The Solar Voyager

8/3/2019 The Solar Voyager

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The Solar Voyager(Written by Apple Sauce Kids for the public domain)

Contents

This is an outer space adventure story that contains real science. It is therefore, mildly

educational. Most of the science used in this story is cutting edge and still under development.

This story is approximately 52 pages long.

The Senate Hearings ................. 1

Day 1, The Departure ............... 2

Day 2, The Meteor Shower .....12

Day 3, Helping Others ............ 20

Day 4, The Encounter ............. 36

About the Author .................... 51

Glossary ................................. 51

Written: 1/29/2000

The Senate Hearing

It all happened so fast, disaster, destruction, and now a moment of peace, will it last? Orhas Voyager simply given us false hope. For the people living on the Moon, the crew of this

simple freighter saved them from total destruction. They didn't have to stay and help, but they

did. They could have flown away, but they didn't. It's not the easy things that make a real

friend. It's the self-sacrificing things that demonstrate a real friend, and the people on the

Moon know who their friends are now.

Governments all over the world have been savaged in the press for their inept handling ofthe situation. And they are determined to catch up. They know that the only way to appease

their people is with action. U.S. Senator Suma has called extensive meetings with experts

from NASA, the Defense Department, and consultants in planetary defense. But first he must

give credit where credit is due.

"Mr. Everett, the Senate Select Committee on Outer Space wishes to thank you for coming

today, and for giving testimony concerning the latest trip of the Solar Voyager. Sir, the valor

of your crew and passengers is to be applauded. Their commitment to life and the self-

sacrificing example they have given to mankind brings them well-deserved honor. They have

easily saved thousands of lives. I was surprised to find out that the Solar Voyager is still

acting as our lunar sentinel. Please extend my personal thanks to them. For the record, pleasestart your testimony by giving your name, address, and relationship to this incident."

"Thank you Senator. My name is Bill Everett from Dover, Delaware, and I am president of

Interplanetary Mining, Inc. The owner's of the space freighter Solar Voyager."

"The Solar Voyager is an unarmed solar sail and ion drive ore freighter designed to haul

ore ingots and supplies to and from the Moon. Her huge solar sail measures more than a mile

on each of its four sides. Dwarfing the small size of the crew cabin. This is a very large slow

ship. And because of her size, she must carry a small high-powered utility ship, the BTH-A

Tractor. This utility space tug is generally referred to as Bertha. Solar Voyager has a crew of

three with the ability to carry as many as three additional passengers. All of her previousthirty-six trips to the Moon had carried passengers without incident.


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Late last year Interplanetary Mining was asked by Earth Magazine to carry the winners of

a world wide ecology contest to the moon as part of an environment awareness campaign.

Twelve-year-old Juan Rodriguez from Mexico won the contest and the free round trip to

the Moon. His winning essay was on the peaceful use of space to improve the environment.

Juan was accompanied by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez. Mr. Rodriguez is a nano-machinist, and Mrs. Rodriguez is a homemaker.

On the trip of June 6, 2087, Solar Voyager's crew of three consisted of ship's Captain Mark

Pela. The Executive officer was Thandukuthula Sibusiso or Sibu for short. She is the first

woman, and Nigerian, to receive medals for bravery in space. And the Crew Chief was Chief

Petty Officer Uri Renko. All three were very experience professionals.

Ladies and gentlemen on that morning all systems were fully operational. The ship had a

full load of supplies and everything looked like the beginning of a perfect trip. But I believe

that you will agree this trip was anything but ordinary."

"I would now like to direct your attention to the TV monitors placed around the room.

Please play the recording of the June 6 trip of the Solar Voyager."

Day #1

The Departure

Captain Pela opened the hatch and dropped down into a dimly lit Solar Voyager from the

Space Shuttle. He then reached over and turned the lights up too full. Turning around in the

air he faced a somewhat shaken Juan coming through the hatch.

"Ok everyone, move slowly until you get used to the weightlessness, and be careful not to

hit any switches. Everyone just come on in and standby here for a few minutes while I check

in." Pela reached down and touched the com button on the combination radio and PC that was

stuck to his side while the precession continued.

"Dover, this is the Solar Voyager, come in please."

"Dover here, go ahead Voyager."

"We're just checking in Dover. We have just arrived and should be ready to leave orbit onschedule in about an hour. Do you have any messages for us?"

"Roger Voyager, you intend to leave orbit in about one hour. We do not have any

messages for you."

"Voyager out."

"Affirmative Voyager, Dover out."

Sibu's small five foot tall build easily drifted through the hatch and moved to one side,

while Renko's very muscular six foot three inch, two hundred and eight pound body tookmore effort. Renko closed the massive hatch with ease, hardly making a sound.


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Pela could easily see that Juan and Mrs. Rodriguez were uneasy as they floated next to the

wall. Trying to reassure the Rodriguezes that everything was going smoothly he put on a big

grin.

"How's everything going so far?"

"Wow, what a ride!" exclaimed Mr. Rodriguez who was still a little shaky. It kind of

reminds me of the guy that goes up to an Airline Clerk and asked for a ticket to New York.

The Clerk asked: By Buffalo? And he replied, I guess that would be ok as long as the saddle

was comfortable." The crew laughed, but Mrs. Rodriguez and Juan didn't. They were holding

on to the handrail for dear life and didn't say anything. When a sudden loud bang on the

outside of the ship visible scared Mrs. Rodriguez. Pela quickly moved to comfort them with

his best, everything is just peachy smile, and a glance at the ceiling "Termites".

"Termites", responded Mrs. Rodriguezes loudly, as if she believed the Captain. "Those are

the loudest termites I ever heard." Sibu and Renko could hardly hide their laughter. Sibu

reached over and patted Mrs. Rodriguez on the back; "He's only kidding. It's the Shuttle crewloading supply pods." Mrs. Rodriguez looked a little embarrassed.

"Ok everyone, Welcome to the Solar Voyager." announced Capt. Pela.

"We have a lot to do in an hour, so we need to get down to business. We have a set

greeting that we have to give to you. It's kind of like the things the stewardess says on an

airplane. What can I say? We have safety regulations too, so here it goes."

The noises that you are hearing are coming from the Shuttle crew putting on our supply

pods, and external pallets. So for the next half-hour or so you will hear all of this banging and

scraping, it is all normal; there is nothing to worry about. As soon as they get done we can

open the hatch to the supply pod, and get your sea bags. After that we will get all of you

settled into your cabins. The per-flight prep crew has already been here and installed the

internal experiments, checked the ship for all of the normal daily stuff like water, air, and so

on. So we won't have to play with that stuff. They have also serviced the nano-robots that

keep the ship clean."

Pela looked and gestured down the length of the ship. "As you can see the crew part of the

ship is just a long straight tube. This hallway goes the entire length of the ship. In fact that

door that you see down there is the other end of the ship two hundred feet away. The hallway

is on one side of the ship and all of the rooms are on the other side of the ship. Starting righthere at this end we have a large closet then my cabin. Next to me is Lt. Sibu's cabin, then

Chief Renko's cabin. Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez's cabin, Juan's cabin, the bathroom, the galley,

exercise area, the internal experiments area, and at the far end is engineering. On the outside

of the ship are four very long poles called mast that hold the huge sails that go all the way

around Voyager. There are also four external pallets of experiments, two on each side. The

three power plants make the electricity. There are two supply pods, one on each side, a

spacetainer of supplies that will be dropped off at Agape Station. There is also Bertha. Bertha

is a small six-seat, very high-powered ship that does all of our heavy lifting, pushing and

pulling. It retrieves the ore ingots from the Moon. You might think of Bertha as our runabout,

and workhorse, all in one run about . . . Well that's basically it. Are there any questions?"

Juan raised his hand.


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"Yes Juan, what is your question?" Acknowledged Captain Pela.

"How can the wind make the ship go? In school they told us that there is no air in space.

The man down on Earth said that we have to use the wind to make the Solar Voyager go."

"Excellent question Juan, and you are right. There is no air in space. The man meant thatwe use the solar wind not the air kind of wind. The solar wind is made of subatomic particles

that come from the Sun and go out into space. We can use this solar wind kind of like air wind

by letting these small particles push on the sails, but this means that we have to keep sailing

away from the Sun. You might ask yourself, well that's great, but how do we get home if we

have to keep sailing away from the Sun? Well, we let the Moon do the work of bring us back.

We start by sailing from the Earth; away from the Sun, to the Moon, when the Moon is farther

out in space then Earth. The Voyager then orbits the Moon for about half a month while the

Moon orbits around to the Sun side of Earth. When the Moon is closer to the Sun then the

Earth, the Voyager leaves the Moon, again heading away from the Sun, and returns to Earth.

That way we are always sailing away from the Sun. While we do have motors that are big

enough to make the trip, they are very expensive to run. We only use the engines when wehave to. The solar sail is much cheaper, and really gives a nice smooth ride. Are there any

more question?"

"Yes Sir, do we have to exercise?" ask Juan.

"Yes you do, this ship does not have gravity. If you do not exercise you will become very

weak. When you are on earth you get a lot of exercise doing simple things like walking and

carrying your schoolbooks. You probably do not realize that are working to over come

gravity. Now that you are in space you will not be getting that normal exercise so you have to

exercise on machines to stay strong. Chief Renko will give you your exercise schedules.

Everyone will exercise. Are there any more questions?" The look on each face indicated no

question right now and Pela turned to Renko.

"Ok Chief take them on a quick tour of the ship before we leave orbit, and be sure to stop

at the radios."

"Yes sir," acknowledged the Chief as he waved for the Rodriguezes to follow him around

the ship. "This way ladies and gentlemen."

Pela turns to Sibu, "Lieutenant, why don't you go ahead and unload the sea bags from pod

#1 while he gives the tour. When they come back, you two can get them settled in. Then youand Juan can go into the internal experiments lab for the preflight inspection, while Renko

checks the external experiments with the Rodriguezes. They may like to see some of the

experiments we do."

"Yes sir." A momentary pause as they float next to each other in the aisle way watching

the tour near the other end of the ship. "What do you think of our passengers?"

"Well, I don't know Lieutenant . . . Juan asked some great questions, but he may be a little

young and playful for this, and Mrs. Rodriguez may be starting to get motion sickness. I guess

that just because you're wearing a medium blue flight suit that doesn't make you a space

traveler. Do you know what I mean? You may want to keep a barf bag handy for her . . . all inall they should be ok."


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Lieutenant Sibu looked over at Captain Pela and smiles. "Someone told me that NASA

calls a barf bag a "MDRS", a Multidirectional Digestion Restraining System." At which point

they both laughed. "She is looking a little green around the edges."

"So you saw that too." Acknowledged Pela, "I was hoping that I was seeing things. Maybe

you should take a few minutes to check on her."

An understanding "Sure" was the only comment as Sibu pushed off toward the engineering

section. As she arrived, she grabbed a handrail to stop and smiled at Juan, "Well how is it

going?"

"Great Lieutenant Sibu," exclaimed Juan with real excitement.

"Good Juan. How about you Mrs. Rodriguez?"

"My stomach is a little upset. I think it is from all the excitement."

"Well, why don't you come with me and I'll get you some popcorn for that stomach. How

about you Mr. Rodriguez?"

Mr. Rodriguez replied, "This is very exciting, Lieutenant."

Juan jumped in "Everyday of this trip is going to be a great adventure."

Mrs. Rodriguez, while holding her stomach quips, "Juan, you can have the adventure, all I

want is something for my stomach."

"Ok, lets take care of that stomach." Sibu put her arm around Mrs. Rodriguez as they start

for the galley. As they entered the galley Mrs. Rodriguez was struck by how much it looked

like her nano-kitchen at home. "Lieutenant Sibu, my kitchen is bigger, but this one looks a lot

like my kitchen at home. I have all of the same things that you have and a long table that seats

six too."

"Yea but your table and chairs aren't bolted to the floor. And we do have some differences.

Here, all meals come with a cover on each plate to keep the food from floating away, and all

drinks come in sip cups." Both ladies laughed for a moment.

"Tell me Lieutenant, do you have to change those dirty boxes of minerals?"

"Well our base elements are in Supply Pod #2. That gives us forty three base elements to

make all of our food, and a few small extras." Sibu floated up near the ceiling and reached

into a cabinet taking out a bag of popcorn. "Being short is not a problem in space." She then

drifted down and put it into a microwave oven. Pointing across the room, "Those nano-food

processors are about five years old now, and they are kind of slow compared to the new ones

that are out. So we still keep some easy to store foods, like popcorn and some snacks.

Everything else we get from the food processor. A normal meal will take about two minutes

to make, including the plates, covered sip cups, food, and everything. When you are done

with your meal just put you dishes back into the food processor, and hit the REMOVE button.

The processor will disassemble everything and put all of the atoms back into their correct binsin Supply Pod #2 . . . Did they explain how to use the ID badge?"


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"Yes, they said that we had to have the badge on us all of the time. The computers

automatically track us with the badges. It will set the lights for us. It is a two-way radio. If

there is an accident, it can tell rescuers where we are, and many other things."

Sibu took the bag out of the microwave oven and handed it to Mrs. Rodriguez. "Try this, it

should help your stomach." Just then Mr. Rodriguez and Juan came into the galley.

Mrs. Rodriguez gave Mr. Rodriguez a peck on the cheek. "Pedro, look at the galley."

"Oh yes, it looks a lot like your kitchen," Replied Mr. Rodriguez. "Let me see . . . there is

something missing. Oh yes, Juan with a piece of pie in each hand. Juan calls it a balanced

meal." Everyone laughed.

"Well," announced Sibu, "I might as well go through the galley lecture. Ok everyone, now

hear this! Keep your ID badges with you all the time. The badges help the food processors

flavor your food just the way you like it. They also tell the food processor about any medical

problem you may have. Fore example, If you are not allowed to have salt or fatty foods. All ofthe plates, cups, and silverware are magnetic so that they will stick to the table. There are

some snacks in the cabinets. Everything else can be gotten from the food processor in about

two minutes. When you are done eating put your dishes back into the processor and hit

REMOVE."

From near his cabin, Captain Pela watched to ensure that everyone was adjusting well to

the weightlessness. Several minutes go by and then in the background the Shuttle crew could

be heard over the radio, "The supply pods are mounted."

Sibu and Renko got the Rodriguezes together and help them get their sea bags.

Juan floated next to his mother while holding a handrail with his left hand and his sea bag

with his right. "Boy, this bag is a lot lighter now, and look at how easy it is to move around.

This brings an understanding smile from the crew."

"Ok compadre," exclaims the Russian in his best Mexican accent. "Lets go check out this

cabin." Which was hardly big enough to even be called a closet, but would be home for the

next few weeks.

"Chief Renko can I go outside after we check out my room?" Asked Juan.

"Well partner, I don't think your going to be spending any time outside on this trip, until

you and your folks get to the surface of the Moon. But I did bring some great movies to

watch."

Lt. Sibu then gave the Rodriguezes a small wave to follow her, "Why don't both of you

come with me, and I will show you your cabin?"

"Solar Voyager, this is Discovery come in please," Captain Pela tapped the com button on

his communicator, go ahead Discovery."

"Captain we have finished loading your supplies and experimental pallets. We are ready toleave."


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"Captain Pela flipped a couple of switches on the Engineering panel. "Discovery, the air

lock is broken. Thanks for the ride."

"You're welcome Solar Voyager. See you folks in a few of weeks . . . Discovery clear and

moving away."

Mr. Rodriguez came out of his cabin just in time to hear the radio. "Captain, will we hear

much talking on the radio?"

"Well Mr. Rodriguez, we will hear some. There are nine governments and about twenty

different companies in space now, but not all of them are in space at the same time. So

sometimes you hear a lot and sometimes you don't hear very much at all. We monitor two

main channels all the time. One is our company communications channel; no one else is on

that channel. The other main channel is the Space Emergency channel. It's kind of like the old

CBer's channel 9. From time to time we will also listen to the Space General Broadcast

channels, which is kind of like listening to a CB radio. Anybody can talk on that channel, and

they do."

Renko approaches, "Sir, if it's ok, I will show the Rodriguezes the External Experiments

controls.

"Sure."

Renko waved for the Rodriguezes to follow him back to Engineering. Upon arriving

Renko pointed to one side of the panel, "On the outside of the ship are four pallets that are

each 10 feet by 10 feet. Each pallet is full of experiments that we are conducting for various

schools and companies. All of the controls and readouts for the experiment are on this side of

the control panel. Please do not touch any of the controls. At the same time Sibu found Juan

in the galley finishing his Mom's popcorn and took him to the Internal Experiments Area. Ok

Juan; on the outside of the ship are experiments that do not need normal room conditions.

Inside the ship we have this area, The Internal Experiments area. This is where we keep living

things like plants and animals. As you take a few minutes to look at some of the cages and

container you will see all kinds of creatures."

"You are doing experiments on all of these animal?"

"Well, not all of them. This dog, the cat, the genetically improved talking monkey, and that

snake are pets that we are delivering to Agape Station. But the rest are taking part inexperiment."

"Don't you feel bad about hurting them?"

"None of these experiments are hurting any of these animals. For instance, this little pig

has special blood that can be used for making medicine. But we need to know if he can live in

space. These spiders are making a new type of web silk that will make very strong armor

plating for the military. These silk worms will make the prettiest silk ever made. But we need

to know if we can take them with us as we move deeper into space. In any case please be

careful not to let anything out when you are in here. Some of these animals are dangerous."

"Ok Lieutenant."


8/55

Sibu looked at her watch; "I have to check the computers. Do you want to watch?"

Juan showed a real interest in everything and replied, "Sure," as they started toward

Engineering.

A very clear chime came over the radio then, "A notice from the NASA Space TrafficControl Center. Be advised that at approximately 14:30 Zulu the British Mining Company's

Forager will leave London for a direct flight to Agape Station on the Moon. Chime."

"Well Mr. Rodriguez," announced Captain Pela, "you may be in for a treat. In about a half-

hour the Forager will fly by us. We will have to try to see it."

Sibu waves to Capt. Pela from the Engineering panel. "Sir, all systems are operational.

Five minutes till we leave orbit."

Pela waves his hand to get everyone's attention, "OK people fold down these folding chairs

from the wall and strap your selves in, there really is not much of a jolt when we leave orbit,but we have safety rules."

A few minutes of shuffling around and everyone was seated. Pela, Sibu, and Renko each

took command seats a few feet away in Engineering. The moment of high excitement had

come. The grins on Juan' and Mr. Rodriguezs faces seem to go all the way around their heads.

Mrs. Rodriguez had a death grip on a barf bag and was as green as a well-watered lawn. A

few second of anticipation, then the sound of a motor and a thud.

"Sir, the sail has deployed normally", announced Lt. Sibu in a clear strong voice, and then

the thrusters could be heard with a small jolt. "Sir, thrusters are on line . . . Voyager is

changing course . . . Sir, trajectory equals laid in course . . . We are on course for the Moon.

We have thruster shutdown."

"Well done Lieutenant, please realign the mast cameras to look back down our flight path.

The Forager will be leaving Earth in a while and everyone may want to watch her go by."

"Yes Sir."

Juan was very excited; "Wow the Forager is going to pass us. Its brand new, and man is it

fast."

Mr. Rodriguez shared his insight on speed, "You know Juan, I was on an airliner a while

back and the lady across the isle stopped the stewardess. And told her to tell the pilot not to

fly faster then the speed of sound."

"Really."

"Sure, her and her friend wanted to talk."

Juan smiled at Sibu he's got a million of them. They both laughed.

Sibu continued, "The Forager can take off from Earth and fly directly to the Moon andback in two days. Those new engines really go, and it's a pretty ship too. I'll tell you what,


9/55

why don't you and your dad come back here and sit in the Engineers chairs. You will get the

best view from here."

Juan yells, "You bet", and quickly moved to the chair closely followed by his father.

"Ho, slow down there, partner," exclaimed Chief Renko as he reached out to grab thecareening boy.

"You have to go slower Juan," warned his father, "you don't want to get hurt on the first

day."

Sibu turns toward the confusion, and pointed to the chairs. "Ok guys, sit here. You can see

all of the action on these monitors. A little bumping and playing go on as the passengers work

their way into the Engineering seats, and Sibu gets them strapped in. Now, I have set up the

monitors so that you will see them approach on this monitor first, and then this monitor. Then

this one as they go by, and this one last as they disappear toward the Moon. You will have to

look carefully, because they will really be going fast. Several minutes of intense monitorwatching go by, and then over the radio comes a distantly oriental voice. "Solar Voyager,

even at this distance you are a beautiful sight."

"Nikki, Sibu here, don't tell me that they are really letting you fly that thing." Sibu reaches

up and taps on the first monitor to draw Juan's and Mr. Rodriguez's attention to the Monitor,

as if anything was needed to do that.

"You bet, I have driving permit from Sears of Tokyo."

"Well Nikki, where are you guys going this time?"

"We are going to stop at Agape Station for a few hours to pick up a scientist that wants to

go prospecting with us out at the asteroid belt."

Sibu's smile got bigger, "Speaking of Agape Station, have you been back to that Italian

restaurant on Main Street lately?"

"No, not since Renko and I slipped on the floor and broke the door. And then Renko told

that joke and got that lady laughing so hard that she spilled all of that food on the floor. I've

been a afraid to go back."

Nikki and Sibu laughed for a second and then she asked for that special person, "Hey

Nikki, is Lundy there?"

"I sure am, young lady, we have got to stop meeting like this. Someone is going to start

talking about us."

"Well I wanted to finish hearing about your family. You said that they were originally

from Jamaica.

"Yes, my grand father moved the family to England when my father was ten."

Nikki interrupts, "Buddy you need to learn how to talk to girls faster. It's time for boost."


10/55

"Sibu, one of these days Nikki and Renko won't be around and we will sit down and talk

like regular people."

Sibu laughs, "Maybe so, but all I ever see of you two is the flash as you guys go by."

"Do you mean like this? Asked Lundy."

The monitor watchers quickly jumped from monitor one to four, and all that was left to see

was the flashing of the Forager's clearance lights disappearing in the distance."

"Show off," jabbed Sibu as the crowd went, "WOW!"

"See you later alligator," was Nikki's farewell.

The talk on the Voyager quickly became the Forager and it's lighting fast fly by. Juan

wanted to know all about it. " So Sibu tell us all about the Forager. How do they prospect?

What are they prospecting for?"

Mrs. Rodriguez wanted to know, "are you dating Lundy?"

"He is very cute, and I won't mind. But we are rarely in the same place. We both do a lot of

traveling. We haven't had a chance to talk and really get to know each other. Anyhow back to

the Forager, when a mining company starts to explore an area they first send robot probes to

take picture and do basic mineral surveys. Based on that data they send a ship like the Forager

to do real detailed prospecting. Sometimes they take scientist and more robots to really look

an area over."

Then Juan noticed that, "The Earth is getting smaller in the rear monitor."

"That's right, the further we get from Earth the smaller it will look. From Mars, the Earth

looks like a small blue star. It is really breath taking to see the Earth from the Moon, because

everything on the surface of the Moon is gray or black. And the Earth is so big and colorful

that it almost looks out of place."

"Lieutenant Sibu, asked Mrs. Rodriguez, "How many people are at Agape Station?"

"About fifty full time residents," replied Sibu, "but I would guess that it might get as high

as one hundred on Exploration Day." A

fter a few minutes of conversation Sibu reminded the Rodriguezes of their exercise

schedule. Little by little everyone started to settle into the routine. Juan would spend a few

minutes exercising and then a few minutes in the Internal Experiments Area. Mr. Rodriguez

was trying to take Mrs. Rodriguez's mind off of her stomach with some exercise. It was all

about normal for passengers on a trip to the Moon. Exercise and looking at the experiments in

the lab filled a lot of time.

Suddenly about eight hours out from Earth orbit there was a large bang and the entire ship

shock.


11/55

"Someone turn off that alarm!" yelled Captain Pela as he flew through the air toward

engineering and Renko shut off the alarm.

The System's computer announced the problem, "Alert, Damage to the #3 sail quadrant.

Cameras are now being directed to the damaged area."

Pela arrived and discussed the problem with Sibu and Renko while the Rodriguezes

watched.

Sibu pointed to the monitor. "Look a meteor hole."

Pela reached up and turned on the radio. "Dover this is the Solar Voyager, come in please."

The radio was stone quiet. "There is something wrong with the radio. Try the general

broadcast channel."

Renko reached over and turned the switch, and static could be heard."

"This is the Solar Voyager calling the Dover Controller, come in please."

"Dover Controller here, go ahead Solar Voyager."

"Be advised that we just took a three-foot meteor hole in the third sail quadrant, and the

company channel is down. We are trouble shooting the problem now."

Sibu ordered the Systems computer into action, " Systems computer, trouble shoot the

company radio, identify the problem and point the cameras at the problem.

The Systems computer responded, "The company radio antenna is gone. Since a

replacement antenna is not onboard. I have ordered a new antenna that will be replaced when

the Solar Voyager returns to earth."

Pela reported the problem. "Dover the company antenna is gone. We are going to have to

use the general broadcast radio for the rest of the trip. There is no other damage and all other

systems are operational."

"Understood Voyager, we have not received any notice of meteor showers so it must be a

stray."

"Affirmative Dover Controller, that is all we have, Solar Voyager out."

"Roger Solar Voyager, Dover Controller out."

"Well folks, you've just had more excitement then I've had in my last 20 trips." Announced

Captain Pela with a smile.

Mrs. Rodriguez quickly asked, "Captain, will this be a big problem?"

No Mrs. Rodriguez, we will not even notice the hole in the sail, and the only problem with

the radio is that everyone will hear everything that we say. It will be like talking on a CBradio."


12/55

Juan still excited turned in the air and looked out of the hatch window in the front end of

the ship. "Look, there's something out there."

Sibu and Renko turn from the engineering panel to look out through the window.

"I don't see anything Juan," commented Renko as he looked out.

"The stars twinkled." Explained Juan. "Stars don't twinkle in outer space."

Sibu smiled and explained, "Well Juan that is mostly true. Stars don't twinkle in outer

space because there's no air. But lots of things can make them look like they're twinkling even

in outer space. Light reflecting from the side of the ship onto the glass, space debris, defects

in the glass." Explained Sibu with an understanding smile.

"Sorry but I don't see anything out there either," scrugged Sibu.

"I know what we need to do. We need to watch a movie." announced Renko in a thinlyveiled attempt to break the tension. "The last one to the galley has to go outside and blow on

the sail."

"Did you know Chief," asked Mr. Rodriguez, "that it is ok to start at the bottom unless

you're learning to swim."

"That's pretty good Mr. Rodriguez."

Everyone laughed, and the Rodriguezes went to the galley to watch the show.

"Thanks Chief," acknowledged Captain Pela.

Renko smiled an understanding smile and pushed off for the galley doing the back stroke

and then a flip that caused him to careen off the floor and bump his head on the ceiling.

Juan thought the whole thing was quite funny and the first day turned to night and all was

quiet.

Day 2The Meteor Shower

Day two and the ship's bell reminiscence of more nautical times, sounds four bells.

"Solar Voyager this is Dover," . . . a monetary pause and a repetitive voice . . . "Solar

Voyager this is Dover, come in please."

Captain Pela switched on the radio in his cabin, "Go Dover, This is the Solar Voyager."

"Solar Voyager, we're ready for your daily report."


13/55

"Roger . . . the last time I talked to Mrs. Rodriguez was early this morning, and she was

still sick as a dog from her motion sickness. She's having a miserable trip. We have done all

the standard things; toast, plain popcorn, and we even gave her a pill. But, I am very hesitant

to give her another pill until you can get in touch with her doctor. I wish there were something

else I could do for her. Mr. Rodriguez and Juan are having a great time telling jokes and they

are very helpful around the ship. The dog got out of its cage this morning, boy did that causesome excitement. But all in all, the crew and passengers are doing well."

"How about the experiments on your external pallets?" Asked the Dover Controller.

"Ah . . . A16 is complete. A4 failed, we don't know why, and all others are operational."

"Voyager, here's Bill," announced the Dover controller.

"Voyager, have you pulled the A4 experiment to look at it?"

"Yes, but we couldn't find anything wrong. It seemed to be getting power and the indicatorlights are on, but it's not filling the product jar," replied Captain Pela.

"We'll check with the customer, replied Mr. Everett, "maybe they'll know what to do."

"Can we shut down the B2 experiment?" Asked Pela, "It has made the necessary amount of

vaccine and still has enough excess capacity to run another day? We could use the power to

charge the batteries."

"Voyager, Our gauges show that your batteries are still three quarters full. Since your

batteries are fairly full. We would like you to continue to run the experiment as long as

possible. We want to keep our customers as happy as possible now don't we?" Asked Bill.

"Yes sir," acknowledged Pela, "well beside that, all systems are operational."

"Very good Solar Voyager, Dover out."

"Solar Voyager out."

Captain Pela floated up from the desk in his cabin and out into the isle where he met

Lieutenant Sibu. "Mrs. Rodriguez is doing a bit better, Sir. We've been giving her some plain

popcorn, and that is settling her stomach."

"Very good Lieutenant. Dover wants us to continue running the B2 test until it's full."

"Yes Sir." Came the Lieutenant's response.

"Mrs. Rodriguez, you're looking much better." proclaimed Captain Pela as he met her in

the galley.

"Yes Captain, I am feeling much better, thanks for the popcorn."

"Anything to help Mrs. Rodriguez. Space travel can even be rough on us old timers, butplain popcorn or toast is pretty good for settling a spaced out tummy." The Captain paused for


14/55

a moment and surveyed his ship. "Juan really seems to like weightlessness." Observed the

Captain as Juan did a triple flip a few feet away. Suddenly the high radiation level and micro

meteor alarms both sound.

"Close all meteor shields, and fold up the sail before the meteors tear it to shreds." Yelled

Captain Pela to his crew as they threw themselves toward the engineering control panels. Asthe Captain pushed off toward the engineering panels, a bright burst of light filled every

corner of the Voyager stunning everyone onboard for several seconds, quickly followed by a

violent shaking of the ship and a total power failure for about three seconds. Screams and

confusion filled the Solar Voyager as all the experimental animals join in the chorus.

"What in the world was that?" asked Captain Pela. "It didn't feel like we had been hit by

anything. Why did we loose power? Sibu, run a full system diagnostic. Chief, contact Dover

and tell them what's going on." The ship filled with the distress calls of other ships with

similar power failure problems. Captain Pela reached over to turn the radio down but not off.

"We need to solve our own problems before we can be of any help to anyone else."

"Sir, all the computers have come back on line, but instead of automatically reloading their

key programs and going to stand by, each computer is searching all of its files."

"Dover this is Solar Voyager, come in please," said Crew Chief Renko, as surprise and

excitement run through the crew and passengers.

"Solar Voyager, This is Dover controller. We just had a very strong burst of radiation, and

were knocked off the air for a few seconds. What is your situation?"

"Dover, we just had all three power systems go down for about two or three seconds, but

all power came back on automatically. We are still checking our computers. The high

radiation level and micro meteor alarms both sounded, and we have closed all meteor shields

and the sail. We are all a little excited, but the ship is sound and we are still trying to find out

if anything is damaged." Replied Renko; "I'm putting you on open intercom so you can stay

with us while we work through this."

"Affirmative Solar Voyager, go ahead!"

"Okay Sibu, what's the sail controller doing?" Asked Pela.

"It's reading all of its files," replied Sibu. Several anxious minutes pass as the computerssettle down to business one by one. "Sir, we have checked every system, and they are all

doing the same thing. Every computer is pulling up each of its files, reading and closing the

file. It does nothing with the files but read them. Sir, the self diagnostic system on the

Systems Computer just finished checking itself, and I am starting a full ship diagnostic." The

Lieutenant quickly started the computer searching through the ship's systems looking for

problems. "Systems Computer, check all ships systems for problems."

And the radio announced that another ship, with a decidedly oriental voice was in trouble."

Agape Station, This is the Forager."

"Go ahead Forager, Agape Station here, Nikki this is Stanislaus. We just lost power for afew seconds. Are you guys ok?" Asked the Polish accented voice.


15/55

"Stan, everyone is OK, but we have just been hit by something. We lost all electrical

power during our take off from Agape Station, and have only regained partial power to a few

systems. We are in a very bad tumble. We can hardly move around the ship. We do not have

any propulsion, and it looks like gravity is pulling us into one vary crazy orbit around the

Moon. Man, I don't know what hit us but it was big." Nikki's shaken voice was noticeable

over the radio, "Boy did we get one big scare, and it sounds like the Solar Voyager is havingtrouble too. I just thought that I should check in while Lundy gets some tools."

Lundy bounces in through a hatch as the ship tumbles throwing him and his tools

everywhere. "Right-o mate, I have found me trusty hammer and I'll have it fixed in half a

shake, good as new." Came Lundy's British voice from the background.

"Stan, did you hear Lundy. I had better go and help him before he really does use that

hammer, Forager out."

"Agape Station out."

Lundy grabs a chair and attempt to sit in it as the tumbling of the ship throws tools like

weapons in every direction.

"Lundy, I have been watching the output gauges from the rear fuel cells. They are not

putting anything out. They are not even trying to put anything out."

" I know they must been damaged. The emergency lights are working because each light

has it's own battery, and notice that the radio, radar, and air conditioning are all working.

Their fuel cell is in the front end of the ship. The electricity for everything else comes from

the fuel cells in the rear of the ship, which is also where the engines are. We were hit in the

rear section aft of the pressure vessel, but how bad?

Look, we don't need radar right now. Let's move the power line from the radar to the

maintenance system. At least then we can communicate with the maintenance robots."

"Good thinking, If you will take the access panels off of the bottom of the console. I will

bounce my way back to the shop and get an extension cord for the power line."

"That's a deal."

Lundy released his seat belt and immediately crashed into the ceiling, and then the walland so on. "I'm getting sick." No sooner were the words spoken and Lundy's breakfast was

sprayed everywhere, which made Nikki sick. The cockpit was a slimy smelly mess, and it was

getting all over them. "Sorry about that."

"Too late now", replied Nikki, "get that cord."

It seemed to take Lundy forever to retrieve the power code. As he came back into the

cockpit he found Nikki up side down under the console with his legs wrapped around a chair

base. Lundy bounced around the room making his way to the console. "Here's the cord."

"You must be bruised from head to foot. You should see the bruises that I got just gettingunder here."


16/55

Lundy hands Nikki the cord as he bounces by. "I'm going to take my seat unless you need

me."

"I'll be done in a second . . . Ok, turn it on."

"Good work it's coming on." Lundy puts the robots to work. "Maintenance computer, thisis a priority one command, send all maintenance robots aft to section A2 and look for

problems with the fuel cells and main propulsion."

Several minutes go by as Nikki works his way back into his seat. "I hope they can fix it."

"Me too!"

The Maintenance Computer is starting to make some progress, "Maintenance report."

"Excellent computer, report." Commanded Lundy.

"One robot has been dislodged from the ship and is not capable of returning to the ship.

Robots one and four are trapped in the fore section, and cannot comply with the command.

Robot two is investigating the problem, and has this report. A meteor has penetrated the hull

destroying both aft fuel cells and the main wiring for the nuclear drive. No parts are available

to accomplish these repairs. The maintenance system is standing by for orders."

"Now what?" responded Nikki.

"We need help." Replied Lundy as he switched on the radio. "May Day, May Day, May

Day. This is the British Mining Ship Forager BSV 58. We have been hit by a meteor, and our

main nuclear drive is out. We are in a severe tumble. Can anyone help us?"

Pela switches on the radio, " Forager, this is the Solar Voyager, We would love to help

you, but you are too far away. If you still need help in a couple of days we will be glad to help

you."

"Thanks for the offer Voyager, but we hope to be rescued before then."

"Forager, this is Agape Station. There are no space ships here at this time. We have no way

of getting to you. If we can come up with a way of rescuing you we will call you. Sorry!

Besides, we have a mine cave in rescue under way."

"Agape Station out." Stan, Agape Station's Mayor, and radio operator, turned to talk to one

of the station's mining engineers. "Look, take anything that you even think that you might

need with you. It's two hours one way. You can't afford to leave anything behind. The

emergency habitat is being moved, but it won't be there for sixteen hours. Your crew is going

to have to sleep in their suits until it arrives. My understanding is that the meteor landed right

next to one of the tunnel entrances caving that tunnel in. There is a second tunnel about a mile

away, but the door on the air lock is jammed and the walls of the tunnel have some bad

cracks. It could go at any minute. As soon as you get your crew together leave."

"Yes Sir, we're on it," responded the engineer."


17/55

Back on the Voyager, several minutes went by as the crew tried to calm Mrs. Rodriguez.

Mr. Rodriguez went to the galley to get some more popcorn. As Mr. Rodriguez and Juan

return from the galley, both were doing flips and making popping noises in an attempt to

cheer up Mrs. Rodriguez.

"Here you go mom, some popcorn for the queen of popcorn," teased Juan.

Mr. Rodriguez blew unpopped kernels at his wife and made a machine gun noise, which

caused some laughter and broke the tension

"Sir, all systems are operating normally," announces Lieutenant Sibu as the computer

finished its search.

Captain Pela turned to the Rodriguezes and confidently proclaimed, "See, This is one

tough ship, everyone else is having trouble, and we got off clean. All systems are operating

normally. But," he said in a general announcement manner, "We will leave all shields closed,

the sail will remain folded, and I will now give everyone lecture number #14, which is thehull damage emergency procedure lecture. In the event that we should receive a hole in the

hull of the Solar Voyager, the Rodriguezes will immediately go into the Bertha with

Lieutenant Sibu and shut the hatch. You will be totally safe in there, it has a completely

independent set of systems Chief Renko and I will repair the hole and then everyone can

come back. If we get a hole in the Bertha, everyone will stay here, and Renko and I will go

into the Bertha and make repairs. Now there is no need to worry, because this ship is very

heavily armor plated against meteors, and there is no chance of anything happening."

Suddenly, a large crashing noise, the whole ship shook, and power went out in part of the

ship.

In the back ground the Systems Computer identified the problem, "Be advised, a total

power failure from the #2 power plant. Power busses have been switched to power plants #1

and #3. A new #2 power plant module has been ordered." The computer had successfully

rerouted the power causing all systems to return to operation.

"Sir," interrupted Sibu, who was busy at the engineering control panels, "We have lost all

power from the #2 power plant."

"Point the #3 mast camera at the #2 power plant Lieutenant," ordered the Captain as he

made his way back to the panels.

"Here it is Sir."

It didn't take long to see that the #2 power plant had been completely torn away. Captain

Pela turned to Sibu and in a very calm voice said, "Transmit this picture to Dover and explain

what happened on the computer data link."

"Yes Sir," replied Sibu knowing that by using the data link she would not have to give any

of the serious details out loud, in front of Mrs. Rodriguez.

He then turned his attention to the rest of the crew. "Well, we seem to have a little damage

to the #2 power plant. That's one of our two back up systems, but it does not affect theoperation of the ship."


18/55

Mrs. Rodriguez instantly inhales the remaining half bag of popcorn, while fear paraded

across her face. "Mom, would you like some more popcorn," asked Juan.

"Yes, that would be nice," she replied while choking down the last hand full.

Despite the meteor shower, Chief Renko immediately volunteers, in an attempt to calmMrs. Rodriguez. "Sir, I'll be ready to go outside in a minute."

"Thanks Chief, but it's a minor back up system, and there is a meteor shower. I think that

we will just let the space station do the repair when we get back."

Renko knew the damage had to be major. Pela always insisted on all systems being 100%

operational. Pela's favorite saying was, "Having even a minor system down in an emergency

can make a bad situation, a disaster." The Chief also knew the Captain was trying not to scare

Mrs. Rodriguez.

"Yes Sir," replied the Chief, and then he turned to the Rodriguezes in his best Mexicanaccent, no problem voice, "Que pasa, compadres, lets mosey on down to the forward storage

closet and see if we can round up any dooogies." Renko stretched out his large arms and

herded the Rodriguezes toward the other end of the ship.

Captain Pela watched them enter the large storage closet and then turned to Sibu in a low

voice, "OK Lieutenant, now that the civilians are gone, put on your head set and lets talk to

Dover."

"Yes Sir, . . . Dover this is the Solar Voyager come in please."

"Solar Voyager, this is Dover go ahead." Came the reply through heavy static.

"Dover, this is Captain Pela. The civilians are at the other end of the ship and we have on

our headsets. What can you tell us about this meteor shower, and that large burst of light that

came with it?"

"Solar Voyager, you're not the only one that has battened down the hatches. In the last

three hours Earth has suffered from large electromagnetic storms, caused by the largest

gravitational wave fluctuation ever seen. As the wave moves through space, it is causing

meteor showers, a greatly extended aurora borealis and other phenomenon. The meteor

showers on Earth are so bright that you can see them in broad daylight. And no one can clockthe speed of the gravitational wave because no one has instruments that can operate faster

then the speed of light. Which means, this wave is unlike anything anyone has ever seen or

probably ever will see again. No one has any real substantive information on large

gravitational wave fluctuations. The best guess is that a gravitational wave fluctuation and

meteor shower of this kind could last for months or it could last for minutes, no one knows.

They also can cause large amounts of magnetic interference that can block communications

and many of the meteors will be so large and so fast that almost nothing can stop them. The

bottom line is, stay buttoned up."

"The whole thing caught the scientific community by surprise, and they seem to have more

questions then answers. Three hours ago most of them would have told you that such a thingcouldn't even exist, but for now they are just trying to recover from throwing half a dozen


19/55

major theories out the window. As for your #2 power plant, you are just going to have to do

without it until you get back. Mr. Everett is aware of your situation, and his comment was

Rule#1 is always to get the crew home safely. I don't know what else to tell you. You're the

Captain and we will give you all the help we can. But, you should know that this could be a

very rough trip."

A thoughtful pause and then, "Thank you Dover, It's been a long day already and it just got

started. Keep us, posted if you hear anything else about the meteor shower. We have a very

nervous passenger here, so be careful about what you say during open communications."

"Affirmative Solar Voyager, your ever present Dover Controller standing by."

"Affirmative Dover Controller, Solar Voyager standing by."

On the Forager things are getting desperate. "Did you hear that?" Asked Nikki.

"Sure, but what can we do to stabilize this ship? What we need is some propulsion to slowthe tumbling."

"Well we have the FR3s. They fly." Reminded Nikki.

"Yea, but there're small drilling and sampling robots. They don't have enough thrust to

slow a ship as big the Forager down."

"Well there is one way to find out. Let's launch one and see what it can do. Even if it only

slows the tumbling a little it will be better then this."

"You have got that right," agreed Lundy, "Maintenance Computer, establish a com link

with FR3 #1"

"Com link established", reply the computer.

"FR3#1, This is Lundy, priority one command, power up for flight"

"FR3#1 responding, Flight perimeter is out side of operational specifications."

"Describe problem." Asked Lundy.

" FR3#1 responding, the Forager is tumbling faster then the gyro stabilizer system can

stabilize the gyro."

Nikki looks at Lundy, "We have nothing to loose. If we launch the FR3 it may go out into

space and never stabilize itself. So then you're out the FR3. If we don't try we will be dead

before we can be rescued."

Lundy agreed, "FR3#1 launch." The FR3 released its hold downs and bounced around the

hanger bay like a BB in a box car. Finally bouncing out through the bay door where it did

stabilize after a few minutes."

"FR3 reporting stable flight achieved."


20/55

After a few minutes of cheering Lundy put the FR3 to work. "FR3, locate Forager, and

attempt to stabilize."

The little FR3 accessed a program that was used to slow down fast tumbling asteroids

thereby making them easier to prospect. Like the little tug that could FR3#1 expended it's last

ounce of fuel slowing the tumbling Forager. Ending its own life spent and tumbling to a crashon the Moon.

Nikki was very happy with his plan. "It worked, the tumbling has slowed a lot!"

"You're right, this is much better. But do you want to use the last FR3 to stop the tumbling

completely. Or do you want to save it in case we need it over the next three days. I can live

with this, but we may run into another problem before we get rescued."

"You're right, this is much better. We need to save the other FR3."

On Voyager, Pela and Sibu floated quietly for a minute at the engineering panels, "So,what do you think?" Asked Sibu.

Another long pause and then Pela looked Sibu straight in the eye, "I think we could have a

very rough trip a head of us. Listen to the meteors hitting the ship. The Voyager's meteor

protection is based on standard meteors that normally travel at only a small fraction of the

speed of light. These meteors are much faster and bigger then anyone ever expected. The

outside of this ship is taking one whale of a beating. It's a miracle that we haven't lost more

then just the #2 power plant. The haul could be punctured at any second. Mrs. Rodriguez is

almost a basket case, and I don't know if there is even going to be enough of this ship left in a

month to make the trip home? And to add to the complications, this is only our second day

out. Between the boredom and the fear, I don't know which is going to be worse."

Again the radio came to life as Lundy talked to Agape Station.

"Agape Station, this is Forager, come in please."

"Go ahead Forager, Did you just hear the Solar Voyager talking to Dover."

"Yes I did mate. It sounds like you chaps are lucky to be underground."

"Yes in deed. The whole Moon is shaking from these meteors. How are your repairsgoing?"

"Very slow Stan, we have managed to slow the tumbling, but I just can't figure out how to

fix these engines. But I know one thing, we need to get out of here fast. Forager out."

"Agape Station out."

"Boy, everyone is just full of good news . . . What do we tell the Rodriguezes?" Asked the

Lieutenant.

"We tell them the truth, but we want to put as positive a spin on it as possible. We needMrs. Rodriguez in one piece and functioning. It's not going to do her or us any good if we


21/55

have to put her in a straight jacket or sedate her. We have to keep her mind off everything

else, and that means we have to keep her busy. Any questions?"

"No Sir."

"Well Lieutenant, it's time for you to earn your bars. You get the Rodriguezes in thestorage closet. Try to get Mr. Rodriguez and Juan by themselves a little later and explain to

them that we are just trying to keep her mind busy, so they don't think that we're just picking

on her."

"Yes Sir."

"Ok, Lieutenant move out, and send the Chief back here to me so I can tell him what's

going on."

"Yes Sir," replied the Lieutenant as she turned and threw herself through the air toward the

other end of the ship.

Day 3

Helping Others

Time passed, and the crew of the Solar Voyager suffered through a miserably restless night

of thuds, and bangs. Only Mr. Rodriguez and Juan seemed to get a good night's rest.

"Good morning everyone," announced Juan as he did a flip out of his cabin and into the

isle way. "Breakfast smells good, and I'm hungry."

"Well that's great, spaceman Juan," kidded Mr. Rodriguez. "I had a good night's sleep too.

I thought it would be so quiet out in space, but those meteors must have hit the ship all night"

"How did you sleep, Mrs. Rodriguez?" Asked Lieutenant Sibu.

"I finally got to sleep early this morning. All that banging, and booming kept me awake,

but it got a little quieter early this morning and I got some sleep. It was a lot of excitement for

me in the last two days, but I think I feel better now."

"That's great Mrs. Rodriguez, the last few days have been exciting even for us old time

space travelers. You made your first Space Shuttle trip, your first two days in space, your first

meteor shower, and your first two days of weightlessness. That's a lot for anyone, but you all

did well," encouraged Captain Pela.

"Yeah, this weightless stuff is great," laughed Juan as he flies up and down the long isle

way.

"I am glad Juan likes it here so much," reflected Mrs. Rodriguez. "I would hate to think

that we had come all of this way and he didn't like it."


22/55

"Yes, we were hoping that he could learn some new things. Do you know what I mean

Captain?"

"Yes I do Mrs. Rodriguez. And we are going to make this trip as much fun, and as

interesting as we can, isn't that right crew?"

"Yes Sir," came the instant reply.

"I'll tell you what, how about if right after breakfast we teach all of you some of the real

meat of how this ship works?"

"Oh Captain, I'm sure it is very nice with all kinds of fancy dancy things, but I think that I

will stay here with Mr. Renko, and help him with breakfast if you don't mind. Breakfast I

understand, Space ships I don't. This nano-kitchen works just like mine at home."

"Well Mrs. Rodriguez, that's very kind of you to offer. I'm sure Chief Renko, would love

to have some help."

"Yes Sir," came the Chief's reply with a smile. Everyone understood that it was important

for her to feel more at easy. As everyone started to leave the galley Juan breast stroked by

Lieutenant Sibu.

"Juan, I understand that you're good in math."

"That's right, I get A's in math all of the time," he replied

"How would you like to see how we navigate this ship," encouraged Lieutenant Sibu.

"Sure thing, man that's great."

"Ok everyone now listen up. We still have internal and external experiments, and all the

other daily chores to attend to. So you're going to get a real dose of space life today."

Excitement ran high for several hours even with the occasional meteor strike on the outside

of the ship. Juan and Mr. Rodriguez were showing a real aptitude for operating the ship, and

were getting quite proficient at radio operations and computer navigation when another power

failure hit. Captain Pela stuck his head out of his cabin. While switching an inoperative flash

light on and off, he looked back toward engineering.

"I didn't hear a meteor hit. What happened to the power Chief?"

"I don't know Sir," started the reply when suddenly the power came back on. "Sir, no one

was touching the panels. The power simply went out."

"What was that, about 10 seconds?" questioned the Captain as Sibu arrived from the

internal experiments area with Mr. Rodriguez. "Lets see here, all of the computers are reading

their files again, and we can't stop them just like they did after yesterdays power outage. I

wonder if we just got hit with one of those nasty gravity waves again."


23/55

Everyone watched the Captain as one of those, I've got this figured out, smiles came over

his face and then Renko offered, "Sir, maybe we should hand out chemical lights to everyone

if we are going to have these blackouts every few hours."

"Good thinking Chief, make sure everyone gets two."

Juan waved his hand and yelled, "can I get them?"

Renko looked at Juan with a smile, "Ok, get everyone two chemical lights." Juan flew to

the forward closet, flapping his arms and making bird noises.

"Mr. Rodriguez, would you contact Dover for me please?" Asked Captain Pela.

"Yes Sir," came the reply with a smile as he switched on the radio. "Dover this is the Solar

Voyager come in please."

"Go ahead Voyager, Dover Controller here."

Mr. Rodriguez nods to the Captain. "Dover this is Captain Pela, we have just had a ten-

second power failure on both operational power plants. Our computers are reading their files

again like they did yesterday. Stand by Dover. Lieutenant, run a whole ship diagnostic as soon

as the computers come back on line."

"Yes Sir."

"Dover, have we just been hit by another gravity wave?"

"Captain, I don't know if it was a gravity wave or not, but I will check on it for you. Our

information is that everything is calming down. The meteor shower has slowed to about half

what it was at its peak and as of 8:00 Zulu the gravitational wave from outer space was

completely back to normal. But I will check with NASA again and get right back to you. Do

you need anything else?"

"Negative Dover, we are checking for damage, but everything looks operational so far.

Solar Voyager standing by."

"Dover Controller, standing by."

A flushed looking Mrs. Rodriguez floated away from the engineering area toward the

galley. "I think it's time for some popcorn."

"Mrs. Rodriguez, can I help you." Offered Renko.

"No, that's all right I know where it is." Replied Mrs. Rodriguez but Mr. Rodriguez went

with her for support.

"Sir, the computers have finished the diagnostic. All systems are 100% operational."

"Thank you Lieutenant." Replied the relieved Captain.


24/55

"Solar Voyager this is the Dover Controller, come in please."

Captain Pela reached over to the panel and switched the radio on. "Go Dover, Solar

Voyager here."

"I have just talked to NASA about your power lose problem, and the gravity wavesituation. They say that the only gravitational wave fluctuation happened yesterday at the

beginning of the meteor shower. They now believe that wave was simply the result of some

huge collision between two stars that just happened to come through this solar system. They

still can't pin down where the star crash happened but they're looking, and they are very

interested in anything that you may observe. As for your power lose problem, Mr. Everett has

put the engineers on rotating shifts so we will have 24hour engineering coverage for you

during your entire trip. He was concerned that things were getting pretty rough out there. He

also wants you to know that he will support any decision you make on this trip. If you think

that it is too risky to orbit the Moon for the next two weeks and you decide to come straight

home, he will understand and support that decision. Anyhow, the engineers would like you to

dump copies of your files to us so the engineers can play with the problem on the mock up.You can transmit that as soon as you're ready."

"Lieutenant, do a copy and transmit to Dover of everything in the ship." Ordered Pela.

"Yes Sir." responded Lieutenant Sibu as she put the computers to work, "Systems

Computer, copy all files and transmit them to Dover."

"Okay Dover," acknowledged Pela, "here it comes." Several seconds go by as the

computers transmit the information to Dover.

"Affirmative Voyager, we have your transmission." Came the reply from Dover. "Is there

anything else we can do for you Voyager?"

"No Dover, but we do appreciate the information and help."

"Anytime Voyager . . . Your ever present friend, the Dover Controller standing by."

"They say Jesus is your every present friend." Noted Renko quietly once the Rodriguezes

were out of hearing range.

"Well, I hope he is along for this trip. We may need Him." Interjected Captain Pela as hemoved away from the panel and toward Juan who was handing out chemical lights. "Ok,

everyone watch me." Announced Captain Pela. Which bought Mr. & Mrs. Rodriguez back

from the galley. "To turn on the chemical light, you grab the tube on both ends and bend it,

then shake. That's all there is to it, and we have plenty so keep at least one with you at all

times. If you want, you can get some string out of the closet and tie them to your belts. Any

questions?" All were quiet, and seemed to understand the simple instructions.

"Captain, I found a big box of costumes in the closet. What are they used for?" Asked

Juan.


25/55

"Well, we are taking them to the Moon for the Exploration Day celebration. On July 20,

1969 the Apollo 11, Eagle lander landed on the Moon. They have a big parade and parties. It

is really neat to see all of the people wearing costumes."

"Agape Station calling the Solar Voyager." Suddenly a loud bang, the ship shook, and then

the sounding of the air pressure alarm. The Systems computer made an announcement, "hullpressure alert, hull pressure alert," abruptly interrupted the call from Agape Station.

"Where's the leak Lieutenant? Juan, get the hull repair kit out of the closet!" Demanded

Captain Pela.

"Agape Station calling the Solar Voyager."

"Sir, the leak is in Bertha." Replied Sibu.

"Chief you and me in the Bertha, Juan, hurry with that kit." Yelled Pela, who was notable,

excited.

"Sir, the leak is a quarter P.S.I. per minute." Reported Sibu.

"Chief, get suited up." Ordered Pela as he took his eyes off the control panel long enough

to look around for Renko, and spotted him already suiting up next to the Bertha's hatch.

"Agape Station calling the Solar Voyager." The voice had become louder.

"Solar Voyager, this is the Dover Controller. Is there a problem?"

Captain Pela dove toward Bertha's hatch as Juan comes out of the storeroom with the

cylindrical box, "Throw it, Juan!" Yelled the Captain and Juan threw a beautiful spiral pass

into his arms. Chief Renko, now fully suited, slammed and locked the hatch as Pela flew

through with his spacesuit in hand.

"Solar Voyager, this is the Dover Controller. Is there a problem? Please respond."

Sibu quickly reaches over and switched the radio on. "Dover Controller and Agape Station,

we have just been hit by a meteor, and have emergency repairs under way. We will get back

to you. Solar Voyager out!"

The radio went stone cold dead except for some static. The way radios do when friends

listen for friends. Though Bertha's hatch window they each took turns watching the two men

make the repair over the next hour.

"Solar Voyager, this is Bertha." Came the Captain's voice over the ship intercom. "Can you

transfer some air over to us?"

"Affirmative Bertha here it comes." Responded Sibu relieved to finally hear from them.

After several minutes of air hissing the transfer was complete.

"Ok Voyager, that should do it. We're coming back." The hatch opened and the two menclimbed out taking off their space suits.


26/55

"How was it Captain?" Asked Juan.

"It was a typical leak Juan. You have to move half the stuff in the universe and stand

upside down in a bucket of mud to fix a leak the size of a pencil point."

Chief Renko smiled and nodded. "But we fixed it real good."

"Sir, the Dover Controller and Agape Station both called, and I told them we would get

back to them when our repairs were done."

"Ok, thanks Lieutenant." Pela switched the radio on as he worked his way out of his suit.

"Dover Controller, this is the Solar Voyager, come in please."

"Go Voyager." Came the instant reply.

"I understand that you called while we were repairing a small meteor hole in Bertha."

"I was just checking to see why you weren't responding to your call from Agape Station. I

thought that I should find out what was going on."

"Well, we appreciate that Dover Controller, but we are fully operational now. By the way,

have you got any more information on our power problem."

"No, I don't Voyager, but I'll let you know as soon as I do."

"Very good Dover, Solar Voyager out."

"Dover out."

"Agape Station, this is the Solar Voyager, come in please."

"Agape Station here." Came the accented voice. "We are glad to hear that you are alright."

"Thanks Stan, we're glad we're ok too." Commented the Captain with a laugh. "What can

we do for you?"

"Captain, we have a couple of problems. We over heard your conversation with your

Dover Controller. Are you going to enter orbit and complete your mission, or are you goingstraight home?"

"Well Stan, right now I am leaning toward going home. I was going to jettison your supply

spacetainer into orbit around the Moon as we sling shot the Voyager back to Earth, and then

deliver it to Agape Station on a future trip if you don't mind. What do you think?"

"I certainly understand why you would want to do that, but that spacetainer has some parts

and supplies that we really do need very badly, right now! I know that this is a very dangerous

mission, but we have two real big problems. First, The Forager still does not have propulsion,

and we are going to have a very serious problem here if we can't get him on his way home.

When you combine his very erratic orbit with the new meteors that are now in orbit. And thenadd a large ship like your's that will be here tomorrow. Well my friend, we will have the


27/55

formula for a disaster. So I thought that you might be willing to help us get him on his way,

by sending Bertha here today. We also need you to put the spacetainer that you're carrying

into one of our garage doorways. I know that you normally leave the spacetainer on the

landing pad. But that means that we have to send unprotected people out in this meteor

shower to bring it into the garage. We thought that you could do a computer controlled

landing on pad #3, just like you normally do. Then drive off of the pad the 300ft. to door #1and push the end of the spacetainer through the doorway. We can get it from there. I know

that I am asking you to do something that no sane person would do, but we are as beat up as

you are. By sending the Bertha with the spacetainer now, you can save lots of lives and still

go home. What do you think?"

"Stand by Stan, I want to talk it over with my people." He switched off the radio and

turned to Sibu. "Well what do you think? This is already the most dangerous mission I have

ever seen. Can you take the Voyager home if something happens to me?"

Sibu agreed but with real reservations, "Sure, I can get the Voyager home. But regulations

require that you stay with the Voyager, and the second in command gets all dangerous sidemissions."

"I can't ask you to do this. This is way beyond any normal mission."

"I know," replied Sibu, "but I can do this. And someone is going to get killed if I don't. I

can take the spacetainer and drop it off, then go to the Forager and boost them home. As soon

as that is done, I will go into orbit and wait for you to show up tomorrow. I can't picked up the

ingots because I will be real low on fuel, but I can do this!"

Pela questioned Sibu again, "Are you real sure that you want this mission? Bertha was

never designed as an off road vehicle. It's one thing to drive Bertha around on a nice flat

landing pad with a heavy load. But I don't think that it is going to handle ruts and bumps very

well at all."

"I am positive. I can't leave these people here like this." Replied Sibu.

Pela typed on the computer for a minute and then switched the radio back on. "Ok Stan,

It's going to take Sibu about three hours to get there, but she's on her way."

"Thanks Solar Voyager, I'll tell the Forager, when they come back around to this side of

the Moon. Agape Station out."

"Solar Voyager out." Pela switched the radio off and turned to Sibu. "Well Lieutenant, get

your stuff together. You should get going."

"Yes Sir," came the reply with a smile. This was a big event for Sibu, and she was pleased

to have the opportunity to show her stuff. Several minutes go by as she loads Bertha and goes

through the checklist. "Solar Voyager this is Bertha, come in please."

"Go ahead Captain Sibusiso, This is the Solar Voyager, Lieutenant Rodriguez here."

Giggled Juan.


28/55

"Boy it didn't take you guys long to find a replacement for me." A little laugh was heard

over the radio and then Mr. Rodriguez asked if Sibu was ready to leave.

"Yes I am, and in fact standby Solar Voyager Bertha will disengage in just a moment." A

small jerk and Bertha was free flying.

Bertha moved to the front end of Voyager and mounted two, snap on propulsion units to

the spacetainer to help control the heavy load, then picked up the spacetainer and turning in

the direction of the Moon. "Okay guys, I will see you tomorrow."

"Good luck Lieutenant, and remember there are no extra points for crashing into any rocks

that are flying around out there." Joked Captain Pela knowing that she was doing something

very dangerous.

As everyone watched through the window Bertha's main engine erupted in an enormous

outburst of power and flashed into the distance.

Mrs. Rodriguez came out of the internal experiments lab and looked around for the

Captain. "Captain Pela I have just been in the lab straightening up, when I noticed that two of

the cages are open. Are they suppose to be open?"

"Let me see Mrs. Rodriguez." The Captain followed Mrs. Rodriguez back into the lab.

Where she showed him that the doors of two small containers, where open. "Well lets look

these up on the charts. Test #1243 contains six Earth Worms designed to see if they can live

in zero gravity." Mr. Rodriguez came around the corner with Juan, and Juan asked. "What's

going on Mom?"

"I found two cages open. And we're looking to see if anything got out."

"Mr. Rodriguez could you help us for a few minutes." Asked the Captain.

"Sure"

"Would you count the worms in here while I check this other cage?"

"Sure thing Captain."

"Okay, and the other one is #2657, . . . one highly dangerous specially developed NorthAmerican Black Widow spider for use with experiment #2658. Use extreme caution . . . and

it's gone. We have a problem!"

"Captain all the worms are here." Reported Mr. Rodriguez.

"Thank you Mr. Rodriguez, we certainly wouldn't want them to get away. Now would

we?" commented the Captain sarcastically.

"No Sir, I counted them. They are all there."

"We need to find this spider and kill it. Do not try to capture it. Just kill it. Everyonespread out and look everywhere." Over the next two hours the crew takes the ship apart with


29/55

no luck. The lab is completely disassembled and reassembled. And always, in the background

is the unnerving thud of meteors against the ship. Minutes seem like hours as the crew

wearied from the search. Captain Pela encountered Mr. Rodriguez in the galley.

"Captain, we have looked everywhere and still have not found it. The meteor hits are

getting so bad again that the whole ship is shaking."

"Solar Voyager, this is Sibu can you see these two ships blasting each other out here."

Several seconds go by as everyone on the Solar Voyager gathers around the monitors in

engineering. As the mast cameras swing around a space battle was reviled between two

unknown space ships. A small fast ship attacking a large black ship in orbit around the Moon.

The small ship kept firing beams of energy at the large ship causing large explosions but no

damage. The large ship seemed to have a halo or invisible protective shield all-round that

could only be seen as an energy beam exploded on the surface of the shield.

Captain Pela suddenly realized, "We're not being hit by meteors. We're being shook by theshock waves from the explosions." Pela switched the radio on, "Sibu, are you Okay?"

"Yes Sir, but these explosions are really bouncing me around. I don't know what they're

using for weapons but they're about to shake my teeth out."

"Lieutenant keep your distance. You don't want to get mixed up in that mess."

"Don't worry Captain, I'm going around to the other side of the Moon where it's safe."

"Affirmative Sibu . . . Solar Voyager calling Dover."

"Dover Controller here, what's going on up there?"

"Dover, turn on your video recorders we're sending you some pictures. Call NASA and

find out who owns these ships then call the State Department and see if a truce can be called

before civilians get hurt."

"This is a special announcement from Agape Station," suddenly interrupts Captain Pela.

"As of 2:38 Zulu today an intense battle has been raging between two space ships in lunar

orbit. These ships are using high-powered energy beam weapons. We recommend that all

ships avoid the Moon at all cost. The Moon is being saturated by extremely strongelectromagnetic fields that are burning out equipment. No landings are permitted at Agape

Station at this time. As the battle orbits around the Moon other stations and ships may have

similar problem. Magnetic shock waves from the explosions have crushed a pressurized

entranceway and disabled all surface vehicles. We have many injuries! Agape Station out!"

Captain Pela floats back away from the Engineering Panel. The situation was serious and

you could see it on his face. Pela reached over and switched on the radio, "Pela to Sibu, what

is your situation Lieutenant?"

"Captain I'm pushing this new propulsion unit for everything it's got, but I'm still 20

minutes from Agape Station."


30/55

"Lieutenant that battle is coming around the Moon right on your tail so you had better bend

the bolts Lieutenant! Do not stop for lunch. Come in low and slow and do a real light bomb

drop of the Spacetainer onto their doorstep, then get out of there."

"Yes Sir, She is flat out."

"Dover this is Pela what's going on down there? Can't you guys get this stopped? What's

the State Department doing?"

"Voyager, the State Department is not doing anything because they don't know who's

fighting. No one has claimed either ship. The State Department has turned the situation over

to the Pentagon and they want all the information you can get. As far as anyone knows, those

ships are not from this Solar System. What they're doing here is unknown and the Pentagon is

really worried. Voyager, turn on all of your cameras and leave them on. Direct transmit

everything to earth as long as possible. At least a dozen receivers are listening to everything

you transmit. Try to get as many pictures of the ships and the battle as possible. We are

working on your problem at the highest levels, even the President knows about your situation.At this time you are the only operational ship near the Moon. The Engineers want you to

button up, and forget the Titanium ingots. Go ahead and open the sail to pick up some speed.

When you get to the back side of the Moon tomorrow close the sail and use Bertha, if it's still

operational, along with all your thrusters to come immediately home. Do not enter lunar orbit.

Calculate a new trajectory that will give you the maximum sling shot back to Earth." Pela

dropped his head for a second and then looked up at Mrs. Rodriguez as he drifted back against

the wall, the situation was real bad, and there was no hiding it. My mom told me not to stop

praying. She said that someday I would need God's help.

Mrs. Rodriguez glowed with a big smile, "Now aren't you glad that I'm here, lets pray." They

all held hands and Mrs. Rodriguez led the prayer, "Father, we come before you knowing that

you are El Oheim, the great creator and doer of miracles. Father, we pray that you would

forgive each of us of our sins. We pray that you would help us in this situation and return this

world to peace and safety. We pray and thank you Father in Jesus name."

. . . Chief Renko went to the Navigation Computer and calculated the new trajectory. "Sir,

the new trajectory is loaded and the sail controller has been told to open the sail."

"Ok Chief, engage the new program."

Scary minutes passed as everyone realized that the Voyager had to fly right through thebattle to go home.

Voyager surged as the thrusters moved her to the new trajectory.

"Sir, we're on the new course," announced Chief Renko.

"Thanks Chief," Captain Pela switched the radio on again, "Pela to Sibu."

"Sibu here, go ahead Voyager."

"Get ready to receive the Solar Voyagers new trajectory. You will need it to find us whenyou are done with Forager."


31/55

"Affirmative Voyager." Several seconds go by as switches clicked in the background. "Go

ahead Voyager" . . . several more seconds then, "Thanks Voyager, I'm about half a mile from

Agape Station, slowing to 300knots. The computer maneuvered Bertha and her load smartly

to a fast touch down. Switching to manual control." The thrusters could be heard firing in the

background then a loud bang. "Man Stan, You guys could grade the ground around the pad a

little. There is a big rut right around the edge."

"Sorry about that. Our surface vehicles have never had a problem with it."

Sibu looked out of her side window just in time to notice a small meteor impact the surface

right in front of the door she was heading for, several seconds later everything was sprayed

with tons of ejecta. "We have a big problem people! I'm stuck! I have the only spaceship in

history to get stuck in a rut. I'm stuck right at the edge of the landing pad. By the way, that last

meteor not only put a big crater right in front of the door, but it also caved in the doorway a

little.

"Lieutenant Sibu, This is the Dover Controller. Be advised that we just got an updatedmanifest on that spacetainer. It has a case of explosives in it. It was added to the load it the

last second, and with all of the power failures the updated manifest just got here."

"Pela voice resounded over the radio. "My God! Meteors have been hitting us for four

days. And we had a case of explosives sitting on the forespar the whole time?"

Stan interrupts, "You carry explosives to us all the time. They will not explode. They have

to be detonated by an electric current or extreme heat."

"Stan, think about what is going on. What do you get when you pass a metal object, like a

spaceship, through an electromagnetic field like those aliens are using? You get electricity!

What do you get when a meteor hits something? Lots of heat!"

Stan replies. "Okay, so we have a real problem, and you're about to give it to me!"

"Stan, you did order the explosives. Well Stan, they're here!" exclaimed Sibu, "Now what

do we do with them?" Sibu thought for a second. "Okay Stan here it comes. I'll fly the

Spacetainer into one of your garage doorways. You have someone open it and take out the

explosives. They put the explosives outside, and I'll dump them somewhere. How's that?" The

sound of thruster could easily be heard in the background as Bertha started to lift its load."

Less then a second later a meteor hit the spacetainer and detonated the explosives throwing

it's contents everywhere. Bertha, still holding the mangled end of the container tumbled across

the surface and crashed onto its side.

Stan saw the whole thing happen on his monitor, and couldn't believe his eyes. "Sibu, are

you Okay?"

A few long seconds go by and Sibu replies, "Yeah, I think so, but Bertha is on her side."

Stan was very excited. "Man what an explosion! What a crash!"


32/55

Pela unable to see what had happened became very concerned. "What's going on? Sibu are

you okay?"

"Yes I'm fine, but this container is history. A meteor hit it and detonated the explosives.

Bertha and I are on our side. Hold on a minute and I will try." Just then all of the equipment

started to go crazy."

Pela looked at his equipment for a second and got back on the radio. "Shut down all of

your equipment for the next ten minutes the battle is flying over you. Shut down all of your

equipment for the next ten minutes the battle is flying over you. Immediately everyone shut

down everything." It seemed like an eternity to everyone. Especially Sibu, who was pinned

down by the spacetainer and was not sure how badly Bertha was damaged.

Documents

The Solar Voyager