“We’re going to freeze to death before we even get into the damned thing!” Williams yells out. No one answers. A few moments pass, then he tries again.

  “Why can’t they let us wait in our seats? How long are we going to stand here on the pad? It’s been forty minutes already!”

  Luckily the sound from all the machinery and the yelling of the workers running around trying to communicate, doing their best to get ready in time is drowning him out. In my peripheral vision, I see Williams now looking around at me and the crew. He’s going to say something again, why does he always need to comment on everything?

  “Captain Taylor!”

  Wait, that’s not Williams. We all turn around to see General Ekenquist approach us. All of us stand in salute at the same time. Well, not all of us. Only the soldiers. The Astronauts just stand there and nod their heads at him when he passes them as he walks straight up to me.

  “General.” I say.

  “At ease Captain.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “The Heimdall is almost ready. How are you and your men?”

  “We’re ready sir”

  “Good.”

  The General just stands there, quiet. His eyes move from me to Williams on my left and Barbier on my right.”

  “Is the cold getting to you?” He asks the three of us.

  “Not at all sir.” Williams replies. Seems he knows better than to complain to the General.

  “You’re good men.”

  A strong cough can be heard behind him. He turns to face Wolf, the source of the cough.

  “Of course ‘men’ includes women as well.”

  Wolf smiles and nods, when General Ekenquist turns back around I can see a smile on his face as well. It’s kind of funny, the first time I met him three months ago when I first arrived here in Sweden, he seemed so unapproachable and serious. Maybe it was the cold and the dark that made everything seem worse.

  Williams is shaking from the cold, he lets out a deep breath and from his mouth a large white cloud rises, illuminated by the strong lights on the launchpad. Why aren’t I cold? It’s 24 below zero, I should be freezing as well. All the times we were outside in the cold during training I was wearing the exact same thermal underwear with the same onesie snowsuit and I would be freezing.

  “It won’t be long now, Williams. It seems they’re loading your gear right now.”

  General Ekenquist points to the top of the Heimdall. It’s difficult to make it out from all the way down here but he’s right. I can see the workers load our gear and weapon bags into Heimdall.

  “You’ll be in your flight suits any minute now, they should warm you up.”

  “Can’t wait, sir.” Williams replies.

  “I don’t think we’ll have to wait for long.” Barbier says.

  I turn to him, he’s looking towards the bottom of the Heimdall. An old looking baggage tractor is approaching, probably taken from the local airport. The carts are loaded with our bright orange suits.

  “You have to suit up here!” The driver yells as he approaches. “And climb on when you’re done. They are ready for you!”

  “You heard the man, move!” Barbier yells to the team.

  I watch them all scramble to the carts and begin to suit up.

  “This is it, captain.” General Ekenquist says.

  “I guess it is sir.”

  “We all have faith in you.”

  I stand in salute.

  “General.”

  He salutes back.

  “Captain Shelley.”

  I turn around and head over to the crew and suit up with them. The General was right, it is warmer with the suit on.

  “What do we do with the onesies?” Larsen asks.

  “Just leave them here on the ground. I’ll pick them up on my way back!” The driver answers.

  So we do. All of us just drop them on the ground and climb on to the now empty carts. I make a quick pass to make sure everyone is ready before I climb up in the farthest cart behind everyone. I make sure I am holding on to my helmet as hard as I can in my right arm and give a thumbs up to Barbier who’s in the front. He turns around towards the tractor and yells to the driver:

  “Alright, we’re ready!”

  All of us lost balance for a moment when the driver hit the gas but none as badly as Larsen, she swings all the way back and hits the railing she’s holding onto. When she hits, she drops her helmet. Luckily Skatt is right behind her and manages to stop the helmet from rolling off with his foot. As Larsen tries to make it back to her feet in the bulky suit, the driver turns sharply and nearly tosses her off the cart on the side with no railing. Again, thank god for Skatt who grabs her and throws her back against the railing. When the driver straightens up Larsen makes another attempt at getting up. This time Skatt extends a hand and helps pull her up but they leave her helmet on the floor of the cart, safely held in place by Skatt's foot pressing down on top of it.

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  The size of Heimdall is intimidating, this is the first time I’ve seen it up close. How have I never realised how big it is? I’ve seen it from the observatory everyday for three months now but that's over one kilometer away. In the briefings they repeatedly told us “112 meters tall” but hearing it and seeing it are two very different experiences. It just keeps getting bigger as we get closer. It’s like driving up to a skyscraper.

  Looking up at the top makes me realize how ridiculous this whole thing is. Up there is our capsule, no bigger than a large van. In it there are eight seats for us and a small storage area. How can we possibly need a skyscraper worth of fuel to launch a small van with six soldiers and two astronauts?

  All the sudden the driver makes a sharp turn again, now heading straight for the launch tower. As we approach, a loud siren goes off. The siren informs all crew to leave the launch area immediately, everything is ready for us, we are leaving.

  At the bottom of the launch tower is Malin, the Flight Director and two others.

  “This is it guys, helmets on!” She is barely audible over the loud siren, “We will communicate over your radios from now on!”

  She is wearing a headset with a microphone on it. The two workers next to Malin rush out towards us and assist us with the helmets and make sure we get them on properly. As soon as I place the helmet over my head I can feel one of the workers grab it and twist it into place for me.

  “Barbier, please lead the team onto the lift please.” Malin’s voice is coming in over the radio. “We can only send six people at the time. Wolf, Captain. The two of you will have to hang back and catch the next ride.”

  The loud metal noises from the launch tower are dampened by the helmet but I can still hear the rattles from the chain pulling the team upwards towards the top.

  “How are you feeling captain?” Malin says.

  “I’m fine.”

  “I just want to make sure that you’re not nervous. Wolf and Larsen have done this before, they will get you there and back. Once you’re in your seat just lay back and enjoy the ride.” Malin says.

  “I will.”

  The sound of rattling chains signals that the lift is coming back down.

  “Wolf. Let’s get ready.” I say.

  We walk up to the large metal cage door that is the entrance to the elevator just as it arrives. One of Malin's men leans forward and grabs the bottom of the door and pulls it up for us to enter. Malin joins us, she grabs the door and pulls it back down before she takes a step back and presses the button for floor one.

  The Elevator takes off with horrible crackling metal sounds. As we gain altitude we get a perfect view of Heimdall. We rise alongside it and the text EUSF is written in blue on his white body. Each letter must be at least ten meters tall, again, how have I never realised how large Heimdall is? As we reach the top, the rattling sound from the metal chain disappears as it is laid to rest on top of the elevator car. The door is opened by another one of Malin's men wearing an orange reflex vest and a white hardhat. We step out on the platform, on the far side there is a small bridge laid out from an opening on the safety railing, it leads straight into the crew chamber of Heimdall.

  “Right this way.” Malin says as she takes the lead and walks up to the bridge. Inside, the rest of the crew are already in their seats. The seats are placed in three rows of four, the two back rows are full. In the front row, Barbier is seated in the seat furthest away, next to him is Larsen. Her seat is placed directly in front of the large panel with the controls and all the status indicators. I allow Wolf to pass me and take her seat first, right next to Larsen. They are the only astronauts of the team and thus, they both need access to the controls during the flight. When Wolf is in place, I climb in and struggle for a bit to get into my seat. Even though the seats are placed laying down so we face upwards when we are seated, I do not think I would have struggled with getting into it in normal circumstances. But now, in the bulkiest suit ever made, even the most basic movement is an undertaking. But somehow I manage. Once I am in position, I take a look at Malin who is still standing in the hatch, looking down at us.

  “Alright then, good luck to all of you. Do your best and I’ll see you in three weeks.”

  I nod at her. She then takes a step back and disappears from the hatch and it closes.

  Larsen and Wolf immediately start talking to one another and get started on the pre-flight diagnostics. Wolf is reading through a manual, reading it aloud as Larsen flips switches and presses different buttons.

  “Heimdall this is mission control, do you read me?” A female voice over the radio says.

  “This is Hemdall, we read you just fine mission control.” I answer.

  “Captain, This is General Ekenquist. Seems the Russians and Americans might have caught wind of our plan. I am being bombarded with calls from politicians from all of Europe asking us to stand down.”

  “How is that possible?” Barbier replies before I get a chance to.

  “It does not matter how, only what they know. They gave us a green light for a resupply vessel three months ago. But now all of a sudden they are contacting politicians all over Europe with questions. If I had to guess; they are worried that we are up to something but they are not sure yet.”

  “How long before the talks turn into action?” I ask.

  “That does not matter either. I’ve told the politicians that it is too late to abort.”

  There is a short silence. The whole crew knows it’s a lie, we haven't been in the cabin for more than five minutes, we have over an hour until launch. We could easily scrap the mission right now.

  “I see.” I reply.

  “It is now more important than ever that this mission is successful.” The General replies.

  “Understood General.”

  “Good. Miss Malin. What‘s the location of you and your crew?”

  “We’re just getting off the launch tower elevator. Heading for our car.”

  “Well make it fast. We are launching in less than two minutes?”

  “What!?” Malin and Wolf scream out in unison.

  “We do not have time to delay. There are powerful people trying to stop us.”

  “But sir, we haven’t finished the pre-flight checks.” Wolf replies.

  “Skip them and prepare for launch.” The General replies.

  The whole crew is looking at me but I can’t make out what their looks say. Do they want me to say something that will stop this? Get us off this rocket? Or are they looking for affirmation that what the General is doing is the right thing?

  “Wolf, Larsen. Get us ready for launch.” I say.

  “Yes sir.” Larsen replies.

  “General, what will this mean? Won't launching like this only escalate the tensions?” I ask.

  “It probably will. But if not this then something else will. The ceasefire was never meant to last this long. The frontlines might have been frozen for three years now but the war has continued in the capitals. Something big is coming whether we do this or not. If we do nothing then we are dooming another civilization to the same fate as us.” He replies.

  “We’re ready to launch Captain.” Wolf says.

  “Mission control. Heimdall is go for launch.” I say over the radio.

  “Miss Malin?” The General asks.

  “We are driving as fast as we can, we should be at a safe distance now.”

  “Good. Thirty seconds Captain.” The General says.

  “Yes sir.” I answer.

  The female voice is now back on the radio.

  “Twenty seconds.”

  “Everyone ready?” I ask the team.

  “Ready captain.” They answer in unison.

  “Ten seconds.”

  “Five... four… three… two… one… Engine ignition.”