A Step Beyond Read Online Free PDF

assignments on the main screen, Nelson commenced his review of the morning’s activities while they ate. His voice was sharp and clear, and sounded as if he were giving commands. He listened to Endicott’s report on the medical facility and Brunnet’s account of the Martian rocks, then looked at Carter and pointed with his free hand at the final item on the screen.
    Carter responded to the look. “Performed an exterior check of the propulsion stage this morning. The propellant lines outside the truss and both the propellant and the oxidizer manifolds checked out. I still want to take a closer look at the main pump assembly; otherwise, everything appears to be in order.”
    “Any questions about the afternoon assignments?” Nelson asked as he pulled up the next screen.
    Carter cleared his throat. “Says here, you and I are to run out to the co-orbital platform to complete the electrical maintenance check on the Liberty. It also says fully suited. Why the formality?”
    “A routine computer check detected a possible pressure leak. We suspect it’s just a bug in the software. Jack here is checking on it. If our hunch is correct, we should be able to do shirt-sleeves by tomorrow afternoon.”
    Carter grimaced at the prospect of a fully suited maintenance check, then tossed back his head and gobbled down a naked slice of corned beef. When the meal was done, conversation turned to the Russians.
    “They should be arriving at thirteen hundred hours Tuesday,” Nelson confirmed.
    “Been a while since I’ve seen that ol’ son of a bitch Dmitri,” Carter said with a smile that revealed his friendship for his ex-rival. Colonel Dmitri “Dima” Fyodorovich Komarov was the mission commander for the Russian-led team. Prior to becoming a cosmonaut, he had been, like Carter, a test pilot and had gone head-to-head with Carter in establishing many of his records. He had attended the Furuze Military Academy, where, again like Carter, he had graduated with an engineering degree in aeronautics. “He didn’t want this to be a joint mission, you know. He was hoping, like President Kerimov, to do it alone.”
    “Yes,” Nelson confirmed. “I’ve heard that the backroom politics at the Kremlin got quite ugly. Kerimov was threatening to fire the entire Russian Space Agency. At first, he wouldn’t even consider a joint mission. He still wanted to demonstrate the greatness of the New Republic by reaching Mars first. But he had lost a lot of credibility with the
Volnost
disaster. Then there was the tape of the late Commander Titov telling his wife that a joint mission was the safest way to proceed.”
    “Did they ever learn how the press got the tape?” Brunnet asked.
    “Not that I know of. Some say that Valentina, his wife, sneaked it out. Others say it was Colonel Schebalin’s doing— that he didn’t want another disaster on his hands. Kerimov had a more serious problem though. The New Republic simply didn’t have the means to put together another mission in time to beat us. Kerimov’s only viable option was to accept our offer of a joint mission. He was lucky to score a draw.”
    “I hear Dmitri’s cheating on his wife,” Carter said, returning to his original subject. “Why she puts up with the son of a bitch is beyond me.”
    “I suspect that Tatiana will present an interesting challenge,” Endicott said.
    Major Tatiana Sergeievna Pavlova was the only female selected to go to Mars. She was attractive and full-figured, and she would be aboard the
Unity
within three days’ time. Despite her outstanding scientific qualifications, it was rumored that the Russians had selected her so they could say they had put the first woman on another planet. She was married to Vladimir Pavlov, who would pilot the Russian-led ship, the
Druzhba
, to Mars. They had met during a training exercise and had married shortly afterward. The marriage had made her the obvious choice for the female slot of the Mars mission, and some people