Anne’s whole body went limp, the phone almost dropping from her hand. She sat stunned. How could Peter be at the moon? How could he do this and not tell her? “Are you sure?”
“They just announced it on CNN, saying who the astronauts were. I couldn’t believe it myself. I had to play it back a couple of times just to make sure. Supposedly there was some big meeting at the UN where pictures taken by Peter are being shown to prove we landed on the moon. He is being called a hero.”
Anne remembered how the news reports mentioned there was not enough power for the astronauts to return and nervously asked, “Is he coming back?”
There was a long silence before Virginia answered, “They haven’t said that. I don’t know. I’m sure there is some way to get him home. Peter wouldn’t take on a mission where he would die.”
Anne didn’t say a word. She looked at some of the pictures of Peter in the room. She thought back to their last goodbye and remembered how her son seemed to give a longer hug than usual. She passed it off as having to do with Anya. Did that hug have a deeper meaning? When she saw the picture of him and Tom together, she instantly knew he took on the mission for his father. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Peter was all she had left. How could she continue living with her family gone? She couldn’t control herself and started to cry.
Virginia said, “I’ll be right over!” and hung up.
Anne dropped the phone to the floor, collapsing in the chair.
37
THE TIME HAS COME
Anya was nervously sitting at Dmitri’s desk with her headset on, waiting for Peter to come around the moon one last time to say their goodbyes. Though she wasn’t sure what she was going to say, she hoped to at least maintain her composure. She was worried what the Chinese were up to and how much oxygen he had left. She wanted his last moments to be peaceful.
Anya heard her brother inform everyone Maria 1 would be back in range in less than five minutes. As Dmitri started calling out over the radio for Peter, she tensely tapped her foot, hoping he would soon answer. Suddenly her brother took off his headset and with a perturbed look turned around to face a technician who had tapped him on the shoulder.
“What is it?”
His assistant said, “Sir, there is a very important call for you in your office.”
Dmitri scowled at the tech. “What? This is Peter’s last orbit. I don’t care who it is, I don’t have time to take any calls right now!”
The assistant stood his ground, leaning toward Dmitri with a serious expression. He didn’t look like he was going to take “no” for an answer as he persisted, “Sir, you want to take this call.”
Dmitri shrugged as he turned to Anya before saying into his microphone, “Vladimir, take over. I should be right back.”
Anya raised her eyebrows at him, wondering how her brother could leave at such a critical juncture. He mashed his lips together and tilted his head, signaling it must be important, and left.
Anya now heard Vladimir calling out to Peter over the radio and focused back on listening for his response. The clock on the screen in the front of the room passed the zero mark, signaling they had passed the time of when they should hear a reply. Anya started to rub her pendant. Come on Peter… answer!
Finally she heard Peter say, “Mission Control, this is Maria 1, over,” and she let out a big sigh of relief. She looked over to Vladimir, hoping he would soon give her the signal to start talking, knowing Peter only had a short time left.
“Welcome back, Peter. How did everything go on the back side? Over,” asked Vladimir.
“Everything’s fine. There has been no movement from the Chinese, over.”
“Roger,” Vladimir stood at his console. “We learned that your show at the UN went well. China ended up walking out in disgrace.”
“Wow, that’s awesome!” said Peter.
Vladimir looked at Anya and pointed at his headset, asking if she was ready to speak. She aggressively nodded yes.
Vladimir winked at her. “Peter, I have a pretty girl here who would like to talk with you, over.”
“I can think of only one pretty lady I would want to talk to—put her on, over,” said Peter.
“Roger.” Vladimir signaled for Anya to talk.
“Hello, Peter.”
“Hey, baby. You sound great. So how are you?”
“Good. So no problems with the Chinese?”
“Nope. They’re just sitting there. So how are you feeling? Any sickness or anything?” asked Peter in a laid-back tone.
Anya was amazed how casual Peter sounded as if it was just another phone call between the two, especially knowing he was almost out of oxygen. She needed to do her best to act the same. “I’ve gotten a little sick, but nothing bad, over.”
“Sounds like the little one is already being a pain.”
Smiling, Anya said, “It’s a good pain, like you sometimes.”
Peter chuckled. “You don’t want him like me—I was a handful when I was a child. Ask Mom.”
“I will,” said Anya. She continued with conviction in her voice, “I hope he or she is completely like you.”
“Well, good luck, then. So where is Dmitri, in the john?”
Anya looked toward the door before answering. “He had to take some call. I’m sure he’ll be right back.”
“No problem, I mainly wanted to talk to you, anyway.”
While soothed, Anya didn’t know what to say next, and there was an awkward silence. She wasn’t sure if she should address the fact that this would be their last conversation. Suddenly the door of the control room slammed open and Dmitri ran toward her. Perplexed, she relayed, “Here comes Dmitri.”
“Roger,” said Peter.
Panting heavily, Dmitri grabbed his headset and without sitting down looked at Anya with a big grin on his face. “Peter, I just got off the phone with the manager of China’s space operations.” Still trying to catch his breath he said, “He said they’re willing to bring you home!”
Peter practically yelled over the radio, “Really? That’s fantastic! I know the manager of space operations, Sie Wang.”
Anya, her heart expanded double by the news, jumped up toward her brother and gave him a crushing hug.
Dmitri gave her a quick hug before backing off. “Yes, he knew you too. In fact, I think that’s why he’s going against orders. When he found out you were one of the astronauts and there was nothing they could do to stop the pictures from being sent, he said he couldn’t let you both die. I told him it was too late for the other astronaut.” Dmitri took a deep breath before continuing, “I advised him you were low on oxygen. He was going to immediately order their ship to move in to pick you up.”
“Roger, looks like they’re coming my way.”
A crease in his brow, Dmitri asked, “How much oxygen do you have left?”
Anya reached for Peter’s pendant again as she waited for his response.
“Primary is already empty, I’ve been on SOP for a few minutes,” said Peter.
His emergency supply provided a little over thirty minutes, which would be cutting it close.
Dmitri said, “Peter you need to get in their spacecraft now. I did not ask how long it takes to pressurize. Sie said they will get the ship as close as they can. You will need to undo your tether line and push off from the Soyuz and float over to them once the hatch is open.”
“Roger. Tell Anya I’ll make this work,” said Peter with determination in his voice.
Excited, but nervous, Anya said strongly, “You better! I want us to grow old together!”
“Roger, like soul mates?”
“Like soul mates,” said Anya with a grin.