. I told the ship to open the intercom
channel and told the crew that we were ready to fly. As they entered the bridge,
I commanded the ship to start its engines, which it did immediately.
I gave the command to rise one meter,
retract and lock the landing gear, and proceed down the taxiway and out the
hangar doors. As we passed under the staging room windows, I snapped to
attention and saluted Nick. He returned my salute and, after first checking to
make sure that Sammy wasn’t watching, flipped me the bird. Without checking to
see if Mel was watching, I returned the gesture just before we passed out of
his visual, and I received an elbow jab to the ribs from Melissa for my mistake.
I suspected Nick found it very amusing. We passed through the hangar doors into
Mars’s atmosphere, and I commanded the ship to rise to 220 meters and hover. I
warned the crew to prepare themselves for launch, and they reacted immediately
by doing absolutely nothing. I then gave the silent command: “Launch!”
We leaped off the planet and into space. I
checked the rear view monitors and saw Mars shrinking in our wake as we blasted
away from it. Then I looked out the bridge windows. It hadn’t been an illusion
when we flew this ship around Mars yesterday. The stars were blurred due to our
speed. Where have you been all my life? I
thought to the ship. She was a truly remarkable machine.
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