Several hours later, Don West sat in his wheelchair and stared blankly at the bank of gauges, switches and controls that lined main instrument panel under the three large plasma screens that served as the Jupiter 2's main view port. The screens were mostly dark except for a couple rectangular data windows haphazardly placed near the bottom of the central panel. West could read the constantly updating stream of data easily enough, but so much of it made so little sense.
Shaking the cobwebs from his brain, Don West decided it was high time to stand on his own two feet again, and maybe even take a stroll.
"Robot," he called out.
"Affirmative."
"What are the latest readings on the main deck?"
"Deck pressure optimal and holding," droned the machine. "Temperature has stabilized at 22 degrees C. Gravity is point-nine-seven percent and dropping slowly."
"Point-nine-seven?" thought West. "We must be approaching a planet!"
Unlike the spacecraft of classical science fiction, the Jupiter 2 did not enjoy the luxury of artificial gravity, as no one had gotten around to inventing it yet. Instead, the forward motion of the ship simulated gravity through thrust, by pushing the upper and lower decks against any objects resting on them. As long as the ship's engines were firing, the occupants would experience the sensation of normal gravity. When the engines slowed the ship enough to slip into a planetary orbit, this faux gravity diminished as well. When the engines cut off altogether, as they did for much of the flight time between destinations, the J2 was as weightless as every other Earth ship to ply the depths of space. It was for this reason that the Jupiter 2 actually flew in space more like an elevator, in essence, moving upward, rather than in the horizontal plane of a flying saucer. Thanks to multiple cameras positioned around the outer hull, those watching the plasma view screens on the flight deck would never sense the difference.
The Jupiter 2 was a technological marvel that relied on a number of tried-and-true systems to make its fantastic flights. The ship's hull had been fabricated from local materials at one of Alpha Control's largest lunar bases. Titanium was plentiful on the far side of the Moon and solar energy was intense and cheap during the fortnight-long lunar days, making the base ideal for shipbuilding. The Moon also provided the radioactive materials for the basketball-sized sphere that powered the ship's nuclear reactor. The engines, fittings and mechanical equipment from the ship were ferried in from the Earth and assembled on site.
The Jupiter employed a three-stage flight profile. When launching from a planet with a thick atmosphere, such as the Earth, the ship's nuclear reactor powered a large ducted fan assembly ring at the bottom of the hull. The huge turbofan rotated at high speed, providing enough vertical lift to raise the giant ship thirty feet into the air. At that point, the thrust would be vectored aft and the ship would break its hover and move forward. The saucer-like hull of the Jupiter 2 had been designed to take advantage of the natural lifting properties of the shape. As the ship moved forward, like the flying saucer it resembled, it generated lift. The faster it went, the higher it went, until the atmosphere thinned out at around 25 miles up.
At that altitude, a series of small gas core reactor rockets kicked in, using liquid hydrogen and oxygen as a propellent and generating a high rate of thrust. Space jocks referred to it as "the kick in pants" due to the swiftness of the acceleration, though anyone in suspended animation would remain oblivious to the stress. This provided the boost to put the J2 into orbit, and eventually, the additional momentum required to break free into open space. The beauty of the system was that the propellants could be safely stored during the long flight as water, or ice, until needed and then it was a simple matter for the reactor to generate the electricity required to break the water into hydrogen and oxygen. The chemistry and physics were so basic that Jules Verne could have designed the system with ease.
Once in open space, after a relatively short burn that brought the J2 up to cruising speed, the nuclear rockets would shut down and the real miracle of the flight would begin. The sleek ship's giant ion engine would wink on, again, using electrical power from the core to fire a pulse of deutronium ions out into space. The effect was mild, compared to the first two stages of flight, but the constant, gentle push the system provided added up over time. Within a couple years the Jupiter 2 would eventually attain a velocity of 80 percent of the speed of light. It was the miracle that made interstellar flight practical, and in combination with the disruptor field, it was what made manned interstellar flight possible. Ion propulsion had been around for decades and had the advantages of safety and simplicity, which were important factors when the crew was in suspended animation. Deutronium was a man-made isotope of hydrogen that provided twice as much thrust as conventional ion propellants. Although Alpha Control did not discover deutronium, it was their scientists who first grasped the isotope's potential for interstellar flight and devised better ways for producing and storing the gas.
Half-way through the flight the J2 would simply rotate 180 degrees in space and its trusty ion thrusters became a slow-but-sure retro rocket, gradually decelerating the ship as it neared its destination. Once in the desired solar system, the nuclear rockets would provide the hard braking required to put the ship into planetary orbit, and to break that orbit to either land directly on an airless body or to slow the hull down enough for the ducted fan system to engage. While it didn't have the flash and panache of fictional starships, the Jupiter 2 was still an awesome technological achievement that performed its fantastic mission while obeying the Laws of Physics. As such, the final phases of the spaceflight would end as the journey had begun, in near weightlessness. As the ship slowed down the illusion of gravity would ebb away accordingly.
West's eyes moved to the data panel monitoring the ship's re-entry systems. The Jupiter 2 had been generating hydrogen and oxygen for weeks in anticipation of the braking burns and their respective storage tanks were nearly full. Don never liked sitting on that much volatile fuel, but with the supply of nuclear power and deutronium gas running perilously low, he was thankful to still have at least one viable option on hand. In a pinch, West could fall back on his years of experience to perform some fancy maneuvers to locate a planet, pull into a parking orbit and bring the Jupiter 2 in for a landing on rocket power alone. Landing, of course, being a relative term; sometimes you walked away from one and found a cold beer, and sometimes you created a brand new crater, which they might even name after you in your honor. It was always the last few meters of a flight that proved the trickiest, but that's why they paid him the big bucks, which, West mused wryly, he'd never collect now, and even if he did, money was worthless out here.
West tucked that thought back into its mental compartment and determined to get some answers to a long list of very important questions.
"Robot. Help an old geezer to his feet!"
"Affirmative," replied the Robot as he wheeled into position next to the Major. West got a grip on the cool metal of the Robot's outer shell while the machine extended a claw-tipped arm around the man's back for support.
"Right. We lift on three, and with some dignity this time, if you please. Remember, I'm a little rusty."
"That does not compute."
"Whatever," sighed the Major. "Ready? One... two... threeeee!"
The Jupiter mission's environmental control robot had been designed to perform multiple functions. It monitored the progress of the ship in flight, it would conduct environmental assays of the new planet upon landing, and it would be essential for fabricating and assembling the components for a new colony; everything from construction materials to microchips. It would even construct other robots to provide much-needed labor around the camp. The Robot was programmed for numerous useful tasks and could even perform minor surgery on humans. As a rule, it maintained a rather low, squat profile, to keep its center of gravity close to the ground, but it could also extend its height to more than two meters. Lifting gently, the machine slowly rose up in height, gradually helping the pilot to his feet.
"Oh, man...," groaned the Major as he struggled to maintain his balance. He was sure he hadn't heard that much snap, crackle and popping since he was a kid, eating his breakfast cereal in front of the TV. "Space travel is glamorous." Isn't that how the flight school brochure had read? "So glamorous..."
After a minute or two, West was able to release his grip on the Robot and stand on his own, though he made sure that the machine stayed close at hand.
"Well, let's open a window and see where the hell we are. Robot, light up the view port." The Robot complied by issuing a wireless command to turn on the large plasma screens. Even though the J2 was facing away from the parent star of this solar system, background stars poured more light onto the flight deck than it had seen in decades. West involuntarily brought he forearm across his eyes and took one shaky step backward. Soon the Major's eyes adjusted to the light and he was able to take in the panoramic view. As many times as he had looked out into open space, it still took his breath away for a moment. West tried recognize any familiar constellations by sight, but with no luck. It was if he was seeing the stars for the first time. Up in the right-hand corner of the display he could see a fuzzy dot, about the size of a pea. It was definitely a planet, thought the Major.
"I wonder if we've found our new home," he said out loud.