Semper Mars(104)
The Western part of Yukio’s mind, however, couldn’t help but notice Kurosawa’s routine substitution during the countdown of the word yon for shi, the numeral four. As a language, Japanese lent itself well to puns, for there were numerous words and syllables that sounded exactly alike and yet meant vastly different things. Shi not only meant “four.” It was also the Japanese word for death, and in a lingering swirl of ancient superstition no hospital room or ward in Japan was numbered four, one never purchased gift sets with four items, the numeral itself was thought to be unlucky, and the safe word yon was almost always substituted for shi…especially in something as critical and as auspicious as the countdown for the launch of a spacecraft!
Well, superstition was a part of being human and was scarcely restricted to the Japanese. The Americans hadn’t numbered a spacecraft “13” since the explosion aboard the Apollo 13 spacecraft in 1970—launched at 1313 hours Houston time, on April 11, 1970…an interesting date in itself since the individual numerals in 4/11/70 added up to 13, while the actual explosion occurred on Monday, April 13….
Yukio laughed, partly at the superstition, partly at the sheer, heady joy of being in space at last, leaving his mind in a racing, leapfrogging whirl.
“You said something, Radar Officer?” Kurosawa asked over his headset phone.
“Ah, no, sir. Excuse me, please. I laughed….”
Iijima chuckled. “His first time.”
“I don’t mind if you enjoy the flight, Chu-i-san,” Kurosawa said. “But perhaps you should also see about acquiring the target, neh?”
Yukio glanced again at the panel beside him. Except for Taka Two, the sky around them was clear. “They are not yet in range, Commander,” he replied.
It was harder to speak now, as acceleration continued to increase. The Ikaduti booster was patterned on the monster Energiyas of the Russians and was fully capable of hurling the spaceplane into orbit on a single stage. Taka Flight was gambling on the extra velocity to put them into a short, direct, interception course with the target, one that would take them past the target in minimum time, then swing wide into a long, highly elliptical orbit.
And then, the last of the thunder and the bone-rattling vibration was gone. “Orbital velocity,” Kurosawa announced. “We have attained orbit.”
Yukio almost laughed aloud again at the slightly queasy, swift-dropping sensation of weightlessness, a delightful sensation that he knew he would come to enjoy quickly, if he had the chance. He just wished the fighter had a roomier cockpit, with space enough to unbuckle his harness and float around. Experimentally, he plucked a pen from his flight-suit pocket and let it hang, gleaming and silver, in midair before his face.
He had to snatch it back again, as Captain Iijima made some adjustments to his controls and the fighter gracefully rolled to port, bringing the vast and awe-inspiring blue majesty of the Earth “above” the spaceplane’s cockpit. Yukio’s view of the planet, stretched like a blue and cloud-mottled sky overhead, was partly blocked by the opaque hood over the afterpart of the fighter’s cockpit, but he could see enough that it caught the breath in his throat and transfixed him with its impossible beauty.
The launch from Tanegashima had hurled the Inaduma far out over the Pacific, and he could see no land at all…nothing save the spirals of the great, cloud-folded weather patterns. Yukio was surprised to see how three-dimensional the clouds appeared, even from this height. He’d thought they would look flatter, like white brushstrokes against a blue backdrop. Instead, he could easily see their three-dimensional character, could make out the ripples in their upper surfaces, like wavelets in a pond, and see the shadows cast by the highest of the cloud tops, like shadows thrown by mountains in the early-morning sun.
If only Kaitlin could see….
As though a switch had been thrown, his joy evaporated. It wasn’t just the thought of Kaitlin. The view of Earth, that magnificent blue Earth, seemed so completely antithetical to their mission. The thought that they were here to try to kill people…
Don’t think about that! You have your duty. Concentrate on your duty….
But there was no way to deny the thoughts, rising unbidden and furious. Yukio had had trouble believing his orders when he’d first seen them. Taka Flight is directed to launch at the earliest possible time in order to intercept American forces now attempting to capture the ISS, currently controlled by our UN allies. Your primary target is the American military space station Shepard and its high-energy laser, which is being used in support of American operations at the station. After the primary target has been neutralized, you will maneuver close to the ISS and render direct military support to UN forces aboard.