Chapter 4
Next, they were led to the largest aquatics center any of the men had ever seen. Another NASA official greeted them simply.
"Gentlemen, welcome to our weightless environmental training facility."
Freddy leaned over Alex's shoulder and whispered in her ear, "You know, where I come from, we'd just call this a big ass pool."
A small chuckle escaped and she ducked her head quickly when Sharp looked in her direction. She threw her elbow back and hit Freddy lightly in the stomach. He kissed her head affectionately before walking away with a couple of NASA guys. Her smile faded as she found Sharp still watching her. She found her place in line, puzzling over the knot that had had formed again in her stomach when she met the colonel's icy blue gaze.
They were outfitted in the classic astronaut space suits and lowered into the water. She was enjoying the sense of weightlessness as a pair of divers led her around underwater, when Rockhound came in over the radio:
"So, we're going swimming on this asteroid? Is that what this is for?"
"Rockhound, stop being a bonehead," Freddy told him good-naturedly.
"I'm just askin'," he responded.
Alex shook her head inside the giant helmet and went back to the feel of her body moving almost without the pressure of gravity. Too soon, in her opinion, they were being ushered out of the pool to follow Truman and another man. She caught up with Truman and her quizzical gaze said it all.
"Oh, sorry. Ronald Quincy, this is the contingency plan I was telling you about. Alexandra Frost, this is Dr. Ronald Quincy, head of research. You met briefly in the hallway the other day."
They shook hands as they continued walking.
"I've heard of you," she told Quincy. "You're supposed to be one of the smartest men alive."
"That's correct," he told her, only a tad bit bashfully. "And I've heard of you. You were one of our most promising pilots until you simply…disappeared."
"Yeah…" she trailed off and slackened her pace just enough to separate her from Quincy and Truman.
Quincy glanced back quickly. "Was it something I said?"
"She's real secretive about why she left. I don't think anybody knows. In all honesty, I was afraid she had died until she showed up here yesterday."
"Who would have ever thought that a beautiful young woman like that with such a bright future would wind up on an oil rig?"
"I never would have." Dan raised his voice to include the entire group as they entered the Armadillo Bay. "Here at downtown NASA, we call this monster 'Armadillo'."
Quincy picked up where Truman ended. "It's going to be retrofitted with your drilling arm. She'll turn 800 turbo-horses in near-zero gravity."
"Nice," Alex murmured.
Harry squatted and peered at the vehicle. "Mind if we take a look at her now?"
The men converged on the Armadillo as Harry dictated to them.
"All these rubber hoses gotta go. Max, count 'em up."
"Got it, boss."
As the men continued to climb all over their new toy, Alex approached her boss, who had just climbed underneath the machine. She kicked his foot lightly, her hands shoved deep in the pockets of her flight suit.
"Hey, Harry."
He poked his head out. "Yea, Lex, what is it?"
"Just a suggestion: maybe we should move this hunk of junk somewhere where we can, oh I don't know, work?"
"What?"
"Harry, all our tools are in the hangar on the complete other side of this facility!"
"Oh…I completely forgot about that, thanks Angel Eyes." He ruffled her hair affectionately before turning to the crew. "Hey, guys! Get down off there until we get this thing moved to the hangar. We gotta have our tools in order to tear this piece apart."
"Tear it apart?" Quincy asked, visibly paling.
"Are you alright, Dr. Quincy?" Alex asked. She took hold of his arm fearing he might faint.
"Why-why do they need to tear it apart?"
"You'll hear all about it, I promise. Harry never tears apart anyone's work without telling them how they screwed up to begin with," she assured him with a grin.
"Tell me about it," A.J. interjected.
"Shut up," Alex told him with a cold glare.
A.J. held up his hands in a pacifying gesture and slowly started backing away.
"We'll have the Armadillos taken to the hangar where you can work on them," Dan told Harry. "For now, your guys can go and grab something to eat."
"No problem."
As they started to walk off, Sharp approached Dan.
"Where are they going?"
"Lunch. They can't do anything until we move the Armadillos."
Will watched Alex as she walked with Harry and Chick. "Are you sure about this 'contingency plan'? It's a waste of our time."
"Maybe it is," Dan agreed. "But right now, any kind of backup plan is a luxury. It'll be hard enough to sleep without the added worry of what'll happen if something goes wrong." Dan glanced at Will. "You don't seem to like this plan."
"I don't have a choice about it," Will reminded him. "But if I did, this wouldn't be the group I chose to try to save the world."
"You sound like Kimsey…must be the military."
Alex sat with her guys as they ate, musing over everything. Freddy leaned over and stole her apple off of her tray.
"Everything ok, bright eyes?" he asked, taking a bite of the stolen fruit.
"Yeah," she said, plucking the apple from his fingers. "It's just weird being back here."
"Hey, how come you never told us you trained at NASA?" Oscar asked.
She dropped her gaze to the table and shrugged. "The topic never really came up."
"We've worked with you for three years, Alex," Rockhound interjected. "I knew you were smart, but NASA certified? You should've told us."
"Yeah," Oscar agreed. "I mean, we dated and I didn't even know."
"We went on one date, Oscar. Besides, A.J. and I came from the same womb and he didn't know."
"That's my point," he pressed. "Why wouldn't you tell anyone you worked here? I mean, that's something to be proud to tell people."
Alex looked up and met Sharp's gaze across the room. Just like before, her stomach twisted itself into tight knots and she found herself having to work to look away. "I don't want to talk about it," she answered.
"Come on, Alex, give us some clue."
"Drop it."
"No."
"Am I interrupting something?"
Everyone turned to Sharp in surprise. Alex answered, "No" as Oscar said, "Yes". Sharp quirked a brow and looked back and forth between the two.
"What do you need, Colonel?" Harry asked.
"Miss Frost, you have a meeting with the pilots in fifteen minutes."
"I'm coming," she told him. She leaned close to Oscar. "Unless you want to join my brother on my shit list, drop it." She stood up and turned to Sharp. "After you."
He glanced at Oscar one last time before leading her out of the cafeteria. They walked in silence until they were right outside the conference room. Before he opened the door, Sharp turned to her.
"I think you should know that not everyone in this room agrees that you should be training with us."
"I knew they wouldn't."
"So whatever domestic problems you bring with you from being a rig rat, they need to be left outside the door."
"Rig rat? Hmm…" She took a deep breath to calm herself. "Look, I get that I'm stepping on your toes and, more importantly, your ego, but I didn't volunteer for this job. So keep your higher-than-thou attitude for someone who cares, fly boy. I'm not going anywhere."
She pushed past him and entered the conference room. Will watched her in surprise as she stood in front of his counterparts. He leaned on the wall just inside the door and listened as she introduced herself.
"Hi, I'm Alex. Before anybody else tells me what a waste of time it is for me to be training with you; I know. I know I'm stepping on toes and I know that none of you want me here. But plain and simple is I'm the only one who knows both worlds. So I'm the one who is the best option on the off chance that something happens to anyone on this mission. So unless one of you has a better back up plan, please just get me up to speed without a lot of bitching."
Silence filled the room at the end of her tirade until Davis cleared his throat.
"I'm guessing we aren't the only one's giving you a hard time if you came prepared."
She laughed softly. "No, you aren't."
He nodded and stood to shake her hand. "Well, in that case, I'll keep it to a minimum. I'm Colonel Rick Davis. This is my co-pilot, Danny Tucker. This is Jennifer Watts and you've already met Colonel Willie Sharp."
"Yeah…Willie…" She tried to keep the humor out of her voice but couldn't help but laugh a little.
Davis laughed outright. "I think I like you already."
She smiled at him as Oscar knocked on the open door.
"Hey, sorry to interrupt."
"What do you want, Oscar?" she asked.
"Harry sent me to find you. They moved the Armadillos and we're already working on them."
She nodded and asked the pilots, "Do you guys need me right now?"
"Go ahead," Watts told her. "But you won't have long. We've got simulation later."
"No problem."
As Alex passed Sharp he reminded her quietly, "Domestic problems."
She stopped and looked up at him coyly. "You know, fly boy," she murmured so only he could hear. "If you wanted to know I was single, all you had to do was ask."
She smiled at the look on his face and sauntered away.
The rest of the night passed by in a blur with only a couple hours of sleep before she found herself sitting with Harry and Chick making notes on their progress.
"We'll need you to reprogram the onboard computers so it's easier for the operators," Harry told her.
"Who's driving?"
"A.J. and Max," Chick answered.
She shook her head with a laugh. "I can only dumb down the software so much."
They shared a laugh until Sharp stepped into the room.
"Frost, I need you in the simulator. You have another flight sequence."
"On my way." She made the last of her notes before closing her book. She noticed the looks on her friends' faces as she stood up and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "And as soon as I appease Mr. High-and-mighty I'll head straight to the hangar. I'll get those computers working for you tonight. I promise."
As she hurried out of the door Chick turned to his longtime friend and voiced his concern.
"I think you're over-estimating her."
"She can handle this. She'll have plenty of time to rest once this is over."
Chick shook his head. "I hope you're right."
Alex followed Sharp through the winding hallways that made up the space center. They had passed pretty much the entire walk without any conversation and it was starting to bug her. After all, if they were going to be spending a lot of time together, shouldn't they get to know each other?
"So, how did you get stuck teaching space survival skills to a bunch of oil drillers? Piss somebody off?"
He cast a dismissive look over his shoulder before continuing on in silence.
"Uh, hello?" she lengthened her stride so she could walk evenly with him, though it was difficult with his long legs. "I asked you a question. The rules of civility demand that you answer back."
"No, they don't."
"Ok, so when I comment on your rudeness, you give me another rude statement, but when I'm actually trying to have a civilized conversation, you just stand in silence? Is that it?"
He didn't even bother to look at her this time, continuing his walk.
"Ok, fine!" she was really starting to get irritated. "You don't want to talk, we won't talk. You can just keep wandering about with your air of untouchable solitude like a freakin' RoboPilot."
Will couldn't hide the small smile that grew when she blurted out "RoboPilot". He didn't know why, but he thought it was cute. He shook his head. Apparently he had been single for a little too long if this oil rig mechanic was catching his attention. He shot a covert look her way and noticed the haughty look on her face. She was irritated and didn't even bother to hide it. He had a feeling this girl was going to be a lot to handle and he was fairly certain a part of him wanted to take the challenge.
They arrived at the flight deck, where Watts, Tucker, and Davis all stood waiting. Sitting her down, they gathered around her and began to explain the basics.
"The X-71 requires two people to pilot her. The pilot's seat is mine and Colonel Davis'. We're in charge of the actual flying of the shuttle, landing on the asteroid, etc," Sharp told her. "We'll also be going out on the asteroid with the drill teams to oversee the digging. We're kind of the team captains for each shuttle. The co-pilots, for lack of a better term, are Watts and Tucker. They are in charge of everything else, basically. They keep an eye on the gauges, speed, things like that, and if necessary, can pilot the shuttle on their own."
"We'll be taking turns working with you on all different aspects of spaceflight," Davis continued. "There will be times when some of us have to teach the drillers something that you may already know. In that case, you would come in here and whoever isn't teaching the class will be in here with you, continuing your lessons."
"Like I said before," Sharp continued. "You only have 12 days to relearn and continue learning everything that you need to."
"Only under the worst case scenario, that is," Tucker muttered.
All four turned to look at him and he almost flinched at the glare that Alex sent him before following Watts into the simulator. Sharp turned away, leading Davis and Tucker into the mock mission control room where they would monitor her progress during the simulation.
Will watched closely as Alex piloted the simulator, waiting for any mistake. But even he had to admit that she was good. He tuned into the conversation coming over the radio as he heard Watts laugh. He could tell she like the rig worker, which was a surprise since she normally didn't like anyone. It made the rig rat even more of a puzzle to him and he was surprised at his growing desire to solve her mystery.
Davis tapped him on the arm. "It's time to head to the jets."
Tucker chuckled. "I got twenty on the new girl blowing chunks."
"I'll take that bet," Davis said.
"Then you can't take her up. Wouldn't want you to go easy on her."
"I'm taking her up," Will told them as he switched off the simulator's power.
Tucker laughed happily. "Sure you don't want to back out now, Davis?"
Alex and Watts came through the doorway.
"Fly time?" Watts asked.
Will nodded and was surprised to see the eager look on Alex's face. It only took a second for her to get under control again, but the excitement never left her extraordinary eyes. He felt the familiar tug low in his gut that happened every time Alex was near.
"Frost, you're with me."
She cocked a brow. "You sure you can handle flying with me?"
"You're just a passenger, Frost," he reminded her.
"Too bad," she said with a grin.
As they all filed out to the jets, Will heard Davis up the bet to fifty dollars and smiled to himself. They came in just as the drillers were being paired off with pilots. Will took Alex's arm and steered her to his jet. Silently he handed her a helmet after she climbed in. She fastened the strap under her chin as he reached around to help her into the restraints. As he clipped her in and tightened it, he found himself both thankful and irritated that the flight suit kept her figure a secret. He shook his head and looked up, catching her looking at him, the excitement making her eyes shine.
"You ready for this?"
She smiled in anticipation. "Show me what you've got, fly boy."
He couldn't help the chuckle that escaped as he climbed into the cockpit and strapped himself in. He put on his helmet and checked his radio.
"You hear me alright?"
Her voice filled his eyes, making the tug in his gut worse. "I'm pretty sure this is the nicest you've been to me, fly boy."
He smiled. "Well don't get used to it, rig rat. Wouldn't want you getting spoiled." His smile grew as her laugh made his ears hum. "You sure you're ready for this? I'm not gonna take it easy on you."
"You take me for and easy ride and I'll kick your ass when we get back on the ground," she threatened.
He shook his head to clear the images her words brought forth. The end of the world was making him lose his mind. He saw the flight line waving at him and warned her that she'd asked for this before he laid the throttle down.
On the ground, Harry cleared his throat, trying to keep his breakfast down. He turned to his best friend and asked how everyone else was doing.
"Well, uh…"
Chick's eyes traveled over to Max, who was being supported by Colonel Davis.
"Sorry about the rib chunks all over your dash board," the big man told the pilot.
Davis couldn't help but laugh as he handed Max off to Freddy and Oscar. Harry scanned the tarmac, taking in the state of his men. He did a double-take when he saw Alex and Sharp coming out of the same jet. He took note of Alex's giant smile and grew suspicious at Sharp's smile as he watched her. Alex said something to him and he nodded before he turned to join the rest of the pilots as she stopped to check on Max.
"Chick."
"Yeah, I saw it, Harry." Chick eyeballed Sharp's back suspiciously. "I don't have a good feeling about it."
"I think we need to keep a closer watch on our Angel Eyes. It might not just be her brain they want."
"Maybe that's part of the plan to get her to stay."
"One problem at a time. Let's save the world, then we'll come back and kick their asses." He raised his voice so everyone could hear. "All right, break's over. All my guys back to work."
Alex stayed with the drillers, following them into the hangar bay where the Armadillos sat waiting. She set her laptop up as far away as possible; trying to stay out of the damage zone of Harry's rebuild and was soon joined by her brother and Oscar. She tried to tune their conversation out as she worked, but sometimes they couldn't be ignored.
"If you had to say, who would you say?" Oscar asked.
"I-I don't know, Oscar. Who do you think you are?"
"Han Solo," he replied without hesitation.
A.J. paused. "No. If anybody's anybody, I'm Han. And you're-you're Chewbacca."
Oscar stared at him incredulously. "Chewie? Have you ever seen Star Wars?"
Alex laughed at the two men and A.J. flashed a cautious smile. She didn't smile back but she didn't bite his head off either, so he let out a breath and relaxed a little. Oscar leaned over to see Alex's computer screen as she worked. Once again, she tried to ignore him but froze when his head blocked her view.
"Can I help you with something?"
"What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to create a program for the Armadillos that will recognize everything we need them to do."
"Oh…like what?"
She rolled her eyes and used his face to push him out of the way. "I have to work, Oscar. In case you didn't figure it out yet, Miss Contingency Plan is going to be rather busy the next week or so."
"For no reason," A.J. tried to comfort her. "You'll just wind up sitting her bored when we launch."
He regretted opening his mouth as his sister's eyes iced over and she glared at him, snapping the laptop shut. She glanced over and saw Watts heading towards her so she picked up her stuff and stalked away from her twin.
"Hey, Alex, where are you going?" Harry called.
"Keep him away from me!" she tossed over her shoulder, not looking back.
Everyone turned to glare at A.J. as she walked out.
"Maybe you should try being Chewie," Oscar told him.
"Why is that?"
"Chewie doesn't talk."