If that is correct, it is only because the truly wise person admits that he really knows nothing at all.

- Socrates response to the Oracle of Delphi declaring that he was the wisest man in the world -

The control room of the X-1001 is unlike any other space vehicle, or plane for that matter. The spacious command section, or cockpit, has an expansive horseshoe-shaped dashboard with four view screens embedded under curved hoods. A large high-definition main screen dominates the forward section and provides the only view of the world outside. The controls are geometrically organized touch pads embedded flush with the dashboard's horizontal surface. The only true control is a joystick defiantly towering above the main control pads like a throwback to a previous manual control era. These controls are redundant. The computer runs the ship, and the human pilot's only function is to issue commands.

And, those commands are processed with unnerving efficiency by the computer, but no one calls it 'the computer'. The programmers at IBM had amusingly dubbed it Delphi--pronounced with an ending e-sound--partly because it has a sexy female voice and because it has the necessary sagacity to run all of the ship's systems and handle complicated navigational problems concurrently.

In some instances it could be annoying.

 “Delphi, have you made contact with Edwards’ control?” Angie asked while her eyes were riveted on the main navigational display.

 “Yes, Angie. They report a barometer of 1020 millibars, a temperature of 29 Centigrade with a wind from the northeast at 5 knots. They wish us to land on runway three.”

 “Thank you, Delphi.”

 “You are welcome, Angie.”

 “I guess they don’t trust us to make our own contacts,” Marty said, squinting at the ship’s engineering display.

 “I don’t blame them. The computer is able to translate and discern garbled communications better than we can.”

He gave her a facetious smile. “I kind of liked the garbled communication.”

 “Oh, right, especially when you were trying to get a confirmation on an engagement order.”

 “I always took the positive approach; shoot first and assume that’s what they wanted.”

 “Not when you had a belly full of cruise missiles,” she shot back.

 “Well, yeah, but all I had was air to air. The worse that I could do was shoot down some fighter.”

She retorted with a haughty smile. “All I could do was blow a city to hell.”

The computer lamp flashed. “Angie, I have confirmation on our position from Edwards. We are currently eleven kilometers out at ten thousand meters. They want us to land and pull directly into hangar-12 at on the left of runway three. They are sending up two F-117 fighters to escort us in.”

 “Thank you, Delphi.”

 “You are welcome, Angie.”

Marty shook his head. “Well, the cat’s out of the bag now. The military knows about this.”

 “Did you expect otherwise?”

 “Not really. I just hope that they don’t keep us from going on missions.”

 “Why worry? When they build the next generation, we’ll be the only pilots with the experience to fly it, and the only thing it’ll be good for is exploration.”

 “Well, yes, but I . . .”

 “Angie, two escort craft are on intercept.”

 “Thank you, Delphi.”

 “You are welcome, Angie.”

 “I have them on monitor,” Marty said, switching a view of them to the main screen.

 “Edwards is only five kilometers ahead,” Angie said, “Start the descent, Delphi,”

 “Yes, Angie.”

 “These two escort jocks will freak out when we touch down,” Marty said.

 “The engineers should have informed them about how we land,” Angie said.

Edwards appeared on the main screen, but only runway three was illuminated. The remaining parts of the base were dark but easily discernible using infrared. The two escorts landed first and pulled out of the way. The X-1001 came in hot, scaring the hell out of those watching in the control tower.

 “What the hell are they doing?” Clarence shouted while gaping out of Edward's control tower window. “They’re coming in too hot.”

Arthur blew out an irritated breath. "Damn Air Force jocks! They're always pushing the envelope."

They watched the X-1001 pull to within 100 feet and then literally stop in midair before gently landing like a jump jet.

 “Holy shit! How the hell did they do that?”

Arthur grinned. “Must be that Antigrav nonsense they keep talking about.”

They watched in awe as the X-1001 silently taxied along runway three and into a large hangar without the use of the main engines.

Clarence blew out an excited breath. "Damn! That's a lot bigger than I imagined it."

"Makes you wonder how something that large can be so nimble," Arthur said with a smug gleam in his eyes.

###

Angie and Marty waited until the hangar door closed before riding the ship's enclosed elevator tube to the floor of the hangar. When the elevator’s door curved away, an Air Force general and two suits, obviously men from the Air Force’s secret agency greeted them.

Marty immediately recognized his old boss, now chief of staff. “General Wilson!”

 “You’re looking good, Martin.” He turned to Angie. “And, you too, Angelina.”

 “We don’t have any choice if we want to fly this,” he motioned back at the X-1001.

The general admiringly looked over the ship. “It’s an impressive bird. There’s a lot of interesting tech in it.” He turned his eyes back to Marty. “I’m sure that you realize that this is now classified.”

 “They already told us. Angie and I both have clearance. Our maintenance crew is also cleared.” He paused before dropping the next bomb. "Does this mean that our missions will be secret?"

"No. Only the tech is secret. The existence of the plane will be made public."

"If we're to fly the next crew up to the ISS, how will we deal with the Russians?"

"Hell, the Russians probably know about this already. We just don't want them to know how the tech works."

Marty laughed. "We don't know how it works, and we're flying it."

Wilson had a good belly laugh.

Clarence and Arthur rushed over to them while a squad of soldiers carrying assault rifles moved into guard positions around the X-1001.

"We've scheduled a meeting with the new ISS crew and two other astronauts," Clarence said.

"Oh," Marty said, raising his right eyebrow. "Is the ISS going to have a larger crew now?"

"No. We're sending two astronauts to do an EVA. The P-5 truss needs to be replaced."

"So, this mission is going to last more than one day?"

"Yes. The ISS is in a sad state of neglect. We have no choice other than to make critical repairs. Your engineers assured us that this craft could haul supplies and the new P-5 truss up to the station"

Marty gave him a confident smirk. "Hell, we could haul it to Mars."

That earned him confused looks.

###

Marty put on his best poker face when he strode up to a podium in one of Edwards’ ready rooms. He felt that what he was about to say to the four astronauts was necessary, but he didn't wish to sound morbid, especially since Clarence, Arthur and Wilson were present.

"I'm here to remind you that the vehicle that you will ride up to the ISS in is not a NASA approved device. The X-1001 is a prototype experimental craft built by a consortium of industrial concerns. The safety record and flight parameters of the X-1001 have not been fully determined, as would be required for certification." He flashed a teasing smile. "That said, Angie and I can assure you that we wouldn't be risking our necks if we had reservations about its performance and safety."

Brian Scott, the next American ISS astronaut, raised his hand. Marty gave him a friendly smirk, amused by Brian's rugged youthful looks and laughing eyes. His close-cropped blond locks gave proof of his military background.

"How do you people fly the thing? There are no windows."

"Don't need them. We have great view screens instead."

"What happens if you have a power failure?"

"We're not allowed to have power failures."

His facetious answer earned him brief confused looks and then nervous laughter.

"Basically, it comes down to this: the X-1001 is completely fly-by-wire. The computer controls everything. We just issue commands. Besides, this thing is so fast, windows wouldn't be feasible."

The Russian, Yergi Karchenkov, was more mature looking than Brian. His longer hair had patches of gray and his eyes, his entire face, hinted of a life of hardship. "How fast can it go?"

Marty glanced at Angie.

"We don't know," she said. "We haven't maxed it out as yet. Let's just say that we'll spend more time docking with the station than we will getting up to it."

Marty smiled at her. Good answer.

The other two astronauts seemed nonplussed by all of this. Both were veterans and Marty's buddies from the Orion moon mission. Flying in a new machine didn't frighten them.

Brad Wilson was a tall lanky Kentuckian, but you wouldn't know it from his mid-western accent. A lot of people thought he looked and talked like Jimmy Stewart.

Jeremy Anston was short and built like a linebacker. He had a bulldog face to match his gruff voice.

"Will we be working out of a cargo bay like the shuttle?" Jeremy asked.

"Pretty much," Marty said. "You two are scheduled for a meeting with our engineers. They'll give you the scoop about the EVA better than we can." He looked around at faces in an attempt to discern trepidation. "Are there any further questions?"

He was greeted with silent stares.

###

The X-1001 sat on runway there in silence like a giant condor waiting for prey to fly by. Inside, the last preparations were being made to begin the mission.

"Two minutes until launch," Delphi announced.

"Thank you, Delphi."

"You are welcome, Angie."

"Make sure you're buckled up," Marty said. "We're ready to rock.  And don't worry about the G's. You'll barely feel them."

"Have you made contact with Houston, Delphi?" Angie asked.

"Yes, Angie. Houston reports all systems are go for launch."

"Thank you, Delphi."

"You are welcome, Angie."

"Launch in ten, nine, eight, seven . . . "

"Hang on to your belly buttons," Marty yelled.

 “Six, five, four, three . . . ”

The X-1001’s engines fired bright white plasma streams as the craft moved a hundred feet down the runway, gaining speed rapidly. With a sudden increase in power it literally exploded into the air, swooping up vertically in an instant to vanish into a cloudbank.

Everyone in the control tower gasped wide-eyed at the spectacle.

Arthur was especially impressed. "Wow! They weren't kidding, were they? That thing kicks some serious ass."

Clarence frowned. "No one knows how safe that thing is. No telling what might happen if it had a malfunction."

Arthur grimaced. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near that thing when it malfunctioned. That kind of power makes a shuttle look like a model-T."

"Houston reports that they're already at a hundred twenty thousand," Larry said. "They're already closing on the station."

"At that speed they'll pass it," Arthur said.

"Houston reports that they have."

"Now what?" Clarence said.

"They'll have to orbit back around," Larry said.

In the X-1001's cockpit, the mood was more relaxed.

"Oops," Angie said, holding a hand to her mouth.

Marty gave her a confused look. "What oops?"

"We flew past the station."

"No problem. Just back up."

The computer lamp flashed. "Houston wants to know if we are going to go for a correction orbit, Angie."

"Tell them that we're going to back up, Delphi."

 “Yes, Angie.”

Marty grinned at her. “I’ve always thought of docking as being like two rifle slugs making love as they flew together towards a target.”

 “Oh, now that’s a romantic thought!”

He laughed.

"Delphi, would you please run a diagnostic on the navigational controls. I would like to know why we overshot the station."

"Yes, Angie."

Marty sighed. "You think there's a problem?"

She didn't answer.

"There is a 0.001% imbalance in the ion flow, Angie. I have made a correction."

"That's good, Delphi. Please do a correction burn to align us with station."

"Yes, Angie."

At Edwards’ control tower, the mood was abject disbelief.

Arthur shook his head. "They're going to what? Back up? What do they think they're on: Santa Monica Boulevard on a Saturday night?"

"That's what they said," Larry said. "It must have worked. Houston reports that they're now two hundred meters off the station. They did a vectored retro burn that compensated for the altitude drop because of lower velocity."

"I hope someone's taking note of this," Clarence said. "Our shuttles would have required hours to accomplish the same orbital correction."

On the X-1001, it was business as usual.

"Make sure everything loose is squared away," Marty said. "We're going to turn off Antigrav and go to zero-G." He nodded to Angie.

"Stop Antigrav, Delphi, and begin approach at 0.2 mps."

"Yes, Angie. Houston reports that the station has been placed into XPH attitude in anticipation for the P-5 truss replacement. Current beta is 30 degrees."

"Thank you, Delphi."

Suddenly, it felt as if someone had cut the elevator's cables.

Marty grinned. "Ah, I love the feel of weightlessness in the morning."

Slicking her hair back down, Angie gave him a mock look of disgust before getting back to business. "Reduce approach to 0.1 mps and begin alignment corrections, Delphi.  Oh, and raise a COM to the station."

"Yes, Angie."

"COM up, Angie."

"This is the X-1001. We're starting our docking approach. We should dock to Harmony Node in thirty minutes."

A male voice answered. "Copy that. We're following your approach."

After twenty minutes of a boringly slow approach at a final 0.03 meters per second, the X-1001’s docking module petals contacted the station's docking ring on Harmony Node. The locking mechanisms engaged accompanied by whirling sounds.

Angie noted the confirmation message on her command screen. “Delphi, tell Houston that we’ve docked and are initiating pressure leak checks.”

 “Yes, Angie.”

After ten minutes of pressure tests, Marty turned the release wheel on the docking chamber's hatch. When he had fully disengaged the locking pins, he swung the hatch open and waited patiently for the ISS docking hatch to open. They had spent less than five minutes getting up to the station and over an hour docking. What a waste.

A smiling face greeted him. "Marty! What the hell are you doing up here? I figured that you'd have a plush desk job by now."

Theodore Daily, better known as Teddy, was a forties something astronaut with a flamboyant reputation. His infectious smile and laughing eyes reinforced his affable demeanor.

"What is this? All my old buddies are still working for NASA and I'm not."

"Let's face it, Fella, you're over the hill," Teddy said as he shook Marty's hand and then helped pull him through the hatch into the station's docking module.

"Yeah, but I'm still having fun," he replied as he helped Angie into the station. "This is Angelina Sarasota."

"Yeah, I've heard of you," Teddy said, shaking her hand. "You pulled NASA's butt out of the fire on Mission-481. Ken Stricklan was part of your crew."

"How's Ken doing these days?" Angie asked.

"He's doing environmental research out of Canaveral. I think he's flying a U-2."

Angie nodded. The two Russians greeted each other with big hugs and animated gibbering. They quickly departed to the Russian Zarya module. Marty, Angie, Teddy and the two EVA astronauts entered the Destiny lab module and began floating around to examine the various experimental and storage racks. Eventually they moved into the JEM, Kibo and Columbus modules.

 “I love it! No floors, just walls.”

Brian smiled. “Don’t need floors. There’s no up or down here.”

Angie moved off with the two EVA astronauts, leaving Brian, Teddy and Marty alone.

 “How is she?” Teddy asked with an ornery grin.

Marty tilted his head like a dog hearing a strange sound. “You mean Angie? She’s great. The best pilot NASA ever had.”

 “I didn’t mean her professional assets.”

Marty half frowned. “Oh, I get it. I wouldn’t know. Ours is only a professional relationship.”

 “Don’t give me that! I know you, Marty. You’re the best skirt chaser I’ve ever known.”

 “I’m over that. I’ve been married and divorced twice. I sure as hell don’t need any more pain. Besides, she could take me down in an instant. She has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.”

Teddy stared wistfully out of a view port. "I've often wondered what it would be like to do it in zero gravity."

"I would refrain from such thoughts if I were you. NASA disapproves of fraternizing."

"Yeah, but you and she aren't in NASA anymore."

Angie approached, ending the conversation. "We have to return to the ship," she said.

Marty frowned. "So soon?"

"This isn't a vacation. We have to transfer the supply module so that Brad and Jeremy can replace the P-5 truss."

Marty gave her a mock salute and an ornery grin. "Yes, Captain."

He got a scolding look in return.

###

Marty watched the station’s remote manipulator system move ever so slowly over to a position near the X-1001’s cargo bay in preparation for the P-5 truss replacement. His attention to the main view screen was diverted to Angie because she had a concerned look on her face, and that made him nervous.

 “We have a problem.”

 “What?”

 “Brad and Jeremy are too sick to do the EVA.”

 “Sick? What’s wrong with them?”

 “Evidently it was something they both had for breakfast. They’re too ill to go out. We’ll have to do it.”

Marty jaw dropped. “You mean as in you and me?”

 “Yes.”

“Well, I’ve done some space walking in my time, but neither of us knows how to do the P-5 truss. These EVA’s are coached by engineers and practiced for weeks. Can’t the Russians do it?”

 “They don’t know anything about it either. We have one advantage over them.”

 “What’s that?”

 “We have Delphi. She can explain the whole operation and send the diagrams to the view screens in our suits.”

 “Have you cleared this with NASA?”

She shook her head. “No, but they have no choice. We’re the only ones who can do this, especially since we have the new armored suits.”

 “Yeah, I forgot about that. We won’t have to go through pre-breath as long as they would since our suits run a higher pressure.”

 “I’ll contact NASA and see if they’ll agree.”

Marty smiled at her. He didn’t really want to go out there, not out of fear, but rather from a concern that he would screw up. He liked to be in control and of late, he felt that his control was slipping away as fast as his confidence.

Angie floated down into her command chair. “Delphi, raise a COM to Houston.”

 “Yes, Angie. You have COM.”

 “Thanks. This is Angelina. We have a problem here.”

 “This is Houston control. What is the nature of your problem?”

 “The EVA astronauts are sick with some kind of intestinal problem and they are incapable of replacing the P-5 truss. Martin and I are offering our services as a replacement EVA crew. We have new, more advanced pressure suits and if you will up-load the P-5 truss diagrams to our computer, we will be able to do the job.”

After a silence: “Copy that. We’ll get back to you on that one.”

 “Thank you.” Angie smiled at Marty. “I think I surprised them.”

 “No doubt. They’re probably calling for a full staff meeting. I can't believe that they would trust us with millions of dollars worth of equipment.”

"I don't understand why you say that. The Consortium is trusting us with billions of dollars worth of equipment."

He shrugged. "Yeah, but the Consortium has more sense than NASA. They only take calculated chances."

"And you don't think NASA does?"

He shrugged again. She tilted her head and looked into his eyes. "You don't want to do it, do you?"

"I'm not afraid, if that's what you mean. It's just that I don't want to screw up. Everybody already thinks I'm too old for this."

"You're not too old. That's nonsense. We--"

"COM is up to Houston, Angie."

"Thank you, Delphi. Go ahead, Houston."

"You have a go for EVA. Your computer should have the diagrams."

"Acknowledged." She turned to flash a smile at Marty. "What did I tell you?"

He just shook his head. He was convinced his partner could charm the skin off of a snake.

###

The view from 250 miles up was magnificent. Beneath its blue atmospheric mantle, the Earth slowly passed in view, revealing blue-gray landmasses speckled with glistening bodies of water that peeked out from under a dressing of clouds both opaque and filamentous. Marty tried to avert his eyes from this powerful visionary treat, but it was difficult. He had work to do and his partner kept reminding him.

 “We’re not here for sight-seeing. We have a limited window of opportunity.”

 “Yeah, I know. It’s just that I can’t ever get over the view.”

 “I know.”

Moving around in zero gravity was like trying to dance under water. Fortunately, with a maneuvering unit strapped to his back, all Marty had to do was tell the computer where he wanted to go and it happened. He did this by pointing to--actually looking at--the location on a view screen.

"I'm going to connect the maneuvering arm," Angie said. "You can start removing the access panels."

"Will do."

When he arrived at the side of the P-5 truss, Marty carefully positioned a zero gravity, battery-powered socket wrench in his right glove and locked it down. The wrench provided a counter rotational force to the opposite direction of the wrench's head. Otherwise, he would end up spinning around instead of the nut. When the nut was completely removed, he deposited it in a pouch by releasing the magnetic field firmly gripping it to the head after he inserted it into the bag.

After staring at the connector inside the access hatch, Marty wanted to scratch his head if he could--which he couldn't. "Hey, should I remove all of the access hatches before I disconnect the cables?"

"Why would you want to do that? It would require moving too many times."

 “Duh! Understood."

"I've connected the maneuvering arm. Are you done with the cables?"

Marty sighed. "Negative on that."

"What's the holdup?"

"These connectors are tight. I'm having trouble with the bolts. They must be a dozen on each connecter."

"Wait. I'll give you a hand."

Oh, goody. That's all I need is a woman to show me how to do my job.

When Angie arrived, she looked over his work. “Why don’t you start on the assembly bolts? I’ll take care of these.”

 “Where are they?”

 “Look it up on your screen.”

 “Yes, Master.”

 “Very funny.”

Marty looked at his screen’s menu command. When the edit command was visible, he scanned down to the search command and used the on-screen keyboard to enter ‘Main Assembly bolts.’ He rotated the diagram of the bolt’s location around by looking at the arrow icons. The bolts were located at five positions on the P5-truss where it attached to the main truss.

This damn thing looks like a friggin' giant erector set. It must weigh ten, fifteen tons. They must think I'm a mechanic for crying out loud.

When he arrived at the lower position, he installed the proper socket into his wrench and began removing it. The bolt had no nut but it was threaded along it entire length and required several minutes to remove it. When it was finally extracted, it failed to detach from his wrench properly and ended up drifting away.

 “Oops!”

 “What happened?”

 “The bolt got away.”

 “Well, go get it. Even if we don’t need it, we don’t want something that large floating around near the station.”

He immediately used his screen to zoom in on the errant bolt. His MMU responded by propelling him to it. When he had it in his glove, he reported his success. “Got it!”

 “Great. Now get back here and remove the other two bolts.”

 “Yes, Master.”

She didn’t reply this time, but he could hear her sigh.

###

Marty finished tightening the docking hatch and checked for leaks before issuing his affirmation. "You can undock now."

"Inform Houston that we're undocking, Delphi," Angie said.

"Yes, Angie."

Marty floated back into the cockpit, stopping near Brian. "We're going to go to half gravity for a while. You guys can get your legs back before we do our re-entry burn."

 “It won’t do any good,” Jeremy said. “The burn will undo any relief we get from your half gravity.”

 “You won’t feel the burn. The Antigrav will take care of that.” He smiled. “Trust me.”

Jeremy gave him a doubtful frown.

"Go to 0.5 G, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

Angie smiled when she saw the two ISS astronauts struggling to stand up after months in zero gravity. She knew what they were going through. Their legs felt like rubber tubes, but it was soon to get worse.

"This is the part of zero gravity that I hate," Marty said. "Even a short time makes your legs feel like rubber bands."

"They should install this gravity thing on the station," Brian said.

"They probably will," Marty said.

"Go to standard gravity, Delphi, and inform Houston that we're ready to do our re-entry burn."

"Yes Angie."

The view on the main screen changed from a receding International Space Station to a curved blue horizon, slowly passing below.

 “Going down,” Marty said.

The burn started with a sharp whine and a jerk. The expansive view on the main screen was both frightening and awesome. A rapidly zooming image filled the screen, making it quite obvious that the X-1001 was plunging straight down.

 “We should enter at about Mach 4.0,” Angie said.

The craft began to buffet but there was no sign of frictional heating, no glowing fire of re-entry. Angie typed something into a keyboard.

 “We’ve slowed to Mach 3.0.”

The view leveled out as the engines stopped burning forward and began burning aft to guide the plane to a landing.

 “Inform Houston that we’re on approach to Edwards.”

 “Yes, Angie.”

 “Wow!” Brian said. “That’s the easiest re-entry I’ve ever experienced.”

Marty turned to give him a knowing smile. “Yeah, it sure as hell beats the old way.”

Brian replied with a big grin. “You're right about that, ol’ buddy.”

###

Marty and Angie were the last to exit the X-1001, and they were immediately greeted by Tindale, Clarence and Arthur while solders took up positions around the craft and technicians began their safety checks.

 “Welcome back,” Tindale said, smiling. “Thank you for substituting for the EVA crew.”

 “No problem,” Marty said, adding a prideful smile. “It gave us an opportunity to check out the new suits.”

 “A congressional bill has been introduced to purchase two more of these amazing machines,” Clarence said. “Your successful trip to the ISS has helped it along.”

 “Why don’t we add an additional incentive?” Marty said.

 “What do you mean?” Clarence said.

 “You’ve always wanted to know if there’s water on the moon. We could go on a day trip to the moon, land in the south polar Aitken Basin, go down in one of the permanently shadowed craters and see if there’s ice.”

 “You make it sound easy,” Arthur said. “A trip like that would take years to accomplish.”

 “Not with one of these,” Marty said, gesturing to the X-1001. “We can go as soon as the engineers clear it. All you need is a couple of volunteers.”

Clarence rubbed his jaw. “That won’t be a problem. We have plenty of astronauts willing to go on a mission, even if it’s risky.”

Angie shook her head. “I doubt if a trip to the moon would be risky. It should be relatively easy.”

 “Getting to the moon and back will be a walk in the park,” Marty said. “Getting down into one of those dark craters will be the risky part. Fortunately, we do have the maneuvering units. We’ll also have to see that your volunteers get the new suits.”

"We'll need to schedule training," Clarence said. "And, I know just the location for it."

Marty indicated his approval with a wide grin. He had no idea what kind of training was necessary for a lunar excursion. His last Orion mission to the moon had been flawless. What more did they expect?