Salvador Mercer - Lunar Discovery

“So the Russians held back on launching their lunar reconnaissance craft due to this Chinese threat? Are we understanding this report correctly?” Marge asked, leafing through several sheets of paper marked Top Secret across the top in red.

“Yes, it appears from our intel that the Chinese somehow managed to get some anti-satellite missiles into space sometime during the last two years, if our data is correct,” Mrs. Brown answered.

“It hasn’t been in the news,” Jack said.

“What are we going to do about it?” Tom asked. “We should shoot two of their birds down for that. I can’t believe the president won’t respond.”

“It’s under advisement, and the politics of the current situation are not relevant to your group,” Mrs. Brown declared. “I advise you all to focus on the task at hand and leave the diplomacy and… counter reaction response to the military.”

“Damn, this could start World War Three,” Jack said, releasing a sigh in response to the news.

“I agree with Mrs. Brown; we should focus on getting Julie and Craig up there safely and leave the posturing to the technocrats,” Rock said, looking at each team member in turn.

“Fine,” Marge said, setting her papers down and returning Rock’s gaze. “How long till we receive a lunar landing pod from JPL?”

“They’re still modifying it to fit two astronauts. Remember it was designed as a larger rover for the Mars mission next decade, so to suddenly be asked to expand the design to accommodate crewmembers places a lot of strain on the engineers,” Rock said.

“I’ve looked at the life support systems, and they are adequate, if not robust,” Lisa said from her perch on her stool at the drafting table. Usually they held their briefings at the conference room table next to the lab room, but Mrs. Brown was late and Rock’s team started to work.

Tom pulled up the relevant schematic and flipped the table light on so it was clearly visible.

“So this is what you’ve been working on?” Mrs. Brown asked, looking over Jack’s shoulder at the diagram.

Rock’s entire team looked at her with a wide range of emotions etched on their faces. This was the first time the NSA spooks seemed to care what they were doing.

“Yes,” Lisa said, pointing to the spacecraft drawing on the table. “This was where the rover would have been secured on top of the lander. It actually acted sort of like a cargo bay where the rover and its instruments would ride the lander to the planet’s surface. In the past, we’ve used airbags, parachutes, and rockets to land our equipment there safely. The Adomite-300 was going to use rockets for the Mars landing, so now we simply added a crew bay here”—she glided her fingertip to the command module—“and then used shielding around the base and outer walls to prep it for a human presence.”

“Sounds simple enough,” Mrs. Brown said.

“That’s just the beginning,” Jack said. “The rockets were designed for the rover’s payload, not the crew’s command module, so we have to adjust the thrust of the rockets to account for the extra weight.”

“Not to mention the extra fuel load,” Marge chimed in.

“Which changes the weight of the lander, that has to factor in the fact that the original rover design was meant for a one-way trip. This lander has to be able to return to lunar orbit as well, so it has to have more than twice the fuel load in order to escape the gravity well of the moon,” Rock added.

“Also, don’t forget the fact that this is just the lander. You have to have an orbiter to re-dock with,” Tom said. “This means extra weight on the overall payload manifest.”

“Which has to be calculated in the launch profile,” Jack finished.

Mrs. Brown almost looked pale. “Well, I’m glad we have your expertise to count on, and I’m sure you’ll find the right solution.” She didn’t wait for an answer and left the room completely, which was rare for her.

Tom chuckled. “We didn’t even have to use any techno-jargon.”

“Thank God,” Jack said, and even Lisa smiled.

“Which brings me to the question,” Rock said, more serious now. “Will this configuration work?”

“It will,” Lisa said. “There’s only so much our carbon scrubbers can do, but with only two bodies and these extra oxygen tanks, we should be able to match the ten-day mission profile with an extra two days to spare.”

“That’s cutting it a tad close, isn’t it?” Marge asked, looking at Lisa.

“We can’t add more oxygen tanks, and the current carbon scrubber would have to be twice as large unless we make one from scratch. That’s the next largest size, and it would impact the dynamic envelope of the lander considerably.” Lisa nodded.

“Probably take it over the maximum range,” Tom ventured.

“Well, the mission can always be cut short, if that’s an issue,” Jack said.

“Or our handlers figure our nauts can stick it out for nine days instead of four,” Marge said.

“You can’t be serious, can you, Marjorie?” Lisa asked.

Marge nodded before Tom spoke. “Damn right they can, them bastards.”

“Hey, aren’t we in charge of the mission? We say lift off and bring Craig and Julie back on time. How could they interfere?” Jack asked.

“Don’t ask, son. They’ll do it one way or the other if they have to. We’re all expendable when it comes to something like this,” Tom said, giving his stern-father look at Jack.

Everyone looked at Rock. “I don’t know, folks. Let’s not take any chances, though. Jack, being our signals guy, can you rig the orbiter so that it communicates directly with the lander?”

“It’s already configured that way,” Jack said. “It’s used as a relay from earth.” He looked confused.

“No, I get that already. I’m talking about receiving commands from moon-side and not just mission control. I want to ensure that Julie and Craig can send commands to the orbiter and receive trajectory data from its radar so that they can lift off on their own, without data or telemetry feeds from earth.”

Jack whistled, and Marge responded, “Wow, that’s intense, Rock. You’re willing to do that? Right under their noses?”

“You’re damn right I’m willing,” Rock said, his face serious.

“Screw them spooks, Marge. You know they’ll do it if they have to. I like Rock’s idea,” Tom said.

“It’ll be risky…” Lisa added.

“Not at all, unless someone talks,” Rock said. There were looks, but no one spoke. “Can you do it, Jack?”

“Yes, I’ll have to add some wiring and maybe an extra transceiver on the lander, but it can be done.”

Marge added, “Just tell them it’s a redundant system. That would be the truth, too.” NASA was known for its triple redundancy, so no one would really question an extra piece of equipment if it was coded in the weight manifest as vital.

“Good. I’ll talk to both of them this afternoon when they finish in the tanks, and fill them in. Jack, you try to get some downtime with them. Say when they transition to physical training, and get them up to speed on the equipment. Lisa, it’s minor, but you reconfigure the weight profile, and Tom, you make sure the damn thing works. Marge and I will run point on this with the NSA,” Rock said.

“Spooks,” Tom retorted.

“NSA,” Rock said, giving Tom a look. “Okay, now let’s get to work.”

The group broke with each team member heading to a laptop or tablet somewhere in the room, but Rock was sure he heard Tom mutter “spooks” under his breath as the man left. It would be a long day.

People’s Republic Space Command

Outside of Beijing, China

In the near future, Day 20