The Life and Times of Shepfrey Kerman

[SlowThought]

As the latest group of Kadet Kerbonauts filed out of the classroom, Colonel Bob called out to one. "Shep, come back here a moment."

"Yes, sir."

"Shep, I know you're trying hard..."

"Thank you sir!"

"...trying hard, I was saying, and you've got a great attitude, but..."

Shep swallowed hard.

"... I think you're playing a little too hard, too. I know you kadets spend a lot of time down by the shore, but the rest of your class are making good grades. You're right on the edge of flunking out."

Shep grimaced. "I'm sorry, sir. I thought I was doing alright."

"Alright isn't good enough in the space business, Shep. A little less time at the beach, a little more time in the books, ok?"

"Yes, sir!"

"You're dismissed, Shep." Bob watched as Shep spun smartly on his heel and marched out of the classroom. 'Poor dumb kid', Bob thought, 'I hope he straightens up.'

Bob watched Shep progress over the weeks. He stayed right on the cusp of failure, but it wasn't from lack of effort. Bob noted that he wasn't among the kadets at the beach, at least not when Bob stopped by. When his turn came up in the flight rotation, Bob gave a final thought to Shep; 'Poor dumb kid. I hope he makes it,' and then Bob threw himself into preparation for the Duna mission. Soon enough it was launch day, and Bob climbed into the the lander that was to be the first part of the KICARUS REBOUND vehicle.

The radio crackled. "REBOUND, this is Mission Control. The board is green," Jeb said. "I'll be following you up in the command vehicle shortly."

"REBOUND copies, Jeb. I'll be waiting for you." Bob reached up, hit the shiny red button, and thundered up into orbit on a pillar of flame.

The next day, Bob radioed down to mission control, "Good morning control. Orbit is stable. Systems are good. Tell Jeb to come on up."

"Roger status, REBOUND. I'm afraid Jeb's not coming -- must have gotten a bad snack or something. Anyway, we've made a crew substitution."

A sense of foreboding stole over Bob. "Who is it, Control?""Lieutenant Shepfrey will be piloting the command module."

'Poor dumb kid,' Bob thought, 'I hope he's ready for this.' "REBOUND copies, Control. Tell the Lieutenant to quit admiring those shiny new bars and to hurry on up here."

Over the next couple of days, REBOUND was assembled and fueled in orbit. Bob was pleased and a little proud to see that Shep seemed to at least done his homework for this mission, and together they got the nuclear reactor started and set a course for Duna.Despite Shep's apparent progress, Bob was not looking forward to months cooped up with him in the command module, and at his first opportunity, Bob stole some alone time on EVA.As Bob looked back wistfully at the tiny dot that was Kerbin, he thought again 'Poor dumb kid. I hope I'm ready for this.'

Between transmitting crew and EVA reports back to control, Bob reviewed the mission profile with Shep. "Shep, you'll take the lander down to Ike. It's lower g, easier, and you'll have a big fuel reserve. We'll switch out for the Duna landing. I'll have the chutes to slow me, and then we'll rendezvous, transfer all the science to the command capsule, and blast home."

"Does the lander really have the fuel for that?" asked Shep.

"It'll be tight, but I didn't make Colonel by wasting fuel", Bob growled. Shep took the hint and resumed preparations for their arrival at Duna.

A few manuevers later, and they were entering Ike's orbit.

Shep EVA'd over to the lander and undocked. "Don't worry too much about the fuel, Shep," Bob commented. "I've got the chutes for the descent to Duna.""Umm, Colonel? I didn't see any chutes on the lander during my EVA," replied Shep.

Bob cursed to himself. REBOUND 1 had had chutes, but of course they had done no good when the ship accidentally ran into the mun, and Bob could hardly blame the 'poor dumb kid' for them missing on RB2, as Bob had lifted off before the kid was even assigned the mission. Bob contemplated his chances of making a totally rocket round trip to Duna's surface, and how he, the experienced one, had failed to notice the missing chutes during preflight, as he watched Shep drift away and orient the lander for the first descent burn. Bob was stunned when the three landing motors/science pods suddenly seperated from the lander! "You poor dumb kid! What have you done now?"

Note to self: When you manually disable motors to overcome staging problems created by assembling a vehicle in space, remember to enable them again before you try to use them. Else you may stage one too many times, thinking you hadn't staged them at all.

"It just blew, Colonel, I swear!", Shep screamed through the comm.

"Well, that's the mission kid. C'mon back and we'll pack for home," Bob replied coldly.

After a long pause, Shep replied, "negative, sir. We didn't come all this way not to go all the way. I'm headed down."

'Poor, dumb, cocky kid,' thought Bob. "Lieutenant, do you understand what an order is?"

"Ike's low g, and there's no need to save fuel for Duna now, is there sir?" Shep replied as the lander continued to drift away. A moment later, the single remaining motor flared, and Bob watched helplessly as Shep rocketed down towards Ike. While he waited, he noted that the kid was transmitting what science data he had before landing. Shep might have been reckless with his own life, but he didn't risk the data that both of them had gathered.

There was no point in distracting the kid now. Bob waited. In a few minutes, the radio crackled. "I'm down sir. Something to pass to the engineers: rockets make lousy landing gear."

The poor dumb kid was cracking jokes! Either he was dumber than Bob thought, or the most stoic Kerbonaut ever in the face of being stranded on an alien world.

"I'm going EVA. No going backwards, might as well go forwards," Shep radioed. Bob shook his head and grinned, glad nobody could see him."I came, I saw, I think I'm staying," said Shep somberly as he planted the flag. After a few moments, he moved on to gathering surface samples and returned to the lander. As he climbed aboard, a maniacal twinkle came into his eye. "Colonel, stand by for data transmission. I think I have a plan."

"Transmission? Shep, wait, you can bring all the data back with the rescue mission! It'll only take a couple of months."

"No go, sir. The ship's perched on a steep slope. Once the sun sets and the batteries run down, the stabilizer will die and the ship will topple. A few months with no ship and no power? No can do. Besides, I'm out of snacks," Shep said as the data began to upload.

"But what can you do?" asked Bob. "You've no rocket!"

"I've got RCS. In this g, I should be able to lift off with it."

'Poor, dumb, desperate kid. Jeb would like him.'

"I have lift off!" Shep yelled. "Wait, I'm tumbling. No, got it again." Here, experience told. Shep couldn't work the docking controls fast enough to work both attitude and thrust. As Bob popped over the horizon, he saw a streak of vapor headed right for a mountain. Incredibly, Shep managed only to graze it.

"Thrusters are out, but I have the gyros. If I can just manage the impact." Bob could hear that Shep was speaking through gritted teeth. He hit fairly softly on a downward slope, but he was sliding, sliding way too fast, and that was no gentle plain at the bottom."Noooooo!" wailed Bob as he saw the glitter of scattering debris. "That poor, dumb, brave kid." With nobody to see or hear, Bob wept and wailed shamelessly as he prepared to leave orbit.

On a whim, he made his departure burn using RCS in tribute to his fallen comrade. A vapor trail through Duna space was a fitting tribute, Bob thought.

The trip back to Kerbin was a lonely one. Bob rehashed the events, all the way back to that day in the classroom. What if he had just flunked Shep out right then? Wasn't Shep's death really his fault? Perhaps subconciously to punish himself, Bob plotted a steep reentry into Kerbin's atmosphere.

Bob didn't even notice the gees. He automatically, instinctively, guided the command module down with all the skill his years of experience had given him. Soon he was contemplating sunrise on Kerbin.

As he awaited the recovery team, he listened to their chatter over the comm link. Their sadness, yes, but their excitement, too, at all the science to be recovered from the module. Shep had helped make that possible. Certainly, Bob couldn't have done it alone. 'Poor, dumb, kid. I think I miss you,' Bob thought as he climbed into the helicopter.

Back at KSC, Bob met with some of Shep's classmates. He described what Shep had done, and dumb or not, they agreed that he was worth remembering. They commandeered a rover and headed to Shep's favorite spot on the beach, where they planted a flag in his honor.While Shep's classmates talked quietly about their friend, Bob stood apart and gazed over the water. 'Poor dumb kid' he thought. 'Poor, dumb, magnificent kid.'