“Just my grandmother on my mother’s side. She lives in Houston. Do you have any family?”
Claire shook her head slowly. “My grandparents died when I was young, and my father was killed in a traffic accident when I was a baby. . . . My mother and I would sit side-by-side in front of a mirror,” Claire said. “We could see ourselves as my father would’ve seen us. We held hands, talked, laughed, and cried. She made me feel loved and taught me I was a good person, even though my father was gone.”
She felt the pain of losing her mother almost as if it was new, and her tears started again. “I miss my mom.”
He put his arm around her shoulders and held her close. She knew he understood, and after a few minutes, the ache in her heart eased.
When the rain tapered off, he cleaned up their site, and they left.
As they drove back to her cottage, Claire asked, “What about Mr. Mac?”
“Mr. Mac started drinking after the accident and died of liver failure. He left the ranch to me. I scattered his ashes from the J-3, in the same meadow with Liz and my parents.
“The ranch had gone down a lot. I told the folks who worked there they could have the ranch if they brought it back up. A lawyer set up a living trust that will transfer ownership to them over time, tax free if I live long enough.”
“Why didn’t you keep it?”
“I didn’t earn the ranch and don’t want to be an absentee landlord. There’s not that much money in ranching. I don’t think it would be fair to take the money and not do my share of the work.
“The name of the ranch now is the McGregor-Archer. The school bus stops and picks up kids again, just like it did for Liz and me. I’m glad I could give Liz and my parents and Mr. McGregor an ongoing commemoration of the life they lived and loved. I’m glad I can help others have a home like I once had.”
“What about a home for yourself?”
He glanced at her and then turned back to the dark, rain swept road ahead. After a pause, he said, “I’ve felt homeless since Liz and my folks died. I need a family with whom to make a home.”
▼
He kissed her goodnight at her cottage. It was another gentle kiss, but she could feel the strength in his arms and hands as he held her waist. Again her body responded.
Claire noticed that she was smiling when she went to bed that night. Her smile broadened when she thought about why.
Chapter 6
Claire and David dated as often as they could. By the week of the reception, she was sure she loved him, but she was not sure he loved her. The only physical affection he showed were his gentle goodnight kisses.
She accepted David’s invitation to have lunch in the hospital cafeteria on Wednesday. A medical emergency made her an hour late, and she found him waiting at an empty table.
“Haven’t you eaten yet?”
He shook his head. “I was waiting for you.”
“Oh Buni, I’m sorry.”
He smiled and said, “It’s okay. You’re here now. That’s what’s important.”
▼
After lunch, Claire was standing in a patient’s room with several other medical students while a cantankerous professor of medicine droned on about something she already knew well. Her mind drifted back to her lunch with David: his delighted smile when he saw her, his attentiveness, and the fact that he’d waited to eat with her.
Maybe he’s falling in love with me, too. Her heart lifted, and she smiled at the thought.
“Sommer! Did I say something funny?”
“No sir. Sorry sir.”
“Don’t let your Grand Canyon stunt go to your head,” the professor said peevishly. “I’m no pussycat.”
It required some effort for Claire to keep her face straight. The other medical students were straight faced, too, but the patient laughed out loud.
▼
When she went to bed that night, Claire again thought about how David had acted during their lunch date, and again she smiled.
She knew now that he loved her. She yearned for him to make love to her and yearned for the emotional intimacy that would follow. She respected him. She admired him. She loved him. And there was nothing Claire wanted more than to spend the rest of her life with David.
But their physical relationship seemed to be at a standstill. Though his gentle goodnight kisses thrilled her, he made no attempt to be more intimate.
Okay Major David Archer, this gentleman suitor nonsense is beyond boring! En garde!
Chapter 7
On the night of the Beverly Hills reception, Claire’s all-sounds doorbell announced David’s presence with the “aaooogah” sound of a 1920’s car horn. He wore his Air Force mess dress uniform, resplendent with the gold leaves of a major, medals, and senior pilot wings. She was in a strapless gown of silk as lustrous as a white pearl, complemented by a matching pearl choker. They smiled broadly when they saw each other and simultaneously exclaimed, “Wow!”
She recovered her composure first. “Thank you, Buni. You’re very handsome.”
“Your perfume is fantastic,” he said as he draped her wrap over her shoulders.
“Thank you. It’s a gift from Joanne.”
They walked to the waiting limousine, and the chauffeur held the door open for them to join Joanne and Michael.
▼
Claire was pleased to meet many famous Hollywood celebrities at the reception. Bob Drake, CEO of Phaeton Studios, and other men with less authentic credentials, invited her to take a screen test. She politely demurred.
After dinner, Michael went to the center of the stage and spoke in the microphone. “On behalf of the Wildlife Fund, welcome.
“A few weeks ago, you watched a beautiful young woman climb down a wall of the Grand Canyon and rescue a cougar cub. Her wits and her courage were the only equipment she had and the only equipment she needed. Tonight you have discovered she is as charming as she is brave.
“Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to introduce Ms. Claire Sommer.”
The capacity audience applauded enthusiastically. Each of the giant screens overhead and beside the stage showed an enlarged image of Claire walking to center stage.
When she reached the microphone, she smiled at Michael and said, “Oh, wow! So that’s how you got your Academy Awards.”
Michael and the audience laughed.
“I love animals,” Claire said. “When I was a kid, I liked to pretend I was a cat. Mom didn’t much like all the meowing and purring and yowling at all hours of the day and night. . . . But what she really hated was stepping barefoot on my wet hairballs.”
The audience laughed.
“Everyone here tonight is making an extra effort to try to help preserve wildlife. On behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves, I thank you.
“You know that the creatures sharing this planet with us are in grave danger. Our burgeoning population is consuming and obliterating resources that wildlife needs to survive, and species are being exterminated at a breathtaking rate.
“We will miss the beauty and grace of tigers and cheetahs in the wild, and we will miss other plants and animals that cease to exist forever. Without what they give us, more people will die prematurely.”
She paused as the audience murmured assent. Starting with the most recent, the giant overhead screens began to scroll a list of species with the word EXTINCT in red beside each one.
“Our planet’s sustainable resources are already inadequate to meet the needs of our soaring human population. Preventable deaths—the unspeakable horrors of starvation, dehydration, preventable disease, wars over diminishing resources, and genocide—increase relentlessly as we multiply exponentially.
“Yesterday, thousands of people, including thousands of children, died from preventable and curable waterborne diseases. Thousands more will die from the same things today, and thousands more will die tomorrow and the day after that and on and on. There is simply not enough fresh water in the world to meet the needs of our population, and
there is no solution in sight.
“Desalination has been suggested, but where is the money coming from for that? Where are the people who do not have the money to buy a crust of bread or build sewers going to get the money to build desalination plants and pipe clean water to where it’s needed?”
The still scrolling list of extinct species continued on the left side of the screen. A picture of a wide-eyed and severely malnourished child appeared on the right.
“Overpopulation is an overarching cause of the destruction of wildlife and the delicate ecosystem of our planet. We cannot protect wildlife and reduce damage to our environment unless we reduce our numbers. If we fail to do that, the consequences will be a catastrophe for wildlife, a catastrophe for our environment, and a catastrophe for us.
“One way to reduce our numbers is to do everything we can to see that all women can say no to pregnancy. In far too many cultures and families around the world, women are required to marry a man who may not be her choice and bear his children regardless of her wishes. Where women have gained the right to say no without consequences, the birthrate has dropped.
“Justice for women is not simply a women’s issue, a birth control issue, or a civil rights issue. Justice for women is a survival issue for wildlife and a survival issue for us.
“We must make everybody aware that overpopulation is the greatest threat we face. Many here, in this room, have very powerful tools to reach people: in major theaters, on TV, and in small communities gathered around screens in faraway places. You have genius, you have money, and you have power. From the bottom of my heart, I beg you, please help reduce overpopulation. Please help save us all.”
Claire bowed her head and slowly walked back to her seat as her audience came to its feet in a standing ovation.
Chapter 8
It was late by the time the reception had ended and David escorted Claire to the door of her cottage. He put his hands on her waist and said, “Even if the audience had been blindfolded and in the dark tonight, they would have known how beautiful you are.”
“It’s you. You make me feel beautiful,” she said and kissed him the way she wanted to be kissed. It was not a kiss for the faint of heart. He hesitated only fleetingly before responding with a passion that electrified her.
Afterward, between deep breaths as they held each other, he said, “I want to make love to you, but I can’t.”
“I want you to make love to me, why not?” she said.
“It wouldn’t be ethical,” he said. “I need to talk to you first.”
She grabbed the knot on his tie and pulled his face down to hers. “You haven’t been concealing an STD, have you?”
He laughed. “No.”
She felt of his erection, and he jumped back. “You can’t do that!”
“I’m a senior medical student. I just checked to see if you’re gay.”
“That’s . . . that’s . . . insubordination!” he said. Then they both realized how uproariously a court martial would laugh at the cause of the charge, and they laughed.
Claire opened her door. “I’ll make us a cup of coffee and you can talk. But I’m a woman scorned, and I’m not legally accountable. You’d better make it good, or you might wind up in the ER with a frying pan in your left ear.”
Just inside the door, she kicked off her high heels. David appeared to be taller, more impressive in his dress uniform, even more . . . . She stopped herself and turned away toward the kitchen.
He followed her and asked, “Why my left ear?”
“Because I’m right handed.”
She started the coffee, and then leaned back against the kitchen counter with her arms across her chest. “Okay, talk.”
David sat in a chair by the kitchen table, leaning forward with his hands between his legs on the edge of the seat. He looked ready to bolt at any moment.
“Have you heard of the Fusion Prize?” he asked.
“Isn’t that an eighty billion dollar prize for fusion power?”
“It’s eight billion tax-free dollars a year for ten years to anybody who can demonstrate low-cost fusion power in America,” he said. “George Earnest founded Fusion NRG Corporation and has developed a highly efficient process to win the prize. The company wants to avoid the public hassle of building a power plant. Instead, it’s working with NASA to build and launch a manned, fusion-powered starship.”
Claire remembered David talking about a starship during their dinner in Las Vegas. “Starship Enterprise?”
He shook his head. “Starship Origin. NASA calls the program Quad Fusion Thunder. If the engines work properly during the first test flight, the Fusion Prize will be awarded. Fusion NRG’s patent rights will then be released into the public domain. Other firms will use the patents and engineering to build fusion power plants without royalty costs.
“Origin will be built at Vandenberg Air Force Base at the expense of Fusion NRG. The corporation will walk away with forty-five billion in tax-free profit. The world will be left with a clean, cheap, safe, and virtually limitless source of power that can reduce pollution and stimulate the world economy. It can also provide more clean water and save lives.”
Claire raised an eyebrow. “Where’s Origin going?”
“They’re still deciding that. The most probable destination is Minor, a star two hundred and fifty light years from here. The crew will only age three years during the trip because of the phenomenon of time dilation. They will spend about one year flying to Minor, one year exploring the star and its planets, and about one year flying back to Earth.”
“Time dilation? Isn’t that one of Einstein’s theories?”
He nodded. “The faster anything moves the slower time goes for it. Theoretically, time would stand still for anything traveling at the speed of light. Origin will be flying to and from Minor at near the speed of light.”
With a feeling of dread, she realized where the discussion was going. “How much time will pass on Earth before Origin comes back?”
“Five hundred and three years,” David said.
The aroma of coffee filled the kitchen as she said in a small voice, “And you want to go.”
He nodded. “And I want you to go with me.”
With raised eyebrows, she asked, “How can I do that?”
“NASA wants a married couple for the crew.”
Claire realized that, whether he knew it or not, he had just proposed. She believed he loved her, but he had not said so. She knew she loved him and felt rising excitement. Should she say yes? Claire was torn and didn’t know what to do but felt she had to do something. She reached under the counter, picked up a skillet, and put it on the cooktop.
David’s eyes widened. “What are you going to do with that?”
“I don’t know. I might fry some eggs. When will Origin launch?”
“July fourth, 2050.”
“That’s more than four years from now,” she said.
“Yes.”
“So that would be more than seven years of our lifetime before we could start a family?”
“Yes,” he said.
“That’s not good enough, David. I want a home and family. Soon. Now. Yesterday.”
“There are other considerations.”
“What?”
“In terms of human suffering, the twenty-first century will be by far the worst in human history.” he said.
“It already is.”
“Yes, and it’s going to get worse. If we have children here, they’re going to grow up in this century,” he said. “What kind of a life will they have? What kind of life will our grandchildren have? Our great-grandchildren?”
She reached past the skillet to get cups and saucers. David reached the kitchen door before he stopped. Claire looked at him. “Where are you going?”
“Nowhere, just stretching my legs,” he said and went back to the chair.
Claire put cups and saucers on the table, poured coffee, and sat down.
He’s talking like we’re a
lready married! How do I answer that?
After a long silence, he said, “What do you think?”
“About what?”
“Our kids’ future,” he said.
“We’re only going to have one of our own. The rest will be adopted.”
He said, “Our trust will be able to help thousands of children while we’re gone. We can do more for kids if we leave than if we stay, and our children will have a brighter future in the 26th century.”
“What trust?”
“Our living trust for our pay and our investments. Each dollar we invest at six percent will be worth about one hundred trillion dollars by the time we get back.”
She took a sip of coffee and looked at him steadily for almost a minute.
“You’re ridiculous.”
“Why?”
She put her cup in her saucer, and pushed it away. “You’re talking about having kids and traveling 500 years into the future, and you haven’t told me you love me or asked me to marry you.”
“I think I love you.” he said.
“What do you mean think? Why don’t you know?”
“I feel like I’ve been crazy in love with you since we met,” he said. “But love at first sight doesn’t seem reasonable. Then when I try to understand how I feel, I think of you, and my heart beats faster, and I can’t think straight.”
She stood up and said, “Follow me.”
He followed her to the front door, and she opened it. “You figure out how you feel and let me know.”
As he stepped through the door, she said, “Goodnight David,” closed the door, locked it, and turned off the all-sounds doorbell.
Chapter 9
Hoping David had made a decision, Claire accepted a date to go flying with him the next Friday.
In a rented aerobatic airplane with side by side seating, he did mild aerobatics in the practice area. Then after a slow roll, he asked if she would like to try it. As Claire made clearing turns to look for other airplanes, David saw an airplane whose flight path might make take it near them. While he was distracted, she snap rolled the plane, a much more violent maneuver than a slow roll.
Launch Page 4
