MarsX - Chapter 2

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CHAPTER 2

The day arrived and Harold was up earlier than anyone. He quickly made some sandwiches and put some soda in his thermos before his mom even walked into the kitchen.

“Looks like you’re ready,” she said.

“I can’t wait mom.”

“Okay, I’ll get you some breakfast,” she said.

Harold was eating his breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage when his dad showed up.

“Good morning son, you ready to go?”

“Yeah, dad,” said Harold.

“Alright, let me get a little breakfast and I’ll drop you off at the bus station on my way to work,” he said.

“Thanks dad.”

“You sure you know how to get there?” asked his dad as they pulled up to the bus station downtown.

“Yeah dad, I got it all memorized and it’s on my Annie if I need reminders,” said Harold.

“Okay son, be careful and don’t forget to call your mom when you get off the bus.”

“I will,” said Harold getting out of the pickup truck.

It wasn’t long until he was on the bus. During the hour ride he used his Annie to look for any news he could find about that day’s launch. He discovered, to his surprise, that a second rocket had been added to the day’s launch manifest. And it was one that the followers of MarsX had waited for, a personnel launch. Twenty lucky people were going to Mars and Harold would see them blast off. He was so pleased he didn’t mind the little kid behind him kicking his seat.

An hour later and Harold got off the bus at the nearest stop to the MarsX complex which was in downtown Johnsonville. From there he would catch a shuttle bus that would take him the last twenty miles to the MarsX headquarters. It would take another forty minutes before the bus pulled up to the headquarters and its riders were welcomed by a MarsX guide.

“If you will follow me,” said the guide, “we will start our tour here in the headquarters building before moving to the assembly building and then the launch pad.”

Harold quickly sent a message to his mom telling her he had arrived safely and was on the tour. He had already seen a couple of the upper stages from the bus as they drove in. They stood almost two-hundred feet tall with their stubby wings looking under-sized. The headquarters building was pretty much what Harold expected in an office complex, but the assembly and manufacturing building was amazing.

When they entered the building with its six story tall ceilings Harold was astounded. The size was more than he could have imagined, the guide said there were eighteen acres of floor space, and it seemed that almost everywhere there were rockets and parts of rockets. The group was shown one of the almost finished first stages; over thirty feet in diameter and two hundred feet long. Harold thought it took forever to walk the entire rocket to get to the end where the rockets engines were being fitted. Forty-four engines which the guide said would provide twenty-million pounds of thrust.

Laura Kuttner was the same age as Harold; she was also on the tour along with her mother. It wasn’t her first tour of the MarsX plant, she had been on several, sometimes by herself, like the boy she noticed today.

Laura was an inch taller than Harold, with blond hair and blue eyes. If she had cared about her looks, she would have been a knock-out, but even so, everyone thought she was beautiful.

One thing about having been on the tour more than once was that Laura knew what the next stop would be, it would be at the company commissary. She could tell the boy was on his first tour because it looked like he had brought his lunch, not knowing that MarsX would pay for the meal.

Laura and her mother found themselves sitting at the same table as the tour guide and Harold.

“It’s good to see you again Laura,” said the tour guide.

“Good to see you too, Pam,” said Laura. “This is my mom, Joan.”

“Pleased to meet you Mrs. Kuttner,” said the guide.

“How many is this?” asked the tour guide of Laura.

“Fifth time,” she answered.

Harold looked at the girl with greater respect.

“You still working for MarsX in the future?” asked the guide.

“You bet,” said Laura. “I’ve already transferred to the fast-track at school, which means I can get into college here at sixteen. Then I can work for MarsX on my summer breaks.”

“Well, there’s a lot of competition for our internships, but I suspect you will land one,” said Pam.

“May I ask a question.” said Harold.

“Sure,” said the guide.

“Is it true that we will see two launches today, and that the second one might be crewed?” he asked.

Now Laura was a bit impressed with Harold.

“Yes, that was just confirmed by headquarters a few hours ago. The second launch is historic in that it will be the first time people have traveled to Mars,” she said.

“Will we meet them?” asked Laura.

“We can’t see them in person, but the commander and captain and a few others will be doing a television interview soon after lunch and you can watch that from the headquarters lobby or here if you wish,” said Pam.

When lunch was finished, Laura and her mom stayed in the commissary to watch the interview since Laura had been on the tour several times. The others, including Harold moved on to tour the other buildings on the sprawling campus. Laura and her mom would catch up with them after the interview.

Soon, the screen showed the three astronauts. They were taking questions from reporters and people that were calling in to MarsX headquarters. Laura was particularly interested in the head of medicine for the trip, upon questioning about her background she mentioned that she had gone to the same high school as Laura but twenty years before.

After the interview Laura and her mom walked to join the others who should be somewhere in one of the test structures buildings.

“That’s what I want to do mom,” said Laura.

“I know honey.”

“But do you know how much it means to me?” asked Laura.

“Tell me,” said her mom.

“It’s all I’ve thought about since we watched that launch in first grade. That one was just to orbit, now we will go to Mars. I want my daughter born on Mars, maybe she’ll go to the stars,” said Laura.

“Honey, I know you will make it there, but I don’t know if we’re going to find the group again.”

“Sure we will, according to my estimation they are in the stack building which is just behind this one,” said Laura.

Laura was right, that’s where they rejoined the group just in time to take the ride up two-hundred feet to the highest access platform of the rocket.

The tour was finally finished, and the group boarded the shuttle bus which would take them to the launch viewing area. The installation wasn’t much more than a six-level grandstand over two miles from the launch tower. But there were no obstacles in the line of sight, just east Texas brush and weeds, the four-hundred-fifty-feet tall rocket was clearly visible.

Harold took his seat at the very top and was soon joined by Laura, Laura’s mom stayed on the first row.

There was a countdown clock visible from the stands, and it was already down to two minutes. Harold had his Annie ready to take video, he glanced at Laura to his right, she was doing the same, except she had one of the new Emmies. Harold was viewing the rocket through his Annie’s screen as the countdown came to an end and the brilliant fireball from the base of the rocket appeared, slowly but silently it began to move. Then the sound reached the view stands, and the roar was deafening causing some in the group to gasp and put their hands over their ears.

Harold didn’t move, continuing to follow the rocket as it cleared the launch tower and gained speed. It didn’t seem to take long before it was miles overhead and dwindling in size even through the magnification of the Annie’s camera. Finally, he stopped the video.

He looked over at Laura with a big grin, she looked back with the same.

“It was everything I thought it would be,” he said.

“Yeah, I never get tired of watching launches,” she said.

“Are you staying for the next one?” he asked.

“Yeah, I already told mom she could leave, and I would take the last shuttle bus back to town,” she said.

“Me too,” he said.

The other rocket, the manned launch, was already on a different launch pad, the site had twelve, but they had an hour to wait. Laura’s mom came up the bleachers to say goodbye. Harold said he’d watch out for Laura, Laura’s mom seemed appreciative but Laura not so much. She didn’t need him to watch out for her, she was bigger than him anyway. Laura’s mom and most of the others then left on the shuttle bus. Another bus would take those viewing the second launch back to town later.

After her mom left, Laura and Harold compared their videos with Laura liking Harold’s better than hers, so he paired with her device and transferred his version. She then showed him videos of some of the other launches she had taken. They talked about their schools and how they wanted to work for MarsX and soon it was time for the next launch.

That launch seemed to go off without a problem, looking almost identical to the first. Harold, Laura, and the others left, boarded a shuttle bus for the ride back to town. Laura sat next to Harold. They watched the second launch again on their AIs. Harold thought he saw something.

“Look,” he said, stopping the video and pointing with his finger on the screen.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“I’m not sure,” Laura said.

“Let’s watch it again,” he said.

They watched the video again to the point where he had stopped it before and beyond.

“Did you see it?” he asked.

“Yeah, I see what you are talking about, but I don’t know what it could be,” she said.

“Well, I guess if it’s anything we’ll hear about it later,” he said.

They watched their videos over and over again and saw the small, white plume of gases escape the rocket body again and again until they arrived in town. Harold would wait at the bus depot for his ride home; Laura called her mom. While she waited for her mom they agreed to keep in touch.

Later, Harold boarded his bus for the ride home where he was picked up by his dad.

“Did you hear?” asked his dad as soon as Harold got in the truck.

“What, dad?”

“The Mars crew, they’re dead, something went wrong with their rocket.”

“Oh no,” said Harold.

He sent a message to Laura. She answered with two words, “I know.”