Rocket Girls Page 3

  “On it,” replied Kurosu, placing an arm around Yasukawa.

  “Hey, let go of me!”

  “I give you something very tasty, I promise.”

  When the three of them had left, Director Nasuda turned back to Yukari. “Sorry about that. Now, where were we? Ah yes, your father. We’re prepared to help you look for him. In return, there’s something we’d like you to help us with. Call it a…part-time job.”

  “What kind of job?”

  “The lodgings on the base are fully air-conditioned. We have a cafeteria. And we’ll pay you, of course.”

  “What do I have to do?”

  “You just need to sit in front of a computer. When a message comes in, you answer. Maybe press a few buttons. So simple a monkey could do it.”

  It sounded good. Too good to be true, really, but Yukari was prepared to take some chances if it meant finding her father.

  “Well, okay. But only if you show me how to do everything.”

  “Of course,” the director beamed. “This is Satsuki Asahikawa. She’ll teach you everything you need to know. Isn’t that right, Satsuki?”

  “Absolutely. If you have any questions, anything at all, just ask.” Satsuki smiled from ear to ear, but her eyes were cold as ice. The perfect, unsuspecting guinea pig had fallen right into her lap.

  CHAPTER II

  SO EASY A MONKEY COULD DO IT

  [ACT 1]

  YUKARI FOLLOWED SATSUKI ASAHIKAWA down a nondescript corridor. Long hair spilled down her back, and she wore an ultrashort miniskirt and white lab coat with an unlikely pair of red high heels—a somewhat more provocative ensemble than your average physician might wear.

  This so-called doctor had spent the last day examining Yukari from head to toe, using every implement imaginable to test the limits of Yukari’s body. Satsuki told her she wouldn’t be eligible for the job if she didn’t pass the tests, so Yukari endured in silence. Throughout the exam, Satsuki’s lips remained frozen in a ruby smile. When Yukari asked the results of a given test, she only scribbled notes on a clipboard and said, “Later.”

  The last test ended at eight o’clock that night.

  “Come with me,” Satsuki said.

  Later was finally here.

  Yukari and Satsuki stood inside Director Nasuda’s office. A large steel desk piled high with books and papers sat at the center of the room. Nasuda peered at them from behind the bulwark. “How’d it go?”

  Satsuki gave a thumbs-up.

  “Fit for duty then! Good.” Nasuda rose to his feet and walked over to Yukari. “Congratulations,” he said, clapping her on the shoulder and giving her a hearty shake. “I knew you had it in you!”

  Yukari didn’t know what to say. She felt a knot growing in her stomach. The director seemed a little too enthusiastic over a part-time job.

  “What a day,” he continued. “The world’s youngest astronaut is born!”

  Yukari cocked her head. “Huh?”

  Satsuki ignored her. “The perfect payload. High performance, compact, and lightweight.”

  “All the best Japanese products are,” said Nasuda with a nod.

  “Um…” Yukari chewed her lip. “Could you say that again?”

  “The part about Japanese products?”

  “Before that.”

  “High performance, compact, and lightweight?”

  “Before that.”

  “World’s youngest astronaut?”

  “That’s the one.” She swallowed. “You didn’t mean…me, did you?”

  “Of course! Who else?”

  Yukari’s jaw hit the floor. “I’m an astronaut?”

  “The Solomon Space Association’s very own.”

  Yukari frowned. “I thought all I had to do was sit in front of a machine pushing buttons and answering calls. You said even a monkey could do it.”

  “They can. They have.” Director Nasuda spread his hands. “When you boil it down, what else does an astronaut do, really?”

  Only the finest candidates were chosen to be astronauts—the best of the best, national heroes, the stuff of kids’ dreams. The recruiting process didn’t take place in a makeshift hotel room on the second floor of a Chinese restaurant. Or at least it wasn’t supposed to.

  “The Americans, the Russians—they treat their astronauts like heroes, but don’t let that fool you. It’s all for show, a way to con taxpayers out of their hard-earned dollars,” Nasuda added reassuringly. “The computers fly the spacecraft. All the astronaut has to do is sit back and look out the window.”

  “So why me?

  Satsuki smiled. “You’re compact and lightweight.”

  “Exactly. You see, a rocket is a lot like a pyramid. Every kilogram of astronaut we add at the top takes a whopping seventy kilograms to support at the base.” Nasuda gestured at Yukari. “At a mere thirty-seven kilograms, you’re not only light, you’re small— and that means we can get by with a smaller capsule too. Compared to Yasukawa, the sky’s the limit with you.”

  “Yasukawa—he was an astronaut?”

  “Was. The thought of losing a little weight scared him. He wanted out.”

  “What’s so scary about going on a diet?”

  “You know,” Nasuda dismissed her question with a wave. “But we have him to thank for finding you, the SSA’s newest—”

  “Not so fast,” interrupted Yukari.

  “Still on the fence? It’s perfectly safe, I assure you. Oh, the Americans have lost a shuttle or two, but what do you expect? They can’t even make a car that doesn’t break down.”

  “So, this astronaut thing. Will it be over in a month?”

  “I figure this first stint should take about half a year.”

  “But school starts in September.”

  “You can study here.”

  “I don’t think that will show up on my transcript.”

  “Hrm. We’ll just have to give your mother a call then.”

  “First things first. If I agree to this, you’ll help me, right?”

  “Help you what?”

  “Find my dad!”

  “Oh that. Of course. Not to worry. We’ll throw everything we’ve got at it.” Nasuda reached for the phone on his desk. “What’s your mother’s number?”

  Director Nasuda dialed as Yukari rattled off the digits. The Solomon Islands were two hours ahead of Japan; her mother should just be getting home from work.

  As the phone rang, the director put it on speaker.

  “Hello,” Yukari’s mother answered.

  “Hello, Ms. Morita? My name is Isao Nasuda. I’m the director of the Solomon Space Center.”

  “The Solomon Space Center? I’m afraid I don’t—”

  “You have a daughter by the name of Yukari?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Our mission here is to put a person into orbit, and as it happens, we’re looking for astronauts.”

  “I don’t see what this has to do with us.”

  “We had the good fortune of meeting your daughter. She’s perfect.”

  “You want Yukari to become an astronaut?”

  “We do. Of course she’d need to work here with us for the next six months or so. What do you say?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “She’ll have room and board, naturally. And we’ll take care of all her visa paperwork.”

  “Is Yukari there now?”

  “She’s right in front of me.” The director gestured at the phone. “Go ahead, Yukari. The speaker will pick you up.”

  “Um, hi, Mom.”

  “An astronaut? I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I think that’s worth postponing your search for your father, don’t you?”

  “They said they’d help me look for Dad if I worked for them.”

  “Even better.”

  “You really think it’s a good idea?”

  “Are you kidding? It’s not every day you get the chance to be an astronaut. There’s nothing a daughter of mine can’t do.”

 
; Yukari sighed. That was her mom, all right. “But what about school? You know they won’t let us have part-time jobs.”

  “We’ll pull you out for a semester. I’ll tell them you’re studying abroad.”

  “So you’re totally okay with this?”

  “You bet I am. I’m going to be the mother of an astronaut. I like the sound of that.”

  “Uh, but, the thing of it is—”

  “No changing your mind once you start. I won’t have any quitters living under my roof.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll stick with it.”

  “You sound a little sad. Don’t tell me you’re homesick already.”

  “No, it’s not that.”

  “I’ll come visit as soon as this project settles down, I promise.”

  “You’re not listening to me!”

  “Oh, sorry. Just do your best, all right? Say goodbye to the director for me.” The phone clicked.

  There was a glint in Director Nasuda’s eye. “She has a way with words, your mother.”

  “She’s half crazy if you ask me.”

  “She knows you have the right stuff—why should she stand in your way? So, do we have a deal?”

  “I guess.”

  “Done! We’ll make the announcement to the team tomorrow. They’ll need to get working on a training schedule for you right away. Things are going to get busy.”

  “You’ll let me know how the search is going?”

  “The search?”

  “For my dad!”

  “Of course, of course. I’ll take care of everything.”

  Yukari took the picture of her parents from her pocket. “His name is Hiroshi Morita. This was taken sixteen years ago—he’d be forty-seven now. He was a computer sales engineer.”

  Director Nasuda glanced at the photo. “We’ll need to make copies for the search team. I’ll hang on to this.”

  “Thank you.”

  [ACT 2]

  THE NEXT MORNING, Satsuki took Yukari to the Fuel Processing Center half a kilometer from the main base. She led her down a hall that smelled faintly of chemicals until they reached a door labeled DEPARTMENT OF MACROMOLECULAR RESEARCH.

  Yukari stared in disbelief as Satsuki pointed out the department head, a disheveled woman in a white lab coat and worn tennis shoes with thick glasses that nearly covered her face. She was walking right toward them.

  The woman stopped a mere thirty centimeters from Yukari— no doubt the ideal focal length for the glasses. She scanned Yukari, leaning from left to right, trying to find the best angle from which to make whatever observations she was making.

  Yukari leaned toward Satsuki. “What’s she doing?” she whispered.

  “This,” said Satsuki, “is Motoko Mihara, head of our chemistry department.”

  “Take off your clothes.” Motoko’s voice was coarse and deep.

  “Again?” Yukari had been ordered to disrobe half a dozen times the day before. The thought of another day spent slipping in and out of clothes set her teeth on edge. She stared Motoko down as best she could.

  Satsuki was all smiles. “Submitting to this sort of examination is part of your job, Yukari.”

  With a resigned sigh, Yukari got undressed. Again.

  “Bend over,” ordered Motoko.

  Yukari bent over. Without warning, Motoko grabbed her abdomen.

  “Hey!”

  “Very good. Nice and tight. We shouldn’t have any trouble making it.” There was genuine delight in her voice.

  “I stand behind my product,” said Satsuki.

  “Trouble making what?”

  “Your space suit.”

  “Space suit? I thought this place was for making rocket fuel.”

  “Among other things.” Satsuki waved an arm around the room. “We can produce almost any chemical you can imagine here. Motoko is a bona fide genius.”

  “What’s that got to do with—Aieee!” Yukari felt something cold and slick on her back.

  “Vaseline,” said Motoko.

  “That would be good to know before you start.”

  “Right. Sorry.”

  “And why are you rubbing Vaseline on my back?”

  “We need a mold to cast your suit.”

  “What for?”

  “It has to be skintight.”

  Genius or not, Motoko’s bedside manner needed work.

  Satsuki bent down so she was eye to eye with Yukari. “Those NASA astronauts look like someone in a Godzilla costume. Their suits are baggy, loose—you won’t be tying shoelaces in one of those, and you can forget about scratching any itches. What’s the point of being out in space if you can barely move? Which is why Motoko developed the skinsuit.”

  “Skinsuit?”

  “Think of it as a second skin. They show up in anime all the time.”

  “My anime expertise is a little rusty.”

  “Normally you have to pressurize a space suit with air. It puffs up like a balloon, and even the joints end up stiff.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “With a suit that’s skintight, we only need air in the helmet— after all, your skin doesn’t have to breathe. So long as the suit can vent sweat and excess heat into space, you’re golden. The key is having the right material. Something water permeable, airtight, heat resistant, and flexible while maintaining its shape.”

  Yukari sighed. “The only part I understood was ‘skintight.’ Sounds like a pervert’s dream.”

  “Oh, I’m sure you’ll have your share of admirers. But don’t worry, we’ll save the press kit till just before the launch so you’re not distracted.”

  “Maybe some weirdo with a fetish will pay good money for the suit once this is all over.”

  “I sure hope so—they cost eight million yen each.”

  Motoko finished covering Yukari in petroleum jelly from the neck down, and with Satsuki’s help, they immersed her in fresh plaster, using spatulas to position her so only the back half of her body was submerged.

  Motoko leaned over Satsuki. “It takes about thirty minutes to dry. Try not to move.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  At first the plaster was ice-cold, but after only a few minutes it had become uncomfortably warm.

  “Motoko? Is the plaster supposed to get hot?”

  “It’s a side effect of the congealing process.”

  “But it keeps getting hotter. You’re sure this is normal?”

  Motoko watched as sweat beaded on Yukari’s forehead. She laughed. “I need you to do something for me, Yukari.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Trust me.”

  [ACT 3]

  THAT AFTERNOON, AS Yukari recuperated in the barracks, Director Nasuda was addressing an assembly of the department heads.

  “Good news from the Department of Economic Planning. They’ve agreed to delay cutting the program if we can get a person into space by year-end—and not one day later.”

  The members of the team glanced nervously at one another. That only gave them four months—extremely tight.

  “Now, as for Yukari’s training. This isn’t Yasukawa we’re dealing with—she’s never even flown a plane, much less a spacecraft. We’ve got an uphill battle ahead of us. What are our priorities?”

  The flight director, Kinoshita, raised his hand. “Courage, knowledge, familiarity. If she panics during the mission, we’ve got a problem. She’s going to be locked in a cramped capsule, alone, with a hundred tons of explosives under her feet propelling her into space at eight kilometers per second under 8 G of force.”

  “Put that way, it’s enough to scare me.”

  “We could simply…not mention the risks.”

  Director Nasuda shook his head. “Out of the question. If all we wanted was a witless stowaway, we might as well launch a monkey. The whole point of a manned program is to send up someone who knows the risks and is willing to face them. Even if that person is a teenage girl.”

  The room fell silent.

  Satsuki cut through it like a kn
ife. “We should start with solo survival training.”

  “A parachute drop into the jungle?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Some of the tribes on this island aren’t exactly friendly. All well and good if she runs into the Taliho, but what about the rest?”

  “So we send her in packing heat.” Kurosu patted the sidearm at his hip. “If she can get off a warning shot, they’ll scatter like roaches.”

  “You want to ask a teenage girl to jump into a jungle crawling with potentially hostile natives? She’ll be on the first plane back to Japan.”

  “Leave that to me,” said Satsuki. “Give me one week. I’ll run her through the centrifuge and multi-axis trainer until she doesn’t know which way is up.”

  “And that will work?”

  “Absolutely. I’ll push her right to the edge. By the time we put her on the helicopter, she’ll be so exhausted she won’t fear anything, even death. She’ll do whatever we tell her to.”

  Kinoshita nodded slowly. “We’re going to induce post-traumatic shock.”

  “Bingo!” Satsuki grinned. “I’m starting to like her. She’s healthy, takes orders—she’s even cute. I’m curious to see what can be done with her.”

  “I’ll try to have her suit ready by then,” said Motoko. “I want to get data on its performance in a tropical environment.”

  Kinoshita rolled his eyes. “Sometimes you two scare me.”

  “Then it’s settled,” declared Nasuda. “Satsuki will begin endurance training. Kinoshita will handle her studies. Swamp her with homework.”

  Director Nasuda turned to Kurosu. “You’re going to teach her how to handle firearms. That should tickle your drill-sergeant bone.”

  “She’ll be a Green Beret by the time I’m through with her.”

  “You have your assignments. Get to work!”

  [ACT 4]

  THREE DAYS LATER, it was time to begin. Satsuki brought Yukari to the astronaut training facility, a large building next to the command center.

  “This,” said Satsuki, “is your desk. Not that you’ll be seeing much of it.”

  Yukari’s desk was conveniently located in the office of Chief Medical Officer Satsuki Asahikawa.