V-S Day by Allen Steele

Author:Allen Steele [Steele, Allen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2014-02-04T00:00:00+00:00

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JUNE 14, 1942

The rocket engine lay on its horizontal test bed, smoking in the desert sun. Sixty feet long, its components weren’t covered by an outer skin but instead lay exposed; a liquid-oxygen tank, a kerosene tank, and a liquid-nitrogen tank, with complex turbopumps feeding their contents into a rear-combustion chamber. The maw of the exhaust bell pointed toward the distant horizon, giving the engine the appearance of an enormous gun.

Five hundred yards away, a dozen men huddled within a trench protected by a wall of sandbags. Tripod-mounted periscopes jutted above the barricade along with a motion-picture camera, but most of the onlookers simply peered over the sandbags, ready to duck if anything went wrong. Electrical cables snaked across the sand from the test bed to a nearby diesel generator, which in turn was controlled by wires leading to the trench. A couple of minutes earlier, the tanker trucks that fueled the engine had driven away from the test area. Now the prototype engine was on its own, wreathed in cold oxygen fumes and quietly groaning in the heat of a New Mexico afternoon.

The engineers who’d built the engine were clustered around an instrument box, carefully watching the dials and meters registering the status of the engine’s fuel, pressure, and electrical systems. Finally satisfied, one of them looked over at the two Army officers standing nearby. “Ready when you are,” he said.

Colonel Bliss turned to Lieutenant Jackson. “Jack?”

Jack Cube didn’t lower his binoculars. “Tell ’em to go ahead, sir,” he said quietly.

Bliss nodded to the engineers. One of them began a countdown, starting from ten. The movie camera purred as its operator began filming. Several people raised their hands to their ears.

At the count of zero, the chief engineer pressed a toggle switch in the center of the box. From the distance, the dull grumble of the primary ignition sequence sounded. A small reddish spark appeared deep within the engine bell, showing that the nitrogen had forced the kerosene and liquid oxygen together in the combustion chamber, where they’d been ignited by an electric heating element. A couple of seconds later, the grumble became a mighty roar that thundered across the plain. The small spark was suddenly replaced by a white-hot jet that flared from the engine like an enormous blowtorch, sending a dense black plume roiling up into the blue desert sky. The engine trembled and shook upon the test bed, straining against the iron straps and bolts that held it down. It no longer seemed to be a machine but instead a living creature, a metal tiger suddenly awakened and wanting to be freed.

A cheer rose from the engineers, almost loud enough to be heard over the engine. They clapped each other on the back and shook hands; a couple of them looked like they were on the verge of jumping out of the trench and running straight to the test bed. Even the guards were grinning, as were the three visitors nearby. Hands covering his ears, Bliss laughed out loud.

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