Johnny Rocket

Chapter 1

A loud, violent noise suddenly fills the skies over NASA Cape Canaveral. A top-secret hypersonic aircraft, the X-43A scramjet, is coming in for a landing.
There’s a lot of activity throughout the compound, a typical day at NASA. Inside the main building, personnel hurry about their business, occasionally stopping to talk with one another.
Colonel James Baker rounds the corner into the main corridor, flanked by his associates and friends, General Frank Sternie and Colonel Guy Nelson.
In his forties, Colonel Baker is a handsome man with dark hair and an air of sophistication and confidence about him. He looks dashing in his decorated military uniform.
“I’m really looking forward to Friday’s test flight, General. Assuming all goes well with the new external protective shield, Colonel Nelson and I will be testing NASA’s first starship within two years.”
In his fifties, General Sternie is a stoic and handsome man with brown hair and a touch of silver at his temples. He sports a military jacket with a multitude of stars, stripes, and medals.
“Gentlemen, what I’m about to say doesn’t get repeated. That’s an order.”
The three officers round another corner into the next corridor. Colonel Baker glances over at Colonel Nelson, who is looking back at him.
“The starship test flight has been upgraded to an actual mission. We’ll discuss this in greater detail later. For now, the focus is on Friday’s test flight. The performance of the external protective shield during that test is critical to the starship mission.”
“General, the plans for the starship show eight seats in the cabin. Why so many?” asks Colonel Nelson.
In his forties, Colonel Nelson is a good-looking officer and a gentleman with dark hair and a trained physique whose uniform fits him like a glove.
“Longer missions, more crew needed. When I said we will be discussing the starship later, I didn’t mean a couple of minutes,” says the general sarcastically.
“All right, just one more question. Suppose we were on a yearlong mission now,” proposes Colonel Nelson. “How many additional crew members would the starship accommodate?”
“Twenty additional crew, perhaps more. Again, gentlemen, we’ll be discussing the starship at another time. Save your questions until after Friday’s test flight of Endeavor.”
Colonel Baker and Colonel Nelson look at each other again, their expressions indicating they indeed have a lot more questions.