Been so busy this week, I forgot to post this chapter yesterday (oops... sorry).

I've always enjoyed a good 'Real Life' joke, like when someone near my home wrote Hammer Time on the bottom of a stop sign (think about it), but I was blown away when I saw someone's computer keyboard with the words 'The Final Frontier' printed on the space bar. Also on another stop sign a few streets away were the words 'In the name of Love'; neat.

Chapter 48

Noble Sacrifices

Preparations for the unscheduled launch continued on every front, even for those without a specific related task. The group of Robotics Engineers Emerson had been working with, were now part of the team removing containers from the ship while Doom and many other people from the fleet were involved with the search for the elusive External Payload Carrier. Even food preparation had become a vital job for since nobody had the time to take normal meal breaks, food had to be easy to transport in bulk and mostly eaten on the run with only one free hand.

With only thirty five hours left on the countdown clock, Ursula Linwood used this task as an excuse to interrupt her daughters work in the staging area of the central manufacturing complex; she found Calla inside the Dream Chaser spacecraft recording pressure readouts.

"Starboard nose B nozzle sealed" she reported "Line holding 90% pressure."

"Purge line and switch to C" Blues voice drifted up from beneath the floor.

Calla flicked one of the overhead switches up and watched as the corresponding numerical readout began to drop.

"Can I interrupt you for minute" Ursula asked, not realising she had already done so.

"Hi Mom" Calla said without turning "We just have to finish this set before I can shut the system down."

"Umm, alright dear" Ursula replied as she sat down inside the spaceship.

This was the first time Calla's mother had seen the small craft Sarah and Blue would hopefully be taking into orbit; she found it to both impressive and frightening. Random strange sounds were coming from various unseen places, making the machine sound almost alive and far from safe. A rather horrific squeal and growl made Ursula jump when Calla flicked the next switch down.

"What was that?" she gasped.

"Just a gas line pressurising" Calla said calmly "Soon you'll hear a manoeuvring thruster exhaust burst, so don't panic when you do."

"I... I wasn't panicking" Ursula protested "It just surprised me; that's all."

"Sure Mom" Calla smirked "Line C pressure at 90%."

"Begin test cycle" Blue called back.

The one second burst of gas from the nose of the ship made Ursula jump again, no matter how hard she tried to stay calm.

"25% check" Calla called out before a second, louder burst erupted.

"50% check."

Ursula had a feeling she knew what was coming up next.

"75% check."

She was right.

"100% confirmed" Calla said with a grin after the loudest burst of all.

"All joint seals holding" Blue reported "Shut off line."

"Starboard nose C nozzle sealed" Calla reported "Line holding 91% pressure."

"Purge line and give me a minute to get over to the port side" Blue grunted.

"Don't bother Blue, dinner is here; so hurry up and get out here or I'll eat yours too" Calla smirked.

"I don't doubt it for a minute" Blue answered from the safety of the lower crawl space.

"You'd better move to the left a bit Mom" Calla suggested.

Ursula was unsure why but she moved over anyway, just before the section of floor beneath her feet lifted up to reveal a sweat covered young man.

"Whew; it's stuffy down there" Blue declared as he climbed out.

He tried not to let the stress show as he took a bite of sandwich; there was so much preparation to fit in to a very limited amount of time but with everyone working so hard, Blue did not want to let his fear of failure show to those nearby. He did his best to keep him mind firmly focused on whatever job was in front of him but at the completion of each task, his mind instantly filled with images of his father and sister slowly dying a thousand kilometres above the surface of the Earth.

"Thanks for the food" he smiled warmly at Calla's mother before crawling back down beneath the floor.

"You're very welcome" Ursula replied before leaning towards her daughter.

"I'm not sure about what he's got you doing here" she whispered to Calla "but this machine doesn't look or sound... safe."

"Mom, you will find this spaceship is many things; like strong, impressive, versatile and flexible, but safe? Forget it; the things I've learnt in the last month about the life support systems, navigation, various pressurised gasses, not to mention the stresses it has to go through during launch and re-entry, make it almost as dangerous as facing down a tsunami at sea."

"I'd say it's far more dangerous" Ursula insisted "and I think it would be best if you took on something a little less risky."

Blue called out his readiness so with him in position, Calla began the test cycle.

"Mom we went through all this when I said I wanted to go on the Star Runner with Dad and Emerson, and you said I would be safer on one of the bigger ships; nowhere is safe."

"But now we're in this massive underground complex and I thought it would be best if you waited until you were a little older before you started with the risky behaviour again."

"This place is good Mom, but you know it isn't 100% safe so the more time I put into learning about this equipment and how to operate it properly, the better the chances of long term survival there will be for all of us. I've worked very hard ever since Blue asked me to help him train everyone, so please do not make trouble for me now; especially when people's lives are on the line."

"I'm not making trouble" Ursula scolded "I just wanted to talk to you about other possibilities."

As Calla and Blue continued to run through the test cycle, Ursula knew she should leave them to concentrate, but she could not help but just sit and stare in wonder just a little longer. Even though she had only just turned fourteen, Calla had suddenly developed a new maturity and she could not help thinking it was mostly due to the influence of Doctor Sarah Spencer. Ursula had been overjoyed to see her children again when she finally arrived at the complex and she was fascinated to hear the whole story of their arrival. Calla may have been sitting by her side while all the facts were related to her, but she still felt very tense when Maynard told her about the search for their missing daughter.

Calla also spoke with excited enthusiasm about her fall into one of the deepest parts of the Railgun and it soon became obvious from the way she spoke, the young girls rivalry with her brother had been quickly been transferred to Blue. A sad fact about parenting is no matter how well a mother instructs and advises her children, it will often take a second voice saying the exact same thing to get the message across; so Ursula was very happy about the way Sarah had managed to get Calla to look at the person she was in conflict with and consider their point of view as well as her own.

It was almost as if Sarah could sense Ursula's thoughts for at that very moment, a small crowd crossed the staging area of the central manufacturing complex, and the leader of the project crawled through the rear hatch into the small spaceship.

"Where's Blue?" she asked.

"Hiding from you" Calla smirked.

"And doing an excellent job of it too" a muffled voice declared from beneath the floor.

Sarah knelt down and lifted one of the panels to discover a pair of feet.

"How much longer are you going to be down there?" she asked.

"No more than ten minutes at the most" Blue replied.

"Good; as soon as you're done, we need to strip as much weight as we can from the ship in order to get into a higher orbit."

"We'll get right on it" Blue replied.

"Can I steal one of those?" Sarah asked when she saw the plate of sandwiches Ursula had.

"Help yourself; I've got a food trolley full of them."

"Thanks for all your help" Sarah said as she grabbed a delicious looking sandwich "We normally all help out in the kitchens but with so little time..."

"No problem" Ursula smiled "although Maynard has done so many dishes recently, his hands are in a state of permanent prune."

"You should be proud of your daughter" Sarah remarked as another manoeuvring thruster gave a small test burst "It's incredible how much she has learnt in the last month."

"Mom thinks I'm going to get killed doing all this" Calla sniffed.

"That's not true" Ursula protested "I just don't feel comfortable about a these complicated machines."

"Sailing across the Tasman Sea was way more dangerous" Calla insisted.

"Probably true dear, but sailing we both know; not this."

"Look Mom, I've been listening to Willow, Blue, Peter, Sarah and all the others who have been teaching us and I've work hard to be the Instructors Assistant and Guinea Pig; I've gone way beyond where Blue expected me to be by now and I like to think I've earned the right to choose my own path. Also I've got lots of very brainy and experienced people keeping me on the straight and narrow so please promise me you won't try and stop me from doing this" Calla begged.

Ursula felt a little shocked. Callas speech was not the normal eye rolling 'whatever' excuse she normally gave when her mother tried to talk to her. This was the tone of someone who had finally pulled her socks up and did not want to be seen as merely an irresponsible child anymore.

"I'm not going to try and stop you" Ursula protested "Help me out here Sarah."

"Sorry Mrs. Linwood but I don't think I should stick my nose into family matters; in any case, we were probably not the best parental role models. Professor Adisa and I would take Blue everywhere in the complex even before he could walk; so he grew up with everything from industrial scale machines to explosive chemicals."

"And he turned out okay" Calla interjected "Apart from his habit of saying what he's thinking way too much."

"Alright... I give up" Ursula sighed "I'll just have to accept you're not a little girl anymore and trust you not to go beyond your capabilities."

"Thanks Mom" Calla smiled.

"Just be home by dinner time."

"Oh what a pity" Calla did a kind of smiley frown "You were doing so there well for a minute but then you just had to switch back into Mom Mode."

"Hi Dad" Abigail greeted as her father removed the bandage wrapped around her face "You look terrible."

"So no trouble with you vision?" Luis asked.

"No but my eyes still sting a bit."

"No surprise there since the blood in the corner of your eyes boiled briefly" Luis explained "It was fortunate you were so quick with the hatch."

"It didn't feel hot though" Abigail noted "it felt kind of... fizzy."

"I'm going to clean off the dry blood and then replace the bandage" Luis informed her "I think it would be best if you rested your eyes for a while longer; you want to have clear vision when you see your brother for the first time, don't you?"

"Do you really think he'll be able to save us?" Abigail asked.

"I am counting on it my darling. When I've finished with your eyes Abby, I'm going to fit your gloves and helmet; if the air in the capsule gets too thin, we'll be able to last another six hours inside our suits. When the time comes, just lock the visor down and turn the valve on your chest as soon as you hear the CO2 alarm."

"I know how the pressure suit works Dad" Abigail grinned.

"Of course you know how the suit works" Luis agreed "I just wanted to be sure you were safe."

Abigail would not have been smiling if she could see behind her seat, where the life support pack from her father's suit had been connected to hers, giving the young astronaut all of Luis's air supply and a full twelve hours of extra survival time.

"There... all done" Luis smiled when he had finished cleaning Abigail's face.

As he wrapped a fresh bandage over her eyes, Luis hoped and prayed his son would arrive before the air in the capsule became too toxic but if he didn't, it felt good to know Abigail would have enough air for the extra time she would need to await the rescue.

I have finally decided what I want to do when I retire in about 5 to 10 years. I'm gonna spend the warm months on the southern coast, sailing and volunteering on the local tourist train, and the winter months hunting for meteorites in the central deserts.

What fun.