CHAPTER 2 – THE MAN FROM THE HOLOGRAM
The airport waiting room was crowded and unorganized. Most of the passengers had known about the trip for months or maybe even a year, and yet they seemed to have forgotten items at the very last minute.
Jack scowled. He hated things that were unorganized. He had had one week's notice about his new assignment and he had managed to be perfectly organized and on-time.
Not that he had a lot of luggage. He was single and was used to traveling lightly. Wherever the North America Defense Force had previously sent him, he had been willing to go. Even on special assignments where he had been given only forty-eight hours' notice.
Forty-eight hours had always been enough time to throw some clothes into a bag, hug his mom goodbye, share some farewell drinks with his buddies, and notify his landlord and neighbors to keep an eye on his apartment for a few weeks, or even the six months he had planned to spend on Mock Earth.
But this. This trip was different. Two years.
Two years on a colony that took four months to travel to.
There would be no twice-yearly or even yearly visits home as would be expected if he was moving to a closer plant or space station.
Charlotte Thornton had tried to keep her eyes from tearing up when she had hugged him goodbye, but Jack – who told his mother not to come to the airport - had seen her cry anyway. It was best they said their farewells at home. Charlotte was a strong woman but the idea of not seeing her oldest son for at least two years broke her resolve to be enthusiastic for his adventure.
Jack's brother, Tom, had been much less emotional. "Send me a hologram sometime", had been the extent of his concern when Jack had sent him a live message to tell him of the change in his plans.
Jack tossed his duffel bag onto an empty seat and then took a seat for himself as he scanned the crowd. She was here somewhere. The woman who caused his mother to cry. The woman who caused the change in his orders. The object of his irritation.
Thatcher, Elizabeth. Earth Citizen number EK-0951984.
He had seen a few photographs of the woman. She wasn't striking but she was attractive enough. Fair features. Long hair. Good figure.
Jack didn't understand why her father thought law enforcement needed to be sent to a desolate outpost - or how he managed to get his superiors to agree to it- just to protect one woman. Jack reasoned that if the woman's father didn't have any faith in her abilities, he shouldn't be letting her go. Any man who could get a North America Defense Force officer's assignment changed could surely have gotten a teacher's assignment changed instead.
As he sat for a few minutes, Jack finished sending out some messages to friends and to a nurse with whom he was supposed to meet for dinner and then put away his communicator. He probably should have cancelled the dinner date when he first found out he'd be leaving the planet, but to be honest, he had totally forgotten about her. She was a nice enough – actually very sweet - but nothing special. To use his mother's terms, his planned dinner companion just wasn't someone who "got to him". Whatever that meant.
He still wasn't sure what "got to him" was supposed to feel like. Just that he hadn't experienced it yet.
Jack picked up his duffel bag and got in line behind a woman wearing jeans, black boots, and a baseball cap. As a matter of occupational habit, he calculated the woman's height and weight.
Not bad, he thought appreciatively.
Five minutes later, he let out an exasperated sigh at the length of time that the five-foot ten inches and one-hundred and thirty-pound woman with the attractive figure was taking to get her bags checked.
"Ma'am, I'm sorry. But you can't take it all," the attendant behind the counter patiently explained for the third time. "You're massively overweight."
"But I weighed them! It's fifty pounds exactly", a frazzled Elizabeth explained as she pushed back her baseball cap and glared at the woman. "That's the weight limit."
"Miss Thatcher, the baggage weight limit is fifty pounds for scientists. You're not listed in the computer as a scientist or researcher."
"Well, no. I'm not. Not a scientist or researcher. I'm a teacher", Elizabeth said hesitantly as she realized that maybe she hadn't read the transporter instructors carefully enough.
"Don't you make weight limit exceptions for teachers?" she asked with slight pleading in her voice.
'No."
"What's my weight limit?"
"Twenty-five pounds", the attendant said firmly.
"Twenty-five pounds! I can't live off of twenty-five pounds for the next two years!"
Oh, God, It can't be. You have got to be kidding me, Jack thought in disgust as he listened to the conversation and heard the name. That's her?! That's Elizabeth Thatcher!
"Ma'am, why don't you move off to the side and see if you can get rid of some unnecessary items. Next please."
"But it's all necessary", Elizabeth explained as she un-zipped one bag and began looking through it.
Jack moved up to the counter, reached past Elizabeth who hadn't moved to the side despite the attendant's suggestion, and handed his E.C card to the attendant.
While the attendant scanned his card, Jack looked sideways at Elizabeth who was now immersed in her belongings.
"A ski jacket?!" he asked incredulously when he saw her pull a pale blue winter jacket out of her bag.
"I thought I might ski in my down time", Elizabeth remarked when she heard the man's voice. She kept her eyes focused on her bag and realized that she should have listened to Julie who told her not to take the jacket.
"We're going to a colony on Planet Assaymark. Not Lake Tahoe", the man spoke again. His voice dripping with condenscension.
Elizabeth lifted her head and looked at the rude man next to her for the first time. No. Not the first time, she realized. The second time. She had seen him before.
Jack Thornton!
He's just like his hologram. Only real.
Oh, he smells nice!
Oh, he doesn't seem happy.
"Um, Mock Earth has a man-made ski slope", she said defensively. "I thought maybe Planet Assaymark might also."
"Mock Earth is an international space station with thousands of citizens. We are going to a planet that is in the early phases of being colonized", Jack said in a snarky voice as if the woman next to him had no real idea of their destination.
"Ditch the ski jacket", he said as he put his duffel bag on the scales.
As he waited for his bag to be weighed, scanned for contaminates, and tagged, he continued to look at Elizabeth as she returned to rummaging through her belongings.
He couldn't help but smile as she put three books in the discard pile, then returned them to the bag, then took them out again. Back and forth went the books. Discard. Keep. Discard. Keep.
Elizabeth stood there with the books in her hands as if they were a basic necessity for human sustainability.
"Ditch them", Jack ordered in the voice of a man used to giving orders. And having them followed.
"I can't! They're books!" she wailed.
"I know what they are. They're excess weight", he replied curtly.
"Books are NOT excess weight! They are stories and history and lives and –"
"And excess weight keeping you from getting on this transporter", he interrupted.
When she looked at him with narrowed eyes and a retort on the tip of her tongue, Jack tried a different approach.
"You can read things electronically. No one even uses actual books anymore. Those are relics."
"But. . . but –." Elizabeth didn't know how to explain how important her books were to her. She had planned on leaving them locked in her bookcase at home, but when she had weighed her belongings in the scale in her bedroom and realized that she was only at forty-eight pounds, she had gleefully packed them for the voyage.
Jack shook his head in disgust.
"Maybe you haven't thought this whole thing through enough. It's not too late to change your mind. There's no reason why you have to get on this transporter", he remarked. "In fact, I bet you –"
"Sir, your bag weighs twenty-three pounds", the pretty attendant behind the counter interrupted helpfully. "You're two pounds under weight. If you'd like to take the lady's books in your bag, that might be helpful."
"Oh, would you?!" an eager Elizabeth asked hopefully.
Without waiting for a reply, she tried to hand the books to him. "They're wonderful. You can read them if you want. Just be careful turning the pages. They're a little brittle."
A speechless Jack stood there looking at her. She has got to be kidding!
"Sir, there's a line forming behind you. Are you willing to take the lady's books in your luggage?"
"Fine", Jack gave an irritated shake of his head. "Put them in my bag", he replied to the attendant as Elizabeth handed them over the counter.
"Thank you!" Elizabeth said to Jack.
Now that her books were safe, she quickly returned her attention to her bags which were still more than twenty pounds overweight.
Jack took his pass from the attendant and moved away from the counter, but then stopped and turned back to Elizabeth. He realized that he hadn't told her his name. Not that he cared except he didn't want to be saddled with her books for the next two years.
"By the way, I'm Jack Thornton, the law enforcement for Coal Valley. You can find me aboard the ship to reclaim your books."
"I'm Elizabeth Thatcher. The new teacher for Coal Valley", Elizabeth said with a smile as she extended her hand to him. "And I'll get my books as soon as we're on-board. Thanks again."
"You don't have to rush out of your seat before we leave Earth's gravity," Jack said a little more rudely than he had intended as he shook her hand. "Just get them when you see me again."
He realized that he'd probably run into this woman at some point in Coal Valley but he was still too upset over his assignment to be friendly to her any time soon. Give me a couple months. Or a year.
As Jack walked away to get a cup of coffee before the flight, Elizabeth pulled the manifest from her pocket. Ignoring her open bags and their contents now littering the ground, she ran her finger down the list, checked the names for family groups which would share living quarters. Then she counted the remaining names, and divided them into alphabetically arranged groups of four.
Elizabeth lowered the paper in her hands and watched the back of Jack Thornton as he moved down the large hallway.
Julie was right. He does have a strong professional voice.
Julie was right about something else too.
Although Jack hadn't yet realized it, there was no doubt about it.
He was going to be sharing a ten-foot by ten-foot room with Elizabeth for the next four months.
Up Next: Chapter 3 - Coffee and Eggs
P.S. It seems most of you know D. L's birthday! Now, who can figure out the reason behind the planet's name?
P.S.S. To the reader with the Earth Citizen # LN 10111961, happy early birthday!