Athena Station Pt. 01

Author's note: This is my first attempt at writing anything. I would appreciate your feedback. I hope you all enjoy it.

*****

Tim Bradshaw ran the diagnostics on the uplinks to the various satellites on the Communications panel, and verified that the signal strength remained constant. It was always constant, but it was one of those boring tasks that had to be performed every hour, by whomever was manning the Communications panel in a particular shift. To be honest, the uplinks were vital for communications with people on the ground. In some ways, they were essential for survival in outer space. It was just very boring work.

Today, that honor was his. Commander McGee had rotated him to this duty station. He needed to complete 75 hours of duty time on these systems. He was already proficient with other aspects of space flight, such as Navigation, flight planning and spacecraft controls. But a good pilot was also required to be a decent engineer and communications expert. Communications was the now the last incomplete item on his certifications list.

Training to become an interplanetary pilot was no joke. It was a rigorous and hard undertaking. But for Tim, it was a means to achieve his life's ambition. He had always dreamed of being an astronaut, specifically a pilot. At 24, he had achieved one of those goals, while the other was now firmly in sight and nearing completion. Now he had started his one-year assignment, on the Athena Zero Gravity station. It was like an internship which all aspiring pilots had to complete to be achieve flight status.

While Athena station was a commercial and scientific research facility, it was operated by the personnel from Space Command, the military division of the United Earth for Space Exploration or the UESE. As a final year cadet, he was one of the 12-member military detail assigned to the station, which also held 28 civilian personnel. The military detail was mostly assigned to work alongside civilians in the Operations Control Center (OCC). Tim was currently working the Alpha shift with 4 others in the OCC.

Making the necessary notations on the log sheet, he pushed up from his seat and floated to the storage compartment overhead. After 2 months in outer space, he was now very comfortable, moving around in zero-g. As was expected of any astronaut, he was as fit can be. He was getting very adept at moving his 5'9" frame through the various passageways and tunnels connecting this huge station. "Of course, you do tend to miss gravity now and then.", he thought ruefully.

After stowing away the log sheets, he checked his watch to discover that he was 12 minutes ahead of schedule. He floated to the domed ceiling of the OCC. Called the "Cupola", it provided a clear 360-degree view of the top of the station, especially the docking ports on Deck A. But more importantly, he could see the majestic view that was not getting old, even after 2 months.

Earth.

They had rounded the northern-most point on their orbital track about 15 minutes ago, and were now heading south-west over Thailand. By Tim's estimate, they would hit the equator, somewhere over the Pacific. The sun was to their west, slowly making way towards the horizon. Athena Station completed a single orbit in around 102 minutes. So, there was a sunset and a sunrise, almost every hour and a half!

The station was established for Micro-gravity science research in Low Earth Orbit. However, in the recent years, it had become a port for the smaller ships on their way to the Franklin and Xióngwěi Artificial Gravity research facilities in the Medium Earth Orbits. Athena Stations unique obit allowed two jump windows to each station every 38 hours, when a small ship could to jump to a higher orbit and dock quickly with the target station, with minimal fuel. Smaller ships from Earth would dock and refuel at Athena, while they waited for the jump window. "Sort of like a glorified service station on the freeway!" Tim thought.

He checked out the transport docked on port 4. It looked like it did the last he checked. Secured! Three new members of the civilian crew had arrived one this transport the previous day, two guys and a woman. He had only met the guys, as they were sharing a living quarter right next to him on Deck B. Typical science geeks, Tim's roommate had joked. The woman was reportedly an engineer from OrbiTech Corporation.

Looking out the cupola, Tim admired the South-east Asian coastline. He knew he had to get back to work. "Oh well, this view is not going anywhere," he thought. Just as he was about turn, he heard a small commotion, right outside the access hatch of the OCC, followed by a female voice, yelling, "OW! God damn it!"

Captain Kapoor who was the senior watch officer, chuckled, "Looks like we have a newbie in trouble! Bradshaw, go help her out if you are not doing anything."

Grinning, Tim pushed off the Cupola to the access hatch. Right outside in the corridor, a woman was floundering around to catch all the papers and data cartridges that she had 'dropped'. She had apparently come in too fast and collided with wall. A typical newbie mistake, Tim mused as he recalled his own first couple of days. She had managed to hang on to most of the papers, but the heavier cartridges had bounced further way. Tim floated above her to catch the stray cartridges.

The woman hurried to gather and arrange the papers, saying "Thanks! Can you please get those?"

Tim grabbed the cartridges and gently pushed off the ceiling to float towards hapless lady. She was around 5'6" with shoulder-length blonde hair tied in a cute ponytail and an ample bosom. She was wearing standard brown flight coverall, with blue stripes on her shoulders. That made her a civilian engineer (Military people wore grey coverall, and blue stripes were worn by flight and systems engineers). She was looking down, intent of rearrange the papers, Tim grabbed a handhold above her to bring himself to a stop.

"Let me guess. You came in too hot?" Tim grinned.

Next moment he felt his breath stick in his chest, as she looked up. She had the most amazing blue intelligent eyes which looked like crown jewels on her white heart-shaped face. He saw a nervous smile as she said," Yeah. Takes some getting used to, I guess."

Tim took a deep breath, maintaining his composure.

He explained, "You will not get very far, if you try to move around too quickly. Move slowly, and aim to move from one handhold to the next. Take it slow. Your brain is still gathering data on how to move around in constant zero-g. So, cut it some slack, and move cautiously."

He handed her the data cartridges. She looked a bit embarrassed.

With a deepening flush, she explained, "You would think I had learned that during basic training. I achieved the highest score in my class, during the zero-g exam on the vomit comet. I guess a 2 minute drop is nowhere near enough training.

"Anyway, I have to hurry. Commander McGee wanted me to deliver these to..."

Tim jumped in before she could finish, "... to the Watch communications officer? System status on all the life support equipment that he had you prepare this morning? In less than one hour?"

She replied with a puzzled look, "Yes, to Lt. Bradshaw. How did you know?"

Tim laughed, "His first day initiation ritual for all the flight and operations crew. I am guessing you are new OrbiTech Environmental Systems engineer. Welcome aboard. So, I will take these and discard them. Life support systems transmit their detailed stats to ground controllers every 10 minutes. There is nothing in your report they don't know better. By the way, I am Tim Bradshaw." He extended his hand with a smile.

She shook his hand, with an uncertain look, and replied, "I am Amy Conway. Wait a minute. You are telling me that the Commander had me running around in useless circles?!" She looked outraged.

Tim shook his head and explained, "No. Just that the Commander is a hands-on trainer. He made you go over the entire management panel, and introduced you to all the critical functions rather than assuming that you will have read everything in the manual. You'll get used to his style. He is the best mentor you can ask for up here"

He pushed away from her, so she could get upright. While she was still a bit out of sort with zero-g, she moved with a certain attractive fluidity. She seemed to visibly relax a little.

She spoke in a rather husky tone, "Thanks for the heads up. Guess I will be seeing you around."

Tim had another heart stopping moment as she smiled. There was something absolutely radiant about the way she smiled. As Amy started to turn, Tim remembered something.

"Ummmmm... Amy. What is the last item on your morning task list?", he asked tentatively.

Amy turned and said, "Oh a small maintenance task. There is a clog in one of the recovery lines of the water reclaimer on Deck B. I am going to take apart the aggregation line and fix that. Why?"

Tim was floating near the ceiling and gave Amy a cheshire cat smile. "Which recovery line? The one on the sanitation loop?", he asked.

Amy checked her tablet for the work order, and nodded. Tim chuckled shaking his head, "And how do you plan to fix it?"

Amy felt as if her ability to fix a simple machine were being questioned here. She bristled up, "I think I know my way around machines Lt. Bradshaw!"

Tim raised both hands to show he means no harm, "It's Tim, please. And I am sure you do know you way around machines. Kind of why they sent you up here. But humor me. Don't go unscrewing any pipes, joints or lines, before running a complete systems diagnostic."

Amy looked a bit exasperated. "I am sure somebody ran the diagnostics. That is how they know the line is clogged and needs to be fixed!", she exclaimed.

Tim persisted, "Please Amy. It will only take 10 more minutes and I can almost guarantee that you will save yourself from a lot of misery. Anyway, I will be seeing you around!" He gave her the boyish grin, that had not made an appearance in recent months. He pushed off towards OCC as Amy watched him with some skepticism.

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At the end of his shift, Tim handed over the station to his relief, and made way towards the galley. It was basically one of the central modules of the station, where sealed food trays were kept. Each crew member took whichever tray they liked, scanned the barcode to update the inventory, and placed the tray in the nearby microwave. He picked a tray marked "Beef, steak, teriyaki" and sighed. Chow time was a bit depressing for him. He knew that the food tray contains ample nutritional substance to satisfy his daily intake. But the taste was not exactly gourmet quality. Besides, he missed his Gram's cooking. He placed the tray in the oven, turned it on and watched the numbers count down.

As he was waiting, he heard laughter, coming from one of the several access hatches. Turning midair, he spotted Amy floating with the station nurse/corpsman, Mei Li Cooper. Amy's ponytail was undone, and he formed waves behind her head like a golden wake. Using her hands to 'walk' along the wall, she moved flawlessly to the table.

Spotting Tim, Amy smiled and said "Hi!"

Tim floated down towards them, and chuckled,"I see you are getting the hang of moving around in zero-g. Impressive! Showing her how it's done, Mei?"

Mei Li replied in a cocky air, "Well, space is not just for you Astro jocks. I see you have met my new roommate."

Tim replied, "Yes, I had the pleasure of meeting her earlier today. Anyway, what can I get you girls?"

Mei Li shuddered, "I am not having one of those so called 'meat' trays you are so fond off. Let me go find a good vegetarian one. Same for you Amy?"

Amy nodded. The oven chimed to report that Tim's tray was ready. Mei asked Tim to help her get all the trays to the Velcroed tabletop. Rest of the crew had mostly had lunch already, so they were the only three people in the galley.

It was an pleasant meal for Tim, as the conversation flowed between them..Mei was the talkative type anyway, and had an endearingly engaging personality. She was friends with everyone on the station. As they ate, Tim asked Amy how her first day was going thus far.

"Pretty good, considering I have been bumping into walls. Commander McGee was pleased with my morning's efforts, I think," she laughed.

Mei Li rolled her eyes, "Thank God, I am not flight operations like you two! I mean McGee's first day trials are horrendous. Especially that water rec... hey wait a minute!" She quickly scanned Amy from head to toe and asked, "Did he ask you to fix the water reclaimer?"

Amy replied a bit tentatively, "Yes he did. I have done that already.."

Mei Li surveyed Amy closely. Tim laughed, "Don't look so surprised, Mei. She listened to my advice. That is why she sits there in front of you, unscathed"

Amy looked at Tim gratefully and said, "Yes, thank you for that heads up. I ran diagnostics like you said. It was just a manual override valve that somebody had closed. Once I opened it, the reclaimer worked just fine."

Mei Li punched Tim in the shoulder and hissed, "SPOILSPORT!"

Tim rubbed his shoulder and chuckled, "That was Mcgee's way of teaching, 'Do you own due diligence!' Ow! You hit hard Mei! I could not let her go through with it in good conscience. It would have as horrible as it was for me! So, I gave her a hint."

Amy looked at Tim curiously. "What happened to you?" She asked, sipping from her orange juice box.

Mei Li let out a snort as Tim grimaced and said, "You really don't want to know."

Turning towards Amy, Mei Li jumped in gleefully, "Oh yes she does! Let me! Let me!. So Amy, McGee had you fix the sanitation loop of the water reclaimer, right? What is in those pipes?"

Amy replied like a good engineer, "Water from the sanitation drains connected to the lavatories in the living quarters."

Mei Li beamed, enjoying herself, "Yes... so mostly urine, right?" Amy nodded.

"And how does the urine flow in a pipe, without gravity?", Mei Li asked.

Amy replied, "Simple. Compressed air is pumped in at regular intervals to keep the liquid moving."

Tim groaned, as Mei Li continued gleefully, "And if someone was to close the override valve in the system, and ask someone else to unscrew one of the joints on the pipe?"

Amy looked thoughtful as she replied, "Well, with the closed valve, you would have nowhere or the compressed air to go... and if the joint was unscre... Oh MY GOD!" Her eyes went wide, as she looked at Tim.

Mei Li burst out laughing, "Very good! If only someone else had arrived to that conclusion before he applied the wrench to that joint, he would not have gotten drenched from the high-pressure jet of liquid and air that gushed out!"

Amy clamped her hand on her mouth, trying to look horrified, while attempting not to laugh at Tim.

Tim smiled in a resigned manner and said, "Bottom line is that, no matter how many showers I have taken since then, that golden shower will never leave me."

That pushed Amy over the edge, as she burst out laughing with Mei Li. "Wow, I even like her laugh.", Tim thought. He hung his head in feigned dejection, as he smiled at the ladies, who were now rolling around in the air, laughing their heads off.

When they finally settled down a bit, Amy wiped her eyes. "I am so sorry for laughing Tim. But you have to admit. DAMN funny!"

Tim nodded, "Sure it is when it happens to someone else!"

Amy smiled sweetly and said, "Thank you for not letting me go through with that. I owe you one!"

Tim smiled, as he leaned forward to look into Amy's eyes and said, "Good. Someday, and that day may never come, I'll call upon you to do a favor for me. But until that day, accept this gesture as a gift on your first day in outer space."

Mei Li rolled her eyes, "Godfather, you are NOT! Ok, I have a double shift. I better get going. Coming, Amy?" She looked inquiringly at Amy, who replied, "Oh I have to complete the systems check on my EVA suit. Well, Thanks again Tim. See you around?"

Tim smiled as he watched them float up with their trays to the garbage compactor. He replied with smile, "It is a small station."

Mei Li suddenly remembered and asked, "Oh Tim. Just remembered. Still having trouble sleeping?"

Tim shrugged a bit. Mei Li shook her head and said, "You know, Dr Blackwood could prescribe you with some mild sedatives. You really should talk to her, rather than spending all that time in your thinking place!"

Tim laughed, "Thank Mei. I will take that under advisement."

Sighing, Mei Li made her way out with Amy behind her. Out of earshot, Amy asked, "Why can't he sleep?"

Mei Li shrugged, "People have trouble adjusting to micro-gravity sometimes. Don't get tired as they did back on Earth. They can develop insomnia. Most adjust to the conditions in a couple of weeks. Some take longer, like Tim. So, when he gets bored tossing and turning in his bed, he goes to his 'thinking spot', as he likes to call it."

As they reached a fork ahead, with each to go their separate way, Amy asked, "Where is that?"

Mei Li smiled and said, "Oh it is an amazing view..." Then she proceeded to tell her all about it.

****************************

Overwatch Sensor array was slated to be one of the most advanced set of terrain mapping instruments ever created. It was large enough, that Athena Station had to undergo a major construction, to house the array. Unfortunately, while the housing was completed on time, the array itself ran into trouble. The unmanned rocket, bringing the instruments and the control assembly to Athena station, exploded 35 seconds after launch, due to a freaky failure of the first stage booster. Now the business consortium that owned the Array, was scrambling to reconstruct the whole system. Until they were done, there was an unused pressurized housing (called the Mast) protruding from Athena station with absolutely no foreseeable use in the near future.

The mast extended out from the Nadir side of the station, pointing straight down towards Earth. It consisted of a large tube, 15 feet long and 5 feet in diameter. The tube connected to one of the central pressurized modules of the station. On the other end, the tube opened up into a large geodesic dome, covered with hexagonal glass panels. The dome was almost 18 feet in diameter.

It was the Charlie shift on the station, which was considered the night time shift. Pretty much the entire crew was in their quarters, except for the on-duty OCC watch personnel. "Feels kinda spooky!" Amy thought as she floated along the empty corridor, making her way towards the Mast.

She was a bit curious about what Tim got upto in the Mast. To be honest, she was curious about Tim! She made friends easily enough. But she felt strangely alive and self aware around Tim. There was something about the way he looked at her, the way he observed her. She felt his eyes on her, even when she was not looking at him. And rather than creeping her out, it made her feel good and safe. She was never someone who need to be protected and preserved, even though there were plenty of people around her over the years to fulfill that role. But with Tim, Amy felt a certain connection, which puzzled her. And as with anything that puzzled her, her first instinct was to explore the enigma.

So, after sleep eluded her for almost an hour after she had turned in, Amy decided that she need to do something other than tossing and turning in her sleeping bag. She had gotten out of bed, changed into one of her grey OrbiTech t-shirts and pulled on pair of black shorts and was now making her way to the Mast. As she expected, the internal cover of the Mast was open and stowed to the side.

She plunged head first and floated along the shaft, coming to stop right on the edge of the tube. She peered into the dome. It was covered with darkened glass panels, with no light coming from the outside. There were tiny but bright LED lights, installed along the support frames of the glass panels, which illuminated the sphere's interior.