Disabled Space

By Claire Summer

Following an horrific accident, NASA's lead astronaut Jane “Summit” Lipton awakens from a coma to an alien world, life in a wheelchair here on Earth.

A year later, China is winning the new space race. Due to launch the first manned mission to Mars ahead of the United States.

Tracked down by a passionate group of misfits, Jane is offered an astonishing proposition. Facing unprecedented challenges, she must train harder than ever before and prove to herself that she still possesses the right stuff.

Will she reach the red planet first?

You are invited, not only on an incredible voyage of discovery but an emotional journey of courage. Beyond the impossible made possible by the human spirit.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bright Ideas Inc
• Release date: Jul 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005694296

Book preview

Disabled Space

Written by Claire Summer

Published by Bright Ideas Inc

Copyright 2020 V3.0

Technology used in this story exists.

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Foreword from the author

It’s incredibly difficult to become an astronaut.

NASA’s selection process is notoriously rigorous.

Only the extraordinarily intelligent, strongest, most skilled among thousands of applicants are finally selected to a mere handful of candidates.

Presently there are no programs for individuals with disabilities.

* * * * * *

Prologue

--- One ---

Mission to Mars, the news bulletin aired on the gas station's counter television. It interrupted the entertainment show – Find a Star that the daydreaming cashier was watching whilst simultaneously completing overdue homework, painting her pristine nails and texting no-good boys – those types are the most fun. Opened mouthed, chin cupped in her palm, Chastity surmised that if a hick town waif, made to look real pretty on set, can sing her way to one million bucks, then finally after yet another year of saying I'll apply next season, she should enter this damn competition once and for all. Be done with school and win. Claim the life she so rightly deserved.

Chastity licked her pearly teeth and returned to mundane reality. Caked her already ruby lips with another glutinous layer of lip gloss. Leaning back in her chair enabled the full-chested teen to view the cracked convex security mirror. Her pa refused to invest in a proper camera system, it still served its purpose well, a Godsend considering the sinful after-hours activities she got up to with the Hatfield's eldest sons, Billy and his brother Thomas.

The store had one browsing customer. The female shopper, not from around here, unsure what to purchase from the shelves. Kept swapping the items back. Finally made the best choice from the limited offerings, certainly nothing healthy or of premium quality. Reading the full list of chemical ingredients, the customer sensed her actions were being scrutinized. Fully aware of her surroundings without needing to divert her eyes. In the background, the mosquito green light sizzled another fated victim as the television's breaking report continued.

The high-cheeked boned, fluffy presenter handed over to the local channel's space correspondent. A gentleman forty years her senior, grey sideburns and thinning on top. Station wardrobe had dressed him to resemble a knowledgeable professor. He read off the teleprompter, an expert at that.

NASA today announced the date for a manned mission to the red planet. Eighteen months from now to coincide with Mars' perihelic opposition. The graphics behind him played out a spinning red globe and a dotted trajectory course from Gateway Station in orbit around the moon. "Kennedy Space Center later hinted that the Zubrin Expedition flight commander might be a woman. The images changed to a photo of a late thirties female fighter pilot Lt Cdr Jane SUMMIT" Lipton. Her service record and awards scrolled with stock footage of Operation Iraqi Freedom and other aerial combat engagements. A final sequence of a dangerous carrier landing in hurricane conditions faded to Jane piloting an Orion space capsule towards the moon.

Uninterested, Chastity changed the channel before the hosts closed out with a joke about little green men. Jane placed the basket of goodies next to the cash register. The open mathematical homework was incorrect but the clerk's nails were immaculately coloured. There was something familiar about the customer that Chastity couldn't place. She felt drawn to check back towards the television. A popular series about vampires attending high school had started. Easily distracted, Chastity blindly scanned the items as the handsome floppy-haired star accidentally bit into the cafeteria's garlic bread. A serious episode which involved an allergic reaction, a trip to A&E and his human girlfriend having to break-in and substitute his bizarre test results before the doctors discovered the truth.

Outside on the forecourt, Sam finished gassing up the white 1962 Corvette. Wiped the filler-cap clean with dispenser tissue and placed the pump on its cradle. The late afternoon sky brilliantly rich with colour, this evening would be just perfect. The setting sun neared the steeple peaks of the mighty Rockies. Overnight temperatures still pleasantly mild at this elevation, warm enough to sleep outdoors without a tent. Just as well because the ground blankets and two thermal sleeping-bags stowed in the car's restricted trunk had taken all available space. The weekend's most precious item securely zipped inside Sam's jacket pocket, the engagement ring he intended to ask Jane to marry him with.

A cable maintenance guy in his sixty's got out of the unwashed Bronco parked at the pump behind Sam. Joe's enormous belly overhung his loose jeans while the utility belt above created an unsightly pale loop of fatty flesh caught in-between. He did a sort of Irish jig as he pulled his pants up, they slid down two seconds later. Nice car. You know there was a time I could fit behind the wheel, not any more. He scratched his tummy with both hands. Enjoy it while you can. The years creep up on you.

It's not mine, Sam grinned, formed an instant camaraderie with Joe, it's hers. He pointed at Jane stepping out from the store, groceries tucked underarm. Military personnel have a different gait to the rest of us, clean sharp strides, flat square shoulders and a purpose. She won't let me anywhere near the beast.

Can't blame her. I wouldn't let you either. Joe chuckled. His knees cracked as he bent down to admire the sporty roadster sleek lines. Ran his hands over the curves. It wouldn't hold its own against modern vehicles, its original raw horsepower long since bolted but what it represented Joe understood wholeheartedly. Well, she's a beaut alright.

Sam's focus entirely in the opposite direction. His eyes fixed on Jane. That she is, that she is. She beamed a loving smile at him in return.

--- Two ---

Jane filled her lungs to capacity, an abundance of fresh air. Not just air but the fragrances it carried and its texture so rich. Recycled scrubbed oxygen aboard a space module is a tasteless thick soup. She laid back onto her bedroll, studied dancing Sam as he threw another log on the campfire, proud of his inferno. He was acting a little strange, the influence of his third beer perhaps?

"Fire, man's earliest technological leap and here we are two million years later still mesmerized by it. It's