Operation Jupiter

[Myroria]

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

There was a pause.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

A click. The door opened.

"What?"

The man pushed his colleague out of the way.

"What is it, Leo?"

"Shush! Your study is upstairs, correct?"

"Yes. But - but why do you need to know?"

"Just follow me up there."


Leo shut the door behind him.

"What is it, Leo?"

Leo walked to the desk in the study. He layed a blueprint on the table.

"Come here, Julie."

"What does this look like to you?"

"Any space ship. But wait...is that a radioactive warning sign? Why would that be on a ship?"

"What if I was to tell you, Julie, that this could take us to Orestes?"

"I'd call you crazy."

"Now, what if I was to tell you that this ship could carry cargo into space at less than half the cost it is today?"

"I'd call you a dreamer."

"What if I was to tell you it could happen - today, and the technology is here?"

"I'd likely be taken aback. What are you getting at, Leo?"

"You slept your way to the top. I didn't. I want you to get this thing into space."

"One: I prefer to call it exercise. Two: You're crazy."

"The Ozians are trying the same thing. But you didn't hear it from me."

"You've caught my interest. I'll run it by Alvar, but I doubt he'd get it up and running."

"Good."

[St Oz]

OOC: Could you tell me how you found this out? Ozians would have a different radioactive sign than you. Also the Ozians haven't even made reliable blueprints yet.

[Myroria]

OOC: These are Myrorian blueprints of the same type of ship, not Ozian blueprints. And we have rumours of you trying it from IAEIO agents.

[Myroria]

"And, Mr. Hanso, everyone knows the Ozians will fail. They can't get to another star, for Christ's sake."

"You'd be surprised. I've seen a lot of impossible things in my lifetime. Whiskey?"

"No thank you. I don't drink."

"Anyway, why should I fund this? How do I know this isn't a potshot?"

"It would be the finest achievement. Humanity will, for the first time, have landed on another planet."

"But what profit is there for me? I'm not in IASA for the knowledge. I bought enough of it."

"Think of the propaganda you could spread - the MHC landed a man on Orestes and brought him back! You could destroy your competition."

Alvar Hanso rubbed his beard.

"What does the international community think of this?"

"Bitching, as usual. They brought it before a council of important-sounding people, and they said we can't do it."

"That hasn't stopped me before. I'll get it in space, just out of spite. Don't worry about a thing."

[Myroria]

It was a warm day on an island in north Myroria. A bus carrying the scientific, engineering, and mechanical teams arrived at a concrete tower three miles from a small Jupiter vehicle. Jupiter, being the king of the Pelagian gods, was chosen as a worthy name for such a powerful device. A scientist approached Alvar Hanso, who was sitting in a cushioned chair in one edge of the tower top.

"All systems a-go. Ready to fire when ready."

"Prepare for ignition!" Hanso yelled. The scientists approached a panel of buttons taking up one side of the tower top.

"Fünf."

"Vier."

"Drei."

"Zwei."

"Ein."

"Feuer!"

There was a click, and about 310 microseconds later, a loud explosion was heard. Once the mushroom cloud cleared, Hanso took some binoculars and looked at the area where the ship was.

"Nothing there. How far behind the craft was it detonated?"

"50 feet, sir."

"Increase it to 100 next time. We need this to work, and we need to get to Orestes as fast as we can. We don't want to be beat there!"

"I promise to go as fast as I can, sir, but I cannot rush too much because of safety for the crew piloting it."

"If the Ozians will let one pilot die, we'll let two die, just to get their first."

"Sir, that's not a very intelligent position to take."

Hanso pinned the scientist against the wall. (OOC: Hanso is no longer an old man. He is somewhere around 39, and just wants to live to be old)

"Don't tell me what's intelligent, you bastard."

"Sir, I cannot put the lives of the crew in danger! I will not!"

Hanso let go of him.

"Fine. But get going! I cannot be beat by the Ozians! I will not!" Hanso imitated the scientist voice in the last two sentences he spoke.

[Myroria]

OOC: I guess I never mentioned this, but all Myrorian to Myrorian talk is automatically assumed to be in German unless specified otherwise.


^{Juliette Plantation, Main House}

Leo again rapped several times on the door before being answered by Julie.

"What is it?"

"Get dressed. We're going to Jupiter Testing Site Alpha-6."

"Why?"

"I'll tell you in the car. We've got to catch a train in half an hour."

"Fine."


Leo closed the door to his Mercedes and started the ignition.

"So, Leo, what's going on?"

"Hanso decided that the results weren't comprehensive enough when tested on the ground. He's taking one into space with five monkeys in it."

"That spontaneously?"

"That spontaneously. But he wants to keep it a secret, so he won't permit any press in the area. Liftoff is at 8:00 AM."

"Then why get me to go at 10:00 PM?"

"Alpha 6 is in Southern Baltija. You should know that, Julie."

"Whatever. Is Hanso bringing back the monkeys?"

"Of course he is. He needs them to study. Why wouldn't he?"

"Iunknow. Maybe he wanted to catapult them into deep space or something."

Leo rolled his eyes.

"A colleague arranged for us to pick up a second Imperial Rail train in Klaipeda that will take us to Alpha-Six. We'll arrive at about 6:00 AM."

"Mmm-kay."

Total time since beginning of Jupiter program: Three months.

[Myroria]

Two scientists closed the wrought iron gates to Alpha-Six as the train passed by. It slowed to a stop in front of the platform and scientists, including Leo and Julie, filed out. Hanso walked up and stuck his hand out to Leo.

"Pleasure to have you here."

"Thank you, Mister Hanso."

"The launch platform is over there, about 700 meters. T-minus...one hour fifty-five minutes."

...

The golf cart with the IASA logo rolled up to the entrance.

"Launch status?" Hanso said as he walked in.

"Performing final checks now. T-minus one hour forty-three minutes."

...

"T-minus one minute." said the loud speaker.

"Think this'll work, Mr. Hanso?" Leo asked.

"Think? I don't think. I know."

"You seem sure of yourself." Julie said.

"Better to be sure of yourself then to be unsure of yourself."

"Well, you're just a fortune cookie today aren't you?"

"I do enjoy Mor'osi food."

"Pre-flight checks complete. T-minus forty-five seconds." said the intercom again.

...

"T-minus thirteen seconds."

"Ten. Niner. Eight. Seven. Six. Five - ignition sequence started - three. Two. One. Ignition - and we have liftoff!"

Mission Control mained eerily silent - usually there was scattered clapping at this point. The real test would come when it reached the edge of the magnetosphere.

"Tower cleared!"

Within five minutes the ship was in low Taijitu orbit, and the final SRB was jettisoned as the remote-control craft was directed toward the firing point at the polar end of the magnetosphere. It took about forty-five minutes to get there with the supplement rocket, then about another fifteen to get to a good position.

"Preparing for ignition."

Mission Control became tense. They all knew one mistake could set off a premature ignition of all the bombs, and, as Leo put it, "We'll all be the Incredible Hulk, but more dead."

"Ignition in five seconds. Four. Three. Two. One. Sending signal..." Less than a second later, the speakers in Mission Control roared with the sound of the first space nuclear explosion heard by man. The test was a success. The cheering died down as Hanso rose to the podium in Mission Control to speak.

"Ladies, gentlemen - we have made history. But even history will be forgotten if it is not kept in all the people's minds. We have come a long way - and we have successfully propelled a ship back to Taijitu by catching the explosion of a nuclear bomb. But, all is not well. At any time we could become caught up in our success and forget our ultimate goal - to get to Orestes! We need to continue working hard - we WILL PREVAIL!"

Mission Control applauded.