As I was happily enjoying the latest of my flying dreams, voices I recognized began to intrude, slowly bringing me back to reality.
"Oh, we have to get a picture of this!" a distant voice whispered.
"Got it!" another whispered back.
A flash of light brought me partways awake. Warmth shining on my face finished the job.
As I opened my eyes, a familiar face was looking down at me.
"Good morning, sweetheart," Mama greeted me.
"Good morning!" I replied, smiling back.
I started to stretch but realized I wasn't alone in bed. Glancing down, I could see Claru and Yaru snuggled up next to me, one on either side. Oh, it was such a beautiful sight!
Seeing Mama glance down at the two boys, I quietly told her, "I heard them crying last night… during those storms we had."
"Those were pretty bad," Papa recalled, working the window controls to fully open the drapes.
"But, why did they stay in their room?" I wondered, glancing down at my two little brothers. "Why didn't they come to you?"
"We don't have a bed like yours, Jayden," Mama replied. "They wouldn't have been able to do this with us."
"They do seem quite smitten with their new sister," Papa chuckled, holding up his camera. "And I have the proof right here!"
"Papa!" I giggled, shaking my head. Then, grinning broadly, I added, "I want a copy of that!"
"Yaru, honey, time to get up," Mama coaxed him, giving his shoulder a shake. "Claru, sweetie, it's morning! Rise and shine!"
As one, my little brothers finally stirred. Opening their eyes, they both smiled seeing me.
"Morning, sleepyheads!" I greeted them, ruffling Claru's hair and tickling Yaru's chin.
"Onee-san!" Claru sighed, giving me a hug.
"Jayden! Jayden!" Yaru exclaimed, doing the same.
"Time to get up, you two," I said, lifting them as I sat up. "Look. Mama and Papa are here."
"Mama!" Yaru cheered, throwing his tiny arms around her neck.
"Trouble sleeping last night, Claru?" Papa asked, helping his older son to his feet.
Claru nodded.
"The storms, huh?" Papa concluded.
Another nod.
"And your big sister protected you, eh?"
This time, a grin and a nod.
"Alright, go get cleaned up and ready for breakfast," Koru chuckled, pushing his son towards the door while leading his youngest by the hand. "I'll take care of you myself, Yaru!"
"Jayden?"
"Mama?"
Meesa smiled. "I like hearing that from you!"
I smiled back, blushing slightly.
"Last night, I heard the boys crying in the storms," she explained, coming over to sit on the edge of my bed. "I was in the hall when I saw you enter their room. I don't think you saw me."
I shook my head, confirming her statement.
"I listened at the door," she went on, taking my hand in hers. "Heard how you tried to comfort them; to ease their fears."
I didn't say anything, just nibbled on my lip.
"I heard you coming towards the door, so I backed away," Meesa continued, giving my hand a grateful squeeze. "I watched you lead the boys into your room. I listened, heard you tell them to get in bed with you."
"Mama, I…"
Her hand on my lips cut me off.
"You kept talking to them," she told me, tears forming in her eyes, "kept reassuring them, easing their fears."
My own tears began to form.
"You taught Claru how to figure out how close the lightning was by counting the seconds between the flash and the boom," Meesa wept, laying her hand against my tear-stained cheek. "The more I listened, the calmer he became. You helped him face his fear, my dear sweet daughter. I could not be more proud of you."
"Mama!" I sobbed, hugging her tightly.
"Now hurry and get ready for breakfast," she said, adding a parting peck on the cheek. "We're going to visit your new grandparents today!"
I was out of bed like a shot!
While our home did have a central full bathroom, my room had a private toilet and a standup shower. Once reasonably showered and dried off, I slipped into a black bra – panty combo, black metallic leggings, a peach colored tank top with lace trim under my white half sleeve waist jacket, and my black knee-high boots. Then, with a skill I didn't think I possessed, I quickly brushed out and braided my long hair, tying it in place with a bit of white ribbon before heading off to breakfast.
"Ohaiyo gozaimas, minna!" I greeted the rest of my family as I entered the kitchen.
"Nice outfit, sweetheart," Mama praised me, adding a peck on the cheek.
"Ogenki deska, Otouto-san?" I asked Claru.
"Hai, genki des!" he cheerily replied, downing a piece of toast.
"Morning, Papa," I said, kissing his cheek as I sat beside Claru.
Yaru, meanwhile, was happily consuming his own breakfast.
"Can't wait to tell Tarku and Neela about how you helped their grandsons last night," Papa remarked as he smiled at me.
"Are they your parents, Papa," I wondered as I poured myself some juice, "or Mama's?"
"Mine," Papa replied. "They heard about Claru's rescue. They can't wait to meet you."
"But we need to hurry," Mama cautioned. "The shuttle to Cordero Station leaves in about an hour."
We finished breakfast in jig time and were soon on the hover-rail to catch the shuttle. However, I didn't realize exactly what kind of shuttle they meant until we emerged at…
"The spaceport?!" I gasped as we stepped off the hover-rail. "We're going into space?!"
"Only way to reach Cordero Station," Mama matter-of-factly replied as we entered a small section of the terminal lined with what looked like the changing booths I'd seen back at the plaza on my jetpack day.
"Just exactly where is this Cordero Station?" I asked as I slowly opened the booth next to Mama's.
"The far side of the Moon," Claru replied.
"The Moon?!" I gasped, staring at my family.
"Cordero Station is a deep space research facility," Mama explained as she and Yaru emerged from her booth, each now fully clad in very tight-fitting, futuristic looking spacesuits. "Koru's parents are both astronomers."
"Stars above!" I whispered, hesitating in the doorway of my own changing booth.
"Don't worry, Onee-san," Claru said, giving my hand a squeeze. "I'll take care of you."
Chuckling, I bent down and gave my little brother a hug. "I'm counting on it, Otouto-san."
With that, I stepped into the booth and closed the door. The moment I did, I was instantly bathed in that strange beam and the clothes I had been wearing were near instantly replaced by a somewhat smaller version of the suit I'd seen Mama wearing, helmet and all.
Stepping out of the booth, I turned back briefly to once more marvel at the wonder of this future technology.
"Indistinguishable from magic," I whispered.
That's when I noticed the faint outline of some sort of instrument display, but on the inside of the helmet. One particular part instantly caught my eye. Test suit. But how did I switch it on? Voice activated, maybe?
"Test suit," I spoke.
An image instantly flashed up in the air before me. Holographic, I realized. A virtual heads-up display. It was a close-up view of the neck of the helmet. As an arrow pointed to what appeared to be some sort of lever on the collar, I heard in my earpieces, "Make certain the collar lock is secure then continue."
I felt along the helmet collar until I found the lever then flipped it open. Twisting the helmet right produced no movement, so I tried to the left. The helmet rotated about 45 degrees then stopped. Carefully, I lifted the helmet out of the locking collar.
"Simple enough," I quietly remarked as I put the helmet back on.
Twisting it back to the right until it stopped, I closed the locking lever and said aloud, "Continue."
Pressure began to build inside the helmet. I had to clear my ears several times before I heard a chime and saw a green light flash up on the helmet display.
"Suit test complete," I heard as the pressure slowly began to normalize, my ears popping as it did.
Someone tugged on my hand. Turning, I heard Claru ask, "What's wrong?"
Smiling as I removed the helmet, I explained, "Just running a suit integrity check. Say, do you know how to activate the emergency air supply?"
"Right here," Papa cut in, pointing to the big red square on the front of his own suit. "All you have to do is press to activate."
"Sweetheart, are you alright?" Mama asked, Yaru in tow.
"I've never been into space before," I admitted, blushing slightly. "Guess I'm just a little nervous, is all."
"Space travel these days is nearly as commonplace as air travel was in your day, Jayden," Papa assured me, grinning broadly as he laid a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry. Claru here will take good care of you."
"You bet!" my little brother chimed in, hugging me about the waist. "Now let's hurry and get on board!"
Taking me by the hand, Claru led me down the concourse and onto the shuttle that would soon take us into space, the rest of our family hurrying to keep up.
Things got more interesting once we boarded. At first, there were the hushed whispers and quiet finger pointing. It wasn't long before the other passengers were standing, peering over their seats, smiling and waving. And all around me, I kept hearing whispers of "The Time Traveler." All I could do in return as I was stowing my helmet in the overhead bin was to smile, wave back… and duck my head in embarrassment!
As I settled into my seat, Claru to my left, Papa on my right, I heard him chuckle, "Seems your reputation precedes you."
"God, this is so embarrassing," I whispered as I started to buckle in.
"Miss Découverte?"
Startled, I looked up to find one of the flight crew standing next to us in the aisle.
"Yes?" I sheepishly responded.
"I'm Captain Theru," he introduced himself as we shook hands. "Welcome aboard!"
"Uh… thanks!"
"Forgive me, I hadn't meant to eavesdrop earlier…"
"Eavesdrop?"
"Out in the concourse," Capt. Theru explained, pointing back toward the entry hatch. "This is really your first time in space?"
"We're going to visit our grandparents!" Claru excitedly chimed in.
"At Cordero Station," I added, blushing slightly as I gave Claru's hand a squeeze. "But, yes, this will be my first trip into space."
"The vid news reported that you were some sort of pilot back in your time," the captain went on. "Is that true?"
"Well, I used to be," I chuckled, shaking my head. "But nothing quite this fancy."
"I see," the Captain remarked, grinning at me. "Well, if it's alright with your family, I'd like to invite you up to the cockpit for takeoff."
"What?!" I stammered.
"Interstellar!" Claru exclaimed. "Wish I could come with you!"
"Papa?"
"We'll be fine, sweetheart," he assured me, patting my hand. "Go on! Have fun!"
"This way, Miss Découverte," the Captain responded, helping me out of my seat.
Once I was clear, he turned and headed up the aisle, cheers and applause from the other passengers echoing in my wake as I followed him.
"Right this way, Miss," he directed, thumbing the cockpit door open.
As I stepped through, I couldn't stop the gasp of amazement that escaped my lips.
"Whoa!" I whispered, staring in awe at all the controls.
"A pleasure to have you aboard, Miss Découverte," the second crewmember spoke, bowing to me. "Please, the right seat is yours."
"What?! No! Really… I…"
"The Captain insists, Miss Découverte," the third crew member spoke from his monitoring console.
And then, it hit me. This layout was eerily similar to the jets I'd flown back in my time.
"Ship commander," I remarked, pointing to Captain Theru.
"Pilot, I'm guessing," as I pointed at the second crew member.
Turning to the one at the systems console, "And I'm guessing flight engineer," I finished.
"Did you tell her?" the pilot asked, looking at Captain Theru.
"You'll have to forgive my crew, Miss Découverte…"
"Jayden, please," I insisted.
"I get the feeling they don't watch much vid news," Captain Theru chuckled, thumping me on the shoulder.
"What do you mean, Skipper?" the engineer remarked. "I catch the vid news every evening!"
"Then they don't pay close attention to the facts," Captain Theru replied, smiling.
Blank stares from the other two crewmembers.
"This is Jayden Découverte," the Captain announced, bowing effusively to me. "The Time Traveler!"
Still blank stares.
"The one who rescued that young boy when he fell off that skywalk!"
"His name's Claru," I responded, recalling the moment. "He's my younger brother now."
"A remarkable feat," the Captain added, laying a hand on my shoulder, "considering that was Jayden's first ever flight with a jetpack."
"Say what?!" the pilot gasped, staring at me. "No way!"
"As it turns out," the Captain explained, "back in Jayden's time, she was a pilot in her own right, flying those old military aircraft we once studied about."
"Guess the joke's on us, then!" the pilot laughed, extending his hand. "Morgu, ship's pilot."
"A pleasure," I responded, shaking the offered hand.
"And, as you correctly surmised," the Captain added, gesturing to the man at the systems console…
"Engineer Gortu," he responded, also shaking my hand. "A pleasure, Miss… sorry… Jayden."
"It's nice to meet all of you," I said, nodding to everyone.
"Please, take your position, Jayden," Captain Theru instructed, gesturing to the vacant right seat.
"No, really, I don't think that's…"
"Captain's orders," he insisted, once more gesturing at the vacant seat.
Swallowing a lump in my throat, I carefully eased myself into the right seat of the spacecraft.
"Pre-launch checklist completed yet?" the Captain asked as he slid into his own seat and strapped in.
Memories from my old pilot days flashed through my mind, and I followed the Captain's example, strapping myself in.
"Negative, Skipper," Morgu reported as he strapped into the foldout instructor's seat.
"Well, then, pilot," the Captain spoke, turning to me, "you'd best get busy or we'll be late departing."
I glanced quickly about me.
"Sorry, I'm accustomed to old style paper checklists," I apologized, searching the cockpit. "What do you use these days?"
The Captain smiled, glancing first at me then the other members of his crew.
"Paper," Morgu chuckled, slapping the dog-eared ensemble into my hand. "Captain insists."
"Better this way, too," Gortu added, pulling out his own. "These don't need power or get knocked out by EMP or solar flares."
My old flight training kicked in and I strapped the checklist to my leg. A couple quick flips of the pages and I found…
"Pre-launch checklist," I announced as I donned the pilot's headset.
Morgu guided me from the instructor's station, pointing me to the right controls as I worked my way through the pre-launch checklist.
"Condor One Seven, Launch Control," I heard over the radio. "Departure status?"
"Answer him," the Captain instructed.
"Control, this is One Seven," I radioed back after finding the mike button. "We're standing by for rollback and engine start."
"Copy, One Seven" Control replied. "Stand by for rollback."
"APUs starting," Gortu reported from his station.
Morgu pointed to the overhead panel where I spotted the power meters swing into life.
"Switching to internal power," Gortu reported just as I felt a shudder run through the ship.
Looking out the side window, I saw a ground crew member give me a curious signal.
"Hand on fist?" I asked, turning to the captain.
"Means they've got us hooked up to the tug, getting ready to push us back."
I glanced out the window and saw another hand sign: three fingers of one hand grasped by the other hand then abruptly pulled apart. I glanced at the overhead power panel.
"Ground power supply disconnected," I reported. "We're on internal power."
Another shudder, and I felt the ship start to move. I gave a thumbs up to the ground support tech as we started to roll back.
"Engine start checklist," the Captain ordered.
This checklist was surprisingly like those from my time, so the engine start went very smoothly. At this point, I fully expected Captain Theru to take over, but, instead, he ordered me to do the taxi out to the launch ramp.
"Condor One Seven, you are clear to Launch Ramp Alpha 7," Launch Control radioed. "Take taxiway Charlie."
"One Seven copies," I responded as I brought the throttles up.
This phase was pretty ordinary, too. I used the same steering technique from my time… gently pressing either the left or the right brake… to steer the shuttle. Morgu pointed me in the right directions, leading me to taxiway Charlie and out to Launch Ramp Alpha 7.
As we were beginning to turn onto the launch ramp, Morgu told me, "The alignment instrument there," indicating one of the central gauges, "will help you line up the shuttle with the launch mechanism."
As I took a quick look outside, I noticed a series of lights along the edge of the lineup area. They formed a capital letter "T", and as we got nearer the centerline, the light on the crosspiece moved closer to the center. As we moved further up the lineup area, a light on the vertical piece continued to rise. By the time I pulled to a stop, the two lights had converged at the top of the "T".
"How did you do that?" Morgu wanted to know.
"Do what?" I asked.
"Line us up!" he exclaimed, pointing at the panel gauge. "You kept looking outside!"
"Jayden was using the alignment light array," Captain Theru responded, pointing out the windshield. "Who told you about that?"
"No one," I replied, shrugging. "I noticed how it was mimicking the gauge, so I kept my eyes outside, following the lights until they merged."
Captain Theru just smiled.
"Condor One Seven, Launch Control."
"One Seven, go," I radioed back.
"Nice runup, One Seven," we heard. "Stand by for rail gun engagement."
"Rail gun?!" I exclaimed, turning to stare at the Captain.
"Next step in the checklist," the Captain chuckled, tapping the one strapped to his leg. "Get on it!"
"It's how we save fuel and accelerate to launch speed," Gortu, the engineer explained.
As Morgu guided me through the checklist, I heard a deep, metallic thunk and the whole ship shook slightly.
"Good rail gun latch," Morgu reported, pointing to the indicator on the comp panel. "Finalizing launch sequence."
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking," Captain Theru announced over the ship-wide intercom. "Please make sure all food trays and seat backs are stowed and in the upright position. We will be departing shortly."
"Launch programming complete," I reported, finishing up the last of the launch checklist with Morgu keeping watch.
"Nice work!" he congratulated me, giving my shoulder a squeeze.
"Flight attendants," I called over the intercom, "please secure the cabin for launch. We are at T minus two minutes and counting."
"For the most part, Jayden, the launch and climb to orbit is automatic," the captain explained. "With two exceptions."
"Max Q," I concluded.
The captain looked a little surprised that I knew about that, but then smiled and nodded.
"Just after liftoff, we'll need to throttle the engines back to 74%," he explained as he touched each of the four throttles. "Once we get the 'go at throttles up' call from control, we need to adjust them up to 104% until the flight program cuts the engines off."
"Who works the throttles?"
"The pilot."
Swallowing once, I nodded.
"T minus one minute," I called over the intercom. "Everyone, please take your seats and make sure your seat belt and shoulder harness is fastened and tight."
At T minus 31 seconds, "Onboard computer now has control of the launch," I reported as the message flags popped up on the computer screen.
As the seconds counted down, I went over in my mind the procedures for the anti-g straining technique. I didn't want to risk blacking out during the very rapid acceleration of the rail gun or the rapid change of direction when we hit the launch ramp.
"Ten… nine… eight… seven…" I called over the intercom. "Six… five… four…" I pressed my head back against the seat's headrest. "Three… two… one… zero!"
I began my anti-g straining just as our vessel rapidly accelerated, streaking down the rail gun track in less than two seconds. The lateral acceleration turned into radial acceleration as we shot up the curved portion of the launch ramp, our orientation changing from horizontal to vertical. And just as we approached 90 degrees, the engines kicked in, and we rocketed skyward at nearly six G's!
"One Seven, you are clear the tower," we heard Launch Control radio.
"Copy that," I radioed back. "Throttles to 74%."
Upward we went, rising higher, moving faster. Then,…
"Condor One Seven, go at throttles up."
"Roger, Control," I radioed, slowly walking the engine throttles forward. "Throttles to 104%."
We burst through a high, thin deck of cirrus clouds, the sky in front of us turning darker and darker.
"Whoo hoo!" I shouted, totally juiced by the experience. "This is so awesome!"
Soon the sky through the viewport was totally black, filled with more stars than I had ever seen before. It was while I was admiring the view that the engines cut out as planned.
"Engine cutoff," I reported, turning back to the checklist. "Readout shows us at 42 degrees and 120 nautical miles."
"Damn, Découverte!" Gortu called from his station. "That's spot on profile!"
"Nice work!" the captain congratulated me.
"Thanks!" I replied, blushing slightly. "Sorry about all that noise during launch."
"Seems to be a common reaction to your first launch," the captain chuckled.
"Skipper's right, Jayden," Morgu assured me, giving my shoulder a gentle squeeze. "The same thing happened to all of us on our first launch." Sighing as he glanced out the window, he added, "It never gets old!"
"Condor One Seven," launch control radioed, "contact orbital sector control on frequency one four two decimal nine five."
"One four two decimal nine five," I radioed back. "Condor One Seven, switching."
Toggling in the new frequency, I hit the mike button. "Sector control, this is Condor One Seven. Over."
"Condor One Seven, Sector Control," we heard back. "We have you on scope. Nominal trajectory, zero deviation. You are cleared direct TLI."
"WHAT?!" everyone but me gasped.
"They never clear direct!" Gortu spluttered.
"Almost never," Captain Theru responded. "TLI Checklist… NOW!"
Glancing down at the checklist strapped to my leg, I spotted a red tab labelled TLI.
"Got it!" I said as I flipped over to that part of the checklist.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking," I heard Captain Theru announce over the intercom. "Due to an exceptionally error free launch, we have been cleared direct TLI. Please remain in your seats with your seatbelt and shoulder harness fastened. Thank you."
"Throttle setting!" I called out from the checklist.
"83," Gortu responded.
"Eight three and enter," Morgu directed, pointing to the controls on the computer control panel.
"Duration!"
"Two minutes forty five seconds," Gortu replied.
"One six five enter," Morgu instructed.
I punched this value in.
"Time till ignition!"
"Forty five seconds!"
"Four five enter."
I punched it in.
"Mark!" Gortu called.
"Execute!" Morgu chimed in.
I pushed the EXE key. For several seconds, nothing seemed to happen, then…
"TLI program complete," I reported as I read the computer screen. "TLI burn in forty seconds."
"Flight attendants, secure for TLI," the captain announced over the intercom. "Ignition in T minus 30 seconds… mark!"
As the countdown timer hit zero, I heard and felt the engines kick in, and, in that moment, I realized I was following in some very noteworthy footsteps. All the dreams I'd had as a child… all the adventures… all the new discoveries waiting for me… came rushing back, leaving me giddy with excitement!
"We're headed for the Moon!" I sighed, hardly believing. "Just like the Apollo astronauts!"