HRVST, Ch.16: The Answers To Changes of Fortune Do Not Exist, They Are Created
"a long voyage with many changes of fortune"
1970 Earth To Moon
The mission's call sign was chosen for its message, "a long voyage with many changes of fortune". Odyssey.
Third to the Moon , second for precision landing, first disaster in space.
It began with one engine failure but the other engines carried the load.
After that, everything went as planned. 56 hours into the flight, 210,000 miles away from Earth, about two-thirds of the way to the Moon, everything changed.
When a pressure sensor reading was off, Mission Control requested a daily mixing of the fuel tanks to correct it. 95 seconds later, there was an explosion. Contact was lost for 1.8 seconds. "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here." reported the crew.
They thought it was a micrometeoroid but it was the ship. The command module lost fuel cells and oxygen. The crew was in danger.
Everyone improvised. The lunar lander, Aquarius, had charged batteries and full oxygen tanks. It would be a lifeboat.
They would approach and circle around the Moon to go home.
The tension of passing from behind the dark side of the Moon gave way to the need to improvise and "burn" the Lunar Lander's engines for 4 minutes and 23 seconds for the return-trip to Earth. They needed the engines of the lunar lander to push away from the lunar orbit, instead of landing on the moon.
Done by eye and hand, the crew of the ship then shut systems down to save power.
It was cold in the unheated lifeboat, condensation grew on the walls but they still had to ration water as well as power.
Mission Control's advice against using the command module's engine to return was right. After the rear section of the command module was detached in preparation for the return, the crew saw the damaged engine.
Before reentry, they reentered the dormant command module, which had just enough power. There was enough power but only if the reawakening from full shutdown could be done in a specific order. The margin for error was tiny.
Mission control figured out a way for the crew, now returned to the command module, to detach far away enough from the lifeboat that was the lunar lander module. The remains of the lander, which carried a sealed container of plutonium oxide, was timed to land in one of the deepest parts of the Pacific.
The last of the ship’s power was enough for the parachutes to deploy, after the command module capsule made it past the fiery reentry.
Splashdown. The crew, former test pilots, worked under enormous pressure with instructions improvised by Mission Control. They made it home.
Apollo 13.
Luna, Aitken Basin, Outer Boros, Grissom Hall
“You’re clear. Unlocking the door to the Hall.”
“Anyone else on the floor?”
“No, they’re all in the stairwell and the elevators. They moving up. When they get to the deck level, we will lock the elevators.”
“Lock the stairwell doors.”
“Copy that.”
“Which side of the Hall are they?”
“They’re on the other end. Still just one hostile watching the kid.”
The captain did a last weapons check, and made sure his suit and visor were “green”.
“Unlock the door.”
“Door unlocked.”
He walked out of the back-offices into the main floor of the Hall. He went along one long side of the hall, away from the open promenades in the middle, his eyes open.
“The hostile still by the door?”
“Yes. You’re almost there, you’ll be off to the side.”
“I have to draw him out, he’ll leave the kid there to wait. I don’t want to take him out there, in case someone is on the other side of the door, and hears him fall.”
He made it to an exhibition near the stairwell, line with shelves and display cases.
The captain took small med packets still in their casing out of a pocket.
He could see the lone Hyperion security trooper, standing by the stairwell door. A child was sitting off to the side of the door. He threw one packet which clattered. Nothing. He threw another packet. A moment later, the echo of footsteps approaching.
He hears the trooper report on his microphone, “Nothing, might have been junk. Headed back.” As the trooper’s boot’s squealed from his about-face as turned to go back, the captain came in and put him down fast. Not a sound. He fast-walks over to the child, and takes off his visor. He sees the kid who’s too terrified to even make a sound, who begins to push backwards on all fours on the floor, backing away.
The captain takes off his visor. He knows this kid. It’s the administrator’s son.
“Hey, hey, Alek junior, right? I’m Edward, I’m a friend of your dad. He told me to come get you, so you can go home.”
The boy’s terror fades but he does not smile, “My dad? You’re friends with Dad? I never saw you before.”
“Yes, Your dad and I are friends. He was so nice to me, he opened a bottle of water, from Earth, to share with me. He said he was saving it for a special day. He was so proud of your commendation.” The Captain remembered being in the Administrator’s office and saw a picture of the boy standing with his class commendation. “You were with your mom, how did you end up here? You’ve been very brave.”
“I was playing and when everything happened, I hid. Mom said if I was in the park or in a place like The Square to hide, and be very quiet, until she or dad found me.”
“You did very good, that’s right, Alek, hang on,” the captain turned on his mike, “TwoTwo, is the administrator’s wife with you?”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Please put her on. Hey Alek, talk to your mom for a minute, so she knows you’re okay.” The captain gave the boy the mike, “Alek? Alek?? Where have you been??"
“Mom, Mom. I’m sorry, I was playing, I got lost. Mom, I hid like in the game and I kept quiet. A man found me and he went away and Dad’s friend is here.”
“He is, I want you to go with the Captain. He’s Mom and Dad’s friend.”
The boy stood up and accepted the Captain’s hand. The Captain got back on the mike.
“TwoTwo, ETA on that ship?”
A transport was coming. They were going to drop it on the building and the troopers.
“Cap, you have to book it, you got 10 minutes.”
“Copy that. Hey Alek, we’re going to have a race, but I have to hold you, that’s the rule, okay? You ready? TwoTwo, I’m on my way but remember what I said.”
-static-
“Cap… Copy that Cap.”
The captain picked up the boy and ran for the back offices leading to the depot.
NOTES:
AI Art Lexica Prompt
1
a fancy portrait of a half robot half alien women by Greg Rutkowski, Sung Choi, Mitchell Mohrhauser, Maciej Kuciara, Johnson Ting, Maxim Verehin, Peter Konig, final fantasy , 8k photorealistic, cinematic lighting, HD, high details, atmospheric , trending on artstation
2
Zaha Hadid city with dome and mosque by Hassan Fatahy in a Fantasy world and photo inspired by Where weird things happen by Daniele Gay on art station , le corbusier model on the ground inspired by Mining by Risa lin on art station
3
blown up space ship in the sky, stylized, artstation, hd, cgsociety, cgi, realistic, dramatic, cinematic, artistic, trending, detailed