Tales of the Groundbound: Pause Turn Go, Chapter 14

[steuben]

Chapter 14

Director Direc stood watching the rocket silently lift off the pad, a white dart atop a white cloud with a glowing yellow heart. The crushing rumble of the rocket engines rolled through the observation room. As the rumble faded Khenry walked up and stood beside Direc. They watched as the first boosters separated from the rocket.

“How fares your flock of little birds Khenry,” Direc asked.

“They fly true,” Khenry said. “We’ve got three stated to launch for Mun, and one for a very high molniya orbit around Kerbin.”

“That’s our second Mun lander mission,” Direc said, seeming to not listen to the answer, or even focused on the rocket. “We should have boots on Minmus within the year, and then where?”

Khenry looked at Direc. “Duna, Moho, the Joolian system, Eeloo.”

“Yes. But, why?"

“To study the goo.”

“Yes. That’s the core. Why we started. But, is there more? Should there be?”

Khenry shuffled to turn and face Direc. ”Sir… Direc. What’s going on?”

“We travel the black,” Direc’s voice and eyes were far away and unfocused. “Should we come back?”

“What do you mean?” concern coloured Khenry’s voice.

Direc turned to Khenry, his eyes were focused again. “We’re going to have to change our design approach.” His voice was focused as well. “Small cabins will work for the moons, for a week. But, for a year it’s a bit of a tight space. It means we’re going to be pausing for a moment.

“The probe work outside of Kerbin SOI will continue. We’ll pause any kerbaled programs beyond the moons. Instead we’ll focus on developing orbital stations.”

“It’s a bit of a shift of direction.”

“It’s a needed shift. We are near the limit of what we can achieve with what we have available. This will let us develop the next generation of ships, and keep us going further.”