Chapter 31: The Thrill of Discovery

“Matching glide slope… easy… easy… touchdown! Whew! It was close, but we landed another one!” you call to Melvin, who is dashing about the ACR as your cursor, trying to line up the next plane.

Someone taps you on the shoulder, and you jump. It’s Christa, the woman who was at the desk when you first came in. “Time for your break.”

“But… who is going to land all these planes?” you ask, concerned.

“I’ve got it.” She sits down, and effortlessly starts redirecting planes into a much more sensible configuration than your semi-random hodge-podge. Only half looking at the screen, she says, “I guess you can tell we’re a little understaffed around here. The reason I came over is that another job came up that we need help with.” She switches over to the GCA, and lands a plane with one hand, even though there is a terrible crosswind. She looks down at a folder she brought in. “When you first came in, you were talking about going to space, right?”

“Yeah, we need to go to Solaris.”

“Ha, well, I don’t know about that,” she lands two more planes, “but I see on your file that you have both piloting experience, and air traffic control experience. You should have said that when you came in.” You’re about to say how you just got all that experience today, but Melvin kicks you, not that he has any feet, and she goes on. “See, the reason we can’t get you to Solaris is that we no longer have an SDS.”

“A what?”

“Space Defense Station.” She effortlessly has a rainbow of planes doing a conga line all around the ACR. “There is a system of defense shared by all members of the League of Civilized Planets to protect each other from invaders. Unfortunately, when the Players stopped coming, we stopped doing our share, and Earth got kicked out of the league. Some evil aliens came, blew up our SDS… and…” while she lands another plane with her left hand, she puts her right under her chin, and thinks hard. “…they did something else? Stole something? My… memory isn’t what it used to be. Anyway, they left us alone after that, but it means we don’t really have much defense in case any invaders come back here.” There seems to be break in the arriving planes, and she gives you her full attention. “Anyway, a few days ago, our sensors spotted a weird spaceship flying around Spike’s Peak, and it got the brass all nervous. So, they are all hot to get our Space Defense Station rebuilt.”

Melvin breaks in. “What do we have to do?”

“Fly up there and rebuild it.”

“Fly how?” you ask.

“We have two operating spaceships. Space Shuttles Discovery and Challenger. Challenger is being outfitted with construction gear, and will be ready soon. In the meantime, you can rehearse on Space Shuttle Discovery by rendezvousing with our training satellite. That is, if you’re up for the job.”

Melvin gets excited. “Oh, we’re up for it alright!”

“Wait a minute,” you say. “Okay, sure we flew the P41, and, somehow managed to land a bunch of planes, but… fly the Space Shuttle? That must take years of training!” 

She smiles. “Normally, it would. But I’m a pretty good teacher.”

You and Melvin look at each other in surprise. “You’re the Space Shuttle instructor? Why do they have you… working in recruiting?”

She smiles again. “Well, you might have noticed we’re a little shorthanded around here. So, you still want to go to space?”

You both nod dumbly. She picks up her walkie-talkie. “Hey Steve, can you take over at air traffic control?” Something indecipherable comes out of the speaker. “Okay,” she says, “we’re all set, let’s head to the training center.”

When you get to the classroom, she drops a thick book that thumps in front of you. On the front in white letters over a nighttime picture of the Space Shuttle it reads “Flight Manual.”

“Read this, and memorize it. There are a lot of steps to flying the Shuttle. One wrong move can lead to disaster.” You start flipping through the book. MECO? SSME? RCS Engines? It looks pretty daunting. 

Melvin gives a low whistle, and whispers, “This is the longest Atari manual I’ve ever seen!”

Christa dims the lights, and goes through a slide presentation of the steps of your mission, explaining details of flight preparation, launch, orbit, docking, deorbit, reentry, and landing. It’s all really complicated. After about an hour, she says, “Well, that’s about it, really. I’ll take you over to the simulators.” You and Melvin follow her to the simulator building, and you try a few test flights. The first few go badly, as you forget simple things like when to open the Cargo Bay Doors. But after a few tries, you manage to rendezvous with a satellite, then come out of orbit, and land the Shuttle again. “Nice job!” She says. “I think you’re ready for the real thing!”

She walks you down a long corridor, and then out a door, and there it is: The Space Shuttle Discovery, absolutely huge on its launching pad, a little distance away. You are stunned by the sight. When you were a kid, you used to fantasize about what it would be like to ride in it, and now you have a chance to pilot it. The three of you get into a golf cart, and she starts driving you over to it. “Christa,” you ask, “so, you’ve flown in the Shuttle before?”

She smiles. “Sure… lots of times.” She points to a patch on her jacket. “I’m not just a teacher, I’m a flight commander.” You pull up at an elevator. “Okay, here we are. Get in there, do everything I told you, rendezvous with the satellite as many times as you can manage, and then get back here safe with lots of fuel to spare.”

She shakes your hand. You can’t believe this is happening. So many things in the Atariverse are dreamlike, but this one is like a dream come true. “Thank you so much for your help,” you say. “I didn’t think I’d be able to do this, but, well, I feel like I can. You’re an amazing teacher.” Melvin nods quietly, not that he has a head.

She gives you a big smile. “Thanks, that means a lot.” She pauses. “You’re a Player, aren’t you?” she asks.

“Yes, I guess I am,” you say.

She shakes her head. “I knew there was something special about you. I had thought there weren’t any Players left… it’s almost like… I forgot that there were Players.”

“I can’t understand it myself,” you say, “but here I am.”

She smiles again. “Okay Player, well, remember everything we talked about, and come back safe, because there’s a lot more we need to do!” Her radio squawks, she picks it up and says “On my way,” and hops into the golf cart and drives off. As you watch her drive off in the golf cart wearing her blue blazer, you find yourself thinking of Charlie Hustle, zipping around in his golf cart and red blazer. But then you look at the massive Space Shuttle Discovery towering in front of you, and you hear a beep, as the elevator doors open in front of you. You and Melvin walk in solemnly, and the doors close.

Put the Space Shuttle cartridge into your Atari 2600. Follow the directions in the flight manual carefully. Feel free to use game select 1 or 2 to get familiar with the game, but use game select 3 when you are ready to go on a mission. Play until you are a verified Space Shuttle Commander, docking with the satellite six times in one mission, and landing the shuttle with at least 7500 fuel units remaining. Post a link to a video in the comments section of yourself completing the challenge.