Launch Test

“Red Deck!”

As the command echoed throughout the ship, the lights on the Launch Deck shifted to red, bathing the brand-new Eagle S-3 fighters in a crimson glow. The red signified to everyone on the Deck that flight operations were beginning, but the fighters were not yet ready to launch. For the pilots and flight crews running down their prelaunch checklists, this was routine.

For Lieutenant Paul Glenn, watching from the control tower, it was anything but routine. Almost creepy, in fact, the way the red light covered everything, almost as though everyone was illuminated in blood before the battle even started-not that there was ever any blood in a space battle. But it was also remarkable, watching the men and women down below preparing to launch fighters from a spacecraft. Everyone knew their job and worked seamlessly together.

It was intimidating to someone like Paul, being surrounded by these smart, cocky, and seasoned crewmembers. Even though he’d been in the Fleet for six years now, this was his first actual voyage on a space carrier. Paul was not a typical military officer. In fact, he was something of a nerd, introverted and shy, still unsure if he really belonged here. He’d been recruited for his technical expertise, and had spent his entire Fleet career so far on the planet’s surface, involved with research and development. He’d stayed nice and safe on the planet’s surface, while the cocky young space pilots went out and flew among the stars. But this latest project was his brainchild, and his boss had insisted he be aboard for the first test.

Suddenly, all of the controllers in the tower were on their feet, standing at attention and looking at Paul. Or rather, looking at something behind. Paul turned, and his stomach dropped. Admiral Jennifer Burns did not look particularly tough or scary. She was short and little dumpy, like she could be a younger grandma. But it was her eyes-piercing, tough, uncompromising-that could tell you who she really was: an experienced fighter pilot, a demanding boss, and a woman who didn’t miss details. Paul quickly snapped to attention as well.

“At ease”, ordered the Admiral. “Everyone back to your stations. Lieutenant…”

“Lieutenant Glenn”, Paul responded.

“Lieutenant Glenn”, she said curtly. “I understand you’re the engineer who conceived of this project?”

Oh crap, Paul thought. The Admiral was in charge of the entire Fleet. It would take something big for her to come down personally to the Launch Deck. Where had he messed up? “Yes ma’am”, he said quietly, his voice shaking.

“Tell me about this innovation you’ve thought up”, she said.

Paul took a deep breath. So she just wanted to learn about what was happening? Nerve-racking, but at least he wasn’t in trouble.

“Of course, Admiral”, he answered. “One of the biggest challenges we face in space, as you know, is the ability to launch fighters. Back on Earth, when fighters were launched on ships in the ocean, the carriers that carried those fighters were enormous. They needed to be, in order to carry such a large number of fighters and have enough space for all of them to take off. But spaceships are different-they can’t be built too big on planetary surface, or they’d never be able to escape the gravitational pull. Which leaves only three options. First, you can build giant spaceships in space so that they don’t have to worry about escaping the atmosphere.”

The Admiral nodded. “But that presents its own problems. It’s very challenging to build the ship in space, and also extremely costly. And the ship can never enter the planet’s atmosphere, not even for the most minor maintenance. Other Fleets in the galaxy use this strategy, and they spend all their resources building and maintaining only a few ships.”

“Yes, exactly. So we build smaller ships. But that means each individual ship can only support a limited number of fighters. Otherwise there wouldn’t be enough space for takeoff.”

The Admiral nodded again. “Yes, that’s also been a perplexing challenge. But no one seems to have any better solutions. Until you, I suppose?”

“Well, Admiral, I’ve always wondered why ships need a runway. There’s no gravity in space, so why is so much of the Launch Deck taken up for fighters to launch.”

“But the artificial gravity in the ships is essential. Yes, it requires us to maintain a runway, but turning off the gravity is even more dangerous. The Atlantean IV fleet experimented with it several years back. The entire crew had to be strapped down to their stations during flight operations. They couldn’t even walk through the passageways. The ship was completely helpless.”

Paul nodded in agreement. He’d always thought of fighter pilots as dumb jocks. Brave, yes. Charismatic, yes. Cocky, most definitely. But not smart. But Admiral Burns was sharp. He continued on.

“That’s true. But a couple of years ago, I started wondering why we couldn’t just turn off the gravity on the Launch Deck, while keeping the gravity in the rest of the ship. That would mean the fighters wouldn’t need a long runway to takeoff.”

For the first time, the Admiral started to look concerned. “Hold on their Lieutenant. That’s an interesting idea. But the fighters would still need to fire their engines in order to get out of the ship. That’s dangerous if there are too many fighters too close together.”

“I realized that too, Admiral. In fact, several of the other scientists and engineers I work with had already had this idea, and abandoned it for this very reason. But I thought, what if you don’t turn off the gravity? What if instead, we shifted the artificial gravity to the Launch side?”

The Admiral’s eyes widened, her first real display of emotion in their conversation. She was impressed. “So the fighters wouldn’t even need to have forward momentum. The gravity would pull them towards the Launch door, and they would just…fall out of the ship.”

“Exactly. They can engage their engines once they’re clear of the ship.”

The Admiral was silent for a moment. Paul could see the gears turning in her head, as she contemplated his solution, and any potential challenges. Finally, she nodded. “Let’s so how it goes then.” She took a position next to Paul, staring down at the Launch Deck, and nodded at the Tower Chief. “Whenever you’re ready.”

The Tower Chief looked at Paul, who gave him a thumbs up. The Chief leaned down and spoke into his receiver.

“Yellow Deck! All hands, standby for Launch!”

The red lights instantly switched to gold. The flight crews began grabbing their gear and clearing the Launch Deck, while the pilots strapped into their cockpit seats. Once the Deck was cleared, the Chief looked over at Paul.

“Wanna do the honors, Lieutenant?”

Paul walked up to Tower console. This is it, he thought. He reached down to a panel of two red switches, and flicked the first one. Everything felt the same in the Control Tower. But as Paul looked out the window, he could see the pilots slowly shift in their seats. They were no longer sitting down; rather their bodies were falling against their straps as the new gravity pulled them towards what had previously been the outer hull of the ship.

The communications specialist sitting in the Tower next to the Chief looked up at Paul. “Admiral, Lieutenant, all the pilots report ready for Launch.”

The Admiral nodded. “Anything else you need to do before we Launch, Lieutenant Glenn?”

Paul shook his head.

“Alright”, responded the Admiral. “Chief, call the bridge and let them know we are ready for Launch.”

The Chief nodded. He radioed the Bridge, and after listening for a few seconds, looked over at Paul again. “Okay Lieutenant. Let’s do it.”

Paul flicked the second switch.

“Green Deck!” exclaimed the Tower Chief, his voice echoing throughout the ship. “Fighters launch launch launch!”

Green light bathed the Launch Deck. The door on the outer hall snapped open, revealing the dark emptiness of space. The latches on the first row of fighters released with a snap, and the fighters dropped from the Deck into the abyss of space. The second row followed immediately behind them, then the third, and finally the fourth. Paul watched silently. All the pilots were brave and well-trained. With the ship’s forward momentum, the subsequent rows should be dropping out right next each other. With no other gravitational or drag forces, the ships should simply fall until they were clear of the ship before they engaged their engines. But no amount of calculations or simulations could ever fully predict what would happen with a live test. Even a simple miscalculation, or pilot error, or mechanical failure, could mean the death of a pilot, maybe many pilots. The faces of the Admiral, the Chief, and the rest of the Tower personnel told Paul that the same thoughts were on everyone’s mind. The silence in the Tower was so thick, Paul almost wondered if the hull integrity had been compromised, and the vacuum of space had sucked out even the quietest noise.

Finally, the communications specialist looked up. “All fighters report safe launch.”

The silence was shattered as the entire Tower burst into cheers. All except for two: Lieutenant Paul Glenn and Admiral Jennifer Burns. Paul immediately began recording the results of the test-just because the first trial had been successful, didn’t mean his work was done. Meanwhile, the corners of the Admiral’s mouth flitted up into a small smile, the first smile Paul had seen from her.

“Excellent work Lieutenant Glenn”, she said, loudly enough for everyone in the Tower to head. “This could revolutionize how our carriers operate. The Fleet is lucky to have you.”

“Th-Thank you, ma’am”, Paul stuttered.

The Fleet is lucky to have you. The words circled through Paul’s head as he tried to continue writing up his progress report. A small surge of pride and confidence was growing in his heart. It wasn’t every day you got a compliment from the Admiral.