Jazz's Asteroid

By Diane J Cornwell

Who said bad luck only happens in threes?

When fourteen year old apprentice tug pilot Jason “Jazz” Jackson rescues a loose steel beam before it breeches the space station and kills hundreds, he is accused of breaking rules by the space station manager.

He then fails an unexpected simulator test, even though he is aware he is the best apprentice tug pilot at the station. He starts to doubt his abilities.

Next he is blamed for stealing the station manager’s pet walking fish. He looks for evidence to prove his innocence and discovers an asteroid approaching his sector of space and time is running out. With all pilots evacuating key personnel to the planet, he comes up with a daring plan based on an unproven theory to save everyone still on the station.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tift Publishing
• Release date: Mar 31, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458098726

Diane J Cornwell

Diane J Cornwell learnt to read before she started school at the age of five. At school she learnt to write the words she already recognized. She loved going to school. When she was asked to write a story on her holiday activities, Diane wrote a story on what she wanted to do, not what she did, and earned an “A” grade for the homework. That started her on a life of writing fiction.A bi-product of all that reading was creating her own stories about determined characters who try to make the right decisions the first time during their adventures. Stories she can read over and over again just for the pleasure of revisiting the characters.Diane wrote her first full length novel in 2007, and hopes to have many more stories created in the coming years.

Book preview

JAZZ’S ASTEROID

By

Diane J Cornwell

JAZZ’S ASTEROID

By Diane J Cornwell © 2011

Published by Tift Publishing at Smashwords

Cover Copyright © 2011 Diane J Cornwell

Cover picture of space credited to European Southern Observatory (ESO) at http://www.eso.org/

Cover pictures of planet, asteroid and satellites credited to NASA at http://www.nasa.gov/

This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents and actions are either products of this author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Chapter 1

Apprentice pilot Jason Jazz Jackson slowly let his breath out as he manipulated the two external hydraulic claws on the left side of his space tug. The claws extended until they rested beside the handles of the last pallet waiting in the freighter’s hold.

Because he had already moved the rest of the cargo without a single problem, he was confident this last pallet would be as easy. He still took care as he locked the claws onto the handles of the pallet. When the space-suited crewman gave the thumbs up sign, Jazz moved his attention to the tug monitors arrayed under the front window. He fired one short burst of the two forward thrusters to gently back his tug out of the freighter’s large hold.

Clear of the freighter, he opened a channel to the station. Tug Five Two ready to unload in bay three.

He turned his mike off so the soft snores coming from Captain Adam Hinchcliff in the tug’s second control chair were not broadcast on the open channel.

Jazz watched the space around his tug while he waited. When one tug exited docking bay three, he thought how the small metal tug was similar to a mite fleeing an elephant. It left the enormous curved section of the wheel of the space station and flew towards a waiting spaceship. Not that he had ever visited Earth or seen an elephant, but he remembered the shapes and names of all earth animals his tutor insisted he learn years ago.

Control acknowledges request of Tug Five Two. The control room on the station finally answered. Will advise when bay three is cleared.

Jazz listened to the chatter over the open channel while another tug requested entry to the same docking bay and was given the same answer. He recognised the voice of his best friend Pete. Pete was also an apprentice tug pilot, but only in his first year of training.

He flipped on his mike. Wait in line, Pete.

I think it will be a long shift, Pete responded. There are two more freighters waiting behind this one.

I heard, Jazz agreed. But rules are rules. We are only allowed to do four hours before we take a break. Only ten minutes to go. He toggled his mike off again.

He glanced out the side window behind Adam to admire the huge planet hanging in space, designated 47-26-109 and commonly called Sunshine. Sunlight from the primary reflected off the water in spots where the dirty clouds parted, showing why it was named Sunshine.

The planet would certainly be beautiful when the scientists finished seeding it to adjust the atmosphere for humans, and the trees grew and grass covered the lowlands.

… and it is supposed to pass close by within the next few days.

Jazz bought his attention back to the background chatter between the freighters while they waited for their cargo to be offloaded and loaded with new goods to be taken out-system.

Bunch of rumours if you ask me, a second voice suggested. Was Johnny drinking when he said that?

Naw, he was cold sober. Just come off a run in-system, so he could have been overtired and imagined it.

Jazz heard the pilots laugh before the chatter stopped.

Control to Tug Five Two, make your way to bay three.

Jazz bought his attention back to his monitors. Tug Five Two to control. Acknowledged, control.

Oops.

It was the only warning Jazz received before a second tug bumped into the crate held close to the side of his tug. He was ready when the force of the bump pushed his tug sideways. The thrusters fired and the tug slowed.

Jazz watched in horror as the steel beam in the claws of the second tug broke free and slowly spun end over end moving towards the side of the space station.

He calculated speed and distance and what amount of thrust he would need to place his tug beside the beam before it reached the station, while he focused on the tug that hit him. He caught the markings and realised it was apprentice pilot Gayle English.

Using just enough thrust, he brought his tug to a stop and released the pallet. Gayle, catch this pallet and leave the beam to me.

He toggled the mike off before he spun his chair around and kicked Adam’s leg. Wake up, we have trouble.

He continued to breathe slowly as he turned back to the array of monitors. His brain finished computing the speed and distance.

Jazz activated the thrusters for the time he calculated. He prayed his mathematical skills did not fail him, because he had no time to enter numbers into the computer and wait for an answer. His tug sped towards the spinning beam.

If his calculations were correct he would pull alongside the beam well before it hit the side of the station. He tried not to think of the chaos inside the station if the concourse windows were breached. None of the personnel inside would have a chance.

The background chatter stopped while he kept his eyes on the tumbling beam.

Emergency! Control, emergency! Evacuate concourse and lock down station. Emergency! Control, please respond.

Good! Someone alerted the station. With luck, everyone should escape the concourse before the place was breached.

It felt like hours instead of minutes before the tug came alongside the beam. He remembered to breathe slowly as he fired reverse thrusters. That slowed his tug to match speed with the moving object. He still had to wait until the spin of the beam aligned with the extended claws waiting to capture it.

Adam’s snores intruded on his concentration while he waited, but because he could not remember if he toggled the mike off or not, he did not risk talking. There was no way he was going to admit that he was piloting and not Adam. He just could not take his eyes off the beam to check.

Finally the beam swung level and he guided the claws to grab hold. They locked on, but the momentum of the spin dragged the tug forward. The beam was four times as long as his tug, and awkward to handle, but he fired quick pulses, removing the spin until the tug remained steady. It was only then he realised how close his tug had drifted towards the side of the station directly in line with the concourse windows.

All the training on his father’s ship where he lived before he came to Sunshine Station, and the many hours he spent on the station simulators over the past two years, helped him remain calm as he again changed the angle of the thrusters and fired them, forcing the tug to skim up the side of the station.

He watched the monitors as he kept the tug on a heading away from the station and the waiting freighters.

As he drifter out into space Jazz noticed his arms and legs shook inside his space suit. He realised how close the station came to disaster.

A quick glance confirmed the mike was off, so he yelled at Adam. Wake up. The station will be screaming soon and you will have to answer. Adam, wake up. Even his voice shook. Jazz coughed to clear his throat.

What! Adam turned his head sideways to look at Jazz.

Accident nearly happened. I rescued this beam before it hit the concourse window and breached the station. Let me do the talking when they start screaming, and listen carefully.

He toggled the mike back on. Tug Five Two to control. Request immediately dock in bay three.

He slowly flew the tug on a circular path back to the station, keeping well clear of the waiting ships and other working tugs. He even had time to appreciate the full view of the station as it slowly turned. From the high angle of his approach he could just make out the curve of the central bulb where all the station machinery resided,