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Space Junk: Part 1 of 2
Aboard the resupply shuttle, Lieutenant Tanya Myer is cramped and uncomfortable. Directly behind her non-adjustable seat is approximately a ton of carefully configured and looming supplies; any of it is considered more valuable than she is. That fact is evident by her meager twelve-weeks of astronaut training in addition to the simulated fighter lessons. But times have changed after the start of the second cold war, with a shift towards onboard computers giving step-by-step instructions to all crew members for every conceivable scenario.
Catching her first sight of the dreary looking space salvager, christened U.S.S. Manta four years ago, Tanya reminds herself that she could die up here. Nonetheless she’s been reduced to this single option if she plans to remain within the space program and pay her dues for a seat aboard some future Mars mission. Besides, the pay is good and it is what her country expects of her.
Being well grounded, she isn’t expecting much glory and certainly no ticker tape parade. She’s aware that it will be a confining and a thankless job. No American ‘civi’ that she has talked to cares about space junk, provided particularly the contaminated debris remains in space. That lack of concern is partially evident by how Manta has been configured on a bare bones budget. A good portion of that massive recovery ship was derived from modules cannibalized from the now defunct International Space Station (ISS). At the same time that Manta was configured in space, the Russians removed modules to be used for their Mars OPSEK mission. That is an additional issue that Tanya and their replacement Manta crew will have to contend. They will have to ‘catch & release’ the remnants of that supposedly sabotaged mission, just as the Russians were returning from that successful three year voyage.
Tanya is merely thankful that she has survived the latest wave of U.S. space program purges. Everybody that still has merely a job already knows that space is both unpredictable and dangerous.
Catching her first sight of the dreary looking space salvager, christened U.S.S. Manta four years ago, Tanya reminds herself that she could die up here. Nonetheless she’s been reduced to this single option if she plans to remain within the space program and pay her dues for a seat aboard some future Mars mission. Besides, the pay is good and it is what her country expects of her.
Being well grounded, she isn’t expecting much glory and certainly no ticker tape parade. She’s aware that it will be a confining and a thankless job. No American ‘civi’ that she has talked to cares about space junk, provided particularly the contaminated debris remains in space. That lack of concern is partially evident by how Manta has been configured on a bare bones budget. A good portion of that massive recovery ship was derived from modules cannibalized from the now defunct International Space Station (ISS). At the same time that Manta was configured in space, the Russians removed modules to be used for their Mars OPSEK mission. That is an additional issue that Tanya and their replacement Manta crew will have to contend. They will have to ‘catch & release’ the remnants of that supposedly sabotaged mission, just as the Russians were returning from that successful three year voyage.
Tanya is merely thankful that she has survived the latest wave of U.S. space program purges. Everybody that still has merely a job already knows that space is both unpredictable and dangerous.
113 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 15, 2017
About the author
Mark Murray
76 books5 followersMark Murray works in the computer field and also writes novels. He has written short stories for the E-Zine, Dargonzine (http://www.dargonzine.org) and has been published by Arctic Wolf Publishing (http://www.arcticwolfpublishing.com). He also has several self published novels out there.
When not working, he can usually be found studying martial arts. Mark currently resides in Ohio where he loves outdoor activities, traveling, good food and quality coffee.
Home page is http://www.MarkMurrayBooks.com/
Blog is at http://markmurraybooks.blogspot.com/
When not working, he can usually be found studying martial arts. Mark currently resides in Ohio where he loves outdoor activities, traveling, good food and quality coffee.
Home page is http://www.MarkMurrayBooks.com/
Blog is at http://markmurraybooks.blogspot.com/
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