Free Brown, Dale - Independent 01 by Silver Tower (v1.1) Page B

another world.”
                She crawled
up the ladder behind Schultz, who was now standing beside three seats on the
flight deck, and looking high “above” herself , saw Air
Force Colonel Jerrod Will, the mission commander, and Marine Colonel Richard
Sontag, the Enterprise 's pilot, in their seats. They looked
“down” as she crawled into the flight deck and pulled herself up.
                “Crawl
across the seats and take the right side,” Schultz said. She maneuvered herself
across the flight deck and onto the right-hand mission-specialist seat. A
technician walking on marked areas on the payload control panel in the back of
the flight deck helped her strap in and handed her a “Snoopy’s hat”
communications headset, which looked like an old college football helmet with
wide ear cups.
                “Your
portable oxygen system is on your right here,” the tech told her as Ann
strapped herself in. He talked her through a preflight of the portable oxygen
system, POS, and her comm panel while Schultz and Kevin Baker, the gray-haired
designer of the Silver Tower Thor interceptor missile system, crawled into
their seats. Ann felt more normal after she was strapped in, but the sight of
technicians standing sideways on the walls while she was seated facing up was
still disorienting.
                “I can see
why some people get airsick on the ground,” Baker said.
                Marty
Schultz gave the older man a reassuring look. “As I just told Ann, once they
close the hatch we’re in a new world. The first time I rode the shuttle the
transition from earth-normal to space-normal was really bizarre. 1 felt like I
was sitting on my back two hundred feet above ground.”
                Ann could
feel her toes grip the front of her seat as Schultz went on. “But you get over
it. Now I look forward to the switch. Everything’s a lot freer in microgravity,
including your imagination.”
                Colonel
Sontag glanced over his shoulder at the three mission specialists. “All
strapped in back here?” he asked over interphone. All three said they were.
                Sontag gave
them a thumbs-up. A moment later: “ Enterprise , this is Vandenburg Launch Control, radio check on a/g channel
two. Over.”
                Colonel
Will: “Good morning, Control. Loud and clear, channel two.” The radio check was
repeated several times on a variety of frequencies.
                “ Enterprise , we are T-minus eight-zero minutes,
mark. Launch advisory check.”
                Over Will’s
right shoulder Ann could see a large red light marked “ABORT” snap on, grow
dim, blink off. “Abort check OK, out.”
                Minutes later a white-clad technician
flashed one last thumps-up through the entry way access, then ducked below, and
the heavy main entrance hatch closed with a thump.
                “ Enterprise , side hatch secure.”
                “Roger,
copy,” Sontag said. “Crew, cabin pressurization coming up. Pressure on your
ears.” Commander Will flipped switches, and Ann could feel her ears pop as the
cabin pressure was increased to check for leaks or an unsecured hatch.
                “Control,
this is Enterprise . Cabin pressure normal, one-six point
seven p.s.i. Over .”
                “Roger, Enterprise . Out.”
                “Ann,
you’re cleared for power on your payload monitoring panel,” the pilot, Sontag
said. “Check out your baby back there and report any problems when your check
is completed.”
                “Roger.”
Ann flipped a guarded switch marked “PL MON ONE” and watched as the instrument
panel to her right came to life. Except for a few miscellaneous supplies, the
Skybolt laser she had developed was Enterprise's only cargo on this trip, and it was her job to check the systems on