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Apol o 918 The trip of no return
108
Joseph Thomas
- Good afternoon, Colonel.
Agent Robert greeted me warmly as he walked
behind me to my office. He sat down without asking,
waiting for me to speak first. Slowly I explained the
details of all the information given to me by the first
lady, without going into details of who had given me
this information.
- It's great information – The agent said. I ordered
him to thoroughly investigate every person chosen by
the senator. Something told me that if we followed
the track and we checked carefully this information,
we would find one or more members of the group that
infiltrated the ship. I told him discreetly that
information of the progress of the investigation
should only be given to General Pot and myself. I
gave the agent the password to enter the files where
all records of all civilians in the Apollo 918 were, I
would contact him within 24 hours. I apologized for
the urgency and for the need to work fast and
efficiently. I let him go, explaining that he had to
attend to other matters.
On the way to see General Pot almost reaching the
central command post I crossed paths with Dr.
Estevez. As always, her hair fell on her shoulders
over her white coat, making her eyes shine bright like
two suns. This woman had a charm that fascinated
me. When she was in front of me, I could forget all
the problems, I was scared when my mind reacted
saying: I was falling in love. I never had time to
experience that feeling. And I wondered why now.
How could I afford to love someone who, like me,
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Apol o 918 The trip of no return
had no destination. Every human being at this time
who lived within these three ships, had a destination.
Nobody knew what would happen. I know love can
overcome all obstacles. When she approached me.
She took my arm in her hand. She lifted a corner of
the dressing and looked me straight in the eye, gave
me the most beautiful smile ever before saying:
- You must make an upcoming to visit to the
infirmary. Since the wound is healed, we can now
remove the bandages and clean the scar.
I promised the doctor to visit her in a few hours, I
really had no desire to take my arm and those bands
off. I was quite pleased with her diagnosis. What I did
not mention to her was my desire to see her again.
And the thought that crossed my mind that now I did
not have an excuse to visit her, where she spent most
of her time.
General Pot was giving instructions when I got to
where he was. The flight captains were coming and
going between the control panels. I approached him
and asked him for private time. The man asked me a
few minutes. I stood behind his seat. I heard him give
orders. Until finally he rose from his chair and
looking
at
me
asked
me
to follow him, to a small rooms adjacent to the main
control room.
- I hope you come to give me an interesting report on
the investigations- The General told me as he sat on
the chair of this room.
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Joseph Thomas
- Yes, I have, General. - I replied. And immediately I
explained everything that had happened since meeting
with the first lady in their private quarters. I gave the
commander of Apollo 72 all the information and told
him about the orders given to agent Robert.
- Very good job, Colonel. I expected no less from
you. Keep me informed of every step in this research.
And tell agent Robert that only you and I must know
this.
- I already did, Commander. - I said.
- Ok. OK, now go and rest about two hours. At 21:00
hours I need you ready to receive instructions and be
ready to go with seven pilots to the mission we talked
about earlier. Since the ships are ready to remove the
ice needed. At 23:00 hours you will leave for earth.
With a military salute, I turned my back to the man
who commanded those three ships.
*********
Two hours was very little time to rest, so I decided to
go to the infirmary and have my arm bands removed.
As I arrived, my eyes were searching the doctor. She
was taking the pulse of one of the patients admitted,
who remained in quarantine. The weight of my eye
looking at her caused her to turn around and saw me
starring at her.
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Apol o 918 The trip of no return
- Colonel apparently you are desperate to remove that
band. – She said. It’s only been forty five minutes
since I told you and you are already here.
- I’m leaving in two hours for a mission and wanted
to have them removed. But if you're busy I can come
back another time. -I replied.
- It's OK, come with me.
I followed her to small end at the end of nursing
quarters. She ordered me to sit on a metal table and
extend my arm. From a shelf she had pulled a tray
with all the healing tools in her hands, she put on
nylon gloves, and taking scissors started cutting the
bandage. I kept looking at her. I had her there so close
to me and yet I dared not say anything. She looked up
at times. And sought my eyes. Bands finally
disappeared from my arm. And then I felt her fingers
touch the scar that extended a few inches into my skin
while cleaning what was left of the wound. I do not
know how made. But my other hand sought hers. Her
fingers lost between mine. This time she did not look
up. But let the warmth of my palm caress her hand. –
Your arm is like new, she said. And I, not knowing
how I jumped over the metal table and taking her by
the waist pressed against my uniform. She was so
close to me that for the first time I could smell her
hair and skin, your perfume. A that point I was almost
ready to kiss her. Almost touching her lips with mine
when a girl suddenly opened the door of that room.
- Doctor, the patient in bed 34 has worsened, Dr.
RIMT needs your help. Said the girl and closed the
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Joseph Thomas
door.
I picked up my military cap from the table, before the
Dr. noticed my cheeks were red, I left.
I checked the time, I appeared before General Pot,
which he had been expecting me. With him, we went
to the main hangars of the Apollo 918. Already there
were the other seven pilots that would accompany me
on the mission, several of the experts were
explaining how to extract and store ice in the eight
ships ready for this. It was the general who gave the
first indications.
- You will depart exactly at 23:00 hours, Colonel Paul
will command the mission, enter the planet thru the
northern hemisphere, which currently is the
hemisphere that is facing the sun.
Exactly the coordinates 10 ° 57 '42'' north latitude and
74 ° 46' 54'' of longitude west of the city of
Barranquilla. When passing through the atmosphere
you will be divided into two groups of four and these
in turn into four pairs and make a reconnaissance
flight. Since the eight ships are equipped with special
cameras and equipment to measure pollution, none of
this will be a problem for you because these cameras
will be directed from here. Overfly each capital city
of every country of the Americas. You will not leave
your ships, see what
you see. After
the
reconnaissance flight, the four ships that will be in the
southern hemisphere and will go to Antarctica.
Overflying the northern hemisphere at 4:00 pm in the
Arctic pole. While there a hydraulic arm attached to
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Apol o 918 The trip of no return
each ship in the bottom will be extracting the ice to
fill the compartments with which there are eight
ships. You only need to ensure that the depth reached
for these arms is five hundred feet, at that point it
should not have contamination.
You have five hours for this. At the end you should
have turned around and then the four ships that are in
the Antarctica fly over the continents of Africa,
Australia, and Asia, the ships that fly over the Arctic
are Europe and Russia, meeting everyone at the
coordinates 25 ° 03 ' N and 121 ° 30'W in Taiwan
City to begin the climb and through the atmosphere at
17:00. You should be back in Apollo 918 at 23:00 am
tomorrow. The team of experts will explain how to
drive the hydraulic extraction. You have enough
oxygen in you ships for 48 hours. You cannot take off
your spacesuits or leave your ships for no reason at all
your equipment are designed against radiation. Pilots,
God bless. - The general became silent and each of
the pilots including myself headed to the ships
prepared for the mission, though I was familiar with
all controls and the flight deck of a ship, for the first
time I was going to fly a ship that would cross into
the atmosphere. The Z-shaped wings out from the
center of an oval frame where the cockpit was in the
bottom. Small windows let us see into outer space.
One expert went with me and showed me how to
handle the arm that would draw the ice. Everything
else was of my knowledge. All ready, General Pot,
gave the order to go, the Apollo 918 gate opened to
release the eight ships departing.
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Joseph Thomas
*********
We leave the Apollo 918 in triangle formation, we
started our journey to our land. I was sure this would
be the last time I would see the world in which I lived
in for so many years, a feeling of heaviness invaded
my spirit. We crossed the atmosphere at the agreed
point, and there I gave orders to divide. Three pilots
followed me to the northern hemisphere. The other
four were out of my sight flying to the southern part
of the planet. After flying over Mexico with a
difference of a few miles between ships, we
separated, one of the pilots was to fly over the east
coast of the United States, fly over the states of
Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Utah
and Washington. A second pilot would travel the
cities of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas,
Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota,
Montana and North Dakota, the pilot closer to me was
to fly over the states of Louisiana, Mississippi,
Alabama , Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky,
Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, and
Minnesota. And finally I would fly over the east coast
of the United States, the states of Florida, Georgia,
the Carolinas, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New
York. After passing over the United States each ship
would head north, and fly over the states of Canada,
to meet at a point in the Arctic pole. I realized I had
been selfish in distributing routes, but I had wanted to
pass by the military barracks which had seen me grow
into a Colonel. I wanted to see with my own eyes the
city where I grew up in. See the lake where every
evening I would sit with my father in that old wooden
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Apol o 918 The trip of no return
bench that I helped build.
As we flew, the silence became king of the eight
cabins on the ships, although we were all were
interconnected, not a word had been heard. The horns
of our ships were not used a single time.
The destruction on the planet was complete.
Everything was reduced to rubble. Not one of the
cities that I flew over was still standing. The colors of
the streets of my country, had now the color of
funeral gray including the landscape. The waves were
invading some of the buildings that had height. Not a
single sign of life. A few trees were still standing but
not a single green leaf. Major interstate highways
were full of cars and trucks turned into ashes. Nearly
half of Florida had disappeared under the sea, the
Carolinas, now only a desert full of silence and death.
From the old castles in the state of Virginia had less
than ten feet, all with more than half of the buildings
destroyed. I intentionally flew over my old
neighborhood, my home, nor the house or the bench
were there. I understood why the pilots refusal to say
a word. When I approached New York, no city had
been destroyed like this one. One of the warheads had
crashed in the center of Manhattan. I only found dust
and sand, and the waves of a sweeping black sea took
what little was left.
And so the mission passed in silence, we just let the
images form our ships do the talking. The images we
were also seeing were also seen by Apollo 918, not a
single word from them either.
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Joseph Thomas
At the appointed time the four ships headed to the
Arctic, the other four, twenty minutes before had been
reported as on site in the extraction site of the
Antarctic pole. We placed our teams on the marked
extraction site. The digging arms moved towards the
white ice. Within half an hour the tips of the augers in
the arms were at the required depth. I gave orders to
start the motors. And the compartments began to fill,
the measuring needle began to move, everything went
as planned. So far the mission was a success. Except
the sadness of seeing our home, the earth, totally
destroyed and dead.
Exactly three hours forty-eight minutes the extraction
operation lasted. The northern hemisphere ships were
ready for the second part of the mission, to fly over
the other side of the planet. The ships in the southern
hemisphere needed about twenty minutes more. I
hoped that the launch was timed as had been
calculated. But when going to the second part of the
mission one of the ships left hydraulic arm was stuck
in the ice. For the first time in our cabins speakers we
heard the voice of a pilot.
- Colonel, I have problems!
- Tell me pilot, what wrong? -I said to the man that
seemed scared.
- My ship, the auger is stuck. It does not respond to
my commands, the coupling mechanisms to the ship
have frozen.
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Apol o 918 The trip of no return
- Calm down, cadet. Do not leave, stay put, let me ask
for instructions. - I connected my radio equipment to
the frequency of Apollo 918, we were all waiting to
see what would happen, but I was not willing to leave
that pilot on earth, many human lives had already
been lost.
- Apollo, Apollo, Colonel Paul here. Do you read me?
- Affirmative, Colonel, I read you, what happened?
From the other side a voice of one of the flight
captains answered my call.
- The ship number 3 is stuck in the ice, the auger and
hydraulic arm do not let go, des not respond to the
system.
- Colonel. Here speaks engineer Douglas. –I
recognized the man who spoke to me, he was one of
the experts who had shown us how the whole system
worked to extract and fill the compartments – the
hydraulic lines may have frozen, the ice also
imprisoned the length the arm. I connected the pilot to
the frequently of the ship.
- Ok, Affirmative. I copy. - From the cockpit of my
ship I could connect the other ships to the frequency
of Apollo, I looked at the controls on my head and I
added the cadet in trouble to the conversation.
- Pilot. Are you there? - Asked from Apollo.
- Affirmative, cadet Lester here. Pilot Ship No. 3.
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Joseph Thomas
- Pilot, engineer Douglas is speaking to you. What is
your situation?
- All the compartments are filled to 100%. I was
about to take off, but when operating the ice trying to
get systems hydraulic arm, the system does not
respond. I'm stuck in ice.
- Ok, cadet, I understand your situation, listen closely.
To your right are two panels of the ship stability.
Among these you have a small panel installed, it will
release, it is a different color to the others in your
controls.
- Affirmative, here what I have.
- Release the panel that I mentioned, you will find a
black control.
- Yes, here it is.
- That's the manual command to expel all hydraulic
arm extractions, operate it slowly upwards. The arm
will come off the ship and you can take off.
It took about two minutes until the pilot's voice came
again.
- Here, pilot of the ship three. I powered the control
arm twice and does it does not release. What do I do?
- Calm down, cadet. Await instructions.
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Apol o 918 The trip of no return
From the Apollo 918 spacecraft took the three in the
frequency just heard the whole conversation, for the
second time the engineer Douglas spoke to me.
- Colonel Paul, are you there?
- Affirmative, here I am.
- Colonel, this is engineer Douglas again. I will
explain the situation, apparently the eject commands
are also frozen. You will have two options.
Disconnecting the drill from the outside of the ship,
which is extremely dangerous for any human being.
Due to radiation levels that our system is reading, or
the other is leave the pilot and the ship behind, I know
it's a tough decision, but we will have to sacrifice a
pilot to achieve the mission’s success. The clock is
ticking.
- I will not leave a man behind, - I said - tell me what
to do.
- Colonel, are you sure of your decision? – I
recognized the voice that spoke to me this time. It
was the Apollo 918’s commander, General Pot.
- Yes, Commander. I'm sure, too many lives have
been lost on this planet to afford to lose one more. I
wait for instructions, but I'm not leaving here without
that driver.
- Colonel Ok, I trust your decision. Engineer Douglas
will instruct you.
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Joseph Thomas
- Colonel? The engineer began to give me
instructions- in the bottom of the ship is the hydraulic
arm that has a command equal to the one just
operated by pilot Lester. This time you must drive it
down hard. Please use the auxiliary protection suit
behind your seat. Two suits will protect more than
one. Leave your hatch open. If the bit is clear, you
should run to your ship. A block of ice can break and
leave you trapped, and that will not be very good for