Space Hoax (Hoax Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  The NASA Administrator shook his head. “Sir, this problem they are having may require their spacecraft to enter the atmosphere ballistic.”

  “What the hell is that?”

  “It’s a very dangerous way to return to Earth. They will have no control of their spacecraft and will reach up to 9 g. This is tough on the body when wearing an anti-g spacesuit, and possibly fatal without one.”

  A flash of disappointment swelled through the President. “Damn.” His voice grew in strength. “We need to re-establish communication with the Chinese. That hero cannot die.”

  2

  HANG ON

  Something was terribly wrong. Peter’s heart was practically pounding out of his chest as a sickening feeling started to rush through him. The Shenzhou spacecraft was entering the atmosphere in the upside down position. Instead of feeling the powerful g-forces pushing him into his seat, he instead was being pulled, hanging helplessly by his restraining straps. The heat shield, needed to protect them from the fiery re-entry, was on the wrong side. As their capsule aerobraked in the upper atmosphere, the nose of the spacecraft was taking the brunt of the entry. If they continued entering in this incorrect position, it would only be a matter of minutes before the light metal hatch up front would burn, giving way and killing them all.

  Tang struggled against all the jostling and g-forces trying to remedy the situation. Unfortunately, they were in a radio blackout, so no help was coming from CNSA. Due to the aerodynamic design of the Descent Module, it naturally wanted to fall with the heat shield forward; therefore, something was preventing it from rotating. Peter concluded one of the other two modules must not have separated when their explosive bolts fired. He was sure it was the Service Module since they were upside down.

  Peter yelled out, “The Service Module must still be attached.”

  “I understand. Nothing I can stop,” called out Tang, matter-of-factly.

  Shit, that wasn’t what Peter wanted to hear. He looked straight ahead at the hatch in front of them as smoke started to seep in. If this thing doesn’t flip soon, we’re dead. The hatch couldn’t handle much more. He hated not having any control over the situation. He couldn’t die like this, not now. He looked out his porthole window to see a fiery display. As he studied the fire show, burning chunks occasionally passed by, which he was sure were parts of the Service Module. Come on baby, burn. Since they were free falling and had no control over the craft, their only chance of survival was for the Service Module to break free by the frictional forces. This would allow their craft to flip to its naturally designed orientation for re-entry, protecting them from the dangerous heat buildup.

  Sweat was starting to drip profusely off Peter’s face, a sign they were entering the atmosphere. The temperature in the small cabin was reaching well over 100 F.

  Suddenly, a woman’s voice blared through the cabin speakers, speaking in Chinese. Knowing it wasn’t CNSA, he assumed it was some kind of warning, possibly a voice synthesizer integrated into the spacecraft’s precautionary panels informing them of a problem. Peter forced a smirk. No shit, Sherlock.

  Tang reached over with his gloved hand and aggressively flipped a switch, cutting her off in mid-sentence.

  Peter peeked at the instrument panel; they were approaching 4 g. His eyeballs began bulging out of his head as the straps cut into his skin, the coveralls offering little protection. Damn, this hurts.

  The spacecraft began to violently shudder back and forth as Peter held on for dear life. With a sudden loud bang, the capsule vigorously swung 180 degrees on its axis. The vicious centrifugal force slammed him into his seat, like some wild amusement ride. The force once pulling him was now smashing him into his seat as the craft now aerobraked in the correct position, leading with the heat shield.

  Tang grunted, “Module free, go ballistic.”

  The immediate sigh of relief Peter experienced with the decent module breaking free and still being in one piece was quickly displaced by the need to go into survival mode. Though happy he wasn’t going to burn to death, he now had to worry about surviving a ballistic return, the treacherous re-entry he didn’t want. They were falling out of control in a steep dive that would subject him to 9 g. The spacecraft began to slowly spin like a bullet. He was struggling to breath. It felt like an elephant was sitting on him. Unfortunately, his seat was not form fitted to his body so certain pressure points were digging into him; he simply had to bear the excruciating pain. He glanced at the g-force monitor and saw they were approaching 6 g. Shit, I have to handle three more of these!

  Peter used all of his strength to push out his abdominal muscles to help with his labored breathing. He was having a hard time swallowing and willed his body to stop. His vision was beginning to blur. Come on, Peter, you can do this. Stay focused! The force on his body kept increasing, and every little shake of the spacecraft hurt. He felt himself starting to black out. He continued to flex his muscles throughout his body to fight off the pressure, forcing himself to stay conscious. From the grunts he heard in his headset, Tang and Nei were struggling too, but at least they had anti-g suits. Nobody moved or said a word.

  KUANG PIN PACED nervously back and forth, rubbing his sweaty hands together in the Control Room of the China National Space Administration. As Director of CNSA, he knew he would be held responsible for failing to beat the Americans back to the moon, allowing the United States to expose China’s lies and humiliate his country in front of the world. His only possible hope for saving face was to take prisoner the American astronaut who had carried out the mission and question him.

  Kuang stopped pacing and turned to the flight director. With a sense of anxiety creeping through his voice, he asked, “When should they emerge from the blackout?”

  The young man covered the microphone of his headset before turning around to make eye contact with the director. “Radio transmission should be re-established in eight minutes, sir.”

  Kuang raised his bushy eyebrows. “Do we have an accurate assessment of their landing zone?”

  Without blinking, the flight director answered, “Within a twenty-five mile radius, sir, as long as no problems occur during blackout.”

  “Good. I want the American taken prisoner and brought to Jiuquan as soon as they land.”

  In a respectful tone the flight director calmly answered, “Yes, sir, these orders are already in place. We have Mi-17 army helicopters dispatched within the landing zone ready and waiting.”

  Kuang grunted and resumed pacing.

  PETER’S EYES ABRUPTLY popped open as he was violently stirred awake. He was momentarily confused of his whereabouts as he stared glassy-eyed. He took a second to assess his situation, realizing he must have blacked out during re-entry. As he cleared his head and wiped the sweat from his forehead, sunshine filled the cabin. Tang was barking coordinates over the radio. The high g-forces had subsided. Peter slowly lifted his head and felt around his body; everything seemed fine and in place. He took a glimpse outside and saw blue skies. By the way the spacecraft was lightly swaying, they were hanging from the main parachute. Either the snatch of the chute or the release of the heat shield must have jarred him awake. A big grin slowly etched upon his face. He made it. He had survived.

  Peter shook his head to get his bearings before peering over at the display in front of Tang. It was time to figure out how he was going to escape. He saw a map that looked to have their landing zone, but the little red outline circle was no longer in Northern China; it was now just outside of Kyrgyzstan in Western China. His silly ass grin was replaced by a sly smile. They were going to land well short of their target area due to the problem separating from the Service Module. That meant there would be no waiting party or militia close by. Good news. Plus, Peter knew of a U.S. air base in Kyrgyzstan. This might be his only opportunity to escape. He studied the map to get an idea of the terrain and direction he would need to head. A river ran through the center of the circle toward Kyrgyzstan. Tang turned to see Peter peering at the map
and quickly switched the screen.

  “You okay?” asked the commander.

  Assuming they were on a hot mic, Peter answered, “Wow, what a ride. I’m just happy to have survived. Good job, Captain.”

  While Tang went back to communicating with CNSA in Chinese, Peter started to think about his plan. If he was going to run, he had to make certain Tang did not have the gun. He would also need a compass and other survival items. He peered down at Tang’s survival kit strapped to the side of his seat by the gun. Though he wasn’t sure what was in it, Peter knew it had items that could help him stay alive in the wilderness. Perfect. Somehow, he would need to snatch that too.

  Since their coordinates were certainly passed onto CNSA, and a rescue beacon was probably transmitting a signal, Peter was positive the militia were already on their way. Since they were far off course, he guessed the first rescue team wouldn’t arrive until twenty to forty-five minutes after they landed. Not a lot of time, but possibly enough to escape.

  Tang lifted his visor, his eyes wide with concern. “On course for land in Aksu River.”

  Peter’s eyebrows vaulted as he looked out his window to see they were drifting in the same direction as the wide river below. Peter clasped his gloved hands together. Though landing in water could be dangerous, it might give him a better chance to escape, especially since he wasn’t wearing a bulky space suit.

  Tang sounded tense as he resumed communicating with CNSA, both he and Nei preparing for the landing.

  Peter continued to stare out the window trying to determine his best escape route going west. As he studied the landscape, he concluded they were dead on target to land smack in the middle of the river. Damn, we are going to land in that thing. They were probably 200 feet up. He swallowed hard when a massive waterfall came into view, downstream of where they appeared to be landing. Peter turned to Tang. “I think we might have another problem. Looks like there is a large waterfall downstream.”

  Tang zoomed in on his display and there it was. A frantic look crossed his face before he turned to Nei and spoke in rapid-fire Chinese.

  Peter wasn’t sure what Tang said, but since he pointed to the override switch for the landing retrorockets, he assumed they were discussing operating them early to help miss the river. There was not enough fuel in those rockets for two operations. If Tang fired them to miss the river, they would be unavailable to soften the blow of the landing.

  Nei seemed to concur with Tang’s suggestion. Tang aggressively leaned over Peter to look out the window. Tang sat back in his seat and studied the display. He shook his head before he started pushing buttons, which Peter assumed was to override the computer.

  Tang called out, “Hold on.”

  Peter grabbed his seat as the rockets fired underneath him. He watched out his window as they seemed to level off but kept drifting, the rockets fired for only a few seconds. Tang was obviously trying to overshoot the river. What was Peter rooting for? For them to miss the river and have a hard landing on the ground where he would have a tougher time escaping, or land in the water with the possibility of going over the dangerous waterfall. He decided to root for the water.

  Tang pushed Peter to the side as he peered out the window to see if he was successful in altering their course. A deep groan vibrated through his body before he slumped back in his seat. Peter looked out. They were still going to land in the water, but now they were going to be even closer to the falls.

  Tang turned to Nei as he anxiously spoke in Chinese. Nei pulled out an emergency kit and two tightly wrapped plastic items, handing one to Tang.

  Tang looked at Peter. “We not have time get out of spacesuit.”

  From the tube sticking out, Peter could tell the items were probably flotation devices, which both taikonauts would need to prevent them from sinking. Peter would be fine in the coveralls.

  Tang barked out, “Fifty seconds ‘til impact. We be fast out. Order be me, Peter, Nei. No retrorockets, it be hard hit.”

  Tang continued to call out instructions, but now in Chinese. Peter checked his restraint straps to confirm they were secure. Out of the corner of his eye, Peter watched Tang and Nei scramble to get ready, making sure Tang didn’t reach for the gun.

  “Ten seconds to impact.”

  Peter put his head back and braced himself. Without the retrorockets, he was glad they were landing in water. The cabin was dead silent the last few seconds before the capsule slammed hard into the water with a violent crash that echoed off the walls. Peter held on as his body was smashed deeper into his seat. Even though the parachutes had been fully deployed, it still felt like the capsule had been dropped from a ten-story building. While the water cushioned the crash, it was still a strong hit, like slapping his flat hand as hard as he could on the surface of the water in a swimming pool. Peter peeked to see the porthole completely covered over with water as the spacecraft quickly submerged. Don’t sink, baby. He heard a muffled bang before feeling a jolt, which he was sure were the spacecraft’s automatic floatation bags being deployed. After a few seconds, the pressure pushing him down subsided, and the craft began to float to the surface. The water dissipated from the window as faint splashing sounds entered the spacecraft. Fortunately, the ship was in an upright position as it slowly bobbed in the water.

  Out the porthole, white rapids churned about one hundred yards downstream, probably just prior to the falls. “We better get the hell out of here.”

  Tang was already ahead of Peter. Each man quickly unhooked his straps. Peter took off his headset as he watched the taikonauts remove their helmets and snoopy caps.

  Since they were now lying on their backs, Tang shifted his butt up the seat back so he was in an upright position. He reached above him and started to undo the hatch. Peter kept a close eye on the gun.

  Soon Tang swung open the hatch inward and a sudden splash of water surprised them all. Peter wiped the water off his face as Tang slowly worked his way up until he stood on the seat back. Tang straightened up so his upper body protruded out the opening. After a short moment, he poked his head back in, wide-eyed. “We not have much time.” He quickly said something in Chinese to Nei as he pointed to his seat before working his way out.

  Peter’s heart began to race as Nei leaned over Tang’s seat. He was convinced he was going for the gun. He instantly went into attack mode, feeling he had no choice but to jump the smaller man. No way would he let these men take him prisoner. He turned and opened his hands, ready to pounce. Nei smiled at Peter as he reached slowly across the seat in the direction of the gun. Peter’s eyes stayed glued as the taikonaut blindly felt around along the side of the bench. When he stopped at the gun, Peter held his breath. Don’t release it, you son-of- a-bitch. Nei’s hand fumbled around over the gun for a second before moving over to the survival bag. Peter let out a big sigh of relief when Nei started unhooking the bag. As he handed the bag up to Tang, Peter relaxed his muscles.

  Tang sat on the lip of the capsule, his legs dangling inside. He started blowing up his floatation bag. Peter started getting ready to go next. Tang positioned the bag under his arms. “Peter, you next.” Tang’s feet quickly disappeared out the hatch as he fell back into the water with a loud splash.

  Peter started to sit up in his seat but found moving in gravity was tough. He used his arms to help climb up so he was crouching in his seat. He felt like an old man. Before popping his head out, he peeked over at Nei, making sure he wasn’t making any movement toward the gun. He seemed oblivious to it.

  Peter turned and stuck his head into the brisk air before he was immediately hit with a splash of river water. A big smile crossed his lips as warm sunrays penetrated the droplets on his face. He took in a deep breath of the fresh air, happy to be home. Instantly he thought of Anya, certain he would see her again.

  A trail of yellow dye came from under the orange flotation bags that surrounded the ship, its purpose to help rescuers spot them. He turned to see Tang struggling in the water.

  Peter called
out, “You okay?”

  Tang looked to be trying to swim, but wasn’t having any luck. “Not worry for me; you and Nei get out.”

  Peter positioned himself so he was sitting on the lip, his legs in the capsule. He needed to fall backward instead of jumping off, ensuring the module did not rock and fill with water. He took a deep breath before falling backward. The shock of the freezing water was his rude welcome to Earth. He quickly surfaced and swam over to Tang, who was still wrestling with the river.

  “My suit pull me down. I not outswim current.”

  If Tang couldn’t get to the shoreline soon, he would go over the falls, possibly killing him. “Grab my waist,” ordered Peter.

  The floatation bags were preventing Tang from leaning forward, so he reached from behind and blindly found a belt loop on Peter’s coveralls.

  “Hold on.” Peter started swimming as hard as he could to the closest shoreline. He’d been a competitive swimmer as a kid, but he was fighting to pull Tang, whose spacesuit was filling with water. Each stroke crashed through the mighty river as he slowly made progress. He turned back to see Nei on top of the bobbing capsule, apparently trying to seal the hatch. He resumed swimming until his feet eventually were able to touch bottom. He turned and grabbed Tang’s collar, tiredly pulling him up onto the shore.

  Exhausted, Tang looked into Peter’s eyes. “Xie xie.”

  Peter winked. “I couldn’t leave a fellow taikonaut to die.”

  Tang smiled.

  Peter looked back and saw that Nei was now in the water struggling, drifting rapidly toward the falls.

  “I’ve got to save Nei.” After being in microgravity for over a week, standing was a challenge. He powered through the earth’s pull as he scrambled along the narrow riverbank in his wet clothes. Once he was a few yards past Nei, he turned and dove back into the chilly river. The current was stronger as he swam through the rapids. The capsule was about twenty feet in front of Nei, bouncing off rocks. Once he reached Nei, he called out, “Grab onto my waist.”