59 ∞ For the Sake of a Little Girl

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Shortlisted - Day 0001

Gareth engaged in idle dialogue with Harlin and Janine for a short while, then dropped out as they continued discussing mining techniques. The cabin filled, a few latecomers stashing their bags in the holding bins overhead. Eventually, the muted noise of conversation carried through the cabin as they all waited patiently.

The people in the row behind Gareth jumped when the cabin speakers chimed the alert. He smiled to himself, amused. Anyone departing from the satellite station had already been through shuttle flight at least once, but it could take more trips to get used to it. The crisp female voice introduced herself as Sheila, the head attendant, and launched into the standard announcements and safety instructions. The monitor on the panel before him lit up, visually echoing the instructions.

Gareth hardly paid attention, expectantly awaiting the familiar jerk of the shuttle being towed to the launch gates. With the station's use of centrifugal force to create the illusion of gravity, this was an easy way to launch shuttles.

Dara looked up from her drawing at the sudden movement, while Janine fastened her safety harness. Gareth caught Dara's attention and pointed at the window and the changing view. Dara looked past her mother, then turned back to Gareth as if to ask him why he'd pointed out they were moving.

He gave her a big, reassuring smile. "This is my favorite part."

Janine leaned back in her seat and fastened her own harness. "Dara has never experienced this. Maar doesn't have a station this big, so shuttles use the station poles for coming and going."

"Oh, well, in that case, this might make you nervous, Dara. But don't be. I find it really fun, and I think you will too." He looked down at the girl next to him.

Harlin leaned forward to be seen past Gareth and grinned. "Yeah, this is the best part for me, too. I like to yell really loud when it happens."

Gareth gave Harlin a long look, hoping he wasn't being literal. Harlin smirked back and shrugged his shoulders, then drew a final sip from his flattened G-bulb. Gareth looked back at Dara. Her mother had taken the computer pad from her and was putting it away in a wall compartment under the window. Outside, Gareth could see they were passing the first airlock door.

Flight attendants came down the aisle, checking each passenger's harness and that all belongings were stowed, taking up loose items, including Harlin's drink bulb.

The cabin speaker chimed again, and the voice announced himself as their shuttle pilot. He gave the passengers the rundown on what came next, how long the flight was expected to be, what sights they could expect to see once they'd entered the atmosphere and the window shields were lifted. The pilot had a calm, self-assured voice that projected friendliness and confidence.

While he spoke, the shuttle stopped moving, and the window shields lowered. They were in the final airlock chamber. Gareth visualized every step of the launch prep. Cables lowered from the ceiling and attached themselves to anchor points on the shuttle. The cables had tension strands to guide the cables like muscles guide an arm, and electromagnets at the ends could anchor many times the mass of the shuttle. As a pilot, he'd had to practice emergency training exercises where the cables were used to catch a shuttle and bring it in. But this was a launching, and, to Gareth, this was an easy maneuver. His mind automatically began running calculations as he waited with his arms resting on the armrests.

The station maintained geosynchronous position over Earth's equator, traveling slightly faster than Earth's rotation. Speed of shuttle would be matched to Earth via atmospheric drag as it entered atmosphere at twenty-two point five degrees descent if it followed Earth's rotation. The tricky part was speed needed from the station to create one-G of centripetal rotation for the shuttle launch.

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