CHAPTER THREE
Say Your Goodbyes
"Are you sure about this, Reed?"
"The solar winds are flaring," he began, oblivious to Sue's true meaning. "But I've factored them into my coordinates and–"
"I was talking about us," she snapped, glaring at the elevator doors, her arms folded tightly across her chest. "Working together."
"Well, based on our history … you can handle the biogenetics and I'll focus on the molecular physics … or maybe I should take the bio-tech and you work the microscopes since you have some background there…"
Everyone stared at him – even Sue, who was looking at him with disdain.
"Right, that's exactly what I meant."
Jo cringed. She had thought that some kind of conversation would make this seventy floor elevator ride much less awkward, but Sue and Reed had just cranked the dial up another hundred notches. Ben just rolled his eyes at the two of them, but Jo turned to stare at the metal wall next to her; perhaps if she couldn't see anyone, she could pretend that none of this was really happening?
Thankfully, nothing more was said until the elevator reached the ground floor.
"So, when do we leave?" asked Ben.
"I'll be scheduling the launch," said Sue, pulling out a business card. She held it out towards Reed with a cold smile. "Call me in the morning to talk resources and crew."
"I think I remember the number," said Reed. It really was a bold attempt at seeming unaffected, thought Jo.
"It's been changed."
Reed's jaw dropped and Sue stared him down, almost gloating, but he was determined to leave this conversation on equal footing.
"As far as crew, I was hoping Ben could pilot the mission and–"
"Oh, we already have a pilot on our payroll," said Sue, suddenly smiling proudly. "You're welcome to ride shotgun. You remember my brother Johnny?"
Jo hurried through the halls of the airbase, completely lost and her toolbox starting to weigh extremely heavy on her arms. Why hadn't she taken up Sue's offer to show her the way? She'd run up and down so many identical hallways by this point, she had no idea if she was even in the right part of the base anymore. Jo huffed and gave herself five more minutes to find the luggage area before she would jump on an intercom and contact Sue.
She trudged down some more of the plain white hallways (where was everybody?), passing her toolbox from one hand to the other again and again. She flexed her aching hands and rubbed them against her new blue uniform when she could. She was glad she wasn't the only crew member wandering around in the skin-tight suit. Jo hadn't felt this awkward since she was fifteen and her mum had made her give an impromptu speech at her aunt's second wedding. She'd never gotten over the feeling of eighty people staring at her while she stuttered out random platitudes for a very long five minutes, even knowing that they had all been too drunk to remember that she'd been there, let alone anything she'd said.
Thankfully, Sue had promised her some overalls that she could wear outside of the trip's publicity events.
She was just about to give up her search when she passed by a small doorway and heard the buzzing sound of a zip. That has to be it! She rushed to the entrance and saw a very familiar-looking, brawny man of around thirty years old packing some clothes into a large black suitcase. He was wearing the same blue suit as her.
Placing the toolbox on the ground, she reclined against the room's doorframe and said, "Well, well, well, if it isn't the infamous Jonathan Storm. Not trying to smuggle a pretty lady in there, are you?"
The man jumped in surprise and quickly turned to see who had spoken. He grinned. "Why would I need to smuggle in a pretty lady when I've got you on my team."
"Oh, you flatterer."
Jo paused as she took him in. He looked taller than she remembered him being in their time together at NASA – more confident, somehow, even though you could never say he was shy – and he'd styled his hair into a short buzz instead of the old military cut. But his blue eyes still held that mischievous expression and longing for adventure that all the ladies loved.
"Josie," said Johnny, wrapping his arms around her in a great hug. "It's been a long time."
"The last time I saw you … Ben was kicking you out of NASA on your ass," said Jo, smiling as she pulled back from Johnny, her hands resting on his shoulders while he held her waist.
"Six years and I'm still pissed about that; a couple more months and I could've been a CO myself."
"I'm sure you deserved it," said Jo, laughing as she took a step back. "But you're a captain now! That's brilliant!"
"Thank you, thank you," said Johnny and he bowed swiftly. "And you! Sue told me you've been working freelance for a couple years? What you always wanted."
"Yeah, it's–"
"There you both are." It was Sue. She had changed into her own suit and looked somewhat uncomfortable. Jo was glad she wasn't the only person feeling awkward about the choice of uniform. "Victor wants to speak to all of us in the facility locker room. There'll be time to catch up later."
"You both go ahead," said Johnny. "I just need to grab some things."
Jo didn't miss Sue's raised eyebrows as they left the room.
"I'm going to trust that my brother isn't planning anything unprofessional," said Sue, sighing as they strode down the corridor together. "Come on, let's get you that flight-suit."
"Thank God!" shouted Jo, flinging her arms around Sue's shoulders as they walked down the hallway. But Jo had been a bit too energetic in her gratitude towards Sue and they both went tumbling to the ground. Laid out on the floor, the two of them looked at each other in shock for a moment and then burst out into laughter, tears in their eyes. Each time they thought they were over their laughing fit, they would look the other in the eye and erupt into hysterics all over again. It took longer than they had to spare of staring straight up at the ceiling in silence before they could trust themselves to speak.
"I've really missed you, Sue."
"I've missed you, too."
The faculty locker room was an odd place. Whoever had designed the room had made some kind of attempt at making it as grand as the offices at VDI Headquarters, but the mahogany furnishings and plush seats clashed horrifically with the white plastic covering the walls.
Through the door, she could see that Reed hadn't changed yet and was sat in one of the armchairs surrounded by his laptop and a mountain of paperwork. Ben was hunched over one of the lockers and Johnny was watching him with a gloating look that was eerily similar to his sister's.
"I can handle the ship," Ben was saying as he rummaged through his carry-on bag. "I can even handle Mr. Blonde Ambition. But I don't know if I should be flying or playing Swan Lake in these suits." He ripped out of his bag a larger version of the blue suits Jo and Sue were wearing and stared at it with absolute disgust. "Who the hell came up with them?"
"Victor did," said Sue, making their presence known to the rest of the team. Feeling comfortable again now that she was covered up in what was essentially a grey jumpsuit, Jo threw herself into one of the available chairs and watched Sue as she picked up a blue suit that had been left on the back of another chair and held it up to the room. "The synthetics act as a second skin, adapting to your individual needs."
"Wow," said Reed, pushing his work aside and gawking at Sue in her skin-tight outfit. It was the first time in a long time that Jo had seen Sue direct a warm smile at Reed. He marched towards her, almost as if he was about to take her in his arms, but at the last second he turned and grabbed at the blue suit. "Fantastic. Material made from self-regulating unstable molecules. I've been working on a formula for this."
"Great minds think alike," said Sue. She threw one of the flight-suits into Reed's face and walked further into the room, handing out the rest of them quite calmly.
"Guess some think faster than others," said Victor's voice from behind them. His brown-nosing PA stood just outside in the corridor, speaking furiously into the mouthpiece of his headset. Like some kind of predator, Victor didn't take his eyes off of Sue as she moved about the room. "I hired Armani to design the pattern. These colours will look great on camera."
"They're ready for you, sir," said Leonard.
"Susan, make sure everyone is ready and in the press area in the next ten minutes," said Victor. "It's show time."
"Our numbers are through the roof," said Leonard. "The IPO's tracking at fifty, sixty a share. The bank's five times subscribed–"
"It's not just the money," said Victor. "I could make money in my sleep."
"Then what is it?"
"History, Leonard," said Victor. "History. Everything else is … conversation. How's the other matter?"
"Harry Winston sends his regards."
"I won't need to buy any more food for Penny, will I?"
"No, I made sure to stock up on everything before I left," said Jo.
She was currently on the phone to her mother and trusted dog-sitter. Jo had always been close with her mom, making time to call each week and have a chat about what was happening in their lives. But ever since her first mission into space with NASA, it had become a ritual for them both to have a last phone call before she boarded the spacecraft. It had started out as a stress-reliever for Jo. She was going into space! It was terrifying and she needed her mom's support. But after each mission, Jo became less and less nervous about the ventures … still, her mom was her lucky charm, looking after her as well as her apartment and beautiful dog for as long as she was away.
"I've got such a terrible feeling about this, Josie."
"You say that every time I go up there."
"Do I?"
"Yes!"
"Well, you know how I worry," she laughed, but there was an anxious pause before she said, "I love you."
"I love you, mom. I'll call you when I'm back."
Jo hung the phone back up on its hook and hurried back to the press waiting area where the team had spent the last hour taking part in a slightly haphazard photo shoot. Wearing only their blue suits, they'd been poked and prodded and shoved into various positions while several assistants to the photographer had pranced around them with wind fans and light reflectors. Both Victor and Johnny had been in their element, the photographer frenziedly playing up to their confidence, but the rest of them had behaved like deer caught in headlights.
It wasn't until the photographer had pulled Jo and Johnny aside for a few photos of just the two of them ("you two will be the eye-candy of the group; astronauts are so exciting! The readers will love it") she'd been able to loosen up. Johnny had been brilliant, cracking jokes and encouraging her to dance with him until she'd been able to ignore the camera and just have fun.
Now, a large, flat-screen television hung up onto one of the walls had been switched on and was showing a large crowd of journalists and photographers baying to get a good shot of Victor. He'd left the room just before her impromptu photo shoot with Johnny.
Victor stood behind a podium, high above the audience, the holograms Reed had played in his proposal colouring the wall behind him.
"Today we stand in the edge of a new frontier," said Victor, dramatically. "In the furthest depths of outer space, we will find the secrets to inner space. The final key to unlocking our genetic code lies in a cosmic storm."
"Isn't that your speech?" asked Jo.
Reed cleared his throat.
"He's made a few changes."
"This is your dream, Reed," said Ben. "You should be the one up there."
"Victor's better at these things."
"Ben!"
The three of them turned away from the TV screen to see Ben's fiancée, Debbie, rushing towards them.
"I was worried I wouldn't be able to see you in time. I got off of work late and then it took ages to get through the security for the viewing platform…"
Ben quickly pulled Debbie to the side and began whispering in her ear, holding her hands up to his chest while she blushed and giggled. Reed and Jo spun back towards the TV, giving the couple their privacy, but they shared a smile as they did so – it was wonderful to see Ben so happy and in love.
"I'll be watching over you."
"Just get back soon, or I start looking for a new groom."
"Soon as I'm back, I'm gonna trade that ring in for a bigger rock."
"I don't care about rocks, I care about you," said Debbie. She rested her hand on Reed's arm as she continued, "You bring him back in one piece, or you can forget being Best Man. Good luck – all of you."
She gave Ben a final kiss on the lips and ran off toward the viewing area. He stared dreamily after her, until he noticed Jo biting down hard on her lip to keep from grinning as she stared fixedly at the TV. It was a rare thing to see Ben so soft – even rarer to see him smile – and he hated when people drew attention to the little happy emotions he did show … but him and Debbie were just too cute.
"What the hell are you smiling at? Just keep your mind on those SMBs–"
"Actually, the engines are SMEs," said Johnny's voice as he walked by the three of them on his way to the spacecraft. "Hydrogen-base and carbon propellant – couple generations past your last ride."
Jo had to bite down twice as hard on her lip to keep from laughing at Ben's thunderstruck expression, but she could no longer hold in the smile that had been fighting its way through.
"Come on, you're not really that stupid for not knowing … just some bad luck at using your brain."
Jo snorted. She'd really forgotten how funny Johnny could be. He gave her a cheeky wink as he carried on by, ignoring Ben's glare on his back.
She almost said something to try and placate Ben in some way, but as she opened her mouth, he turned back to the TV screen and muttered, "Shut it."
"Think of a world without genetic flaws – no asthma, allergies, baldness, breast cancer," said Victor, holding his palms out to the press. "Darwin discovered evolution. Now we – I – will define it. Only in America could a little country boy from Latveria build one of the biggest companies in the world and truly reach the stars…" He paused dramatically. "Now if you'll excuse me, history awaits."
Every member of the press cheered as Victor left the conference room through a sliding door at the back of the stage.
"Come on, fellers," said Jo. "That's our cue; we've got work to do."
She didn't look back as she headed for the docking bay.
