[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
are the two gases that flow through the mixer to make
ordinary air. You see the two pipes leading from the manifold
and motor valves on top? Follow them with your torch
and tell me what you find.'
'Should've put a camera on his helmet,' said Rowe's voice.
331
'He's got enough to cope with.'
Jez tracked the two supply pipes with his flashlight. They
ran side by side along the inside of a bracing frame, out of
sight of the hatch, and ended in a fused mass of synthetic
rubber and melted pipework. He described the damage.
'Bugger,' said Allenby.
'Skipper!'
'Yes, Jez? Only no need to shout.'
'The pipes are okay the other side of the mess. That must
be where the gases are fed to the cabin system. There's a pipe
coupler on each pipe - like those things that plumbers use to join pipes. They
look like they might be the same thread size
as on the bottle mixer. If I could undo them and pull the
pipes away from the bulkhead, I reckon I could move both
Page 278
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
bottles across and connect the mixer straight to the pipes.
That way the damaged pipes will be bypassed and that'll
give a direct supply to the cabin conditioning unit. There's
plenty of spanners in the tool-box.' He broke off, awed by
his own audacity in venturing an opinion so confidently. He
added: 'Do you think it might work?'
Allenby was not a religious man but at that moment his
inclination was to believe that perhaps there was some sort
of deity that had decided to send him this lad.
'Yes, Jez,' he said slowly. 'I think that might work very
well indeed.'
There was no 'might' about it. After twenty minutes'
sweated labour that would have been much less had his
visor not kept misting, Jez succeeded in moving the bottles,
steering them to their position and connecting them. When
he set the regulator in accordance with Allenby's instructions
and opened the valves, the liquified gases mixed
together and so produced an abundance of the sweetest
smelling air that the Sabre's passengers had ever breathed in their lives.
332
41
At 13:58 Simone Frankel opened Sabre O04's throttles and
sent the spaceplane hurtling down St Omer's main runway.
The lenses of hundreds of TV cameras followed the delta
wing's progress as it lifted into the cloudbase and disappeared
from view. Her co-pilot was Yves Dupont, an experienced
Air France skipper who had just finished his conversion to
Sabres.
Simone concentrated on flying while Yves maintained
continuous contact with the St Omer control room.
Hitherto no Sabre flight had been subjected to such tight
controls. The flight management parameters had been set to
very precise limits: Simone had to maintain superimposed
crossed hairs on a graphic display instrument similar to a
glidescope to ensure that her velocity, course and rate of
climb were exactly right. Yves's task was to reset the instrument's
way points from minute to minute as updated
information was received from ground radar and the onboard
computers.
Jez's remarkable efforts in the service bay had granted a
reprieve, but his second reconnoitre had established that
there were insufficient supplies aboard 005 to provide
another twenty-four hours' air supply if this rendezvous
should fail.
Behind Simone and Yves, in the cavernous, empty shell of
O04's main cabin, were the passengers. They comprised
Ralph and two NASA technicians who had flown from
Page 279
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Florida in the USAF aircraft. There was also a Sabre
Industries technician, a paramedic and a news cameraman.
All were wearing spacesuits and sat anchored to the floor by
safety harnesses. Their back support against the increasing
acceleration was a mountain of what looked like giant
deflated beachballs. They were made of a tough, bright
orange vinyl fabric, each one bearing the NASA logo. They
were all crushed flat so that they took up as little room as
333
possible. The unlikely looking cargo was secured to the
floor by netting. There were also several coils of nylon rope
- all clipped and neatly stowed.
'Pressurise suits,' Yves ordered over the PA. The six men
closed their visors and operated the controls on their chest
panels. One by one they confirmed that their suits were
sealed and functioning. The reason for their being suited up
and the main cabin not being pressurised was to save time.
Once rendezvous was accomplished, and the passenger
transfer underway, every second was vital.
Ralph switched his suit radio to the channel that enabled
him to talk to 005.
'Skipper and I are suited up,' Rowe's cheery voice
confirmed in answer to Ralph's inquiry. 'Flight-deck
depressurised. Roof hatch open. All pax and cabin crew
secured. Skipper's half out of the hatch, hoping to spot you
before I do.'
'How's Mrs Santos?'
'Awake and hungry. We all are. Did you remember the
crisps?'
Ralph grunted. There had been a lengthy briefing that [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl exclamation.htw.pl
are the two gases that flow through the mixer to make
ordinary air. You see the two pipes leading from the manifold
and motor valves on top? Follow them with your torch
and tell me what you find.'
'Should've put a camera on his helmet,' said Rowe's voice.
331
'He's got enough to cope with.'
Jez tracked the two supply pipes with his flashlight. They
ran side by side along the inside of a bracing frame, out of
sight of the hatch, and ended in a fused mass of synthetic
rubber and melted pipework. He described the damage.
'Bugger,' said Allenby.
'Skipper!'
'Yes, Jez? Only no need to shout.'
'The pipes are okay the other side of the mess. That must
be where the gases are fed to the cabin system. There's a pipe
coupler on each pipe - like those things that plumbers use to join pipes. They
look like they might be the same thread size
as on the bottle mixer. If I could undo them and pull the
pipes away from the bulkhead, I reckon I could move both
Page 278
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
bottles across and connect the mixer straight to the pipes.
That way the damaged pipes will be bypassed and that'll
give a direct supply to the cabin conditioning unit. There's
plenty of spanners in the tool-box.' He broke off, awed by
his own audacity in venturing an opinion so confidently. He
added: 'Do you think it might work?'
Allenby was not a religious man but at that moment his
inclination was to believe that perhaps there was some sort
of deity that had decided to send him this lad.
'Yes, Jez,' he said slowly. 'I think that might work very
well indeed.'
There was no 'might' about it. After twenty minutes'
sweated labour that would have been much less had his
visor not kept misting, Jez succeeded in moving the bottles,
steering them to their position and connecting them. When
he set the regulator in accordance with Allenby's instructions
and opened the valves, the liquified gases mixed
together and so produced an abundance of the sweetest
smelling air that the Sabre's passengers had ever breathed in their lives.
332
41
At 13:58 Simone Frankel opened Sabre O04's throttles and
sent the spaceplane hurtling down St Omer's main runway.
The lenses of hundreds of TV cameras followed the delta
wing's progress as it lifted into the cloudbase and disappeared
from view. Her co-pilot was Yves Dupont, an experienced
Air France skipper who had just finished his conversion to
Sabres.
Simone concentrated on flying while Yves maintained
continuous contact with the St Omer control room.
Hitherto no Sabre flight had been subjected to such tight
controls. The flight management parameters had been set to
very precise limits: Simone had to maintain superimposed
crossed hairs on a graphic display instrument similar to a
glidescope to ensure that her velocity, course and rate of
climb were exactly right. Yves's task was to reset the instrument's
way points from minute to minute as updated
information was received from ground radar and the onboard
computers.
Jez's remarkable efforts in the service bay had granted a
reprieve, but his second reconnoitre had established that
there were insufficient supplies aboard 005 to provide
another twenty-four hours' air supply if this rendezvous
should fail.
Behind Simone and Yves, in the cavernous, empty shell of
O04's main cabin, were the passengers. They comprised
Ralph and two NASA technicians who had flown from
Page 279
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Florida in the USAF aircraft. There was also a Sabre
Industries technician, a paramedic and a news cameraman.
All were wearing spacesuits and sat anchored to the floor by
safety harnesses. Their back support against the increasing
acceleration was a mountain of what looked like giant
deflated beachballs. They were made of a tough, bright
orange vinyl fabric, each one bearing the NASA logo. They
were all crushed flat so that they took up as little room as
333
possible. The unlikely looking cargo was secured to the
floor by netting. There were also several coils of nylon rope
- all clipped and neatly stowed.
'Pressurise suits,' Yves ordered over the PA. The six men
closed their visors and operated the controls on their chest
panels. One by one they confirmed that their suits were
sealed and functioning. The reason for their being suited up
and the main cabin not being pressurised was to save time.
Once rendezvous was accomplished, and the passenger
transfer underway, every second was vital.
Ralph switched his suit radio to the channel that enabled
him to talk to 005.
'Skipper and I are suited up,' Rowe's cheery voice
confirmed in answer to Ralph's inquiry. 'Flight-deck
depressurised. Roof hatch open. All pax and cabin crew
secured. Skipper's half out of the hatch, hoping to spot you
before I do.'
'How's Mrs Santos?'
'Awake and hungry. We all are. Did you remember the
crisps?'
Ralph grunted. There had been a lengthy briefing that [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]