© 2011 by Mr. David R. Dorrycott

Chapter Three

edited 10/2012

Kirby Landers woke slowly when Jerry shook his shoulder. “Sir. The last hold is about to end then four minutes until liftoff” the buck warned.

“How long did I sleep” the ancient wolf asked, yawning widely. It would have been an impressive display some fifty years ago but he had left his dentures out. Too tiresome now so all that faced the stag was a toothless mouth.

“Four and a half hours sir. There were two holds for problems, one sorted out by the engineers as ‘anomalous.’ One sorted out by a Navy jet shooting down an aircraft that was flying directly towards the cape. The pilot was gibbering something about God and the purity of young girls.”

Kirby rubbed his eyes with one paw, throwing off the thin blankets with his other. “He wasn’t the first Jerry. We lost eleven girls to such murderers in the last four years. Its Reverend Farley’s group I fear, or Henderson or Lacombe. Once the ship has reached orbit I need to make a phone call. It’s time these groups ended. Forever.”

“Murder sir?” the stag asked as he helped his employer to his chair.

“Why no Jerry, why would I stoop so low?” Kirby asked as she settled himself into his chair. Sadly he had no tail to worry about, having lost it due to tip cancer years before. “There are other ways to deal with such scum. For example, large doses of LSD come to mind.” Settled into his chair the grey furred wolf sent his chair back into his study, the stag following behind.

They watched together as the hold ended, his girls working flawlessly as they prepared for liftoff. For a few seconds Kirby stared at the mouse Hiroko Russo. He was burning her features into his memory, at least until the command was given to lower visors. She was the only member of STARDUST’s crew that the wolf had seen naked. He had been watching during one of the Engineer’s late night swimming sessions when she abruptly had a whim. Once the visors went down he turned his attention to the screen showing QUEENSRYCHE sitting on its pad. NASA’s great digital clock, dating all the way back to the 1960's slowly counted down the minutes, then the seconds.

Smoke bellowed from the base of QUEENSRYCHE’s boosters. In an instant the rocket lifted, pushed skyward by triple solid rocket boosters and its own twin hydrogen engines. Within the craft twelve young women felt the massive pressure of acceleration and beginning rattle of launch. From this point until they reached orbit, for ten of those girls there was nothing left to do but pray and hope for the best. For the other two there was a great deal of work ahead of them.

“QUEENSRYCHE to Houston. We have two good engines” Gilda reported as she scanned the instrument panel before her. QUEENSRYCHE left Earth on the thrust of three solid strap-on boosters and two hydrogen-oxygen engines of its own. “All systems in green.” She bit back a grunt of pain as something in her back abruptly popped. It had happened in the centrifuge every time she reached a certain G force level. That it had done so again gave her information that the instruments hadn’t. It was a problem she hadn’t bothered the doctors with. It would have probably grounded her forever had they known even though it never bothered her.

Elizabeth watched the digital readouts while the vixen was busy second guessing their computers. It was a routine launch, everything was going well though those solid rocket boosters had Gilda sweating bullets. Those bombs had been known to go off before, she well remembered what had happened to CHALLENGER so many years ago. If one of her three solid rocket boosters decided to fail she might, just might have time to pray before her last breath. When the three finally separated she gave a soft “Yes” of thankfulness, forgetting her mike was live.

“Houston to QUEENSRYCHE. Repeat please” came in her ears.

Gilda blushed, glanced over to the busy rabbit beside her and simply answered “CHALLENGER.”

There was a few moments silence, then an answer came from Houston control. “Understood QUEENSRYCHE. All systems good, you are cleared for orbit.”

Shaking her head at her own foolish fear the vixen returned to her duties.