Space Cowboys Page #8

Thats the craziest thing|lve ever heard.

Holy cow. This is a bad idea.

Frank, by my calculations,|you got 1 5 seconds...

...to ignite that PAM.

-Speak to me, Hawk.|-Were almost there, Frank.

Five.

-On a count of one.|-Four.

-One.|-Three.

Two, one.

On my mark, Frank, shut her down.

Five, four...

...three...

Come on, Frank.

...two, one...

...mark.

Thats it, Frank. lts static.

Houston, this is Daedalus.|We ve arrested the fall.

Attaboy, Frank!

Oh, thank God.

Son of a b*tch.

Hes out.

lll hook up the extra Payload Assist|Modules. You take Jonny Quest back.

Weve got a problem.|Weve only got one rocket left.

One PAMs got no chance of getting|that thing into orbit, Frank.

You got another problem.

Oh, no. Even if we get|this thing going...

...its not gonna have enough power|with two broken panels.

Take the kid back, lll handle this.

How will you handle it, professor?|Youre a pilot, remember?

lll need all the extra O2 modules|youve got.

What are you talking about?

No.

l love you, but why do you|have to be such a killjoy?

Besides, you ever see a prettier moon?

Whats he talking about, Frank?

Youd never make|a quarter of a million miles.

Oh, hell, yes, l will.

l just gotta go halfway.|The moons gravity will do the rest.

lll fire them into outer space|and let them...

...self-destruct.

Thats not a solution, Frank. One PAM|rockets not nearly enough thrust.

Lets everybody slow down.|Theres got to be another way.

There isnt.

No.

No.

Gotta be a winner in every race.|Looks like its me this time.

As usual, huh?

Oh, sh*t.

-He cant do that.|-Whats the status here?

Whats the status here?

One orbital engine gone,|primary and secondary guidance system.

Hydraulics are questionable.

Roger?

He has a concussion.

Oh, God.

With no Roger and no Hawk, Frank...

...youll have to pilot this bird|by yourself.

And youll have to do it dead-stick.

Dont look at me. lve flown nothing|bigger than a Cessna in 30 years.

Looks like lm getting the better part|of the deal here.

Stop laughing.|You used up all your oxygen, dummy.

Franks hot-wired it for you...

...but the trick is, those missiles|run out of fuel in 20,000 miles.

You launch them too soon...

...the warheads could find|their way back home to Earth.

Too late, theyd run out of fuel|and then youd be stuck with them.

ls this gonna work?

l dont know.

All right, fellas...

...lets shoot this baby to the moon.

Count down to one, right?

On a count of one.

One.

lkon has left our gravitational field.

Hawk was able to launch the warheads|into outer space.

Hows Daedalus?

We have a critical situation.

The collision left us with one good|orbital maneuvering engine...

...and its leaking fuel.

lf theres not enough fuel|for a de-orbit burn....

ltll burn up, or itll skip off.

What about guidance and avionics?

Well, the computers are unresponsive.

The only thing operating|at 100 percent is their air flow.

Theyre gonna have to reenter the|atmosphere and set her down in manual.

-Thats impossible.|-Well, its never happened before.

The only pilots alive whod even think|about it are Roger and Hawk.

-Rogers wounded and Hawks--|-Okay.

Lets get them as close as we can,|then abort the landing.

Theyll have to bail out.|What are the survival probabilities?

Zero if they try to set it down.|The birds dead.

l doubt it would even glide,|with its structural damage.

-You still have that thing?|-Yes. Shell dance all the way home.

Daedalus.

Stand by for Eugene Davis.

The judgement here is to go for Florida.

We ll get you as close to Kennedy|as we can.

Now, youre still inverted.|And youre flying tail-first.

Ordinarily, the autopilot would|do a de-orbit burn to right you.

-But we dont have a computer, right?|-Thats right.

You dont have much fuel left|in that engine, either.

Swell.

Stand by for de-orbit burn.

That wasnt enough. Flip us around|and use the forward RCS prop.

Sh*t.

All right.

Sh*t.

Easy, Frank. Shes not a fighter jet.

A flying brick.

l hope not.

lm gonna put her in a steep dive.

Make sure we dont overshoot.

lll make a series of tight turns.

Spill off some of this speed.

Jerry, clip everybody in. At about|10,000, we should be over Florida.

Pop the hatch and get|everybody out of here.

Ethan and Roger fiirst.

Tank, you and Jerry after that.

lll line her up for a ditch over|the ocean. You got that, everyone?

Come on, hold together.

Youre going in too steep, Frank.

Shell fall apart around us.

Hold together just a little longer.

Altitude 30 miles over Texas.

Come on, just a little longer.

Give me one more turn.

Hes trying to call, sir.

Hes fried his antenna.

Trajectory, where is he?

Hes on final, but way too hot.|Hell overshoot at this rate.

Coming up on 1 2,000.

Equalizing.

Jerry, blow that hatch.|Get everybody out of here.

Roger.

Blowing the hatch.

One gone.

Tank, you get going too.

What about you?

lll line her up for a visual,|then lm out.

Two gone.

Get out of here. Do you hear me?|Get moving.

What the hell you guys doing?

Were a team, Frank.

Get out of here. Thats an order.

Were staying.

Read out my airspeed, then.

This is Recover Five.|Youre way too hot.

Pull out now.

Negative, Recover.

All right, give me airspeed.

Gear down.

All right, theres nothing to this.|Just tap the brakes a little bit.

Hes gone into a stall.

Airspeed?

Speed?

What do you say we drop the nose?

Wheels stopped. Daedalus is home.

Just a walk in the park, Frank.

Hey, Gene.

-Yeah?|-Never mind.

l never doubted Frank Corvin|for a minute.

l brought him in on Project Daedalus|40 years ago and on this one too.

lll tell you this: For commitment,|courage and consistency...

...this group blows away|all the teams lve ever had.

Do you think he made it?

Yeah. l think he made it.

Fly me to the moon

Let me play among the stars

Let me see what spring is like

On Jupiter and Mars

In other words

Hold my hand

In other words

Baby, kiss me

Fill my heart with song

And let me sing forevermore

You are all I long for

All I worship and adore

In other words

Please be true

In other words

I love you

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