David Golemon - Legacy

As the two walked away into the gathering night, the sounds of sirens and shouting still filled the air of downtown Berlin.

The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s center for human space flight activities and home to the astronaut corps.

Sarah McIntire, Will Mendenhall, and Jason Ryan had just gone through a battery of tests that would have strained the patience of a saint. Will complained that his right arm and butt cheek were about to fall off from a series of shots they had endured in the accelerated astronaut training phase.

Sarah was so sore she was having a hard time zipping up her blue coveralls. Ryan walked over and helped with the zipper.

“Thanks,” she said. “Remind me to send a pipe bomb to Director Compton for doing this to us.”

“I’ll supply the postage,” Ryan said as he slapped Sarah on the back, making her wince.

“All of this with only a five percent chance we’ll be going,” Mendenhall said. “I mean, we’re the backup to the backup, which is backing up the first team.” He gingerly sat on the locker room bench beside Sarah. “That means two teams have to fail to make it to the space station in order for us to even suit up.”

Sarah wasn’t listening. She was watching a group of trainees, several high-ranking officers among them, looking up at a television monitor just inside the lounge. Sarah stood, moving her aching shoulders as she approached the men and women watching.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Someone just blew the hell out of an anti-Moon demonstration in Berlin. There’s a whole bunch of fundamentalists dead,” answered a woman who had been chosen for the first flight team of Operation Dark Star. She was a geologist like Sarah, but while not quite as knowledgeable she was a better astronaut.

Sarah watched the taped footage of the aftermath as Jason and Will stepped up behind her.

“This isn’t good,” Ryan said, looking on as one of the men in the front reached out and turned the volume up:

“… as the crowded streets became overrun with more serious elements of the discontented protesters. It was only moments after the violence broke out that a series of explosions rocked the downtown area of Berlin. The number of devices detonated has not yet been determined.” The scene switched to the Atlanta studio. “The police have announced a lead in identifying a man caught on videotape the night before, possibly planting the devices. On the video he is clearly wearing the uniform of a German army officer. The man, seen here in a United States Army photo, has been identified as Colonel Jack Collins. His whereabouts are unknown at this time.”

Sarah, Will, and Jason couldn’t move as they saw the picture of Collins flash onto the screen. The other astronauts watched with growing uneasiness as an American was named as a person that may have been directly responsible for the horrible act they were seeing.

“… the suspect’s military history is one of black operations in the Middle East and he has been known to be a rogue, even being brought before the congressional committee investigating failures in the war in Afghanistan.”

As the men and women cursed the face of Collins, Sarah turned away, wanting to shout at the trainees around her to be quiet, that they didn’t know the man like she did. Instead she walked back into the locker room and sat once more on the wooden bench, where she was joined by Mendenhall and Ryan.

“Damn, obviously a frame job if I ever saw one,” Ryan said as he sat next to Sarah.

“Yeah, they said he’s a suspect, but that he’s not in custody.” Will placed a hand on Sarah’s shoulder.

“Ryan, McIntire, Mendenhall, let’s go. You’ve got six hours of flight simulation scheduled with your flight leader. Let’s move it!”

Sarah looked up at the Air Force master sergeant who stood in the doorway of the locker room.

“Come on, the president has just pushed Dark Star up by seventy-two hours because of this maniac’s actions in Germany.”

Sarah looked as if she were about to attack the sergeant, but Will and Ryan gently placed their hands on her and turned her away.

“Comin’, Sarge,” Will quickly answered.

Sarah calmed and then tried to smile. “Thanks.”

“Well, let’s go keep ourselves busy, and hope the colonel and the others get their asses out of Germany without getting them shot completely off.”

Sarah looked at Ryan and then nodded.

“Come on, let’s go simulate crash-landing on the Moon,” Mendenhall joked. “Jason hasn’t done that in a few hours. I’m getting to where I like it. It’s so much better than the always boring landing upright thing.”

As Ryan complained how hard the lunar lander simulators were for the hundredth time that day, Sarah could only think about Collins and wonder just what he had gotten himself into.

“Jack, I swear to God, I can’t take my eyes off of you for five damn minutes without you getting into some kind of bullshit!” she hissed as she followed Jason and Will out of the locker room.

Everett had the policeman’s gun. The man was unconscious and lying by the back doorway to a Chinese restaurant. Carl ejected the clip from the nine-millimeter and then ejected the chambered round. He thought briefly about keeping it, but knew the man would probably be in enough trouble for being disarmed by a suspect. Besides, he knew he couldn’t use it against law enforcement.

Jack stood beside Carl and nodded, then he reached up and pounded on the back door of the restaurant. It was opened by a startled Chinese man who stood stock-still when he saw the large blond man and the police officer.

“English?” Jack asked.

The small man just shook his head negatively, so Everett eased the cop inside the door and lay him down gently.

“Die Polizei,” Jack said, as he pulled Carl away from the door. Everett reached out and handed the Chinese man the weapon, then turned and ran into the darkness of the alley.

Jack and Carl reached the end of the long alley and looked out onto a far quieter street. They spied Ellenshaw and Golding, secluded inside a small Audi. In the illumination of the overhead street lamp, they saw Ellenshaw raise his head on the front seat of the car and then duck back down. Jack shook his head at the suspicious way the two scientists were going about trying to steal a car. Suddenly the motor sprang to life and Ellenshaw sat up. He and Pete exchanged high fives.

“We don’t give these guys enough credit,” Everett said as he and Jack cautiously and slowly left the alley.

“Good work, guys,” Collins said and ducked into the backseat with Everett pulling the two professors out of the way.

“Get in, I’ll drive,” he said to a stunned Ellenshaw, who instead of arguing ran around to the far side and got in the front seat. His hair was a mess as usual as he looked over at Carl.

“Where’s that young policeman?” he asked, looking around the darkened street nervously.

“He went for Chinese,” Everett replied as he threw the car in gear and sped off.

“What’s the plan?” Golding asked, scanning the dark outside the rear window.

“First off, you two should stop looking like you’re on the run,” Jack said. He reached out and stilled the turning head of the computer genius.

“Oh, sorry,” Pete said. He settled in and closed his eyes. Then a thought struck him. “Did we come away with nothing?”

“Nothing but a familiar face in an old photo,” Jack said. “Right now, let’s just hope our aircraft hasn’t been compromised and that Mr. Everett here can find a back way into Tempelhof.”