To Boldly Go...

By Erica Johnson

I could hardly believe it. Me - a new kid on the block - and Yuri Gagarin - the greatest cosmonaut in the galaxy - on a mission... Together! Excited and terrified, I walked down the long hallway of what would be our training facility for the next two weeks. Two weeks of training with Yuri - a dream come true!

I entered room 264B, and was greeted by a secretary.

"Name, please?"

"Uh - Erica Johnson. I'm here for training with Mr. - that is, Captain Gagarin." I stammered.

"Mm hm." She was unimpressed. "First, you're going to have to go through the medical examination, and then the fitness training."

"When will I meet Yur - I mean, Captain Gagarin?"

"He'll be along for the last part."

So I spent the next few days undergoing a barrage of medical tests and learning a combination of Kung Fu, pilates, and kick boxing in order to prepare for our mission. A very important mission - I had been selected to assist Yuri on a top-secret trip to investigate a series of asteroid showers that had been striking the Russian space station. "They need a Yank up there with him so that everyone can benefit from two angles of expertise," they had told me.

Finally, the day I had anticipated for so long came.

"Lieutenant Johnson, this is Captain Gagarin."

"It is a pleasure - an honour - to meet you, sir."

The captain turned to look at me. "And you expect me to believe that this student is competent enough to assist me on such an important mission?"

"I was trained at the Academy in Houston, sir, and have had quite a few years of -"

"Such credentials are trifling to me. You Americans seem to forget that it was I, I who was the first man in space!"

"Well of all the pig-headed, small-minded, hostile greetings I could've expected! It seems that you Russians have forgotten a little mission we took back in 1969. What was it called? Oh yeah, Apollo 11. And here's the thing - it landed on the moon!"

"This accomplishment is imbecilic compared to the ground we Russians broke before you. Without us, the United States wouldn't have made it passed Missouri!"

Before I could point out to the cosmonaut that this insult didn't make any sense, the official who had introduced us broke in nervously.

"Well, now that we've gotten to know each other, why don't we start the take-off run-through procedure? Come this way, please."

We walked down a series of corridors to the shuttle entrance.

"Ladies first."

"Oh no - I insist you go first instead, seeing as it's so important to you and all."

Yuri sniffed indignantly and stormed through the entrance.

The take-off run-through procedure went smoothly; Yuri was very professional. But we did not part friends.

"So... see you tomorrow?" I said.

"Not if I get there first!"

"What?"

"Be here at O-6 hundred hours."

"I know."

"Good."

"Good-bye."

"Dasvidanya."

"Indeed."

And we both went home for a good night's sleep. We weren't going to let a small personal problem interfere with such an important mission!

On the morning of the launch, Yuri was quiet. It was hard to believe that such an experienced man could possibly be nervous, but I think he was. I attempted an offering of peace.

"I'm going to the mess to get some Tang. Can I get you anything?"

"No. No, thank you."

The launch was like a dream. "5... 4... 3... 2... 1.... BLASTOFF!"

The shuttle rocked and shook. I thought my head was going to explode from all the pressure. But we made it through the atmosphere, and our mission began.

Yuri conducted himself in a weightless environment like it was second nature to him. The quiet, nervous man I had seen that morning had turned into a well-oiled machine. He effortlessly maintained the ship's mechanics, logged our progress, and made reports back to the base. And something I hadn't seen before, as I had been blinded with petty anger, was that he loved every minute. His face was calm and cheerful as he made various adjustments to our brightly lit control panel; his eyes brimmed with the excitement of a young boy when he gazed out the window at our home planet, so beautiful and yet strange from such a distance. I stopped seeing the icon who had insulted and disappointed me, and started to see the man who loved nothing more than the stars.

"I love to look at the Earth from up here," he said. "It makes me realise how we're all the same, regardless of where we are born or what we believe. Look - from here, there are no governments disagreeing, no wars being fought. From space, you cannot see the differences that separate us- the shoeless feet of a boy who is marginalised for his poverty, the dark skin of a girl who is not allowed to play with her white neighbour. From up here, we are a unified species, doing the best that we can on a ball of green and blue, hurtling through a galaxy we have only just begun to understand."

"Captain Gagarin, that's beautiful -"

But before I could finish, a loud alarm started going off. Yuri leapt to the radio.

"This is Gagarin - do you read me? We have a code 9-44, that's 9-44 in the shuttle."

While Yuri was busy on the radio, I looked at the instruments to seek out the route of the problem. It was a 9-44 alright, but there was something that Yuri had failed to notice.

"Captain Gagarin - the oxygen supply!"

The round oxygen indicator was slowly - though not slowly enough! - counting down.

"Something must have struck the outside of the ship and damaged the tanks," said Yuri. "We have to get out there and fix it as quickly as possible!"

He started to suit up.

"No," I said. "I'll go. If something happens out there, the mission is in much better hands with you at the wheel."

"Don't be ridiculous," he said. "This is my mission, and anything that goes wrong is my responsibility. I refuse to be trifled with."

Just then, Yuri's glove caught on a handle. He yanked it in frustration.

"Borscht!" he cried, and removed the glove.

"Captain Gagarin, you're bleeding!"

"It is nothing - a scratch," he said. But I could see he was in a lot of pain.

"Are you going to be able to fix the tanks with your hand like that?"

He stared into the middle distance, a man torn between pride and responsibility, and sighed.

"No, it is best that you go. Without such injury, you will do a much better job, and the mission will be saved. I am trusting you, Erica." he looked into my eyes. It was the first time I had heard him say my name.

"I won't let you down."

I suited up, and prepared for my task. As I was putting on my helmet, Yuri stopped me.

"I just wanted to say -" he stammered. "I think you're a very good cosmonaut, and I am sorry for the way I behaved before."

"Thank you, Captain. I'm sorry too. I really hope we can be friends."

"But of course. In fact, if we make it back to Earth alive, I hope we can be more than friends. You see, it was your beauty and charm that caught me so off guard when we met - that is why I acted so hostilely."

"Captain Gagarin, I -"

"Yuri, please."

"Yuri, I don't know what to say."

"Think about it later. For now, we must focus on the task at hand."

With that, he helped adjust my helmet, and opened the door. The weightless, free feeling I felt in outer space played out the feelings in my heart - Yuri Gagarin? In love? With me??

In the end, I successfully repaired the oxygen tanks, we completed the mission, and made it back to Earth. So, Yuri and I started preparing for another mission together, but one far stranger than anything you'll find in outer space: marriage!

The End

or... The Beginning?

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