Disclaimer: see chapter one
AN: You are lucky ducks aren't you? Another chapter in so many days. Again, massive thanks to my brother for letting me use his laptop. I hope his nice streak lasts the next two months.
Chapter Nine- A Light in a Dark Tunnel
John attacked Scott in the hallway like a heat seeking missile. "Have you heard?"
Scott nodded mutely, chucking his books into his locker.
"Do you believe it?"
"NASA's wrong." Scott stated. "I don't care what their fancy technology tells them. Dad and his crew are not dead!" He shot an appraising look over John. "How's Virgil?"
John shrugged. "I haven't seen him yet."
"Find him." Scott ordered. "Stay with him. I'm going to go the Gordon and Alan's school. I think Gordon would know, but Alan probably doesn't."
Scott knocked gently on the kindergarten classroom door. As soon as the door opened, Alan scampered up to Scott and threw his arms around him. "Scotty! What are you doing here?"
Scott smiled down at his six year old brother, and gently pushed him back into his class group. "I was just wondering if I could borrow Alan for a moment."
Alan's teacher beckoned him aside before she replied. "I take it you've heard."
Scott nodded.
"Alan doesn't know. None of the kids do."
"I figured as much." Scott said evenly, careful to keep his rising anger in check. "That's why I'm here. Someone needs to tell him. He has a right to know. It's his dad up there. Is there a spare classroom somewhere?"
Alan's teacher placed a comforting arm on Scott's shoulder. "Take him. Down the hall, second door on the right. Can't miss it." She turned towards her kindy class. "Alan, go with your brother."
Once more, Alan tackled Scott. "Scotty, where are we going?" Alan had grabbed Scott's hand and was swinging it madly, as Scott led the pair of them to the empty classroom.
Once they were inside, Scott closed the door. "You know how Daddy's gone up in space on a big rocket?" Scott began, unsure of how to break the news to Alan.
"Yeah!" Alan cried out. "I saw it! It was this big!" Alan spanned his arms as wide as he could.
"Well, something broke on Daddy's rocket," Scott hesitated. "He's going to have a little bit of trouble getting home."
Tears pooled in Alan's sky blue eyes, and he looked imploringly up at Scott. "Was it the door?"
"No Alan." Scott crouched down to Alan's height. "It wasn't the door.
That was it for Alan. He burst into tears. "You promised he'd come back. You promised!"
In the blink of an eye, Scott had gathered Alan into an embrace. "Sssh." He rocked Alan from side to side, and rubbed circles on his back. "How about we get you home, huh?"
"What about school?" Alan sniffed.
Scott hoisted Alan up onto his shoulder. "I don't think that's important right now. We'll just stop and tell John, and then we can go, OK?"
John chewed methodically on his sandwich, sitting next to his friends, even though he wasn't hungry.
"Hey John," John looked up at the shadow that was blocking the sun. "I'm gonna take Alan home. Will you be OK to take the others at three thirty?"
John swallowed. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Anything else?"
"Let Jack or Tom know I'm not here. They can get the work for me."
John nodded. Finally, he raised his ice blue eyes at his brother. "Scott, what if NASA's actually right? That makes me scared."
"I know. We all are."
As quietly as he could, Scott turned the key in the lock, keeping a hold on Alan. "Just remember, be quiet, and don't upset Grandma."
Lifting Alan onto his shoulders, Scott slipped into the kitchen, only to find his grandmother screaming down the phone.
"Don't you DARE put me on hold! I have been on this phone for hours just trying to get a straight answer! And don't insult my intelligence and give me the 'it's classified' nonsense! I want the truth and I want it now!" Josie huffed as supposedly soothing strains of music played through the phone.
"Is everything OK, Grandma?" Alan asked, forgetting he was supposed to be silent.
Josie whirled around in surprise. "Alan, what are you doing home so early?"
"Scotty brought me. He said school wasn't important."
Josie glared murder at her eldest grandson. So much for being a good influence.
"Alan," Scott gulped, seeing the expression on his grandmother's face. "You weren't supposed to tell her that."
"Oh, oops." Alan's face fell.
"What have you found out?" Scott asked, helping himself to a slice of bread.
"Not much." Josie snorted. "Just some stupid NASA confidentiality and they will let us know in any change of circumstance. Ha, who are they trying to kid? They didn't let me know when they got the reports of trouble on the space craft; why should I trust them to let me know if there's any change."
Scott nodded, and said he would check the TV reports. "Just in case there's anything new."
Nick sealed the hatch in the LLC, connecting the Command Module with the tunnel. "It's shut down. There's no going back in there now."
"We know." Jack mumbled, scribbling away on a piece of scrap paper.
"What are you doing?"
"Seeing which systems we have to turn off to conserve enough energy to drag our butts back down home." Jeff replied, scanning each piece of machinery. "Pull 'em all. Get Houston's approval, but we'll have to pull them all. Except… the carbon filter."
"How long will that give us?"
Jack raised his eyes off the paper, let his pen float in mid air, and shot a steely look at Nick. "From my calculations, it should last us long enough to get home. Which, by the way, we will do, regardless of what you think!"
Virgil kept staring at the speaker mounted on the wall, praying for another announcement.
"Mr. Tracy," a soft voice broke into his head.
Startled, he pulled himself out of his reverie.
"How nice of you to join us." Virgil's math teacher continued. "While you were daydreaming, we took several notes on Euler's method of the interior angle sum of a polygon. Did any of that happen to penetrate into your head?" She glanced down at his blank notebook. "Apparently not."
Virgil could feel the familiar sense of anger and shame rising up his back. Why did Mrs. Henderson always pick on him? Was it because of his siblings, and their outstanding results in maths? It wasn't his fault he found maths difficult; he was left-handed. He was creative, not logical.
"Mr. Tracy, a word at my desk, please."
Like a frightened rabbit about to be shot, Virgil took baby steps towards his doom.
"Virgil," Mrs. Henderson began, compassion shining in her eyes. "I understand you must be upset-"
"How could you? You've never had to hear that kind of an announcement over a school speaker! You've never had to spend a day wondering if you're father's dead or alive! How could you understand?"
"I understand that you are upset," Mrs. Henderson continued as if there had been no interruption. "But your father would want you to do the best you can. That means you have to concentrate, no matter what the circumstances."
"You can't say that!" Virgil snarled, while knowing she was right. "You don't know my father from a hole in the ground!" Unable to stand being in the same room as that… monster, Virgil strode to the door, practically ripped it off it's hinges and slammed it shut behind him.
Scott flicked from channel to channel. They were all saying the same thing on the newscast; Orbita 13 suffered a major explosion, and all astronauts onboard were possibly dead.
Possibly. Not probably; possibly.
That gave Scott a glimmer of hope in the dark tunnel he faced. He stopped, his finger hovering over the channel change button.
"… we have just received confirmed reports from NASA that all the astronauts are alive and well on board Orbita 13."
"Alan! Grandma!" Scott hollered, relief coursing through his veins. "Get in here now! There's something you gotta see!"
Alan and Josie were there faster than a tornado. "What is it?"
"It's Dad and the crew." Scott ran a hand through his hair so it stood up on its end. "NASA has just confirmed that they are all alive and well."
AN: If I don't have a chance to update after this, I hope you have a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Seasons Greetings, and relax over the short break. Please review.