Back To The Moon Part 19

"No, Daddy! You have to come home," Sally cried.

"Baby, you've got to be there for your mother and your little brother. You have to promise me to keep him out of trouble. And you have to promise me to always be great and do your best, just like you always have."

"I promise, Daddy." Sally sobbed deeply. "No, Daddy. I love you!"

"I love you, too." Bill really wasn't sure what to say, but this was his last time to ever leave his son with any man-to-man wisdom. He didn't have any, but he wished he did. "Neil."

"Dad."

"You know your mother took a lot of coercing to get her to name you after Neil Armstrong, but in the end she caved."

"I know, Dad. You've told me that story before." The boy kept his voice strong and held up like a little man.

"Well, son, I want you to promise me to be as great as your namesake. Can you do that for me?" Bill was beginning to learn that tears just balled up in the corner of your eyes in no gravity.

"No, Dad. I won't," his son told him.

"Now, don't give me any sa.s.s, son."

"I don't want to be as great as the first man to walk on the Moon. I want to be as great as you, Dad!" Neil said through sobs.

"I love you, son." What can I say to that? What can I say to that? Bill thought. He had to pause for a second or two as he almost lost control of himself. He managed to hold back from breaking down completely. "You will be the man of the house now. You take care of your mother and your sister, you hear me?" Bill thought. He had to pause for a second or two as he almost lost control of himself. He managed to hold back from breaking down completely. "You will be the man of the house now. You take care of your mother and your sister, you hear me?"

"Yes, sir."

"Now, kids, I love you both. I love you more than anything in the universe, and I hate that this is how things turned out. I'm not going to say goodbye, because I'll always be right there with you, looking out for you. I'll always be a part of everything you are and everything you do. I will always be there. I love you."

"Daddy!"

"Now let me have a private word with your mother, please." Bill wished he could just hold them one more time. See their faces and laugh with them just once more. He couldn't even stand having to tell them goodbye. He was pretty certain that those were the last words he'd ever say to his children. He hoped they were good enough.

"Bill?"

"Terry, honey. You are and have always been the absolute love of my life," he started but really didn't know what else to say. It was the truth that he felt in his heart, so that is what he decided to go with. "I'm so sorry that I'm not going to be there to help with the kids and to grow old with you."

"Bill, you are the love of my life, too. Oh G.o.d, Bill, what have you gone and done? I'm trying to be strong, but-"

"You go ahead and cry if you need to, baby."

"Bill..."

"Hey, listen, you remember that time we were down at the Cape and had that little convertible rental car." Bill wasn't sure where he was going with this, but he wanted to be happy with his wife just one more time. He wanted to relive a happy memory with her just once more.

"Yeah, the Ford Mustang. It was red."

"Yeah, that was it. I remember telling you that I was gonna go to the Moon then, and do you remember what you told me?" Bill bit at his lower lip to steady it from quivering.

"Yes, I do."

"What did you tell me?"

"I said, Bill Stetson, if you're gonna go running off into s.p.a.ce, you better have the decency to be here in nine months when I have your baby!" Bill Stetson, if you're gonna go running off into s.p.a.ce, you better have the decency to be here in nine months when I have your baby!" That had been nearly fifteen years ago. And he had been there for the delivery, for both of them. That had been nearly fifteen years ago. And he had been there for the delivery, for both of them.

"Took me a long time to get to the Moon, huh?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, I just want you to remember how happy we were that day and how much in love we were. I still love you that much right this second. More."

"Me, too, Bill. Oh G.o.d, I'm going to miss you."

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

Stetson's conversation wasn't extremely long. Only a few minutes, actually. Just a few short minutes later he was back on the line with Chow. There wasn't much to talk about, but he felt like talking to somebody.

"We'll be entering the uppermost part of the atmosphere in about fifteen minutes, Bill. The computer is running the show, and, well, I just wanted to say thanks for picking me to go to the Moon with you."

"Tony, you're welcome. Let's not drag this out, shall we? Give the s.h.i.+p your full attention and get these people home."

"But, Bill," Chow replied, close to crying.

"Tony, you did your best."

"If we could've just got the d.a.m.ned cabin to depressurize." Tony slapped his hand against the couch's armrest. "d.a.m.ned computer. Back in the Apollo days, they'd probably have been able to manually blow the hatch or something."

"Naw, I think after the Grissom incident that they actually took off the explosive bolt-wait a minute!" Bill stopped midsentence. "Tony, get Houston on the line and get that pistol out and make sure it has a round in it!"

"Bill?"

"Not much time, Tony! Do it! And tell them to keep my wife and kids there."

"You got it!"

"That might just work, Bill!" mission control replied. "Give us a minute to determine the safest place to implement the plan."

"Go ahead, but we don't have a whole bunch of minutes left," Bill said. "Tony, I want you practicing putting your glove on and off while Houston is figuring this out. If you need help, get Hui to back you up."

"Bill?"

"Well, you can't fire the pistol with your suit gloves on. If you need Hui standing by with them to help you get them on quickly, then do so," Bill explained.

"Oh, I see." Where the engineers back at NASA hadn't figured out the problem, Bill just might have. Another reason that he had been the right man for the job all along. "But, Bill, it will take a few minutes for the cabin to depressurize, so I'll be in no danger."

"I still want you sealed up as quickly as possible, just in case. And have the putty standing by."

"Roger that." Tony slipped the seal ring on his right glove and twisted it. It took him a few seconds, but it came off fairly easily. Getting it back on took him almost a minute and a half. It almost startled him when mission control chimed in.

"Mercy I, mission control."

"Go ahead, Houston."

"We've done a quick a.n.a.lysis and believe that this is a workable plan. The best location to create a leak will be as far into the nose as possible, just to the right of the docking-ring hatch. It is likely that the boundary-layer plasma will not damage the s.h.i.+p critically if there is a structural-integrity breach there. The plasma should flow past any damage up there."

"Alright, then-let's do it." Tony slipped his glove off again and handed it to Hui. "Hang on to this for me, please."

"I've got it." Hui nodded to him.

"Bill, are you clear of the nose out there?"

"Roger that, Tony. I'm still hanging out with my old pal the solar panel." Bill paused, slightly wondering if his need to use levity in the current situation was his subconscious helping him deal with the fact that he was teetering on the edge of dying. He shook that nonsense from his mind. "Good luck."

"Right." Tony glanced at the countdown clock on the screen, noting that they had less than fifteen minutes until it would start getting b.u.mpy. "Houston, let's get on with this. Give me the breaker sequence now."

Tony had both gloves off and started flipping icon toggles on the computer touch screen. He had to have all the right breakers thrown so that the pressurization system wouldn't just increase the oxygen flow into the cabin to make up for a leak. That took a couple of minutes. Then he was ready.

"Alright, everybody clear!" He scanned the cabin for an all clear from Xu, and then Hui. "Bill, here goes."

Tony gripped the pistol in his hands. He raised his arms as best he could in his suit and took aim just to the right of the apex of the cone where the docking hatch was located.

"Firing in three, two, one, no shot. no shot." Tony instinctively pulled at the trigger again. "What the...?"

"You didn't disengage the safety," Hui pointed out.

"Oh. I see." Tony used his thumb to push the safety off and then raised the weapon again. "Once more. Firing in three, two, one!"

The pistol fired and tossed an empty casing across the cabin. The casing ricocheted off a couple of panels, making a clinking noise as it did so, and then began a slow-drifting trajectory about the cabin. The bullet, on the other hand, slammed against the interior wall panel a good half meter from where Tony thought he had been aiming. But it didn't really matter as long as it worked.

"Mercy I, mission control."

"Go ahead, Houston," Tony answered.

"We show you've sprung a leak and are losing cabin pressure."

"Hold on, Houston. I'll check it out."

"Before you do, put these on." Hui handed Tony his suit gloves. Tony waved them off, handed her the pistol, and tapped at the control screen. He could have sworn he was hearing a faint hissing sound, but his ears were ringing from the pistol report, so he wasn't certain.

"We've got a red light on the pressure panel. The question is, are we leaking fast enough, Houston?" Tony held his breath while he waited on mission control's response. It seemed like forever before he got it.

"Hold on, Mercy I Mercy I. We're running the numbers now."

"It's gonna work," Tony said to n.o.body in particular, but everybody heard it.

"Negative, Mercy I Mercy I. Looks like at your current leakage rate, it will take about twenty minutes before the cabin is empty." Tony felt his heart sink again.

"What!?"

"It was a good try, Tony. I knew it was risky."

"Bill, are you still clear?"

"Yes, but why do-?"

Tony grabbed the pistol from Hui unexpectedly, took aim, and fired two quick rounds just to the top and right of the docking-hatch door. The sound of the reports rang like a bell inside the cabin, hurting his ears. He hadn't balanced himself as well this time, and the pistol firing pushed him hard enough to make him tumble over. Newton's law of reciprocal force, action and reaction, got him. He quickly grabbed on to a handhold and righted himself. He held the pistol up once more, considering firing it again.

"Tony! Stop it before you endanger the entire mission!" Bill shouted back at him.

"That ought to do it." Tony thumbed the safety on the pistol and handed it to Hui. "Put that thing away for me, will ya?"

"Yes." Hui looked nervously at Tony. "I think I should."

Tony went to check the status panel. He looked at the reentry countdown to see where they stood. There were about nine minutes remaining before things started getting too close for comfort.

"Mercy I, we show an increase in the depressurization. What's going on?" we show an increase in the depressurization. What's going on?"

"I made two more leaks," Tony said nonchalantly and half expecting Houston to respond with a "You did what?" "You did what?"-but they didn't.

"Understood, Mercy I Mercy I. Be advised that the engineers don't recommend adding any more."

"Uh-huh." Tony sat down and began working his gloves. He watched the countdown clock continue getting closer to the aerocapture. "Bill, I suggest you get to the main hatch and stand by."

"Well, I'm ahead of you, Tony. I'm already on my way," Bill said.

"Should we start trying to cycle the hatch?" Hui asked. Tony hadn't bothered to ask where she had put the pistol. He didn't care. He didn't need the thing any longer.

"Good idea. Let me finish with this glove. You got the patch kit ready?"

"Here." Hui held up the kit.

"Great." Tony put the hatch on cycle, but the icon went red and didn't open.

The s.h.i.+p was beginning to have a noticeable vibration. Tony gripped the console to sh.o.r.e himself up.

"Hey, do you guys feel that?"

"What?" Hui gripped the console's edge with her glove. From the look in her eyes, Tony knew the answer before she said it. "Yes. What is that?"

"I can feel it out here, Tony," Bill answered. "Ignore it and keep focusing on the job at hand."

"Roger that, Bill," Tony replied. Bill was right. They had to focus and get Bill inside the cabin before it was too late.

The s.h.i.+p had penetrated far enough into the exosphere to begin experiencing turbulence. The exosphere of Earth extended out as far as ten thousand kilometers. The Orion was traveling over fifteen kilometers per second. It would take the s.h.i.+p less than ten minutes to travel into the denser portions of the thermosphere, where the real turbulence would start. They had less than five to seven minutes, depending on the computer model used, to get Stetson inside.