Hayden's World Box Set 2 by S. D. Falchetti

Author:S. D. Falchetti [Falchetti, S. D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-09-15T06:00:00+00:00

6

18 Days

Day 1

Hitoshi stares out the Sandpiper’s window as the asphalt rolls by. Soon, California’s coast is a distant fuzzy line against the infinite swath of the Pacific. Even the delicate cirrus clouds fall away as the mach engines kick in, the Earth bending into a bright gradient fading into space. Strobes from other transorbital craft glide in the distance. Ahead, the UN Perseus is a monster of armaments. Everyone watches it drift past the port window as James chats over coms. Promise’s construction ring gleams a few kilometers past it. White running lights cast arcs along the semi-ellipse of the forward hull and the four RF engine nacelles. A swathe illuminates the giant block letters HPT-E17 Bernard’s Promise. Behind it, nighttime masks the Pacific Ocean.

The Sandpiper turns along a course bringing itself outside the ring aligned with Promise’s starboard airlock. Thrusters fire and Hitoshi drifts up into his harness’s shoulder straps. In a moment, everything is shut down and James is back here with Ananke. One-by-one, the crew follows him into the transit tube.

Ava readies herself at the Sandpiper’s airlock, looking back at Hitoshi with her brown hair swirling around her in weightlessness. Like him, she wears a Hayden-Pratt flight suit with mission patches on the sleeve. The newest sits in the top location, illustrated with two yellow stars and a single red dot crossed by four curved lines - Riggs Mission #59, Centauri.

Hitoshi gives a sideways smile. “Keep dreaming big, James always says. Here we go.”

She unfolds the cap from her hip pocket, shakes it out, and tucks her hair underneath it. “Here we go.” She pulls herself into the transit tube.

Hitoshi has one last look around the Sandpiper. Through the windows, the first lights of Hawaii are an oasis in the Pacific night. He takes a deep breath and pulls himself inside. Passing through the transit tube is a little like going head-first down a water slide. It seems to go on forever, concentric ring after concentric ring. Finally, the lights of Promise’s airlock arrive and the group is through EV Prep following the aft corridor to the habdeck. Unlike Gossamer Goose, which had torpedo-like sleep chambers, Bernard’s Promise is bigger, much bigger, and the habdeck is a semi-circle of twelve individual crew quarters.

Hitoshi’s quarters are about the size of a very small bedroom. His personal belongings and clothes are already here. Opening the container marked Cabin - Hitoshi, he locates two photographs. The first is a picture of Chiyoko and him at her high school graduation. The two are laughing as if something hysterical happened a moment before the photo. The second is a family photo at Senkakuwan Bay. He takes both and tucks them into the ribbon board over his desk.

During the next hour, everyone completes checklists before assembling on the bridge. Eight workstations fan in an arc facing a one-eighty parabolic screen. James sits at the pilot’s console with Ananke docked in the co-pilot’s. The open seat to James’s left belongs to Hitoshi.

“Flight plan on screen,” Isaac says.

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