One Off Fiction or Would You Like to Know More? TEST FLIGHT

Yes, so I have been on a sci-fi kick as of late. If you could not tell from recent movie reviews I have poasted for 2001: A Space Odyssey and Interstellar. I don’t really write fiction, so this is out of character for RESAVAGER.

The reality is space is the next frontier and mankind is barely doing anything to move that bar. There is much, much work to do. It’s crossed my mind to maybe write some sci-fi to perhaps inspire better men to make the necessary moves towards this.

Let me know what you think. Would you like to know more or should I stop while I’m ahead?

TEST FLIGHT

The three of them worked in silence as the Ranger pilot prepared the craft for flight, verifying launch conditions with control. In front of them were control panels similar to the pilot’s. They practiced the startup procedures in unison with the pilot. There was only the sound his nasal breathing. In and out, in and out. The breathing was important. A Ranger had to retain composure under all circumstances. The craft powered on. The engines ignited. He could hear the countdown on the comms. Three. This was it. Two. The moment of truth. One. The Ranger jolted forward, the g-force throwing his head back against the seat. The craft lifted off the ground and headed straight way to the partly clouded sky.

This was a small step in the training program. They were graded, of course, on their ability to press the right button, flip the right switch, to do their job, but this was not the real test. The flight itself was in the hands of a veteran pilot. The real test were not the motions they were going through on their practice control panels. The real test was something an outsider wouldn’t think about or think was a big deal, but experience had taught the USSF otherwise. Was man really meant to leave the earth? To go out upon the stars? He believed it and so did many others. Many others who broke as soon as they broke the stratosphere. Broke when they saw the earth from in space for the first time. The grief, the dread that stilled the fire in men’s souls.

Humbling would be an understatement. Terror would be a better descriptor. To know that this seemingly vast planet we call home amounts to nothing before the stars. To see the atmosphere that keeps us alive so thin when viewed from above. This test flight was less a test and more an initiation rite. He gritted his teeth, his nasal breathing intensified as the Ranger pushed harder into the sky. The Ranger was a short range explorer, proven to get pioneers on and off worlds. Rangers would be attached to larger interstellar ships for exploring the great void.

They passed through the clouds, seeing the clear blue sky as they emerged over the clouds. One more hard ascent. He could do this. He knew it in the blood. Made to explore the new frontier, to take mankind to the next level, but even still, he knew the risks. He knew the dangers. Hell, the whole world knew the dangers. While as a species, we had conquered every frontier put before us, space was impossibly daunting. The closest habitable worlds was far beyond their reach. The distances too vast.

They didn’t have the data. They didn’t have the technology. But necessity demanded they move forward. The world was shocked into renewing the space race when an asteroid wiped out much of the western coast of the United States. Mankind may end with a blink of an eye. No longer could they keep all their eggs in one basket. They had to ascend. Ascend to the stars. Become multi-planetary. The earth had been good to us, but we weren’t meant to die here. This sentiment carried us for decades, but the costs kept mounting. Mounting beyond expectations.

So many jumps in interstellar travel had taken place since the start of the second space race and so much death, so much despair. The public was growing tired of American boys losing their lives and sanity in the nothingness of the void. They were beyond tired of supporting colonies that could not support themselves. In all the years we pushed into the unknown darkness, there have been victories, but they have been far and in between the tragedies. Every would-be Ranger knew the odds. They had read the statistics, been shown the memorials. The Ranger Program made no attempt to hide what they were getting into.

But they also knew what they were risking if they didn’t try. If mankind couldn’t leave the earth, the story was over. Anything from a rogue black hole, solar flare, to a comet they couldn’t see coming could cut the story of man short. No, the odds of it happening during their lifetime was small, but somewhere down their bloodline, they would pay for their inaction, pay for their cowardice. This was the kind of rhetoric they were raised upon. Men had to be become hard again. The lull in space exploration after the Cold War was disastrous. Too many scientists and experts were put at the helm that didn’t have what it takes. Too many that didn’t have the grit to make the hard choices.

The last ascent started. His rate of breathing increased as the hull of the Ranger turned red from the heat of the atmosphere. All of them were fighting the immense pressure of their ascent. Alarms went off, but the pilot ignored them as they pushed through the atmosphere into space. Abruptly, the g-forces subsided. Blue turned to black as they looked out into the nothingness. The sun on the far side blocked the view of the stars. There was only blackness. The Ranger pilot tipped the nose down to give the recruits a mesmerizing, but at the same time terrifying, view of the curvature of the earth.

This was done for effect, he was certain, but not even this could settle the uneasiness in his heart as he felt the dread and despair sink in. His heart rate skyrocketed. His breathing picked up again. In and out, in and out. He saw what made men lose all their hopes and dreams of exploring the new frontier. He saw what turned men mad. However big the earth was, that atmosphere that helped preserve human life was thin. Thinner than comfortable. What was man to do against the vast blackness of outer space? That atmosphere was all that kept them alive. How much longer would it last? Could man really become multi-planetary or was he confined to his hearth? Was his destiny tied to that of the earth’s?

There were many ideas about how man could survive in space. Many technologies being implemented every day. Too many experiments to keep track of. Before him was the question that could not be answered. Was it within the power of man to ascend beyond all expectations? Or were the obstacles too great? The biggest, perhaps, was this realization of how fragile the reign of man really was when you looked down on him from the stars. How could they conquer the stars? How would they defeat the obstacles of interstellar travel? How long could a man go without the light from the sun? The gravity from the earth? The social interaction with his family and tribe? How many men had been driven mad by the experience of deep space?

Static from the comms interrupted his trance as they were recalled back to the surface. The Ranger pilot confirmed and rolled the ship to the right. The recruits copied the movements from their own control panels as they made their rocky descent back to the earth. He felt the dread and the grief of traveling to space, but he could not let it master him. It wouldn’t break him. No, he desired to master space in turn. To rise to the occasion.

To show great courage against the endless void of space.