Free Children of Steel by John Van Stry Page B

in
order we got in and powered up all of the electrical systems using
external power. I wasn't going to start engines until the shuttle
bay had been depressurized and we were near breakout. As I went
through my checklist I saw the other crews boarding their shuttles
as well. I double-checked the safeties on the ten Laser/Radar
Guided Missiles we were carrying; the lead shuttle was expected to
open a path for the next two in the flight, they carried the ship
killers. Rudy opened the hatch behind his seat and confirmed that
the cargo area, which was usually rigged for troops, was presently
loaded with a thirty days supply of emergency rations.
    I then opened a channel to shuttle control
and reported our ready status. After that I linked our computer up
to the ship’s guidance system so that we could be provided with all
the critical state information on the breakout. Information which
we would need to maneuver and eventually survive if we should have
to launch. Next I opened a channel to the bridge, again reported
our ready status and then started to watch the sensor feed that the
bridge was supplying. It would become live the second that we broke
out, which was only ten minutes away according to the ship's
clock.
    "Shuttle control to all shuttles,
Depressurizing shuttle deck."
    I sat and checked the pressure gauges, when
they got down to near zero I called control.
    "Shuttle one to shuttle control, request
engine start."
    "Shuttle one cleared engine start."
    I checked the safeties on the launch rack,
and made sure they were engaged. If we got launched before breakout
we'd turn up way too far away, if we survived the transition of
course. I went through the engine start sequence as I heard
shuttles two and three request start clearances, and then four,
five, and six requested permission to hold at just prior to
ignition.
    I checked the engines; they were both ticking
over normally, the core temperatures quickly evening out. I checked
the bay hatch in front of me. It was open, I found the view of jump
space to be unnerving so I looked down and checked the clock,
twenty seconds.
    The bridge feed started a verbal countdown at
ten. At three seconds I ran the throttles up to full military power
and flipped my visor down. At zero I released the safeties on the
launch rack, as I saw the flash through my closed eyes. I flipped
up the visor then and started to watch the display.
    The next thirty seconds would tell. If there
were any hostile contacts in that range, I would be launched. If
the ship couldn't run, we would fight it out. If the ship could
run, it would, without us.
    Like I had told Terease at breakfast, I was
confident that I could use the planet's gravity well to burn off
enough speed to do a landing, in say two or three weeks. If the
Astra's vector was favorable when I got launched that is.
    Otherwise we had food for thirty days, and
hopefully we'd get rescued by then. In this system, that was a
pretty good bet. After thirty days well, I think Rudy figured I'd
eat him.
    At ten seconds I heard a call over the bridge
circuit.
    "Contact, bearing 231 degrees, azimuth 43
degrees."
    I checked the repeater, and looked at the
information as the ship's computer sorted it out.
    "Range is increasing; object is identified as
an asteroid."
    I breathed a sigh of relief and went back to
watching. Twenty seconds later I heard the announcement over the
bridge circuit.
    "Secure from general quarters. Secure all
Shuttles'."
    I reset the safeties, shut down the engines,
and started my checklist for securing the shuttle.
    "Damn, I'm glad that's over," said Rudy
    "Me too, of course it'll be a couple of days
till we're almost in orbit and totally in the clear."
    "Yeah, but at least then we'll see them
coming in advance." he replied, then added as an afterthought, "And
the more speed we burn off the less likely I am to become cat
food!"
    "Come on, do you really think I want to be
given the rest of your debt?"
    "What are you talking about?" he