I had the idea for this story while involved in a forum conversation on how to mine meteorites for water.

Nell Abrams fidgeted in her seat. She glanced at her best friend and biggest rival, Jack Bole. His attention was riveted on their briefer and primary flight instructor, Andrew Knowles, standing in front of them.

“Remember, the gravity well is not your friend. Maneuvering will be difficult. Your flight plans look good. Keep it simple. Get into the atmosphere, land on the ocean, get the water, take off and get back here.” He looked at both of them. “Nell?”

She snapped her eyes back to front. “I’m good, Andrew. Keep it simple. Got it.”

“Jack?”

“Get the water and get back, yes sir.”

Nell jumped out of her seat. She was never good at the classroom stuff. She just couldn’t keep still. “Come on, Jack, we undock in an hour.”

He slowly unfolded from his seat. Where Nell was quick, sometimes dangerously impulsive, he was her exact opposite. He liked things orderly, well reasoned, and done by the book. “Keep your pants on, I’m coming.”

Nell took an elastic out of her flight suit pocket and began tying her hair into a pony tail. “Did your mom pick up the cake? Our graduation party is at 1900 hours.”

He stuck his hands in his pockets as he ambled along beside her, “Don’t you think we should get back with the water and finish our test before there’s a party?”

Nell smacked him in the arm. “Nothing’s going to go wrong. It’s a standard flight down to the planet for water.” She looked up at his grinning face, “Oh you’re a one, you are.” She smacked him again. “Mom is so proud, your mom too. Getting this chance to be pilots, good thing you kept after me about the math.”

She grew serious, “I never thanked you for that. Thank you. I’d be some waitress hoping for a couple of hours a week if you hadn’t kept on me about the school work.”

Jack put his arm around her shoulders, “No problem. What else would I do for my best friend? I’m just glad we have a chance to pull our families out of the Dispossessed and back into normal society.”

Nell nodded. There was a lot riding on their final, Master Pilot’s test today. She shook off the gloom. “And I’m going to beat your socks off.”

Jack laughed, taking back his arm. “That’ll be the day.”

They each boarded their ships, moving to the cockpits and running their undocking procedures. These were ships specially designed for going to the nearby planet and getting water. Since the station had no use for single use craft, they were also used to train pilots. Station control released them for undock, and both ships moved slowly away from the station.

It didn’t take long to get to the planet and Nell entered the atmosphere first. Jack entered a few moments later. Nell couldn’t resist a jab over the comms, “Hey, slowing down in your old age.”

“Don’t look now,” he replied.

She could see his ship passing her two hundred kilometers to her right. The ship began shuddering as it moved deeper into the gravity well. She noticed Jack’s ship drifting farther to the right.

“Jack? You’re drifting, what’s wrong?”

There was some static on the comms, “…thruster malfunction, switching to backups.”

Her ship continued to shudder as she followed Jack’s ship around the curvature of the planet. “Antique piece of crap,” she complained unconsciously as she moved through the atmosphere. “Jack, what’s your status?”

Again, atmospheric interference caused some static, but she heard, “Back up thrusters inoperative. Switching to…”

“Crap,” she whispered under her breath as she changed her thruster’s to follow Jack. “Jack! What’s your status?”

Jack replied, “Rebooting thruster programs, stand by.”

Nell chewed her lip. The planetary surface was only a couple hundred more miles. At this trajectory he’d be in the middle of the largest landmass, not the ocean. She reached for the comms button again, then took her hand back. Give him a minute, she thought. The screen showed his ship, a contrail now flowing out behind it. Come on, Jack, get it together.

She thought about all the years she and Jack ran wild through the corridors of TriPoint Station. How their parents got a deal on a teacher because the two of them would attend together. How his mom felt as much hers as her own mother.

The contrail shifted, she reached for the comms button. “Jack, what’s your status?”

“Reboot successful. All thrusters operational. Correcting flight path now.”

Nell began punching buttons, correcting her own flight path.

“Hey,” she heard over the comms. “You’re behind schedule there, Student Pilot Abrams. You’re going to lose!”

She punched the comms button, “The race isn’t over yet.”

They landed a hundred kilometers apart and Nell began taking in water almost before her engines stopped. The pumps seemed to take forever. She had her finger hovering over the cutoff switch as she watched the tank gauge creep to 100%. As soon as it hit the mark, she punched the button. Then there was a flurry of activity as she retracted hoses, closed hatches and with her other hand, began the take off sequence. She lifted off just seconds ahead of Jack.

She had to gloat, “Take that, slow poke!”

It was a race back, Nell coming into the dock just a little fast, Jack right behind her. Their instructor was on the dock waiting for them.

He was frowning as they came off the ramps and stopped in front of him. “Docking was too fast Abrams. Bole, nice recovery on the thruster malfunction.”

Nell and Jack stood absolutely still.

“Jack and Nell, you went down the well, to fetch a tank of water. Good job. You’ve earned your Master Pilot wings.”

The End

963 Words

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