you worry too much?"
"Yes," Leelee responded quickly.
"Well then, they were right. Besides, what are the odds you'll get into space? Hm?" Andie
questioned, trying to make her feel better. Then trying to change the subject, she directed her
questioning to Jade, calling on the coordinates of the space station. "You have to be able to call
up whatever information I ask for in a moment. Split second decisions are essential. You're
traveling at seventeen thousand miles an hour there is no room for error."
The rest of the day was spent in the shuttle simulator, suiting up, learning how to run everything.
Things seemed to be going great until they left the simulator and headed for the Multi-axis
Trainer. "Okay Jade, now it's your turn in the Multi-Axis Trainer. This is one of the most critical
tests to master, especially if you want to achieve top ranking here as a shuttle pilot."
Jade's eyes stared at the hardest part of her training, the three metal circles with a seat sitting in
the middle. With a deep breath, she stepped forward and into the trainer. As she was secured
into the seat, all she could think about was being the best. She had to give it everything she had
so that she could be the best.
"Secure?" Andie asked the man as he locked everything up tight.
Selah watched him too. Her mind whirling by as he spoke back and forth to Andie. Oh, he was
so Obi like she lost herself in another realm of imagination. With a smile, she walked up beside
him, trying to look interested in what he was doing, all the while just wanting to be close to such a
heavenly body.
"Okay, you have thirty seconds to stabilize," Andie mentioned, stepping back as they locked it
into position. "Thirty seconds," she stated again, nodding to the guy at the controls. "Alright,
start it up."
Slowly the metal circles began to move, elegant at first until finally Jade was spinning in the
center. Her hands on the controls and the sound of the metal whooshing around her, she now
only had a limited time to prove herself.
"If the shuttle is spinning when it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere the astronaut has just seconds
to stabilize or he might enter a flat spin. Keep your head centered, don't turn it right or left,"
Andie called to Jade. "Push your stick forward."
"I got it," Jade replied, concentrating on what she was doing. She was beginning to doubt her
abilities.
"Fifteen seconds," Andie relayed. "You're going to the right, turn it left."
"Go right, right!" Gemma interrupted. "Come on, you can..." Gemma started but was cut off by
Andie's motion to quiet down.
"Come on Jade, you're not a passenger you're a pilot. Fly it!" Andie prodded.
"I'm trying!" Jade shot back, doing everything in her power to contradict the forces being placed
about her.
"You've got ten seconds," Andie said, looking down at her stopwatch.
"Oh, I'm gonna be sick," Leelee muttered.
"Five seconds, come on Jade.... Fly it!" Shaking her head as she pushed the button on her
stopwatch, she told the guy to shut it down.
The trainer slowed in speed finally coming to a halt. "Why'd you stop? I would have gotten it in
another minute," Jade spoke immediately.
"Another minute, you would have been burnt up in re-entry. Come on and get out, we're running
late," Andie stated, glancing at the others of the group. Starting to walk away toward the control
room, Jade called out to her.
"Andie! I can do it, you're just not giving me a chance." Jade said, a stern look crossing her face.
She knew she could do it.
Andie sighed. "Alright, five minutes...but that's all," Andie smiled. "Come on Selah," she called
out. "Okay, next I'm going to show you how to strap into our orbital exerciser, Leelee you
wanna go first?"
"Hell no!" she replied quickly.
Jade got back to the trainer and started to get strapped in, when the controller was called away
unexpectedly. Pulling at the straps, she was bound determined to get this exercise down pat. She
heard Selah walking up behind her.
"I wouldn't let Andie get to you like that," she said, walking around to get Jade's attention.
"I'm going to please her even if I spend the rest of my life trying," Jade replied, pulling on the
straps.
"Why do you want to please anybody but yourself?" she asked, knowing the countless times Jade
had told her that very same thing.
Jade smiled, "I don't know," she replied softly, shaking her head.
"I'm not an expert, but it seems to me that if you'd just ease up on the thing, you could handle it.
You're just trying too hard," Selah stated with a smirk.
"Ha-ha," Jade replied, pulling at the straps once again.
"Geez Jade, lighten up will ya?" Selah asked, starting to walk away, but stopped short. "I wasn't
going to say anything, but a group of us are going to check out the shuttle tonight," Selah stated,
a wicked grin on her face. "Wanna come to?"
"Get caught breaking curfew? No way," she replied instantly.
"Come on Jadey, you know you wanna come," Selah prodded.
"Nuh-uh, too risky," she replied, shaking her head.
"If I could handle that, would you come? Oh come on, it'll do you good to get out away from
studying all the time," Selah mentioned.
Jade bit her lip, knowing she was making a terrible mistake, but couldn't pass up the chance to see
the shuttle. "Alright," she replied softly. "If we get caught, I'm going to kill you," she grinned.
"Hey, Mesa knows all the connections. Not a chance!" Selah laughed, heading off toward the
group and passing the Trainer controller along the way and tweaking his bum.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Anyone seen that droid around?" Selah asked, looking at the small group that was getting ready
for their outing.
"No, why?" Leelee asked, swatting at Dee.
"What do we need a robot for?" Dee asked, ducking away from Leelee.
"Oh, nothing," Selah replied. Her doubt settling over them like a dark cloud.
"What's the matter Zigs?" Essy asked, noting the glum look on the face of one that smiled all the
time.
"Nothing," she replied, sitting down upon the bed.
"Oh she's just bothered that we can't get out tonight," Spidey stated.
"Why?" Dee asked.
"Because we'd end up getting caught you nutbar," Leelee replied hastily.
"Nah, we won't," Gemma smiled, pulling open her locker and revealing the little droid taking up
residence there. "Yo Jinx," she called.
"Yo Gem!" his tiny voice came back as his lights flickered on.
"Whoa, Gem you had him in here all the time?" Selah asked, not able to control her excitement.
"Yep, he's just a cute iccle thing. I wanted to keep him all to myself," she grinned.
"Great! He can get us to the launchpad," Dee laughed, watching the little droid getting out of the
locker.
"Shhh...." Selah hissed, looking around. "We need to keep this top secret," she whispered.
"Yay! Classified!" Dee laughed.
As they readied themselves for a night out, the women wondered what would happen if they got
caught. Jade would kill Ziggy, and the rest of them would most certainly get kicked out of
SpaceCamp, unless of course Jareth would go to bat for them and arrange for them to stay.
Piling into Selah's car, she started it up and headed out. Everyone was quiet as they neared the
offices but broke out in laughter as they neared the beach. Jumping from the car, some of them
ran to the water's edge, others just ran along the beach. A few remained back at the car, taken in
by the beauty they beheld. There was the shuttle, quiet and majestic; lit up in perfection.
"Would you look at that? Isn't it amazing that it can go from the Earth up to the stars?" Kara
said, stunned that such a thing could be so magnificent.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Jade said softly, her green eyes staring at it. Glancing to the stars above she
could remember going flying at night with her father when she was a little girl. "I always felt as
though I could reach out and touch them," she whispered. "Look, there's the seven sisters," Jade
commented, pointing up into the heavens. "It's so beautiful up there, I wish it was like that down
here."
"I know what you mean. I never stop to just look at the stars anymore," Selah replied, leaning
against the Volvo. "Doesn't help living in a city either."
"I agree. The stars were always so beautiful back home in California," Kara added softly.
"Look at those goofballs," Selah said, her voice filled with amusement.
Gemma lay flat on the ground, her arms stretched out as she squished the sand through her
fingers. A big smile on her face, she was relaxed in her surroundings until Essy ran by being
chased by Leelee who tripped over Gemma's legs. Falling to the ground, Leelee threw sand
across Gemma, but she didn't care. Instead she got up and walked gingerly toward the water,
glancing around before dipping in and washing the sand from her body.
Mai, Paola, SQ, and Meghan walked barefoot in the surf talking softly about whatever came to
mind. Only the sound of the breaking waves could be heard as they walked along, Meghan
staring out over the horizon briefly wandering what the future held.
The moonlight shining down on the water played happily across the surface as Dee twirled in
circles, her feet digging into the sand as she laughed softly. Her jacket billowing out behind her,
she was having too much fun to stop when she realized that Gemma was swimming without her.
Running headlong into the surf, she screamed a war cry and jumped at Gemma, narrowly missing
her as she fell into the salty water.
Leelee snickered as she shoved Essy into the water. Standing on the water's edge she laughed as
the blonde came up for air and cursed her existence. When a wicked smile broke out on Essy's
face, Leelee should have known to be careful but all too late. Spidey grabbed her arms and pulled
her into the water with her, screaming all the way.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Jareth appeared behind the Volvo watching the display with distaste. Why they weren't back
where they belonged was far beyond him. And they didn't even invite him; he was hurt. With an
evil thought, he disappeared to put an end to their fun. Oh yes, he would have revenge.
With a subtle word to the right person, Jareth was in a jeep heading for the beach. The wind
blowing in his face, he had already made sure that his listians wouldn't be too severely punished.
He couldn't take it if his listians were caused grief. He'd never hear the end of it most likely.
Nearing the happy listians, he suddenly was saddened. How could he have done this? Turned in
his own listians without a second thought? Because he was king, dammit and he deserved to be
recognized! Smiling at that last thought, he stepped out of the jeep when it came to a halt.
Jade noticed headlights coming from behind them and glanced over her shoulder to see Jareth and
Andie walking up. "Blast it!" she muttered, kicking at the sand and looking at Selah. "I thought
you said you cleared it?"
"Well, I kinda cleared it," Selah grimaced.
"Way to go Selah," Kara muttered, walking around the Volvo only to come face to face with her
dad. "Um.... hi dad, what brings you out here?" she smiled.
"Cut the crap Kara, where are you supposed to be?" he asked sternly. Kara hung her head, not
able to come back to his question. "Get in the jeep Kara," he said, glancing at the rest of them.
The swimming ceased as they stood up, the water running from their bodies. Glum looks all
around, they filed out slowly and walked without a word to the jeep to be taken back. With
heavy hearts, they knew they would have to work much harder to gain back the trust they had
established so far.
Back at Zach's office, Jade walked away angry that she stupid enough to go along with it, though
she did enjoy the time out there. She heard Andie calling to her, but payed her no heed. She
knew that she would blow up at Andie in a heartbeat.
Selah walked quietly after them unhappily. She felt as though she let her friend down, and now
she thought for sure Andie was going to boot her out of camp. When Andie took off after Jade,
she was relieved, but still the doubt of succeeding plagued her. Why couldn't she be serious for
once, at least here? It was so much easier in college, she at least knew what was expected of her,
but here everything was different. Heading back to the barracks to get some sleep, she only
hoped that Jade would let her make things right again.
"Jade," Andie said, catching her arm. "We were just talking, but that's not the issue here and you
know it."
Jade spun around to face her. "Nobody cares about SpaceCamp more than I do, and you've been
on my case since day one. Why?" she asked pointedly.
Andie took a breath and shook her head. "First time I met you I saw it in your eyes. It was like
looking in a mirror. You're special Jade," she stated.
Jade laughed. "I'm not special. Never have been and never will. But I need to know, why are
you so hard on me?" she asked seriously.
"Because some day you're goin' up. But the only way you will is if you have every drill down
better than everyone else. There's no room for mistakes. Every I dotted, every T crossed.
That's the way I learned it...that's the way you'll learn it," Andie replied softly. "You copy?" she
asked.
"Copy," Jade replied with a slight nod. Giving her one last look, she took off toward the barracks
not sure of how to take this new information.
~~~~~~~~~
Gemma toweled off with the rest of the wet ones when someone caught her eye. Standing there
watching them was the boy she kissed earlier. Feeling her face flush, she tried to ignore the fact
that he was watching them. But when he yelled out, "Yo! Kisser!!" Gemma couldn't take it.
She ran from the group into the night.
Bursting through the doors, she felt the tears of embarrassment falling down her face. How could
she have done something like that? In the fit of insanity to follow her lust for Christian that far.
Shaking her head, she mumbled beneath her breath, wishing to be somewhere other than right
there, at that moment.
"I wish I was in space," she said softly, sitting down on the ledge of a nearby exhibit. "Nothing
hurts there. I wish I was in space," she stated again, looking at the mock up of the moon.
Jinx rolled through the background, hearing Gem's plea. Rolling out of the room, Jinx headed
toward the mainframe computer. Stopping in front of the central computer, Jinx opened up,
exposing his circuitry as it illuminated setting the computer room into a frenzy.
"Hello...Jinx...how can NASA help you?" a deep voice spoke as the words scrawled across the
computer screen.
"Put Gem in space," Jinx replied.
"There is no Gem in astronaut program," the deeper voice came back.
Jinx extended an arm and inserted it into the circuit portal. "There is now," he replied, loading
Gemma into the database system.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, training resumed though most of them weren't in the best of spirits.
"How come I have to do all the dangerous stuff?" Gemma complained, standing outside the
simulator and getting strapped into the arm.
"Come on Gem, Joe Allen and Dale Garvey did this on the Discovery 51a. S'okay," Jade said
into the radio.
"Somehow I don't think that's gonna make her feel any better," Selah replied. Going through
the motions for the simulator, Selah and Jade barely spoke unless it was to relay information back
and forth.
The command console was manned by three of the red team. Smut Queen, Dee, and Christy
watched the data as it was fed to them from the simulator. Fairy and Meghan watched the
operations console, making sure the ohms burns were emitted on time.
Andie and Zach stood by with headsets on, listening to the progress of Andie's team. Not
concerned when they heard the screaming coming from Jareth's team at the Multi-axis trainer,
they just assumed his team was slacking off and having a bit of fun. It wasn't until they heard
Spidey scream, Get me outta this bloody thing!' did they have cause for worry.
"Atlantis this is control. We have orbit confirmed one-two-five nautical miles. Inclination of.."
Meghan stated, punching up the stats then continuing, "thirty five degrees. You are in position
for satellite recovery," she finished, watching the screen.
"Leelee, you're up," Selah mentioned, glancing over her shoulder.
"Leelee's the best on the RMS," Leelee laughed, taking up the controls.
Gemma was lost in her own daydreams, completely oblivious to what was going on around her.
Thoughts of shagging Christian and Joaquin filling her mind.
"Don't you worry about a thing Gremlin, I know this arm like the back of my hand!" Leelee piped
up, then hit a wrong switch when Kara accidentally knocked into her. The arm fell into a steep
dive, Gemma screaming all the way until it stopped suddenly.
"Sorry Leelee, I didn't know you were there," Kara apologized.
"I almost dropped Gem!" Leelee exclaimed.
"Leelee!!!!" Gemma screamed as though her life were flashing before her eyes.
***
The three at the console started laughing. Smut Queen couldn't help but snicker at their
predicament. "Instigate emergency power loss scenario," she chuckled, knowing that this was
going to be the kicker.
"Killing power," Dee snickered, flipping a switch sending the simulator into darkness.
***
A beep from the sensors alerted the crew to their loss while Gemma's screaming continued.
"Somebody get me down from here, or I'm gonna be sick! Help!" she screamed.
Leelee freaked. She nearly dropped Gemma, and nobody else could help her out of this bad
situation that she blamed Kara for. Yeah, if Kara hadn't knocked into her, none of this would
have happened. Flipping pages in her book, Leelee tried desperately to find the right connection
to set the RMS into motion again.
Kara laughed. "Leelee, relax will ya? You're freaking out."
"Get me down from here!" Gemma screamed again.
"Control this is Atlantis, we're experiencing electrical failure. Switching to auxiliary cells," Jade
transmitted.
"Hey, that's my decision not yours okay?" Selah snapped.
"How do you know that's the right one?" Kara asked Leelee, looking at the console in her hands.
"It just is, it's the green one right next to the red.," Leelee replied, placing the wire together to
make contact and sparking the chips. The CBD's began to close.
"Help!"
"Oh it's okay, I got it right here," she stated, again trying another combination of wiring resulting
in more chaos.
"Lisee, just crosswire it!" Jade stated, getting up from her seat and moving back.
"Sit down!" Selah said, pointing to Jade's seat. "Sit down...that's an order!" she commanded.
When Jade didn't listen, she threw her arms in the air and gave up. "Forget it, just forget it."
***
The red team laughed at their consoles, watching as the blue team screwed up big time. Not only
was the pilot not flying the bird, the shuttle commander was humming muppet songs to herself,
while pretending to play arcade games on the main console.
"What the hell is going on in there?" Andie asked, her tone sounding displeased with the situation.
"You're showing another ohms burn," Andie commented.
"Oh well the pilot must have hit the switch when she got up," Selah replied.
"Why isn't she at her post?" Andie asked.
"Well she's just too busy doing everybody else's job," Selah replied sarcastically and snickered
when Jade glared back at her.
"Orbit's decaying shuttle," Meghan stated.
"Okay take over Commander," Andie remarked.
Selah turned around to look at the monitor. "Hey, it's not my job man. You need the pilot to
take that position, I'm sick and tired of watching the window," Selah rattled off, not caring how
odd she sounded.
"You're falling out of orbit Atlantis. You're coming up on atmospheric interface," Meghan
stated, reading the data as it flowed from the computer.
"You're gonna be toast," SQ cackled.
As Jade, Leelee and Kara argued about which connection was right, Selah watched the main
viewer glow red. With a half hearted scream, she swirled in her seat, running her hand in circles
as the simulator showed the flat spin.
"Pilot, do you copy...pilot," Andie tried in vain to get through to Jade.
"I'm sorry, Jade's not in right now. But if you'd like to leave your name and number at the tone,
she'd be glad to get back to you," Selah mimicked a recording device.
Andie removed her headset and tossed it to Zach, making her way toward the simulator. She was
hot, and her team would know exactly what the deal was with their failure.
"You're coming up on interface Atlantis," Meghan stated again, hoping by some vague hope
they'd take the hint.
"Roger that Atlantis," Selah replied smugly. "Ah ladies, please return your seats and tray tables
to their upright positions and extinguish all smoking material, as we are about to land in the red
zone." Selah remarked. "Whaaaaah No survivors."
"Leelee we're going to flunk!" Jade stated.
"Jade, we're not gonna flunk if you'd just listen to me for a second!" Leelee exclaimed before it
broke out into a full fledged argument.
Andie stormed into the simulator, anger flaring. "All of you stop it!" she shouted, instantly
silencing them in a brief second.
"We.." Leelee started but immediately stopped upon seeing Andie's face.
"I'm sorry but Leelee was-" Jade started.
"Leelee?!" Leelee interrupted harshly, breaking out into an argument once again.
"Quiet!" Andie yelled, silencing them again. "I don't wanna hear about it. I can't hear it, you
know why? Cause you're all dead. You just disintegrated during re-entry," Andie stated
harshly, wanting them to see the seriousness. "Don't you understand what that means? You're
all dead because you didn't work together as a team," Andie said, staring at each of them with a
certain clarity until she turned her attention to Selah. "And you're responsible."
"Me?!" she exclaimed.
"That's right, you. You are Shuttle Commander. That means you are responsible for
EVERYTHING that happens on this ship." Andie remarked.
"I didn't ask to be responsible, remember?" Selah shot back sarcastically.
"That's a pitiful excuse for killing four people," Andie replied. The whole idea sinking in to each
of them, that because of their short sidedness, if they had been in the actuality of space they would
no longer be there for each other. They would cease to exist.
"I can't believe this. Nobody got killed, okay? I mean, it's just space camp," Selah retorted,
trying to make it all seem alright, though deep down she felt the agony of Andie's words.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Launch possibilities," the deep voice of NASA's main computer called out to Jinx, as every
possibility flashed across the screen as it searched the database for any plausible circumstance.
"What are possibilities of launching Gem into space?" Jinx asked, watching the monitor closely to
interpret the data.
"There is no possibility at this time," the NASA computer stated, still rolling through the data as
quickly as the electronic transmission would allow.
"This is not going to be easy," Jinx replied.
~~~~~~~~~~~
the best they could just to show Jareth they could do it. The red team led by SQ as the Shuttle
Commander, spent time in the Simulator learning what each of their jobs entailed. The green
team, led by Essy, took residence in the control room with Jareth overseeing their progress. With
a smile, he was certain that his team would prevail, given that it was headed by the Sith.
The blue team went through more of the strategic mains, as Andie once again took time to point
out every last aspect of what they were seeing.
"By the time you leave SpaceCamp, you will know the function of every circuit on the shuttle.
You may never get the chance to fly in it, but it won't be because you don't know how," Andie
stated, leading her team through to the anti-gravity chair.
Kara tugged at her jumper, appalled by the lack of originality.
"If you ever get to be astronauts, you'll thank us for making you wear these jumpsuits, because
they provide ease of movement and additional storage space in orbit," Andie finished, pulling
Kara along with them. Stopping at the Zero gravity chair, she smiled and motioned Kara into it.
After Kara suited up, she got into the chair and cringed knowing that soon she wouldn't have any
control over her motions because of the anti-gravity. She knew that the chair was pushed along
with cushions of air to simulate weightlessness an astronaut would experience during EVA- Extra
Vehicular Activity; the work done outside the shuttle.
"Cool huh?" Kara smiled, looking down at the group from her spot in the chair. With a small
kick, she sent the chair moving across the floor, her mouth falling open not sure what to do.
"To work in space, you have to know how to move in it. Don't push off Kara!" Andie called, a
bit too late as the chair went flying across the smooth floor. "Nothing will stop you unless you're
acted upon by an outside force!"
Kara hit the wall with a thud but was grateful to have stopped. Who would have thought that a
simple little chair like this would cause her so much grief? With a sigh, she waited patiently for
someone to help her down.
Over the next week, Andie's instructions lead her group onward toward being the best, contrary
to what Jareth wanted. Though his daughter was on that team, he wanted his team to excel. Jade
learned how to monitor all the onboard systems and feed the data to Selah who as Commander is
in charge of the orbiter.
"You can suit up in your EMU in five minutes Leelee once you get the hang of it. EMU- That's
Extravehicular Mobility Unit. You're gonna need it to do any activity in the vacuum of space."
"I am *not* doing activities in the vacuum of space. What if I float away? What if a meteor
shower hits? What if-" Leelee rattled on, all the possibilities of a quick and not so easy demise
flooding her brain.
"Just calm down and relax," Andie stated, shaking her head slightly. "Has anyone ever told you
that you worry too much?"
"Yes," Leelee responded quickly.
"Well then, they were right. Besides, what are the odds you'll get into space? Hm?" Andie
questioned, trying to make her feel better. Then trying to change the subject, she directed her
questioning to Jade, calling on the coordinates of the space station. "You have to be able to call
up whatever information I ask for in a moment. Split second decisions are essential. You're
traveling at seventeen thousand miles an hour there is no room for error."
The rest of the day was spent in the shuttle simulator, suiting up, learning how to run everything.
Things seemed to be going great until they left the simulator and headed for the Multi-axis
Trainer. "Okay Jade, now it's your turn in the Multi-Axis Trainer. This is one of the most critical
tests to master, especially if you want to achieve top ranking here as a shuttle pilot."
Jade's eyes stared at the hardest part of her training, the three metal circles with a seat sitting in
the middle. With a deep breath, she stepped forward and into the trainer. As she was secured
into the seat, all she could think about was being the best. She had to give it everything she had
so that she could be the best.
"Secure?" Andie asked the man as he locked everything up tight.
Selah watched him too. Her mind whirling by as he spoke back and forth to Andie. Oh, he was
so Obi like she lost herself in another realm of imagination. With a smile, she walked up beside
him, trying to look interested in what he was doing, all the while just wanting to be close to such a
heavenly body.
"Okay, you have thirty seconds to stabilize," Andie mentioned, stepping back as they locked it
into position. "Thirty seconds," she stated again, nodding to the guy at the controls. "Alright,
start it up."
Slowly the metal circles began to move, elegant at first until finally Jade was spinning in the
center. Her hands on the controls and the sound of the metal whooshing around her, she now
only had a limited time to prove herself.
"If the shuttle is spinning when it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere the astronaut has just seconds
to stabilize or he might enter a flat spin. Keep your head centered, don't turn it right or left,"
Andie called to Jade. "Push your stick forward."
"I got it," Jade replied, concentrating on what she was doing. She was beginning to doubt her
abilities.
"Fifteen seconds," Andie relayed. "You're going to the right, turn it left."
"Go right, right!" Gemma interrupted. "Come on, you can..." Gemma started but was cut off by
Andie's motion to quiet down.
"Come on Jade, you're not a passenger you're a pilot. Fly it!" Andie prodded.
"I'm trying!" Jade shot back, doing everything in her power to contradict the forces being placed
about her.
"You've got ten seconds," Andie said, looking down at her stopwatch.
"Oh, I'm gonna be sick," Leelee muttered.
"Five seconds, come on Jade.... Fly it!" Shaking her head as she pushed the button on her
stopwatch, she told the guy to shut it down.
The trainer slowed in speed finally coming to a halt. "Why'd you stop? I would have gotten it in
another minute," Jade spoke immediately.
"Another minute, you would have been burnt up in re-entry. Come on and get out, we're running
late," Andie stated, glancing at the others of the group. Starting to walk away toward the control
room, Jade called out to her.
"Andie! I can do it, you're just not giving me a chance." Jade said, a stern look crossing her face.
She knew she could do it.
Andie sighed. "Alright, five minutes...but that's all," Andie smiled. "Come on Selah," she called
out. "Okay, next I'm going to show you how to strap into our orbital exerciser, Leelee you
wanna go first?"
"Hell no!" she replied quickly.
Jade got back to the trainer and started to get strapped in, when the controller was called away
unexpectedly. Pulling at the straps, she was bound determined to get this exercise down pat. She
heard Selah walking up behind her.
"I wouldn't let Andie get to you like that," she said, walking around to get Jade's attention.
"I'm going to please her even if I spend the rest of my life trying," Jade replied, pulling on the
straps.
"Why do you want to please anybody but yourself?" she asked, knowing the countless times Jade
had told her that very same thing.
Jade smiled, "I don't know," she replied softly, shaking her head.
"I'm not an expert, but it seems to me that if you'd just ease up on the thing, you could handle it.
You're just trying too hard," Selah stated with a smirk.
"Ha-ha," Jade replied, pulling at the straps once again.
"Geez Jade, lighten up will ya?" Selah asked, starting to walk away, but stopped short. "I wasn't
going to say anything, but a group of us are going to check out the shuttle tonight," Selah stated,
a wicked grin on her face. "Wanna come to?"
"Get caught breaking curfew? No way," she replied instantly.
"Come on Jadey, you know you wanna come," Selah prodded.
"Nuh-uh, too risky," she replied, shaking her head.
"If I could handle that, would you come? Oh come on, it'll do you good to get out away from
studying all the time," Selah mentioned.
Jade bit her lip, knowing she was making a terrible mistake, but couldn't pass up the chance to see
the shuttle. "Alright," she replied softly. "If we get caught, I'm going to kill you," she grinned.
"Hey, Mesa knows all the connections. Not a chance!" Selah laughed, heading off toward the
group and passing the Trainer controller along the way and tweaking his bum.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Anyone seen that droid around?" Selah asked, looking at the small group that was getting ready
for their outing.
"No, why?" Leelee asked, swatting at Dee.
"What do we need a robot for?" Dee asked, ducking away from Leelee.
"Oh, nothing," Selah replied. Her doubt settling over them like a dark cloud.
"What's the matter Zigs?" Essy asked, noting the glum look on the face of one that smiled all the
time.
"Nothing," she replied, sitting down upon the bed.
"Oh she's just bothered that we can't get out tonight," Spidey stated.
"Why?" Dee asked.
"Because we'd end up getting caught you nutbar," Leelee replied hastily.
"Nah, we won't," Gemma smiled, pulling open her locker and revealing the little droid taking up
residence there. "Yo Jinx," she called.
"Yo Gem!" his tiny voice came back as his lights flickered on.
"Whoa, Gem you had him in here all the time?" Selah asked, not able to control her excitement.
"Yep, he's just a cute iccle thing. I wanted to keep him all to myself," she grinned.
"Great! He can get us to the launchpad," Dee laughed, watching the little droid getting out of the
locker.
"Shhh...." Selah hissed, looking around. "We need to keep this top secret," she whispered.
"Yay! Classified!" Dee laughed.
As they readied themselves for a night out, the women wondered what would happen if they got
caught. Jade would kill Ziggy, and the rest of them would most certainly get kicked out of
SpaceCamp, unless of course Jareth would go to bat for them and arrange for them to stay.
Piling into Selah's car, she started it up and headed out. Everyone was quiet as they neared the
offices but broke out in laughter as they neared the beach. Jumping from the car, some of them
ran to the water's edge, others just ran along the beach. A few remained back at the car, taken in
by the beauty they beheld. There was the shuttle, quiet and majestic; lit up in perfection.
"Would you look at that? Isn't it amazing that it can go from the Earth up to the stars?" Kara
said, stunned that such a thing could be so magnificent.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Jade said softly, her green eyes staring at it. Glancing to the stars above she
could remember going flying at night with her father when she was a little girl. "I always felt as
though I could reach out and touch them," she whispered. "Look, there's the seven sisters," Jade
commented, pointing up into the heavens. "It's so beautiful up there, I wish it was like that down
here."
"I know what you mean. I never stop to just look at the stars anymore," Selah replied, leaning
against the Volvo. "Doesn't help living in a city either."
"I agree. The stars were always so beautiful back home in California," Kara added softly.
"Look at those goofballs," Selah said, her voice filled with amusement.
Gemma lay flat on the ground, her arms stretched out as she squished the sand through her
fingers. A big smile on her face, she was relaxed in her surroundings until Essy ran by being
chased by Leelee who tripped over Gemma's legs. Falling to the ground, Leelee threw sand
across Gemma, but she didn't care. Instead she got up and walked gingerly toward the water,
glancing around before dipping in and washing the sand from her body.
Mai, Paola, SQ, and Meghan walked barefoot in the surf talking softly about whatever came to
mind. Only the sound of the breaking waves could be heard as they walked along, Meghan
staring out over the horizon briefly wandering what the future held.
The moonlight shining down on the water played happily across the surface as Dee twirled in
circles, her feet digging into the sand as she laughed softly. Her jacket billowing out behind her,
she was having too much fun to stop when she realized that Gemma was swimming without her.
Running headlong into the surf, she screamed a war cry and jumped at Gemma, narrowly missing
her as she fell into the salty water.
Leelee snickered as she shoved Essy into the water. Standing on the water's edge she laughed as
the blonde came up for air and cursed her existence. When a wicked smile broke out on Essy's
face, Leelee should have known to be careful but all too late. Spidey grabbed her arms and pulled
her into the water with her, screaming all the way.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Jareth appeared behind the Volvo watching the display with distaste. Why they weren't back
where they belonged was far beyond him. And they didn't even invite him; he was hurt. With an
evil thought, he disappeared to put an end to their fun. Oh yes, he would have revenge.
With a subtle word to the right person, Jareth was in a jeep heading for the beach. The wind
blowing in his face, he had already made sure that his listians wouldn't be too severely punished.
He couldn't take it if his listians were caused grief. He'd never hear the end of it most likely.
Nearing the happy listians, he suddenly was saddened. How could he have done this? Turned in
his own listians without a second thought? Because he was king, dammit and he deserved to be
recognized! Smiling at that last thought, he stepped out of the jeep when it came to a halt.
Jade noticed headlights coming from behind them and glanced over her shoulder to see Jareth and
Andie walking up. "Blast it!" she muttered, kicking at the sand and looking at Selah. "I thought
you said you cleared it?"
"Well, I kinda cleared it," Selah grimaced.
"Way to go Selah," Kara muttered, walking around the Volvo only to come face to face with her
dad. "Um.... hi dad, what brings you out here?" she smiled.
"Cut the crap Kara, where are you supposed to be?" he asked sternly. Kara hung her head, not
able to come back to his question. "Get in the jeep Kara," he said, glancing at the rest of them.
The swimming ceased as they stood up, the water running from their bodies. Glum looks all
around, they filed out slowly and walked without a word to the jeep to be taken back. With
heavy hearts, they knew they would have to work much harder to gain back the trust they had
established so far.
Back at Zach's office, Jade walked away angry that she stupid enough to go along with it, though
she did enjoy the time out there. She heard Andie calling to her, but payed her no heed. She
knew that she would blow up at Andie in a heartbeat.
Selah walked quietly after them unhappily. She felt as though she let her friend down, and now
she thought for sure Andie was going to boot her out of camp. When Andie took off after Jade,
she was relieved, but still the doubt of succeeding plagued her. Why couldn't she be serious for
once, at least here? It was so much easier in college, she at least knew what was expected of her,
but here everything was different. Heading back to the barracks to get some sleep, she only
hoped that Jade would let her make things right again.
"Jade," Andie said, catching her arm. "We were just talking, but that's not the issue here and you
know it."
Jade spun around to face her. "Nobody cares about SpaceCamp more than I do, and you've been
on my case since day one. Why?" she asked pointedly.
Andie took a breath and shook her head. "First time I met you I saw it in your eyes. It was like
looking in a mirror. You're special Jade," she stated.
Jade laughed. "I'm not special. Never have been and never will. But I need to know, why are
you so hard on me?" she asked seriously.
"Because some day you're goin' up. But the only way you will is if you have every drill down
better than everyone else. There's no room for mistakes. Every I dotted, every T crossed.
That's the way I learned it...that's the way you'll learn it," Andie replied softly. "You copy?" she
asked.
"Copy," Jade replied with a slight nod. Giving her one last look, she took off toward the barracks
not sure of how to take this new information.
~~~~~~~~~
Gemma toweled off with the rest of the wet ones when someone caught her eye. Standing there
watching them was the boy she kissed earlier. Feeling her face flush, she tried to ignore the fact
that he was watching them. But when he yelled out, "Yo! Kisser!!" Gemma couldn't take it.
She ran from the group into the night.
Bursting through the doors, she felt the tears of embarrassment falling down her face. How could
she have done something like that? In the fit of insanity to follow her lust for Christian that far.
Shaking her head, she mumbled beneath her breath, wishing to be somewhere other than right
there, at that moment.
"I wish I was in space," she said softly, sitting down on the ledge of a nearby exhibit. "Nothing
hurts there. I wish I was in space," she stated again, looking at the mock up of the moon.
Jinx rolled through the background, hearing Gem's plea. Rolling out of the room, Jinx headed
toward the mainframe computer. Stopping in front of the central computer, Jinx opened up,
exposing his circuitry as it illuminated setting the computer room into a frenzy.
"Hello...Jinx...how can NASA help you?" a deep voice spoke as the words scrawled across the
computer screen.
"Put Gem in space," Jinx replied.
"There is no Gem in astronaut program," the deeper voice came back.
Jinx extended an arm and inserted it into the circuit portal. "There is now," he replied, loading
Gemma into the database system.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, training resumed though most of them weren't in the best of spirits.
"How come I have to do all the dangerous stuff?" Gemma complained, standing outside the
simulator and getting strapped into the arm.
"Come on Gem, Joe Allen and Dale Garvey did this on the Discovery 51a. S'okay," Jade said
into the radio.
"Somehow I don't think that's gonna make her feel any better," Selah replied. Going through
the motions for the simulator, Selah and Jade barely spoke unless it was to relay information back
and forth.
The command console was manned by three of the red team. Smut Queen, Dee, and Christy
watched the data as it was fed to them from the simulator. Fairy and Meghan watched the
operations console, making sure the ohms burns were emitted on time.
Andie and Zach stood by with headsets on, listening to the progress of Andie's team. Not
concerned when they heard the screaming coming from Jareth's team at the Multi-axis trainer,
they just assumed his team was slacking off and having a bit of fun. It wasn't until they heard
Spidey scream, Get me outta this bloody thing!' did they have cause for worry.
"Atlantis this is control. We have orbit confirmed one-two-five nautical miles. Inclination of.."
Meghan stated, punching up the stats then continuing, "thirty five degrees. You are in position
for satellite recovery," she finished, watching the screen.
"Leelee, you're up," Selah mentioned, glancing over her shoulder.
"Leelee's the best on the RMS," Leelee laughed, taking up the controls.
Gemma was lost in her own daydreams, completely oblivious to what was going on around her.
Thoughts of shagging Christian and Joaquin filling her mind.
"Don't you worry about a thing Gremlin, I know this arm like the back of my hand!" Leelee piped
up, then hit a wrong switch when Kara accidentally knocked into her. The arm fell into a steep
dive, Gemma screaming all the way until it stopped suddenly.
"Sorry Leelee, I didn't know you were there," Kara apologized.
"I almost dropped Gem!" Leelee exclaimed.
"Leelee!!!!" Gemma screamed as though her life were flashing before her eyes.
***
The three at the console started laughing. Smut Queen couldn't help but snicker at their
predicament. "Instigate emergency power loss scenario," she chuckled, knowing that this was
going to be the kicker.
"Killing power," Dee snickered, flipping a switch sending the simulator into darkness.
***
A beep from the sensors alerted the crew to their loss while Gemma's screaming continued.
"Somebody get me down from here, or I'm gonna be sick! Help!" she screamed.
Leelee freaked. She nearly dropped Gemma, and nobody else could help her out of this bad
situation that she blamed Kara for. Yeah, if Kara hadn't knocked into her, none of this would
have happened. Flipping pages in her book, Leelee tried desperately to find the right connection
to set the RMS into motion again.
Kara laughed. "Leelee, relax will ya? You're freaking out."
"Get me down from here!" Gemma screamed again.
"Control this is Atlantis, we're experiencing electrical failure. Switching to auxiliary cells," Jade
transmitted.
"Hey, that's my decision not yours okay?" Selah snapped.
"How do you know that's the right one?" Kara asked Leelee, looking at the console in her hands.
"It just is, it's the green one right next to the red.," Leelee replied, placing the wire together to
make contact and sparking the chips. The CBD's began to close.
"Help!"
"Oh it's okay, I got it right here," she stated, again trying another combination of wiring resulting
in more chaos.
"Lisee, just crosswire it!" Jade stated, getting up from her seat and moving back.
"Sit down!" Selah said, pointing to Jade's seat. "Sit down...that's an order!" she commanded.
When Jade didn't listen, she threw her arms in the air and gave up. "Forget it, just forget it."
***
The red team laughed at their consoles, watching as the blue team screwed up big time. Not only
was the pilot not flying the bird, the shuttle commander was humming muppet songs to herself,
while pretending to play arcade games on the main console.
"What the hell is going on in there?" Andie asked, her tone sounding displeased with the situation.
"You're showing another ohms burn," Andie commented.
"Oh well the pilot must have hit the switch when she got up," Selah replied.
"Why isn't she at her post?" Andie asked.
"Well she's just too busy doing everybody else's job," Selah replied sarcastically and snickered
when Jade glared back at her.
"Orbit's decaying shuttle," Meghan stated.
"Okay take over Commander," Andie remarked.
Selah turned around to look at the monitor. "Hey, it's not my job man. You need the pilot to
take that position, I'm sick and tired of watching the window," Selah rattled off, not caring how
odd she sounded.
"You're falling out of orbit Atlantis. You're coming up on atmospheric interface," Meghan
stated, reading the data as it flowed from the computer.
"You're gonna be toast," SQ cackled.
As Jade, Leelee and Kara argued about which connection was right, Selah watched the main
viewer glow red. With a half hearted scream, she swirled in her seat, running her hand in circles
as the simulator showed the flat spin.
"Pilot, do you copy...pilot," Andie tried in vain to get through to Jade.
"I'm sorry, Jade's not in right now. But if you'd like to leave your name and number at the tone,
she'd be glad to get back to you," Selah mimicked a recording device.
Andie removed her headset and tossed it to Zach, making her way toward the simulator. She was
hot, and her team would know exactly what the deal was with their failure.
"You're coming up on interface Atlantis," Meghan stated again, hoping by some vague hope
they'd take the hint.
"Roger that Atlantis," Selah replied smugly. "Ah ladies, please return your seats and tray tables
to their upright positions and extinguish all smoking material, as we are about to land in the red
zone." Selah remarked. "Whaaaaah No survivors."
"Leelee we're going to flunk!" Jade stated.
"Jade, we're not gonna flunk if you'd just listen to me for a second!" Leelee exclaimed before it
broke out into a full fledged argument.
Andie stormed into the simulator, anger flaring. "All of you stop it!" she shouted, instantly
silencing them in a brief second.
"We.." Leelee started but immediately stopped upon seeing Andie's face.
"I'm sorry but Leelee was-" Jade started.
"Leelee?!" Leelee interrupted harshly, breaking out into an argument once again.
"Quiet!" Andie yelled, silencing them again. "I don't wanna hear about it. I can't hear it, you
know why? Cause you're all dead. You just disintegrated during re-entry," Andie stated
harshly, wanting them to see the seriousness. "Don't you understand what that means? You're
all dead because you didn't work together as a team," Andie said, staring at each of them with a
certain clarity until she turned her attention to Selah. "And you're responsible."
"Me?!" she exclaimed.
"That's right, you. You are Shuttle Commander. That means you are responsible for
EVERYTHING that happens on this ship." Andie remarked.
"I didn't ask to be responsible, remember?" Selah shot back sarcastically.
"That's a pitiful excuse for killing four people," Andie replied. The whole idea sinking in to each
of them, that because of their short sidedness, if they had been in the actuality of space they would
no longer be there for each other. They would cease to exist.
"I can't believe this. Nobody got killed, okay? I mean, it's just space camp," Selah retorted,
trying to make it all seem alright, though deep down she felt the agony of Andie's words.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Launch possibilities," the deep voice of NASA's main computer called out to Jinx, as every
possibility flashed across the screen as it searched the database for any plausible circumstance.
"What are possibilities of launching Gem into space?" Jinx asked, watching the monitor closely to
interpret the data.
"There is no possibility at this time," the NASA computer stated, still rolling through the data as
quickly as the electronic transmission would allow.
"This is not going to be easy," Jinx replied.
~~~~~~~~~~~