Zero-G Read Free Page B

confines of the orbiter. Vinny would have been wired up before donning his EVA suit. Once Tuck had stabilized the spinning Shuttle, communications were reestablished and FCC would be able to read Vinny’s vitals.
    â€œWhy didn’t you tell me, Rick? Why?”
    â€œTuck, your emotional state is fragile. We don’t know why, but you’re the only conscious crewman. We need you to be at your best and you’re not. Telling you too soon could have made matters worse.”
    â€œHow can it get worse?” His eyes ran to the video monitors that showed Vinny’s lifeless body perched on the end of the RMS.
    â€œHow much do you remember, Tuck?”
    â€œNot much, Rick. Not much. My brain is still clouded.”
    â€œIn addition to delivering supplies to the Internation Space Station, part of your mission was a simple repair on a DOD satellite. Of course, the Department of Defense wants that part secret. Sometime during that mission, Atlantis began to spin. With the vehicle moving like it was, we lost signal from the Ku-antenna. What data we had indicated that RMS had been activated. We had no consistent contact with you for three hours.”
    â€œThree hours?”
    â€œWe couldn’t maintain enough of a signal to override from down here.”
    â€œThis can’t be happening.”
    â€œIt is, Tuck, and we aren’t out of the woods yet. There are some things we want you to do.”
    â€œI know what I need to do. I’m going out to get Vinny.”
    â€œNo, sir. No, sir, you are not. You’re in no condition to do that. You’re the only one conscious, and you can’t get into an EVA suit without help.”
    â€œI have to try, Rick. I can’t leave him out there.”
    â€œListen to me, Tuck. You know you can’t do that. Vinny is dead. I know that’s a hard and cold thing to say, but you have to face that. Now we have a list of things for you to do.”
    â€œNASA always has lists.” The pain in his head flared. He groaned and waited for it to pass.
    â€œYou got that right, buddy.”
    Rick had a lighter tone in his voice and Tuck recognized it for what it was — an attempt to lift his spirits and give him confidence. It failed.
    â€œI’m going to walk you through this one step at a time, pal. Just stay with me.”
    Tuck pulled himself to the aft windows and stared at his friend Vinny. For a moment, he thought he saw the dead man wave.

TWO
    R ick Van Duren leaned back in his chair. If any of the other members of the flight control team at FCC in Houston were to look at him they would see a man unperturbed by the disaster taking place two hundred miles overhead. The only sign of nerves came from his rhythmic stroking of the mike boom that hovered above his jawline.
    â€œHow’s he doing, Rick?” The voice came over the headset and without the customary, “CAPCOM, Flight.” Rick knew who was speaking. He also knew the question was nothing more than small talk leading to something more pressing.
    â€œSo far so good, Flight, all things considered. He has the Ku-antenna realigned for the present attitude. The giddiness seems to have gone, as has the melancholy. He’s coming across more emotionally stable. I think removing the patch helped.”
    â€œThat’s my take.”
    Rick waited for Flight Director Dieter Huntz to get to what was really on his mind.
    â€œYou know him better than anyone, Rick. Can he fly Atlantis ?”
    Rick didn’t respond at first. He and Tuck went back to their days at Annapolis and had served on the same aircraft carrier.
    Dieter activated his mike again. “Give it to me straight, Rick. I don’t want any of that astronaut machismo.”
    Rick sighed. “No, Flight, he can’t. In any other circumstance, I would put my life and that of my family in his hands, but at the moment, I wouldn’t let him steer a riding lawn mower.”
    â€œFlight, this