Chapter 4

Love?

The Jupiter tragedy was a blow to the space program, and the following weeks were a blur to the Robinsons. Support for the project waned and John spent the next two weeks in Washington, working tirelessly to convince the legislators that the project was necessary and worth saving. Publicly, the cause of the explosion was reported to be a design defect in the fuel delivery system. Privately, it was confirmed that sabotage had caused that defect, which made John and his superiors even more determined to insure the success of the project.

While John was away, Maureen tended to the needs of her family, which included proceeding as if the Jupiter project were still viable. John was to return home the next day and he phoned Maureen to tell her that the vote would be close, but that the legislature would support the continuation of the project. As the family finished dinner, Maureen informed her children of the news.

"All right!" Will exclaimed. "Then we still have a chance to go."

"Will, just because the project is still happening doesn't mean that we'll be the ones to be going," Judy said.

Penny tilted her head, confused. "Mom, did you and Dad tell Alpha Control that we don't want to go?"

"No, Penny, we didn't," she answered.

"Mother, after what happened to the Jupiter 1, I'm sure they won't allow a family to go on the first mission," Judy stated.

"Until we hear otherwise, Judy, we're assuming that the mission will proceed as planned," Maureen responded.

"But that's ridiculous! They should only send trained astronauts. I don't want to be a guinea pig for the space corps!"

"We'll talk about this when your father gets home, Judy."

'They can't still be thinking about going into space after what happened!' Judy thought. 'Am I the only sane person here?' She couldn't stand what was happening with her family. She stood and left the room.

"Judy, where are you going?" her mother asked.

"Out!" and she slammed the door behind her.

Both Lynn and Don buried themselves into their studying after the disaster. Don was more determined than ever to join the Space Corps and Lynn had decided that she too would apply after graduating from the Academy. She would be one year behind Don, but visions of them as the first husband and wife team to be sent into space danced in her head. Don had no idea about her future plans.

The dents of the Datsun still needed to be banged out, filled and smoothed, and then she would be ready for painting. Before tackling the body work, he decided to change the oil. Lynn, a newspaper in her hands, wandered out to watch him work. She found him underneath the car, cursing for some reason or other.

"Hey, Lieutenant, need some help under there?" Lynn called.

"No," he replied, "no one touches this baby, but me."

"Sometimes I think you love that baby more than you love me," she teased.

Silence. 'Love? Where the hell did that come from?' he wondered.

"Don? Are you still there?"

He rolled out from under the car.

"Have you seen the headlines?" she asked.

She held the newspaper up in front of him. It was dated June 1, 1993 and "First Family in Space" was written in bold letters across the top with a picture of the Robinson family below it. Don whistled between his teeth. "They really are going through with it."

"I think it's just a publicity stunt. The USSC would never send children into space."

Don took the paper from her hands and scanned the article. "If any family is going to be sent to colonize a planet, it would be this one. They sure are qualified."

"All except for the teenage girl. What's she going to do, sing and dance for the aliens?"

He read on and his heart went out to that teenager. She was sacrificing a lot to stay with her family.

"I think she's got more courage than the rest of them, Lynn."

Reality had set-in and plans were being made to transfer the children's school records to the Alpha Control astronaut training facility, and Judy was becoming more depressed by the day. She was still dating Eddie, but her interest in him was fading. He, on the other hand, was even more determined to have her so that he could add "bedded the first teenager in space" to his resume. Maureen suspected his intentions and was even more protective of Judy's social life than before. In fact, she decided to send Judy to visit her family in California for a summer vacation before starting their training in September.

Judy had always been close to her Aunt Colleen and cousin, Joan, and she was looking forward to the trip. If anyone could help her resolve her conflicting feelings about the mission, it would be them. Eddie had planned one last date before her scheduled trip and took extra care in planning their night. Maureen had established an earlier than usual curfew for them, blaming it on the need to get to the airport early in the morning, so Eddie knew he would have to work fast to get what he wanted out of the night. After dinner at an expensive restaurant, Eddie took her to a secluded spot outside the city.

"Well, Judy, I guess this is our last night together," he said. "I'm going to miss you."

"Really?" she asked. She wasn't sure she liked what was coming.

He put his arm around her and slid across the seat closer to her. "Yeah, really." He moved her hair from her neck and kissed it. He turned her chin to face him and kissed her lips. He moved to the other side of her neck and sucked, hard. She didn't like that.

"Stop, Eddie."

"You don't want me to stop." He continued to move his lips down the neckline of her top.

"Eddie!" She pushed him away. "I said stop!"

He sat back. "Why? This is probably your only chance to 'do it'."

"Maybe I don't want to 'do it'!" she retorted.

"You can't tell me that you want to go into space a virgin. You might die up there."

She couldn't believe he had said that. "Take me home, Eddie."

"I didn't mean that, Judy."

"I don't care."

"But, Judy…" He played his final card. "I love you!"

"That's too bad, Eddie, because I don't love you."