Free Red Hope by J J (John) Dreese

drinks on coasters. On the plate were cucumber slice sandwiches
with some organic tomato sauce. It seemed perfectly Californian. Chris wanted
to ask Keller if beach houses were stocked full-time with beautiful women.
    “It must be lunch time,” said Keller.
    He realized an introduction was in order.
    “Chris, this is my assistant Lydia. Hey Lydia, this is
Chris Tankovitch. He runs NASA and he’s going to make me famous.”
    Lydia winked at Chris and said, “That’s nice. I’ll
just let you boys get back to your rocket talk. Oh by the way Keller, somebody
named Tatyana called and left a voicemail for you. She sounded Russian and
terrifying.”
    "Delete it," commanded Keller.
    She walked away and Chris tried not to notice. His
mind eventually wandered back to the ship floating above the coffee table.
    “Mr. Murch, are these motors strong enough to launch
us off of Earth and up into orbit?”
    Keller swiveled his head side to side.
    “No. These rockets aren’t strong enough to launch any
vehicle up into orbit from Earth or Mars. However, once in orbit, these MM10
motors would be engaged and give a nice gentle push all the way to Mars; that
would greatly accelerate your vehicle. Your travel time will drop by an order
of magnitude.”
    Chris shook his head in disbelief; it was just too
good to be true.
    He peered at Keller and asked, “What’s the catch?”
    Keller let out a big belly laugh and answered, “There
is no catch.” He started to walk toward the kitchen and stopped. Keller turned
around with a smile on his face.
    “Well, there is one tiny catch. I will build
these rocket motors and maybe even the crew capsules themselves for your Mars
program. And I will only markup the cost by one thousand percent. Given your
impossible timeframe, I think you’ll agree that’s a bargain. However, I will
only do this for you if you guarantee that I am on the first trip to
Mars.”
    Ocean mist billowed through the open windows and
settled on Chris's glasses. He looked over at Keller through his fogged lenses
and said, “You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Murch. I’ll see what I can do. We have
a lot of work ahead of us and very little time.”

Chapter 7
     
    “What do you mean the Russians won’t take us to the Space Station anymore?”
asked President Jennings incredulously. He plopped down into his desk chair in
the Oval Office before continuing his rant.
    “We’ve been renting seats on the Soyuz from them ever
since the space shuttle was axed. That’s the only way to get our guys up to the
International Space Station! We’re paying them $70 million a person! How are we
supposed to get our people and supplies up there for the Mars mission? Why did
they change their minds now?”
    During Chris’s trip home from California, he received
a phone call from the Russian Minister of Space Exploration. The Minister
explained to him that they would no longer provide Americans with access to
space. Now Chris was sitting in the Oval Office trying to explain the situation
to an upset President Jennings.
     “Well, it turns out that Mr. Murch made a deal with
the Russian Defense Bureau to sell them his entire production of MM10 motors.
Then right before he signed a contract with NASA, he backed out on the Russian
deal. Oh, and he didn’t bother to refund their money.”
    The president squeezed his eyes shut in irritation.
    Chris continued, “It doesn’t help that Mr. Murch has
been on every talk show to discuss his new collaboration with NASA.”
    “So, the Russians are mad at one American and for that
reason they’re going to derail my entire Mars program?”
    “Yes, pretty much. Except there is one compromise
they’ve offered up to us.”
    The president’s eyes shot open with hope.
    “What is it?”
    “They said they would reconsider if we included one
Russian Cosmonaut on the mission. If we do that, then they’ll let us use their
Soyuz rocket to get our people up to the Space Station.”
    The president considered