“Yeah, I’ve been slowing down.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.” Jillian looks at her crutches in the truck bed. “Health stuff?”
It has to be killing Laney not to say what she’s done. I know I’m dying.
Laney just sucks it all in. “Yeah. Family stuff too.”
“Well, we’ll leave you guys alone,” says Rob. He takes Jillian’s hand and pulls her away.
When they’re about ten paces from the pickup, I catch Rob whispering to her. She jerks her head around to stare at me, realizing that I’m that guy.
“At least that part was worth it,” says Laney.
I try to change the subject. “So, um, those meetings? Is this something the FBI should be worried about?”
“Just space nerd stuff. You’re the one that should be worried about the FBI.”
“Oh, yeah. That.” I’ve been trying to put everything out of my mind.
“I had to do a three hour debrief with some Pentagon people. Jessup tell you anything?” she asks.
“They did the same when I was in the hospital. I’m supposed to fly to DC tomorrow for more.”
“Seriously? Do you know why?”
“Nope. I asked Jessup if I should hire a lawyer. He said not right now, but he’d see if there was anyone with some military and classified operations experience to have on hand.”
Laney turns to me, mouth wide open. “Oh my god, David. I’ll go with you and set them straight!”
“Thanks. But let’s just keep the Full Washburn Menace on standby.”
Across the bay there’s a bright orange glow as the rocket booster bursts to life.
Seconds later, the rumble reaches us and we feel a rumble three times the power of a Saturn V penetrate our bodies.
My hand finds Laney’s and gives it a squeeze. She squeezes back as the rocket climbs skyward like a sun shooting into the heavens.
It’s so bright and beautiful it hardly feels like this is something that could be man made. It’s a phenomenon.
“And that’s just what it looks like at the start of the journey,” says Laney.
I look at her face. The rocket flames reflect off her eyes and the orange glow illuminates her cheeks.
It’s a beautiful thing. Not just the fact that she’s pretty and especially so in this light — it’s the expression of wonder and curiosity as she watches it take to the night sky.
I want to hold that cute chin in my hand and kiss those smart lips as rocket fire reflects in those amazing eyes.
“David, what are you looking at?”
Embarrassed, I let go of her hand. “Nothing. I mean. I can’t wait for you to see it from up there.”
“How about you go when you can take me?”
“If Flavor has his way, that might be never.”
“Don’t be such a pessimist.”
“It’s a very helpful trait.”
She grabs my arm and platonically puts her head on my shoulder. “You’ll be fine.”
“Yeah. Yeah. But…” I reply.
“What?”
“Worst case scenario… Promise me you’ll take up Vin’s offer to go into the iCosmos program?”
I expect an argument. In fact, I kind of want one to put me a little at ease that I’m overblowing things. Instead, she just holds tighter and says, “I’ll think about it.”
Twenty-Four
Testify
Admiral Jessup is waiting for me when I exit the elevator and step into the Penumbra reception area.
“Dixon,” he says, motioning me to a corner out of earshot of the armed guard.
“You just get here?”
“I’ve been here all morning.” He leans in closely. “Just listen. Okay?”
I give the guard an anxious look and nod my head.
“One of our cats peed on my wife’s favorite rug.”
“Uh, okay…” This came out of nowhere.
“She was pretty angry. She wanted to put him down. Even though it wasn’t his fault because we forgot to leave the pet door open.”
“Sounds harsh.”
“Yes. But she loved that rug. Good thing the next day the cat killed a rat that got into the house. Suddenly there’s no talk about putting him down.”
He stares at me, waiting for some kind of reaction.
“Okay…” I reply, not sure what he’s getting at.
He can tell I’m clueless. He lowers his voice to a whisper. “I’ll break it down for you. You’re useful as long as you’re useful. Get it? I’m going to teach you one important trick about this town. Never step foot into a room with someone who doesn’t need something from you.”
Oh. Snap. I’m the cat that peed on the rug.
Jessup is trying to tell me that these people are ready to send me to cat heaven if they don’t have any further use for me.
I’m about to ask how I work that angle but the receptionist comes out to escort us to the conference room.
Beth Saul is sitting at the end of the Penumbra table next to George Ozuki. Other than those two and Jessup, everyone else is new to me.
There was quick round of introductions and I heard CIA, DARPA and a few other agencies attached to names I only barely caught.
Flavor isn’t here. I eye his CIA colleague, a woman named Caroline Stennis, with wary apprehension. She’s got the athletic physicality and poker face I’ve seen in female prosecutors not afraid to stand inches away from a suspect and point a finger in their face and call them a murderer.
I catch her watching me back out of the corner of her eye. I don’t think it’s because she wants to know my relationship status.
“Mr. Dixon, before I turn this over to Mr. Ozuki, have you spoken to any of us about what transpired?” asks Saul.
“No. I made a statement in Canaveral. But that was it.”
“Has any of us or an intermediary given you instructions about how to answer any questions?”
Other than a cryptic story about cat pee? “No. Nobody has told me anything.”
She glances over at Stennis and the others. “I think we’re good to proceed.”
Ozuki is the first one to lay in with the questions about what happened. “Why did you ignore Flavor’s order to leave the astronaut?”
Jessup’s cryptic advice is still in the back of my mind. I want to ask if this is a legal inquiry but think better of it. They’ll railroad me no matter what if they want to.
I matter-of-factly reply, “The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 and the Rescue Agreement of 1968 specifically state that ‘In carrying on activities in outer space and on celestial bodies, the astronauts of one State Party shall render all possible assistance to the astronauts of other States Parties’.”
I’d stayed up late making certain that I had that one memorized.
“Very good, Mr. Dixon. Can you tell us which parts of that treaty you are in violation of?” asks Ozuki.
“Me personally? None.”
“None? Are you sure of that? Or are you trying to use the treaty as you see fit? What about Article 9?”
I see what he’s trying to do here. I think. He wants to show where I willingly violated the agreement so he can discredit my earlier argument. But why is he doing this? Shouldn’t Flavor’s pal be the one doing that?
He reads off from his computer, “Article 9 states, a State Party to the Treaty on whose registry an object launched into outer space is carried shall retain jurisdiction and control over such object, and over any personnel thereof, while in outer space or on a celestial body. Meaning that you trespassed onto Chinese territory in violation of the treaty.”
Thank goodness I had to spend so much time studying space law to get my FAA LEO license. “No. That is incorrect.”
“Incorrect? Please explain.”
“When I encountered the object it had no markings and was radio silent. There was nothing to identify the country that it belonged to. It had every appearance of space junk and was a potential hazard to other orbital objects.”