Andrew J. Morgan's Blog: Aspiration Keeps Me Alive, page 11

Chapter 10

‘God? He found God?’

Sean felt a little more than perplexed, his pen frozen mid-word on the pad.

‘So he says,’ Lev said calmly.

‘What exactly did he see?’

Lev pulled a face and shrugged, dismissing himself of the question.

‘No one is really knows but him,’ he said. ‘I don’t think it was necessarily what he saw that made him do what he did, but what he felt. A presence.’

‘Is this like that philosophical crap that astronauts seem to go through when they see Earth for the first time?’

‘I suppose so, ye...

Chapter 9

The last of the smoke that trailed in a lazy arc into the sky dissipated on the desert breeze as staff at the launch site and at Mission Control simultaneously held their breath. The usual celebration of a flight well done fizzled into nothing as speakers broadcast the on-going disaster in a disjointed, patchwork fashion, rushing wind distorting every shouted word into an unrecognisable mush. Aleks had dialled the gain down a tad on his board without even thinking about it, and now the shouti...

Chapter 8

Getting the suit on felt like a lifetime ago.

‘T minus sixty seconds and counting,’ Aleks’ voice came over the radio into Sally’s ear. ‘How are you both feeling?’

‘Good. I’m good,’ Gardner’s voice followed in her earpiece. Pinned down by the harnesses and with the added restriction of her suit, she could barely turn to see him even though he was sat right next to her.

‘Fisher?’

‘I’m fine,’ she said, her own voice sounding distant and thin.

‘Good. Launch sequencing start.’

Gardner: ‘Timeline is good...

Chapter 7

The fug of cigarette smoke hanging in the air made the dimly lit bar seem even darker. Through stinging eyes, Aleks regarded his companion, his untouched drink still sat where the barmaid had left it for him.

‘What are we doing here, Lev? My shift starts in four hours and I’ve not had any sleep from my last double. I’ve got a launch to do.’

‘I’m sorry to bring you out here at this time of night, but I needed to talk to you away from Star City.’

‘Is this about Bales?’

Lev, his face old and tired u...

Chapter 6

It was a particularly warm day, and the sun beamed down from high in the sky as Sally trudged along to the great domed building on the opposite end of the centre. Close up, it was remarkable just how big it was, and the sheer scale of the building took the warmth straight out of her body as she was sucked into its encompassing shadow.

Her instructor’s gym kit had been exchanged for a long, white lab coat, and he was joined by two others as she met him in the foyer.

‘Follow me please,’ he said,...

Chapter 5

Sally blinked, hearing but not really understanding.

‘I don’t … I don’t know what you mean …’ she stuttered. ‘I mean, I do know what you mean, but I don’t what you need me for?’

The churning, nauseating anxiousness began tumbling inside her again, and she held the desk to steady herself.

‘Are you ok?’ Aleks asked gently.

Sally nodded.

‘I’ll be fine,’ she said, not really feeling fine at all.

Bales placed his hand on her shoulder. He did it so lightly that she barely even felt it.

‘We wanted you to c...

Section 2: Progress – Chapter 4

An orange flame of sunlight burst from above the low sliver of deep purple cloud line, its scorching fingers piercing through the small window and straight into Sally Fisher’s eyes. Sally pulled the blind down, waited for her eyes to readjust, and repositioned herself in her seat so her head was resting up against the small jet’s leather-trimmed fuselage.

It had only been the evening before, at around 9pm, when Sally had received the call from NASA. A call from NASA wasn’t unusual, because the...

Chapter 3

‘Still nothing,’ Aleks sighed, after trying and failing to reach the ISS yet again.

‘Ok,’ Bales said, chewing on the stylus of his touch pad. ‘Keep trying, ten minute intervals.’

Aleks said nothing, making a note of the time for his next broadcast. Lev, who was sat alongside Bales, was staring into the distance.

‘If you’ll excuse me,’ Bales continued, standing up, ‘I need to make a few phone calls.’

Without waiting for a response, he strode off, flicking through his touch pad as he walked. Just b...

Chapter 2

The International Space Station, an extraordinary feat of the cooperation of nations and advancement of space technology, was the ninth habitable artificial satellite to be blasted into Earth’s orbit by mankind. Like Mir, a Russian space station whose fifteen-year life ended so the ISS’s could begin, it was built as a modular, modifiable unit, originally as a joint effort between the Russian Federal Space Agency, NASA and the European Space Agency. Since the first components were launched bac...

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Chapter one of my upcoming book, Vessel, has now been posted on my blog, http://www.andrewjamesmorgan.com. I hope you enjoy it, and don't forget to sign-up to stay updated.