Orphans of Apollo - S2 E3
2024
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From the ashes of forgotten space dreams, a new era of exploration begins.
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Previously: Damian Osbourne finally makes it the United States to join True Genesis. Convinced he will be denied entry to the country he makes it through immigration and is met by William Ashworth. Osbourne has misgivings about his decision to travel to the US but still feels this was his only option.
On a clear day, the edge of the peninsula where the launch site was situated would be visible from the control room. However, not today, the grey overcast hung heavy all around in the dim light. Visibility was a mile at best, and the rain constant, as it had been all day.
The door to the control room opened and Andrew Cunliffe walked in. He’d taken off his soaked jacket but his glasses were peppered with raindrops, they steamed up the instant he entered the room.
“Still raining out there mate?” said Joshua Walker in his Australian accent as he looked up from his console.
Andrew said nothing. He knew it was the best response to Josh’s sarcasm. Normally Andrew didn’t mind, and if he was honest, actually quite liked the banter from his Australian colleague. He was a lot more entertaining to be with than some of his stiff upper lip English countrymen.
The control room was small. In front of its large display were four positions, each with two large screens. This was where the flight controllers sat. Behind them were another two positions, one for the flight director, the other was normally occupied by a senior manager. Since Astronautix was such a small company, this was invariably its founder and CEO Everett Winter. There were also several chairs at the end of the rows for observers.
At present, only two of the positions were occupied. One by Joshua Walker, a tall and lanky red-headed Australian in his mid thirties. The other was the flight director’s position occupied by Gwen Becker. Andrew Cunliffe walked along the front row and plonked himself down in the position next to Josh. He pulled his T-shirt out from under his sweatshirt and started to clean his glasses between his thumb and middle finger.
“Well, everything looks good out at the pad. At least as far as I could see in this bloody awful weather, anyway.”
“I must say I appreciate you taking one for the team and being the one to do the walk around out at the pad. I know how much you like the weather in your country,” said Josh as he leaned back and swung his chair to face Andrew.
“I know technically it’s my country, but we’re up here in the middle of nowhere during the winter, when there are only a few hours of daylight, it pisses down all the time and all we have for company are some sheep and a few locals. It’s hardly Brighton on a summer afternoon.”
The launch site was part of the Shetland Space Centre, on the northeastern tip of the Island of Unst, the northernmost of the inhabited British Isles.
“Now I think you are being a little unfair, I like it here. It beats being on the Woomera Range out in the GAFA.”
“The GAFA?” asked Gwen who had half been listening from the flight director’s position.
“The Great Australian Fuck All,” said Josh proudly. “I’ve done my time out on that test range and I’m telling you I would rather be here. The temperature is a lot more pleasant, the wildlife is friendly, even the locals are more friendlier.”
“Well, that’s nice to know. Gentlemen, if you please, are we ready for the test?” said Gwen.
“Yes Ma’am,” said Josh with a theatrical salute before turning around to his station.
“What about Everett?” asked Andrew.
“He’s going to join us later, he’s on an important call.”
“The only thing that’s more important than being here is talking about funding. So I guess this flight is still make or break?” said Josh.
“That is why we are here doing this extra testing,” said Gwen. “Now we will start the simulated count from T-30 minutes.”
“Roger. You all set Andrew?” said Josh matter-of-factly.
“Ready.”
“Ok T-30 minutes and counting.”
For the next twenty minutes they ran through a simulated countdown. The rocket would run through everything as if it were about to launch right up to the point of ignition of the first stage engines.
The White Arrow stood some twenty-one metres tall on the pad. As far as rockets went it was nothing out of the ordinary, a pencil like cylindrical body with five engines at the bottom of the first stage. In this respect the rocket was much the same as many of the small rockets already in operation carrying payloads of around 300 kg to low earth orbit. The innovation was in the engines, the smallest full-flow staged combustion engines to date, and the brainchild of company founder Everett Winter.
The concept was not new but the engineering implementation was extremely complex. After studying Aerospace Engineering at Surrey University, Everett had managed to secure a modest amount of private funding to help him develop his engine. Successful running on the test stand attracted the attention of further investors. Even the UK Space Agency also provided Astronautix - Everett’s fledgling company with some funding. Working nimbly and at some stages overworking his employees, Everett built a small team around him and a rocket on which to test his engine. Unfortunately, the first two flights of the White Arrow had ended in what is sometimes known in the industry as a RUD - a rapid unscheduled disassembly.
“T-5 minutes and counting, all systems are still go,” said Josh.
The control room door opened and the slightly dishevelled figure of Everett Winter walked in. His mousy coloured curly hair was in need of a trim, he was clean shaven but dark patches below his eyes betrayed the recent nights of inadequate sleep. Josh and Andrew glanced briefly up from their screens and then returned to their monitoring of the various systems of the rocket. Everett took the seat next to Gwen, they leaned over to each other and exchanged a few brief words which were inaudible to the rest of the room. Then Everett continued to watch the last part of the count. It continued smoothly with Josh calling out the final ten seconds.
“Well, I only hope everything goes as smoothly as that tomorrow,” said Everett as they concluded the test.
“What’s the goss, boss,” said Josh removing his headset.
“The goss is, I have just got off the phone to the Space Agency and they won’t change their position. Tomorrow is a make or break test. Not to put too fine a point on it.”
“And if we don’t get the government money we won’t get any more money from the private backers?” asked Andrew.
“That’s about it. If tomorrow’s flight is successful, we get the next tranche of government funding and the private backers will also stump up what they have promised. That will be enough to move onto the next stage of development. If not…”
“…we’ll be flipping burgers at Maccas,” said Josh.
“Maccas?” said Andrew quizzically.
“McDonald’s mate, McDonald’s.”
There was silence as they each privately contemplated the gravity of the situation. Then Josh slapped the desk with the palm of his hand and stood up.
“She’ll be right,” he proclaimed, turning to Everett. “Boss you look like shit, you should get some rest before tomorrow,” and with that he walked off out of the control room.
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I hope you enjoyed the latest episode of Orphans of Apollo. If you celebrate it, I hope you had a good Christmas.
For the next few weeks we will be exploring a somewhat new storyline, albeit it with the returning character of Sara Jensen. I have always liked stories with different story arcs which eventually weave together. I am trying to achieve something like this with Orphans of Apollo. One downside is that if you don’t have the luxury of sitting down and reading in decent chunks of time, it can be hard to keep track of all the threads. This is definitely a problem I can identify with. With that in mind, you may be pleased to know that this is essentially the last major new story arc in Orphans of Apollo. At least for the time being.
Thanks for reading,
Alex