“Really? You should have told me earlier. It wouldn’t have hurt my feelings.”
“I felt bad after you spent all day making all of this. I’m glad I enjoyed the main dish.”
Anya’s seductive smile teased Peter. “Who says that was the main dish?”
A big grin crossed Peter’s face as he shifted in his seat. “Oh, I thought you were going to be the dessert.” He playfully wiggled his eyebrows.
She lifted her glass. “Maybe with some whipped cream.”
“Mmmm, perfect.”
THE SCREECHING SOUND of Peter’s phone had rudely awakened him from a pleasant dream. Chris Riddick was calling, demanding Peter get to the office for an emergency meeting. Apparently, the old man wanted to speak to the crew about some new developments before they were to fly to the Nevada launch site. Though he should have gotten right out of bed when he hung up, he instead gave into Anya’s requests to stay. It’s Sunday; there won’t be any traffic. He rolled over and cuddled up to his lover’s warm body and easily fell back to sleep. Fortunately, Anya stayed awake and woke him a short time later.
Right before opening the door to Chris’s office, Peter glanced down at his watch. Damn it, I’m fifteen minutes late. He did a soft knock as he slowly opened the door.
Chris straightened up in his chair. “Oh, guess who decided to join us.”
Peter wanted to smack the asshole after that comment, but instead, took a deep breath and reminded himself his direct employer was SID. “Sorry I’m running late, I hit some unexpected traffic.” Blake and Jesse were both in casual clothes sitting across from Chris’s desk. They turned around to greet their boss. With no seat available, Peter grabbed one of the plush chairs from the sitting area and quickly dragged it over toward the men. Blake moved his chair over, giving Peter a spot between them. “Thanks, Blake.”
Chris leaned back in his chair. “We were going over the preflight procedures, but since we are on a tight schedule, I’m going to get right down to why this meeting was called.”
Getting a quick flash of Chris’s Rolex reminded Peter of when he snuck into the man’s office. He couldn’t contain his sly smirk as he looked down at the front of the desk, remembering when he was curled up on the floor on the other side just inches from Chris’s boots.
Chris’s voice was soft-spoken and intense. “We have made a change in the flight plan. We have decided to do Blake’s spacewalk after rendezvousing with the space station and cancel the second EVA.”
Peter jolted upright at hearing this surprising change. Though he was happy they were cancelling the second spacewalk, something seemed odd, especially considering Walter’s desire to get the world’s attention before visiting the station. He kept his cool. “Why the change?”
“It was a management decision. Our concern is if we have any issues during the spacewalk, we may have to scrub flying to the station, which is our main objective. First and foremost, this mission is to show NASA our capability to achieve a successful launch and being able to get into ISS’s orbit. We want to show NASA we can place a manned spacecraft within yards of the station and then return home safely. Basically, we want to do everything short of docking. Doing the spacewalk is more of a historic feat, but not a requirement of getting the NASA contract.”
Though Chris’s comments made sense, Peter was sure management must have thought about this before setting up the flight plan. Something must have come up to change their minds. Obviously Chris wasn’t going to elaborate on the reasoning. Showing he was a company man, Peter spoke up. “I agree with the change. I always felt the second spacewalk was a little too ambitious for our first manned mission anyway. This might be our only shot to show what we can do.”
“Exactly. So we have rescheduled your first broadcast to happen sometime when you’re next to the station.”
Peter scratched the back of his neck as he nodded. Something just didn’t feel right.
20
SPACEPORT
The aircraft engines hummed in the background as Peter studied the mission’s revised flight plan. He sat by the window next to an empty seat in the back of EarthOrbit’s corporate jet. He decided to give his brain a rest as he scanned the plane. Only five passengers were on the flight. Chris and Walter were sitting side by side chatting in the front row, while Blake and Jesse sat in separate rows in the middle of the plane. Blake had headphones on and appeared to be sleeping while his commander looked to be studying the same manual as Peter.
Turning to look out the window, Peter saw Las Vegas in the distance, signaling they would soon be arriving at the spaceport. An unexpected pang of longing hit him as he thought of his lover. I need to take Anya to Vegas someday. He closed his eyes, remembering their last kiss. A startling nudge on his shoulder broke his concentration. He turned to see Walter standing in the aisle with a slight smirk.
Walter pointed to the empty seat. “Mind if I sit?”
Peter wondered if he was trying to get away from Chris. “Not at all, please do.”
Walter grabbed the front seatback before falling back into the recliner. “You know it was a plane like this that your dad rolled.”
A faint smile crossed Peter’s face thinking of his dad pulling off the crazy stunt. “I betcha that was some show.”
“I thought it was hilarious.” He raised his hand waggling a pointed finger. “Of course, don’t you get any ideas.”
Peter chuckled. “Okay, no barrel rolls today.”
Walter looked toward Jesse and Blake before turning back. “So you think your guys are ready?”
Peter spoke with assurance. “They’re ready. You have two of the best flying.”
Walter leaned in, nudging Peter’s arm. “Are you sure you don’t want to go?”
Peter took a sharp breath. “I’d love to. I’m sure launching in a Zeus rocket would be a one hell of a ride. But you want to send the men best trained to do this mission. Both have put in long hours and are the right men for the job.”
“I agree. Of course it would definitely help us get better press coverage if the man flying was the same man who just went to the moon.”
SID would prefer him to avoid press coverage. The comment sparked Peter’s curiosity as to why Walter had agreed to move the EVA, which still gnawed at him. “I expect you’ll get good coverage, but I was surprised we moved Blake’s spacewalk. That definitely would have gotten the world’s attention.”
Walter reclined his seat back as he made himself more comfortable, settling his arms on the armrests. “It just makes more sense. I think I was getting a little greedy trying to do too much on this mission. Chris suggested we drop the second EVA, feeling we were biting off more than we could chew, and the more I thought about it, I realized he was right. He opened my eyes to the risks. The purpose of this flight is to show NASA what we can do, and doing a spacewalk is just an impressive feat.”
Peter’s hunch was right, Chris was behind the change. “I do agree holding off on that second EVA. In fact I was going to suggest this later in the mission if all went to plan.”
Walter raised an eyebrow. “Why didn’t you say something?”
Peter clenched his jaw. “I’m still new. I guess I wanted to see how the mission went first.”
“Well, it sounds like we are all in agreement.” Walter looked toward the front of the plane for a moment before turning with a questioning look. “So how does a guy working at Byington Corporation in the UK end up with SpaceQuest flying a mission to the moon?”
Peter went into spy mode, answering the question as scripted by SID. “Actually, Allen Ferguson was friends with my dad. Allen’s a big fan of NASA’s early space program and over the years had made an effort to get to know most of the moonwalkers. He was probably closest with my father. When China claimed landing on the moon was a big hoax, it pissed Allen off. He considered all moonwalkers to be national heroes and felt it was his duty to prove China was full of crap. His team came up with how they could get to the moon and prove we did land. Allen discussed the plan with Pop before he passed away, expressing his desire to have a NASA astronaut fly the mission. It was obvious that wasn’t going to happen, so Dad suggested me. He informed Allen I was well-qualified after spending years training at NASA. Of course, Dad had no idea at the time the operation was going to turn into a suicide mission. He was just trying to get his son into space.”