![\"ch10-1a\"](\"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/ch10-1a.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nTom laughed and replied, “If we had known this was going to happen, we would have outfitted the HP with a steam-powered generator before we left. OK, you’re all set. I’ll give you a ‘Go’ once I’m back on Deck One, that hatch is sealed, and the ladder-well is depressurized.”<\/p>\n
“Roger that,” Carl replied. Carl began climbing the rung-ladder to the roof hatch, as Tom descended the two Jefferson ladders. Before opening the roof hatch, Carl paused, listening to the first deck hatch being sealed, the hiss of the air being pumped out of the ladder well, and then the headset, “OK, we’re just about ready,” Tom said.<\/p>\n
“Good. How’s my Comm?” Carl asked.<\/p>\n
“Reading you wall to wall,” Tom said over the earpiece. Then, turning to Valerie, “Medical and Environments?” he queried.<\/p>\n
“Go,” She responded.<\/p>\n
Then to Brandon, “Transport?”<\/p>\n
“Transport is a Go,” Brandon replied.<\/p>\n
Tom then announced over the Com, “Carl, you are Go for EVA.”<\/p>\n
“Roger that,” Carl answered back. “I’m opening the hatch, now.”<\/p>\n
At 20% Earth Normal Gravity, the hatch felt as if it only weighed about 4.5 kg. Carl released the clamps and pushed upward. The hatch opened easily. He closed the sun blocking gold shield-plate before proceeding further up the ladder and then drew himself up one rung, followed by another until the rim of the hatch was at chest level. Carl unfastened a small, compact electrical winch from his utility belt and attached the power-spool end to the top rung of the ladder. The other end, he attached to the handle-like ring built into the chest-plate of the suit (the design inspired by the Star Trek movie, The Wrath of Khan). He was now secured to the spacecraft by something more substantial than just the umbilical line. Placing a portable magnetic video camera atop the Hab near the hatch for Brandon to scrutinize the operation, Carl reported, “Ready to deploy.”<\/p>\n
“Roger, I have you on camera,” Brandon acknowledged and began operating the winch remotely from the first deck. “Proceed.” As the small motor on the winch began turning, it reeled out the cable, allowing Carl to move further up the ladder.<\/p>\n
Carl clambered up and out onto the top of the Hab, remaining perched on his hands and knees to maintain a low center of gravity. For a moment, he felt slightly disoriented, as the Hab was still rotating, albeit much slower than it had been. From his prospective, everything was moving around him as if he were the center of the universe. His better judgment whispered not to try standing up if he didn’t need to.<\/p>\n
As Brandon reeled him out little by little, Carl slowly inched towards the sunny side of the Hab. Lacking any handholds on the side of the craft, Carl would have to rely on Brandon to lower him into place, just out of sight of the camera.<\/p>\n
As he began turning around to lower himself over the edge, feet first, Tom shot up a hand to get Brandon’s attention and called out, “Hold up there a moment, Carl.” Brandon stopped the winch and Carl came to an abrupt halt, nearly bringing him down onto the side of his faceplate. “Sorry about that,” Brandon apologized. Tom continued, “Carl, I would like you to set out over the edge, headfirst. The location to work on is high on the side, so you really shouldn’t need to go past your waist.”<\/p>\n
Sally was standing by on the Hydroponic Deck to assist. At this point, it was sealed off from the ladder-well, along with all of the other decks. Tom then ordered, “Sally, in bay 3, using the headset and infrared scanner, let Carl know when he is in position. Where the bulkhead is exposed on the inside, we want Carl to peel back the insulation on the outside.”<\/p>\n
“Roger,” Sally acknowledged.<\/p>\n
Tom continued, “Carl, you’ve got that old Android Tablet on you, right?” Now that Carl had re-adjusted his orientation, Tom and Brandon were once again viewing the soles of Carl’s boots, as Brandon once again began reeling him out, in the direction of the sunny side of the ship.<\/p>\n
“Affirmative,” Carl replied. He began to extract the small, somewhat antiquated multi-media device from the left thigh pocket of his suit. It had been a gift from his mother when he acquired his Engineering degree.<\/p>\n
“You won’t need it until you are in position,” Tom told him. “But when we are ready, I’ll have you manipulate it to cast a shadow on the outer bulkhead.”<\/p>\n
Carl smiled in understanding. “Gotcha,” He said. He could visualize the plan as Tom had explained it. As Carl shades an area on the sunny side of the ship, Sally will be able to view the cooler reading on the inner bulkhead using the IR scanner and thus be able to guide him to the exact point on the outside.<\/p>\n
A moment later, Sally was in position and they were ready to go. With Brandon operating the winch, Carl dangled headfirst over the edge, stopping as he was suspended at waist level. Sally could distinguish Carl’s silhouette on the inside of the bulkhead, moving slowly and shape-shifting as re-exposed areas regained heat while other regions became shaded. “Carl, can you hear me?” Sally inquired.<\/p>\n
“Loud and clear,” he responded, already holding the five-inch by seven-and-a-half-inch Tablet at arm’s length from his right hand. Sally could easily make out the rectangular shape well enough to ascertain where it was.<\/p>\n
“OK, switch it to the other hand,” she directed, then waited for the image to stop moving again. “Good. Now, move it ten centimeters to the left.”<\/p>\n
Being upside-down, Carl’s instinct was: ‘as seen by an observer on the outside, right side-up’. So he moved his hand to the right.<\/p>\n
“No, my left\u2026” Sally began to say, then added with a smile in her voice, “and yours too, for that matter.”<\/p>\n
Carl paused a moment, then mugged, “D’oh!” Everyone on the circuit laughed, including Carl, as he shifted his Tablet the other way.<\/p>\n
Sally waited for the image to stop once more. “OK. Now reach up about ten centimeters. That’s toward your belt,” she said, with just the right amount of sarcasm to show it was all in fun and not meant to offend.<\/p>\n
“Yes, mom,” Carl groaned, mockingly.<\/p>\n
Trying not to laugh, Sally went into a mock orgasmic romp gasping, “Um, that’s it. That’s the spot. Yeah, right there, Ooh.”<\/p>\n
Tom broke in at that point, “OK Carl. Mark that spot and commence removing the insulation, as we discussed. At a meter or less from the bulkhead, the outline of your Tablet should be just about the right size section needed. Just peel off one layer at a time, leave it un-shaded till I tell you if more is needed or not, and we will go on from there. Copy?”<\/p>\n
“Roger that, Commander. Can I go back to listening to Sally, now?” Carl chuckled.<\/p>\n
Tom replied, “We need to finish this side, get you turned 180 to the dark side (although I see you are already there, mentally), repeat the process, and then send you back inside immediately after. Ok, boys and girls, fun time’s over for now, I’m afraid.”<\/p>\n
In unison, Carl, Sally, and even Brandon, expressed a long drawn out, “Aaawww.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Saturday, October 13, 2018 (Yuriday, Pisces 33, 0031) 6:00 p.m. “Good evening and welcome to CNN News. At this very moment in deep space, a hazardous undertaking is under way. We have learned that the veteran astronauts aboard Bolo One are sending the youngest member of the crew, Dr. Carl Wilson, outside the spacecraft to perform a harrowing space walk. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":186,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chapter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":417,"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions\/417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}