The CHANGI BULLET

Chapter 6 - Pre-Departure

Everyone finally met everyone else in the SEASA medical facility. All the crew members were being tested for bugs and sniffles, pre-flight, and for any changes in their recent medical history since being recruited. Charles was wearing a 24-hr blood pressure monitor cuff. Medina was being checked hourly for some minor condition that he didn't fully understand, but the doctors were not too concerned about him. Everyone else was in rude health.

They were all in white medical scrubs and mules. It was good to see the flight crew, thought Ezra. They looked young but quite serious individuals. Introductions were made.

'Arry?' asked Roach of Ari. 'Harry? What is that? Can you say it again, please, mate?'

'It's Ari.'

'Ari. So, you're the Pilot? So now I know. Good to meet ya, Ari, mate.'

Naturally, the talk turned to the mission, now two days away from take-off. Navigator, Petrik tried to explain the route but quickly lost his audience in the excited chatter of the overall reason for going. Cerys spoke with Inggrid, but just as two women, not in her journalist role. Ari was pleased that Ezra was the man in charge of security, rather than the gruff Australian. They sat and got to know each other.

'We are four people short,' Cerys suddenly announced. 'Not counting any lottery winner, that is, and the Chinese survival nut who has no comprehension of time.'

Conversations ceased as everyone looked about them. Then, on cue, the final members of the Izzati crew entered the medical suite. There were two men and two women. Being the nearest, Ezra stood to welcome them. They were the two doctors for the flight, and two Technical officials, people who had helped with the design of the entire Izzati space mission.

The female doctor was Asian. Indian, in fact. She introduced herself. 'I'm Doctor Ridhima Ghosh, from Delhi.'

Brief and to the point, thought Ezra. But stunningly beautiful, with large, sexy, brown eyes, and she could really carry off medical scrubs. Wow. Just, wow.

The male doctor was more garrulous; a smiling, grey-bearded German man in his fifties. 'Hi, everyone. I'm Doctor Jurgen Haller, from Munich, in Germany. I'm honoured to be part of this historic enterprise.'

'Well said,' chimed Roach. Then the Australian held his tongue, remembering the "wind your neck in" chat with Ezra, earlier that day.

'I'm Professor Stokes,' announced a plain-looking Englishwoman in her late thirties, not bothering with any first name. Her glasses were the largest and most unflattering that Ezra had ever seen on a woman. She had her greying hair up in a pony tail, but it was the messy, careless type of ponytail that needed a pencil through it to retain any shape. 'And this is my colleague, Professor Birney.'

Professor Birney seemed more introverted than the Indian doctor, and more than grateful not to have to introduce himself. In his late-fifties, he was bald with a scraggly beard, the exact look you would expect from an English professor.

Ezra welcomed them further, and pointed out everyone in turn, who either stepped forward to shake hands or waved from their seats. The Izzati crew was assembled. Just final checks to be made, hope for some good weather, and they were ready to leave.

Cerys approached the latecomers and made them aware that she was the Press representative on the mission, which was enough to have the scientists and doctors clam up tight. At least the two men were polite in their refusal to engage in social chit-chat.

'I have nothing to say outside the official SEASA mantra,' said Professor Birney. 'Apart from that I'm glad to have made your acquaintance, miss.'

Cerys flopped down in a chair near to where Ezra was sitting. He was eating from a bowl of popcorn and looking out over the lush jungle.

'Taking it all in, one last time?' she asked.

'Yes, I suppose I am. Maybe it's not as pretty as your Wales...but it's home to me. How did it go with hubbie?'

'I told him he could keep the dog. You saw your daughter, I presume?'

He couldn't say anything to that. She understood. She helped herself to popcorn.

'Popcorn? Really?'

'I was shot in the stomach, three years ago. Only a ricochet, a nick. I have a little... what's called silent reflux now. Popcorn keeps everything calm.'

'Oh, right.'

'Yes, I've got a suitcase full of bags of popcorn. Whether they will be edible when I wake is another matter. What's your luxury item?'

'I couldn't possibly tell you.'

He nodded towards the intellectual set of passengers.

'Oh, they'll open up to me eventually,' Cerys assured him. 'They're a bit nervous, still being on the ground. But that Indian doctor seems extremely uptight. Like she's three decades behind the rest of us.'

Ezra laughed. 'Stick with me, kid. You don't seem very good at making travelling buddies.'

She smiled. 'Ezra, can I tell you something?'

'Of course.'

'I'm a bit frightened. Of being put in hibernation and never waking up again. It's like when I had a surgical procedure.'

'A surgical procedure? Oh, your nose.'

'No! Not my nose. Well, yes, my nose, but the inside passageways, not the shape for cosmetic reasons. Anyway, I just thought I was a goner.'

'I'd say that's a perfectly rational fear. But a good way to go, wouldn't you say? Rather than a slow, unpleasant death where you are aware of everything. Maybe that's why people like me join the army. The possibility of going quickly. Try not to worry about it. Before you know it, you'll be bored out of your mind waiting for the last weeks to pass.'

'I've not been on board. What is there to do apart from watch the stars?'

'There's a digital library. There's a swimming pool, but not as you would know a swimming pool.'

She laughed. 'What does that mean?'

'You'll see.'

'We'll have to fill it, anyway.'

'No, it's full now.'

'It's full now? But, it's on its side, at the moment. Oh, whatever! Give me more popcorn. That is so moreish.'

Later, and changed back into the SEASA uniforms, the A crew were sitting together having coffee and discussing procedures and contingency plans. Professor Birney promised to liaise regularly between the engineers and the flight crew. Doctors Ghosh and Haller were hoping for a trouble-free journey, but stated that they were prepared for any emergency. On a previous space mission together, they had a crew member who fractured his skull. They were able to relieve the pressure on the man's brain and stabilize him for the re-entry. Professor Stokes was just starting to talk about the plan for what would happen after the Izzati reached the target area, when there came an orange flash of an explosion from the spacecraft, standing off in the near distance.

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