A short time later, the engines cut off precisely as programmed, the ship returning to a weightless state. And just as I was giddily experiencing my first taste of weightlessness…
"Condor One Seven, Sector Control."
"This is One Seven," I radioed back. "Go ahead."
"Our scopes have you on a nominal TLI trajectory," we heard. "No course corrections expected enroute. Nice work!"
"It was a team effort, Control," I responded, grinning about at the flight crew. "Thanks!"
"Nice work, indeed, pilot!" Captain Theru added, shaking my hand.
"Thank you, sir," I replied. Then, glancing back at Morgu and Gortu, I added, "Thank you, all. Now I'd better get back to my family before they come looking for me."
Gently, I slid the seat to the back stop then undid my seat belt. Lifting the shoulder harness out of the way, I twisted about and eased myself out of the seat, quietly floating over Morgu's head as he ducked.
"Jayden?"
"Yes, sir?" I responded, grabbing hold of the instructor's seat headrest and slowly turning around to face Captain Theru.
"Given any thought to what you want to do now that you're here in our time?"
"With everything that's happened to me, Captain," I chuckled, recalling all the recent events, "I've barely had time to catch my breath!"
"You know, Nova Tokyo has a shuttle pilot training academy," he explained. "Given how you handled yourself today, I think you'd make an excellent shuttle pilot. If you'd like, I can submit an application for you, along with my recommendation for admission."
"Seriously?!" I gasped.
Captain Theru smiled and nodded.
"I'd give it some real thought, Jayden," Morgu said as he finished strapping in. "Captain Theru used to be director of operations at the Academy, and he hardly ever recommended anyone for admission."
"How long until we reach lunar orbit?" I wondered.
"Three days," Gortu replied. "I'm with them, Jayden. You did better than some of the regular crew I've flown with."
"Okay, I get it!" I laughed, raising my hands in surrender. "Let me talk it over with my family. I'll give you my decision when we reach the Moon."
"Fair enough," Captain Theru declared, offering me his hand.
Needless to say, I was more than a little distracted by the time I returned to my regular seat.
"Well, how was it?" Claru eagerly wanted to know.
"Hmm? Oh, sorry, Otouto-san. What did you say?"
"Are you alright, sweetheart?" Mama wondered, giving my hand a squeeze.
"Hmm? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine. Honest."
"So, how was it watching the launch from the cockpit?" Claru wanted to know.
Glancing around at my family, I quietly whispered, "The captain put me in the pilot's seat."
"Get out!" Claru exclaimed, grinning from ear-to-ear.
"They treated me just like a member of the crew," I went on, grinning at my little brother. "I ran the checklists, did the engine starts, taxied us out, lined us up for launch, then worked the throttles during our pass through Max Q!"
"You piloted the shuttle?!" Claru loudly exclaimed, staring at me.
"Even the TLI!" I sighed.
My family just stared at me, but I could also hear murmurs and whispers of disbelief from the other passengers.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking," Captain Theru announced over the intercom. "We have completed TLI and are on our way to the Moon. Sector Control reports our trajectory is nominal and no course corrections are expected… thanks in no small measure to our special guest pilot, Miss Jayden Découverte."
That got a gasp of surprise out of everyone, including my family.
"Her near flawless performance while at the controls enabled Sector Control to clear us direct TLI," the Captain explained, "something that few of us have ever achieved."
"You weren't kidding!" Papa gasped, staring at me. "Were you?"
I shook my head, the biggest ever grin on my face.
"So, on behalf of myself and the rest of my crew," Captain Theru continued, "I would like to offer my thanks and my congratulations to her on a job well done."
"Onee-san!" Claru whispered, staring absolutely bug-eyed at me in awe.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the 'Fasten Seat Belt Sign' has been turned off," Captain Theru announced, the aforementioned signs winking off accompanied by a pleasant sounding 'Bing!'. "You are now free to move about the cabin. Flight attendants will be coming around shortly to take your meal orders. Welcome aboard, everyone, and thank you for flying Stellar Spacelines!"
The moment the Captain signed off, questions from all the other passengers exploded around me!
For hours, I sat there, doing my best to answer all the questions the passengers had for me. Many were about what life was like back in my time. Others dealt with my wealth of knowledge and life experiences. One or two even asked me about my gender choice for implantation. And I did my best to be completely honest with everyone.
"You are, without a doubt," Papa chuckled as the latest curious passenger floated on down the aisle back to his seat, "the most incredible young lady I have ever met in my life!"
"Careful, Papa," I chuckled, giving Mama's arm a hug. "Your wife might have something to say about that."
"Sure you still want me as your big sister, Claru?" I asked, grinning as I gave his floating hair a tease.
"You bet I do!" he declared, throwing his arms about my neck and giving me a hug.
As he pulled back, I was a little surprised to see tears in his worried eyes.
"Claru, honey, what's wrong?"
"Don't ever leave me!" he wept, hugging me tightly.
"Oh, sweetie!" I sighed, returning his hug. "Of course, I won't. We're family now!"
Pulling back a bit so our eyes would meet, I added, "Besides, you're my Otouto-san… my little brother now. How could I ever leave you? I love you!"
"And I love you, too… Onee-san!" Claru wept, once more giving me a hug.
The in-flight meal was pretty much what I expected. With no gravity, the food came in containers that you squeezed in order to dispense the pasty cuisine.
At every opportunity, I plastered my face to the viewport, savoring the experience of space travel. Back in my time, I had been worried that Mankind might never outgrow its destructive ways. But now, as I glanced out at the sea of stars, I was immensely relieved and gratified that Mankind had proven me wrong.
The evening meal, while certainly different than lunch, was more of the same pasty patina, just flavored differently. Still, it was filling, and soon, the cabin lights were dimmed so that everyone could get some sleep.
Oddly enough, just as I was drifting off, my ears popped. Startled, I glanced about, trying to find the source, but the cabin was still; everyone else sound asleep.
So, I tried once more to get some rest, but just as I was drifting off… it happened again. Pop!
What the hell was going on? I felt sleepy and a little disoriented. And then, my ears popped… again!
That brought me instantly alert. Memories of my decompression training from my pilot days instantly flashed through my mind.
We were losing cabin pressure… and in the depths of space, that could be a death sentence!
Adrenalin surged through my body, and I was out of my seat in a heartbeat, reaching for my helmet stored in the overhead compartment. A quick twist to lock it in place, I threw the neck ring lock to seal it then pressed the emergency oxygen release on my chest plate. Almost instantly, the sleepiness and disorientation vanished.
We were in big trouble! Glancing about, it looked like I was the only one awake and aware of the danger. As fast as I could, I pulled more helmets from the overhead compartments, placing them on Claru, Yaru, Mama, and Papa, slapping the emergency oxygen releases on each of their suits.
What the hell was going on? Why hadn't we been alerted to the pressure loss? I pulled myself down the aisle to one of the stewardesses. Thankfully, the helmets on our suits were all interchangeable, so I reached into the nearest overhead compartment, grabbed a helmet, shoved it down over the stewardess' head, twisted it to lock it in position, threw the neck seal lock, and hit the emergency oxygen release on her suit's chest plate.
"What… where… what's going on?" she wondered, blinking her eyes and looking about.
"Get the others into their helmets!" I shouted, shaking her to get her attention. "We're losing cabin pressure! I'm going forward to check on the crew!"
"Oh my God!" I heard her exclaim as I headed back up the aisle.
"Jayden, what's going on?" Papa asked as I streaked past.
"We're losing cabin pressure!" I shouted. "Help the stewardess with the other passengers. Hurry!"
"Koru, what's going on?" I heard Mama ask, but I couldn't afford to stop.
The cockpit door was shut as I reached it. Fortunately, it slid aside when I thumbed the opener.
Entering the cabin, my heart sank as I realized the captain, pilot, and flight engineer were all unconscious. Locating their helmets, I put the first one on the captain, sealing it tight, and activating his emergency air supply. Then I repeated the same for the pilot and finally the engineer. The captain was just coming around as I finished.
"What… where… my helmet?! What's going on?" he demanded, glancing about.
"We're losing cabin pressure, Captain," I informed him, floating over to where he could see me. "My family and one of the stewardesses are seeing to the other passengers."
"Morgu, you okay?" the captain asked the pilot.
"A little dizzy, skip," he replied, shaking his head. "What happened?"
"That's what I'd like to know," the captain growled. "Gortu, what's going on? Why didn't the cabin pressure alarms go off?"
"I… I'm not sure, Cap," he confessed, shaking his head to clear the fogginess. "Panels all show green on our systems." And then, he gasped, staring at a small analog air pressure gauge. "Holy shit! We're at half an atmosphere and falling!"
"What?!" the captain exclaimed. "How? Where?"
"Running emergency diagnostics now," Gortu replied, his fingers flying across the console keys.
Screams and other cries of distress began to reach our ears.
"Gortu!"
"Got it!" the engineer responded, his monitor panels suddenly lighting up red. "The port aft vent valve isn't completely closed. Attempting to correct."
His fingers flew across the keyboard, but the warning monitors stayed red.
"Can it be overridden manually?" I asked.
"Yes," Gortu replied, pulling up a schematic of the shuttle. "Aft bulkhead, just aft of the rear galley. Access panel A3. You should see a blue handle with an arrow on it. Turn it clockwise as far as you can."
"Contact the sector controller, let them know what's going on," I told the flight crew. "I've got this."
"Hey, wait!"
But I was already out the cabin door, pulling myself along at a frantic pace.
"Out of the way! Move aside!" I shouted as I zoomed down the aisle.
From what I could see, the rest of the stewardesses were now awake and wearing helmets, helping the other passengers don theirs.
"Jayden, what…" Papa began as I flew by.
"No time!" I responded.
Reaching the aft galley area, I quickly located the A3 access panel and flipped it open. But where there was supposed to be a blue handle, I found only a threaded shaft.
"Captain, I'm at the access panel," I called, pressing my suit's transmitter button. "The blue handle is missing."
"That's bad," the captain radioed back.
"I can see the vent opening. Is there anything we can seal it with to prevent further pressure loss?"
"Yes, there is," Gortu, the engineer cut in. "On the starboard side, access panel D2, open it."
I spun around, opening the indicated door.
"Looks like some kind of spray gun," I radioed as I removed the device.
"It's a plas-steel sprayer," Gortu explained, "designed for temporary repairs to damaged external surfaces."
"I get it," I responded, turning back to the vent panel. "I spray this over the vent opening and it seals the hole. Standby."
Reaching as far into the access panel as I could, I aimed the sprayer at the hole and squeezed off a short burst. The space over and around the vent almost instantly turned a bright pink as the plas-steel hardened into place.
"Cute," I radioed, squeezing off two more bursts to make sure. "Bright neon pink so maintenance would know exactly where the damage was. How's the pressure?"
"No longer falling," Gortu reported, "but still dangerously low."
"Any way we can replenish the lost atmosphere?" I wondered, putting the sprayer away.
"Directly aft, panel Z3," the captain radioed.
I opened the door.
"You should see a red handled lever," he explained.
"I see it," I said, grabbing hold of it.
"You must turn it very slowly," he cautioned. "Too fast and it could rupture our eardrums…"
"Or worse," I muttered, drawing a deep breath. "Understood. Here we go."
Sticking my other hand in next to the first, I gingerly began applying pressure to turn the handle. At first, it didn't move. I applied more pressure… and the handle jumped, sending a pressure pulse through the cabin… though not at a level dangerous to the ship… or us.
"Pressure's rising!" Gortu excitedly called. "You did it!"
"Let me know when we're back to one atmosphere," I radioed.
It took nearly five minutes for the pressure to reach normal levels. Gortu gave me the all-clear and I closed the emergency valve.
Securing all the access panels, I slowly made my way forward, cheers and applause greeting me as I rejoined the other passengers.
"Jayden, what happened?" Papa wondered, Yaru clinging to his leg.
"We lost cabin pressure," I said, giving Mama and Claru a hug after first removing my helmet. "Not a sudden decompression, but a very, very slow leak. And for some reason, the shipboard systems didn't catch it."
"How did you know what was wrong?" Mama wondered, clearly frightened.
"Chalk it up to my pilot training," I chuckled. "We underwent rapid decompression training in a hypobaric chamber. I recognized the symptoms of oxygen starvation or hypoxia. The rest was pretty much automatic."
"Well, it's a damn good thing you were on board," the captain cut in as he drifted over, a broad grin on his face. "You saved a lot of lives today, including mine. Thanks!"
"That's my big sister!" Claru declared, hugging me tightly.
"Well, I'm off to the flight deck," Captain Theru declared, turning away. "Take care of your family, Jayden."