Fly Me to the Moon Pt. 04

Two hours later we were back in the air heading to Groom Lake.

*****

I wanted to put the romance back into our relationship; we had been so busy making everything work that it had been as if something was missing.

We were slow dancing in our quarters to Puccini's music sung by Della Reese, "Don't You Know?". I felt myself melting in his strong arms, my head on his shoulder as we swayed slightly in the soft darkness of the room.

"I missed you," I said, "I've been so busy and..."

"Shhhh," he replied, holding me closer to him as I closed my eyes.

"I brought you something from Hawaii," I started to say.

"All I want is you," he said, "you and Pacifica are all I need."

We swayed some more; I wanted it to never stop as he held me. "Take me to bed," I whispered as I led him toward the bedroom.

*****

The next morning all was right in the world and I hurried through my shower and then headed to my office to face the day's work which had piled up on my desk while we were gone on inspection tours.

I had an idea using the ships' incredible power to destroy the Fukushima power plant and remove the nuclear disaster to a bad memory.

I met with Max about it, explaining what I wanted to do. He called several nuclear physicists about it and then the Pentagon to see what they thought about it. Two days later we were video conferencing with the State Department who promised to meet with the President prior to talking with the Japanese government.

A week later it had all fallen apart. I guess the pride of the Japanese government leaders did not allow them to accept help from us. And so the radioactive pollution continued to pour into the Pacific.

*****

I was sitting on the floor playing with Pacifica, rolling a ball to her and waiting for her to try and roll it back when Max entered the room. I picked the toddler up and put her into the playpen and then gave Max a kiss.

"Well, my general, how was your day?"

"Same old, same old," he answered, pulling his tie off and throwing it on the bed. "Politics... State is angry with the Japanese for turning down your idea."

"Well, don't let it get you down. I should have known it wouldn't work."

"Pride goeth before the fall... or whatever," he replied, sitting down on the bed and putting his arms out to me. I moved over and sat on his lap, my arms around his neck.

"It's too bad we can't just fly over there and do it."

"No, that would not be possible, no matter how much we would want to do it."

The next few weeks were taken up delivering satellites to orbit and two visits to the space station bringing supplies. Even though it was safer reaching orbit placing satellites into position was just as dangerous, something we never forgot as they required spacewalks.

"How's my spacegirl?" Max asked me as I left the hangar to change out of my flight suit.

"This last one was a bit scary but we did it."

"Maybe you should look at having another crew do it. You have a child, now... and me."

I looked at him, knowing full well my attitude about having others do what I wouldn't. I said nothing.

"I'm sorry," he finally said, moving to hold me. "I love you and don't want anything to happen."

"Thank you but I'm OK, I shouldn't have said anything."

We had a quiet dinner that evening, having missed the usual mealtime due to my flight. What I didn't say was that it was Mary who was almost killed, not me.

I went to see Mary making sure that she was all right. Her helmet's faceplate had cracked and I got her into the spacecraft just in time.

I don't know what happened, it just was. I turned the helmet over to the technicians to inspect.

*****

Our personal lives settled into a quiet routine, each week the same except for the destination of our inspection flights. While my favorite location was Hawaii, we only went there every six weeks or so. Going to Holy Loch brought back bad memories for me but it was something I had to do.

I was using the computer, entering my evaluations of the various flight crews when Max came in with a piece of carrot cake and two forks. "Here," he said, pushing the plate toward me with a smile. "You know, there's things that just can't be done, no matter how much you want."

"I know, it's just that..."

"Now, what did I just say? We do the best we can with what we have. When were you going to tell me about Mary?"

"It was in the report. I got her in the ship before anything else happened."

"It's OK to be rattled. You're human and almost lost a friend. Space is unforgiving."

"I know... I didn't want you to worry."

"I worry about you every time you leave. I worry about everyone but you most of all."

I gave him a slight smile, reaching out. I was a Marine.

***************

I was playing with the baby, tickling her and waiting to hear her say "momma", something I so wanted. We had just come back from Australia and I had brought several stuffed toy animals with me for her to hold. I especially liked the koalas, now several of them in Pacifica's collection.

Max had gone to Washington for another meeting, something that couldn't be done by video conferencing, much to my surprise. Our time apart was frustrating. I had come to love him more and more with each passing day.

My cell phone rang; it was Max. "I'm going to stay the night," he said. I could tell he was unhappy, whether because of the hour or because of what was said at the meeting or because he was just tired of the politics that were inherent in any large organization.

He spent the night at what had been my house, now our house. My plans on renting out the place had not come to fruition; we wanted to use the house for ourselves now and just had a housekeeper to maintain it.

*****

Max arrived early the next morning, landing on the runway in front of what I considered "our hangar" and carefully brought the ship inside. I wondered if his attitude had changed from the night before.

I saluted, keeping protocols in place as I met him leaving the craft, hopping down to the cement. The ship was still warm so I didn't touch it, not wanting to burn myself. The heat was a byproduct of its energy flow as it it flew.

"Are you OK?" I asked, not liking the look on his face.

"It's just... oh, never mind, it will all blow over and there won't be a problem." And with that, he moved away from me and out of the hangar into the morning desert heat.

I didn't know what to do with that... what did he mean? Something had happened at the Pentagon, that was for sure, just what, or course, I didn't know and if he didn't tell me, I wasn't going to find out.

*****

Two weeks passed routinely as I filled the time writing reports and making inspection tours with Mary. We went to Vandenberg on the California coast and found time to visit Solvang and get some Danish pastries to bring back to everyone at the base. We just got them into the ship with a few inches to spare and I radio'd ahead to have someone meet us when we landed to take everything to the DFAC for dessert that night. I kept waiting for Max to say something but he was quiet and whatever it was he was keeping close to his vest.

And then he told me... he had been transferred to the Pentagon to join the Joint Chiefs and I was to be promoted to take his place. We would be apart for the first time since we had married. No wonder he was angry even though the promotion was the dream of a lifetime. I tried to make him see that and with our fantastic spaceships we were only an hour away from each other.

Mary was promoted to my spot for inspection tours since she knew it down pat and I gave Max's ship to her as she interviewed candidates to take her place in the scheme of things.

Congress had to approve the promotions but it was a done deal as far as everyone was concerned, our public relations office had made the world know everything we had done with the exception of the raid in the Middle East. We wanted to be known as the 'new' NASA, although part of the military.

And a week later the approval had come down and we flew to Washington for the ceremonies giving us our new duties.

We spent the night at our house there making love slowly. I was going to miss him terribly. He was going to stay at the house for the duration and we would Skype each night. Military life is hard on marriages and I felt for those who were on the front lines.

To be continued...