Chapter 2

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Alex sat next to A.J. as the room fell silent. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Max drop his head onto his arms.

"None of you have to go," Harry told them quietly. "We can all just sit here on earth and wait for this big rock to crash into it, kill everything and everybody we know. The United States government just asked us to save the world. Anybody wanna say no?"

Chick spoke up. "Twenty years. I haven't turned you down once. Not about to start now. I'm there."

"Guess I can't let you go up there alone," Freddy Noonan told him.

"I'm with you," Bear replied.

Oscar picked up the plastic shuttle on the table. "Man this is-this is historic. Guys, this is like deep blue her stuff. Of course, I'm in."

"While I don't share his enthusiasm," Rockhound added wryly. "You know me: Beam me up, Scotty."

"You all right Max?" Harry asked.

"I-I don't-I don't-" he sighed, looking up at Harry. "Whatever you think.

"What about you?" Harry asked, looking at A.J.

"I'm in," he said softly.

Harry looked at Alex who nodded.

"All right then. We go."

"I don't mean to be the materialistic weasel of this group but you think we'll get hazard pay out of this?" Rockhound asked.

"You know, that's a good question," Oscar told him.

"What happened to 'hero stuff'?" Alex asked him.

Oscar looked away, abashed. Harry surveyed the group.

"All right, I'll ask. Everyone who thinks we should get some sort of reward out of this, write a list. I'll give it to the people in charge."

The guys all grabbed at the paper and started talking and writing, giving each other ideas. Alex watched them in amusement. She didn't plan on writing anything.

A.J. stole a glance at his sister before leaving his chair and beckoning to Harry. When the older man joined him, A.J. made his plea.

"I don't want Alex on the crew."

"What?" Harry stared at him.

"I don't want her in that kind of danger."

"A.J., she's gonna be in danger no matter what. 'Cause if we don't have her up there, how's she gonna help out. Then, if we don't do our job, she's gonna be gone just like everybody else." He shook his head. "I need her, bottom line."

"Can't she stay down here and help out? I mean, don't they have, like, Mission Control or something? She can talk to us and help out, but she won't be up there."

"Let me ask you a question: Why are you so set on her not leaving the ground?"

"I don't want to mess up my job because I'm worried about her falling off the asteroid."

"So this is all about you."

"No, it's not like that-"

"Listen to me, A.J.," Harry interrupted. "I'm giving you the rest of the day to consider what you are asking me. And then I want you to consider how she's gonna react. Then, and only then, you can ask me again and I'll let her know that she's not gonna be a part of my team."

Harry went back to the group and began collecting their papers. "I'll give them the news." He walked out.

Shortly after, the group walked to the balcony overlooking the hallway where Dan Truman, Walter Clark, and General Kimsey stood talking.

"If you're trying to make me feel better about this scenario, give it up," Kimsey told Truman.

"To tell you the truth, I'm kind of encouraged. This guy, Chick, was an Air Force commando for six years."

Kimsey looked down at the folders in his hands. "We've got robbery, assault, arrest, resisting arrest. We've got a collection agent for the mob. Two of these guys have done serious time."

"Look, they're the best at what they do."

"So am I. And I'm not so optimistic. We spend $250 billion a year on defense and here we are." He glanced up at the balcony. "The fate of the planet rests in the hands of a bunch of retards I wouldn't trust with a potato gun."

Harry walked up to them and their talks ceased.

"So what's the verdict?" Truman asked.

"They'll do it. They've made a few requests, though."

"Such as?"

Harry began leafing through the papers in his hands. "There's uh-Well, there's a few things here. Nothing really big. Uh, just-Well, um, an example, uh…Oscar here's got some outstanding parking tickets. He wants 'em wiped off his record."

"Fifty-six tickets in seven states," Oscar called down.

"I-I'll tell 'em, Oscar. I got it."

Alex stared at Oscar. "Fifty-six?"

He shrugged.

"Ok," Truman responded.

"Um, Noonan's got two women friends that he'd like to see made American citizens, no questions asked."

Freddy smiled happily.

Harry continued. "Max would like you to…bring back eight-track tapes." He shook his head. "Not sure if that's gonna work, but…"

Truman glanced up the big man in disbelief.

"Let's see, uh, Chick wants a full week's Emperor's Package at Caesar's Palace. Hey, you guys wouldn't be able to tell us who actually killed Kennedy, would you?"

The three men stared at him in silence. Harry turned towards Chick and shook his head.

"Um, Bear would like to stay at the…" He drew the paper closer, trying to read Bear's writing. "White Horse?" He looked at Bear for clarification.

"White House. White House," Bear said slowly.

"White House," Harry said, turning back to Truman. "Yeah, he'd like to stay in the Lincoln bedroom of the White House for the summer. Stuff like that."

Truman nodded. "Sure, I think we can, uh, take care of…some of that.

"Harry!" Rockhound called out.

Harry held up one finger and turned back to Truman. "Yeah, uh, one more thing. None of them wanna pay taxes again. Ever."

The three men stared at him. He grinned and shrugged his shoulder.

"Ok, I'll see what I can do," Truman told him.

"Good."

They were quickly shepherded into the medical examining room for physicals. Alex had gone first, since she was the only girl, and now she sat in her paper gown and dealt with her nerves by watching her odd family around her. Max was staring at the large needle the doctor was preparing for him.

"Who's that for?" he inquired. "Mr. Ed? You stick that in me I'm gonna stab you in the heart with it." The doctor stared at him. "You ever see 'Pulp Fiction?"

Oscar was playing with the medical equipment. "We're losin' him, we're losin' him. Clear!" He pretended to shock himself.

Alex shook her head in amusement. How she could have ever fancied herself attracted to an airhead like Oscar she'd never know. Freddy came around the corner wheeling an IV and doubled over in pain.

"Freddy?" Chick called out. "You all right?"

"Does this look okay to you? Does this look okay?"

Max jogged past him, wheeling his own IV. "It's not all bad. It's kinda tingly."

Chick glanced at Alex and they shared a smile. Nurse Helga stuck her head out of the room she was in and called out to the group.

"Mr. Chapel! You're next."

Chick paled slightly. "Oh, gee, lady. I just came here to drill."

"Oh? So did I!" She held up a large medical drill.

Chick stared at her before getting off his gurney and walking away quickly. Alex giggled at the sight before her attention was drawn to Bear as his doctor started telling him all that was wrong with the big man.

"Your triglycerides are way high. And your bad cholesterol is shockingly bad."

"Gotta lay off them pork rinds, Pooh Bear," Max called out.

Bear stood on top of his exam table and peeled off his gown, revealing his tiger print underwear.

"Pork rind this. Pork rind this! Yeah!" He started flexing his muscles and dancing around on the table, pulling the underwear down to reveal one butt cheek.

The drillers erupted into laughter and cat calls. Alex rolled her eyes and did her best not to look at the large black man's butt.

Next, they all took turns getting a psychological examination. Alex sat at the table in the gray, uncomfortable room and stared at the doctor across from her.

"Is this really necessary?" she asked. "I've done this before."

"Yes, but that was five years ago," the doctor reminded her. "A lot can happen in five years. You said that you lost your mother just before you applied for the astronaut program before."

"No, she died, I dropped all extra college courses I had been taking, and then I applied for the astronaut program."

"Why did you wait until after she died?"

"Is that even relevant? I went over her death and all of that the first time I was here. And I passed. So apparently it didn't affect me all that badly."

"True. Now, you told the last doctor that you had always wanted to be a NASA pilot. But you quit two years into your training. Why?"

"My dad died, my brother needed me."

"And you and your brother are both planning on going up together."

"Not together. He's leading one drill team; I'm working with Harry on the other one."

"Do you think that could be a problem?"

"What do you mean 'a problem'?" she asked defensively. "I've been working alongside A.J. for three years and nobody's ever seen a problem with it."

"All right." He made a note in the folder on the table. "How close are you and your brother, Miss Frost?"

"We're twins; make your own assumptions."

"I would assume that you are very close. Have you had any altercations recently that would make working with him difficult?"

"Have you ever met A.J.?"

"No, I haven't."

"Well then, no. We haven't had any altercations recently," she said sweetly.

"So you left NASA to be with him? To…" He peered through his spectacles at the folder. "…work on an oil rig?"

"Yep."

"Didn't you find that wasteful of your talents?"

Alex stared at him for a full minute. The doctor felt the sweat bead on his brow from her look and decided to move to the next question.

"Have you had any problems sleeping lately?"

"No."

"Any traumatizing experiences?"

"There's a giant rock hurtling towards the earth at twenty two thousand miles an hour. You tell me."

"Point taken. Anything else?"

Alex leaned forward, resting her arms on the table. "Look, Doc. I chose to leave, but I never forgot all that happened to me here, ok? It's only been three years. I promise you, nothing bad has happened since then. I haven't developed multiple personalities or started seeing things that aren't really there. I promise you, Elvis has not made an appearance on any of the oil rigs I've been on."

The doctor couldn't help the chuckle that escaped. "All right. You may go."

"Thank you." Alex got up and headed towards the door.