The Effort of this Story

Rather warm again today. It's currently about 92 degrees F outside my kitchen window in the shade.
The humidity is up around 50% and there's a special weather statement by the National Weather Service about thunderstorm possibilities in a couple of hours. I'm thinking of hooking up the air conditioning - though up here in Northern Vermont, it's rarely necessary.
I'm not sleeping as well without it. Strange, the things you get used to!

The last few entries are to introduce Jim and give him some sort of character. I also have to set the future time with a realistic background of today as 2013 and 300 years of probable events. That's a lot of prediction. I'd like to give him a New Hampshire college education - which is an interesting idea I think. Dartmouth in 300 years from now. Will students still travel the required distance to attend classes at a university 300 years down the road? Should they? Even though electronics and gadgets like holograms would be expected in science fiction literature - after all, even books seem on their way out! - why not insert a bit about super fast holographic lesson communication - you know Microsoft University etc. The charm of this story though is humor and realism told across a significant length of new and largely unknown, certainly unproven, human history/activity. I think sitting in classes with students at desks would be fine actually - and somehow reassuring. Pencils too! and alongside the professor and his podium is a lifesize holographic video image monitor which students in the class can see as well as students at great distances - also with their textbooks and notebooks and pencils. I think that will fly! Aristotle and Weber both would be dancing with that idea!

So, here we go:

The little blue dots of starlight did more to light up the ladder to the cockpit than most people would believe. It was something Jim remembered each time out. Next was the pull of the cabin door. Hard and stiff, the door came open and Jim knew they were on their way. It would take three hours to launch and eight crew made ready their stations. Batteries and fuel supplies were checked first, three hours of check lists.
Lights went on softly and silently and the comfortable feeling of ready power and familiarity with the procedures grew and became their home.
All communication channels were open and recording. "Ten minutes to undocking", Jim informed the crew and anyone else listening casually, matter-of-factly to their flight countdown. "Where's Pluto?", Heshey asked. ""About three O'Clock and 15 degress up - way too faint to see, maybe 2 au away", came the captain's answer. Heshey stared up through the cockpit windows in that direction and wondered about the ice and rock of Pluto that would have been where they were docked approximately 300 years ago. "It would have been right here in 2013", Heshey returned. "Yeah and Dartmouth would have still been pretty much what it was today." Jim thought about the way some things seem to continute relatively unchanged through history; The Pyramids, The Ten Commandments, Oak Trees.