Meeting the Captain

The new King and Queen were flying to Dallas to meet the Captain that would be flying them up to space. The couple were offered the trip and the King took the opportunity. The people of Galatians were a little upset at this but the got over it knowing that they would be the first royals in space. The Queen grabbed her husbands hand. "Do you think everything will be okay?" She asked. "Everything will be fine. You'll see." The King replied. The plane landed and they were greeted by the the TSA Director Winston Mckelly.

"Welcome to Dallas! Or well the Edwards Air Base but no difference really. Alright just follow me to the limo which will take us to meet Colonel Neil Armstrong who will be the commander of your mission. Now word of advice....don't be stupid around him....trust me the last guy who did well........let's just say....he now has a pretty big limp. But I'm since you guys are royals you will be fine. You will also be fitted into your Launch Entry suits." started Winston beginning to lead them to the limo. While TSA workers began to service the plane.

"The TSA runs both of the airports here. Due to the slight chance that a space shuttle may need to land here due to bad weather. Now we crunched the numbers some more. And unfortunately discovered that some things will take alot longer than expected. So we are making a seven day mission now. Is that alright?" Winston continued as they got into the limo.

Brighton didn't understand what he meant. He knew for sure that the captain had sense enough to not hit either one of them. "Well I only wanted 4 days but if its beyond our control then what can we do." The Queen pipped up. "Now lets talk about safety matters. What happens during an emergency?"

"Well it depends where really. But if it is during launch to get into orbit. There is nothing we can do if something happens. Unless we wanted to shutdown the engines. But then that would mean crashing into the ground....but if it's in orbit. Everyone would get into their launch entry suits. And head on over to their seats. If it's a fire or a gas spill, everyone would pump oxygen into their suits. And then the main crew would combat the blaze. By either a fire extinguisher or removing oxygen from the cabin. And currently that is the most probable thing that could be an emergency. Everything else can't be accounted for. Because if we did, we would never launch anything!" Replied Winston as they rode into the parking of the Dallas Space Center.

If the Queen wasn't worried then, she definitely was worried now. They got out of the limo and followed behind the Director. The couple were holding hands and were looking around the building as they walked in.

Once inside the main building, they began walking towards the authorized personal zone. As they walked towards it they passed by things that were significant in TSA history. Such as the first satellite, Hope. And the Stargazer capsule. Which brought the first Central Texan into space.


hope

Once they got to the Zone door. Winston swiped a card, and then did an eye scan. And finally imputed his password. Then the door opened up. Once inside they made their way over to Neil's office. Luckily he was there doing some paperwork. And the door was opened. Winston knocked on the and Neil looked up.

"Oh Director already back I see?" he started.

"Yep, oh just to assure our guests. How many temp. problems have been found. A temp problem is a minor problem that is more of a chore. Than worrisome. Currently the record for the least of amount is 27." replied Winston while pointing to the royals.

"Only ten this time! The design time finally fixed the computer signal intemperance problem. Which should bring down the amount by alot. So they are saying for us to expect only 7 more while in orbit. So....I guess I should take them to get fitted for the Launch Entry suits..and answer their questions." Stated neil.

The director told him yes. So Neil got up and signalled for the royal couple to follow him. They went to the right of neil's office and began walking down a huge hallway. Neil hoped they would ask some questions. He loved acting smart.

As they followed there were alot if things going on. Workers were wearing lab coats and goggles. They came into a room where some strange people gave them some type of weird suit they were going to wear. "Do you have something a little more figure showing?" The woman that gave her the suit have her a sassy look. "So Captain, where exactly will we be going on this rocket? I was hoping we'd see all of the planets."

The Commander laughed."To answer your question on the Launch Entry suit that's the best figure looking you are going to get. Everything here is based on facts not looks.! On the planets we are going into orbit. So no we won't be able to see the other planets up close. But let me tell you why. All of us would be dead by the time we visited half of them! Plus we don't have enough storage for it. So our mission is just to strain unity with explorer. Which will take up 6 of our newly found out seven day mission. Or five depending on how long the EVAs take"

"Well what would we see?"

"Well you will be able to see earth without any borders. Just one big planet. You would get the best view of the stars! And you get a pretty good view of the moon. And if you wanted we could control hubble from the shuttle and check out other galaxies."

Once Brighton and Sophia got their suits on and determined that they fit, the handed them back over to the workers. "We'll sit is there anything else that needs to be checked or looked over before our launch?"

"Everything else was taken care of by your Royal Office. So let me give you a tour of a mock up shuttle to show where you guys will sit." replied Neil as he began walking to a nearby room. Which was more of a huge garage. Inside the room was the mockup shuttle Columbus. Once there he led them to a ladder and entered to flight cabin.
"Ok lets start here at the flight control area. This is where all the orbiter maneuvers are run. And where four of us will seat during launch and landing. Me and the pilot are up in the front. While you two will be in the back. Now there is much here other than controls. The Magnetic Arm Manipulator or MAM1." he started. He then proceeded to walk down a ladder to the middeck. "Here are the other three seats. The AU mission specialists will both seat here. To make sure some things during launch don't fall over on us. This is where also the beds are" He stated while pointing to the four beds."Two of us must always be up to make sure things don't explode on us. Also this is the gallery where you will find your food and water. And there is storage. And the EVA suits are and various other things. Than some experiment selves over there. There is the bathroom. AIM CAREFULLY it creates a mess if you miss. And don't worry the hose for number one and the seat for number two have suction. And over there is the airlock/docking port. Which allows us to connect with Unity and later the ATSS. And Serves as the exit point for astronauts doing EVAs. And below us is the lower deck. That is rather cramped and contains more storage and life-sustaining systems. And over there is the exercise machine. You need to keep exercising in space. Or else you lose your bones after awhile. Alright so any questions? " he continued while pointing at everything.

"Yes just one." The king chimmed in. "What are you saying?" The Queen giggled at her husbands remark. "How about we keep this on a need-to-know basis such as living quarters and where we will mainly be. I can assure you my husband and I will not be anywhere near the flight deck or near controls. Agreed?"

"After we launch you will be mainly in the middeck area. There are some windows there to watch out of. But the flight deck has the best view. But don't worry either me or John will always be up there. But if that's what you want then by all means."

"Thank you very much Captain. We are very anxious to launch. Especially since the launch will be on my birthday if I might add." The queen said. Brighton looked really nervous considering he hadn't gotten her a gift. He had contacted the President of Central Texas if there was anything that he could give her and so far had mentioned something that the King thought would be perfect. "It's been a pleasure being here sir. Oh and funny thing, the TSA Director had asked us to not act "stupid" in your presence or you'd hit us." The King said smiling

"I wouldn't hit you......I would be arrested.......especially if it's royals. what I did to those guys was well...a few accidents...while fishing. But I'll have John take you on the TSA jet over to Cape Canaveral if you want to await launch."

"Oh you'd be MORE than arrested." The King said still smiling. To clear the tension the Queen spoke up. "Thank you sir we'd love to wait." The couple turned around and followed John. "Sweetie what would happen if he hit us?" "I have no clue." He whispered to his wife and they both laughed.

Neil laughed and then turned around the meet up with some works and starting yelling.
"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU USING IRON INSTEAD OF ALUMINUM ON THESE MANIFOLDS!"