Rescue Mode - eARC Read Online Free PDF Page B

do. And, as Taki said, if you feel the need for it, there are medications that can help.”
    “I guess,” Amanda agreed, weakly.
    McPherson got to his feet. In his plaid work shirt and Levis he looked more like a bearded lumberjack than a scientist.
    Very seriously, he said, “We’ve all been training for this mission for more’n two years. Hell, I’ve been training for it most of my life. I lost two toes to frostbite in Antarctica and damn near broke my neck in that truck wreck in the Atacama desert. I’m not going to do anything that’ll jeopardize this mission. We’re going to explore Mars, for Pete’s sake! That’s not the most important thing, it’s the only thing that matters.”
    Silence settled around the table as McPherson sat down again. Then Amanda Lynn clapped her hands together and in less than a second they all applauded.
    “That’s how I feel, too,” said Virginia Gonzalez.
    “Me too,” Nomura chimed in.
    “I also,” Prokhorov agreed.
    Still on his feet, Benson allowed himself a satisfied smile. “I think we all feel that way. That’s good.”
    “Has anyone ever asked the TOAD to run a sex simulation?” The TOAD was the director of preflight simulations who came up with all kinds of disaster scenarios for the crew to deal with: nuclear reactor meltdown, rocket engine exploding, he even had the crew try to deal with a stowaway. But there had never been any sort of sex or mating simulations.
    Nods and grins around the table.
    “No, and I’m not going to ask.”
    More grins and a guffaw from Prokhorov.
    “Anything else?” Benson asked, looking squarely at Connover.
    They all glanced at each other, saying nothing.
    “Very well,” Benson said. Taking in a breath, he went on, “I want you to know that, as the commander of this mission, you can bring any problem you have to me at any time. I’m not here to judge you or to lecture you. I’m here to help. Is that clear?”
    More nods of agreement. All except Connover.
    Clermont said, “That is very good of you, Bee.”
    “Hokay,” Prokhorov said. “Are we finished?”
    Connover, his chin on his arms, said, “I want you to know, Bee—I want all of you to know—that I resent being passed over for command of the mission.”
    Before anyone could speak, Connover went on, “But I know it was the politicians who decided that, not you and not any of us, not even the suits upstairs at the Center.”
    “You’re a better pilot than I am, Ted, and that’s why you’re flying the lander to the surface,” Benson admitted. “But I know that’s not the same as being the mission commander. For what’s worth, I’m sorry they didn’t pick you.”
    With a lopsided grin, Connover said, “Hey, so you get to be the first human being to set foot on Mars. What’s the big deal?”
    Benson could hear the pain in his voice, see it on Connover’s face. Pain. But it wasn’t anger. At least, Benson didn’t think it was anger.

March 12, 2035
    Earth departure Minus Twenty-Four days
    09:20 Universal Time
    Spaceport America, New Mexico

    For the first seven minutes it looked like a routine launch. The same type of commercial rocket booster that had carried all the components of the Arrow , its cargo, and the teams of technicians who assembled the spacecraft in orbit. Nine successful launches, without a mishap.
    The booster lifted off the desert launch stand on a cloudless New Mexico winter night. Only a few hundred spectators braved the bone-chilling weather, far fewer than the thousands who had watched the earlier launches of Arrow ’s components.
    The blinding orange light of the rocket’s plume lit the landscape around the spaceport with an eerie, otherwordly glow. This was the last launch in the sequence before the highly anticipated launch of Arrow ’s crew, in twenty-one days.
    Carrying sixteen thousand pounds of hydrogen propellant for the spacecraft’s nuclear propulsion system, the booster left the launch stand majestically and began its