Launch

by Richard Perth

  She was smiling afterward. With surprise in his voice he said, “You did that on purpose!”

  Claire laughed in delight. “I love aerobatics. My mother started teaching me when I was little.”

  David grinned. He snap rolled in the other direction, and they took turns exploring the aerobatic limits of the plane.

  Afterward, they went to an Italian restaurant.

  As Claire put her napkin in her lap, she said, “I’ve got a bone to pick with your friend Michael.”

  “Isn’t he your friend too?”

  “Yes,” she said. “But right now you’re his whipping boy.”

  “What did we do wrong?”

  “My car drives like it’s brand new,” she said.

  He said, “It looks new, too.”

  “But Michael won’t let me pay him. He won’t even tell me how much it cost. He’s an upside-down deadbeat.”

  David laughed. “I’ll have to tell him that one.”

  “Don’t you dare!”

  “You could pay him thirty thousand dollars. That’ll cover it,” David said.

  “How do you know?”

  “Because you would have to pay gift taxes if it’s over thirty thousand, and he would have told you.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “It’s part of the tax law,” David said. “He had a new top custom made for my car as a Christmas gift. It fits perfectly and it’s knife proof.” David shook his head. “I don’t know how he got that for only thirty thousand dollars, but he did. The quality is superb. I love it.”

  “Thirty thousand is a lot of money.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Thirty thousand dollars is to Michael what the price of a cup of coffee is to you or me. To him, thank you is ample repayment.”

  ▼

  As David drove Claire back to her cottage, she thought about how much she had enjoyed being with him and about how much she loved him. But he still had not told her he loved her. She knew she could not push him, but she did plan to pull.

  She put her hands behind her back when he kissed her goodnight, one of the gentle kisses she loved. Then she smiled and said, “Good night, David.”

  Claire did not invite him in, and he did not ask. But his hurt-puppy expression almost broke her heart.

  ▼

  The next day, David called and invited Claire to a picnic on the beach the following Friday evening.

  She said, “Thank you, no, David. We’ve already done that bit.”

  He called back a half hour later. “Will you have dinner with me at my place next Friday? . . . Please.”

  She could hear the pleading in his voice, and her heart melted. Damn!

  “Yes,” she said.

  Her hopes went up after his call. In the privacy of his apartment, maybe he would tell her what she wanted to hear.

  ▼

  David again demonstrated his mastery of a grill. The steak he cooked for her was juicy, tender, and delicious. Claire honestly told him it was the best she had ever eaten.

  They went into the living room after dinner. Patterns in the carpet revealed he had vacuumed. He kicked his sandals off and she slipped off her shoes. They sat on the couch, put their feet up on the coffee table, and relaxed.

  “Where did you learn to cook?” she asked.

  “My folks taught me. My dad and I helped my mom in the ranch’s kitchen.”

  She smiled when she noticed his toes curling while he talked. “Did you go barefoot on the ranch, too?” she asked.

  “As much as I could,” he said wiggling his toes. “Toes are greatly under appreciated. They deserve more freedom and to be treated with respect.”

  “They do?”

  “Sure. There are many eminent toes in the world. Tomato, potato, Toledo, Topeka, today, and Toto, Dorothy’s little dog in The Wizard of Oz are just a few. Toes just don’t get the respect they deserve.”

  With a grin, Claire asked, “What do you do when toes get cold?”

  “I put on my bunny slippers.”

  “You have bunny slippers?” she asked skeptically.

  “I’ll show you,” he said and disappeared into his bedroom. He came back wearing a pair of Air Force blue bunny slippers with big ears that wiggled with every step. “My squadron gave me these as a going away present.”

  Claire was consumed with uncontrollable laughter. Every time she tried to calm down, she would see the wiggly bunny ears with pink linings, and the side-splitting laughter started again. She had to turn away from him and lay down facing the back of the couch to regain some control.

  David knelt beside her. Slowly and gently he kissed her neck and cheek. She forgot about the bunny slippers as her heart and body responded to his kisses. She turned to kiss him, and their kisses became passionate.

  “I love you, Claire.”

  The fragile dam holding Claire’s emotions in check burst, and she was flooded with love and joy. “Oh Buni, I’ve been aching to hear you say that. I love you, too.”

  Their kisses washed them away on waves of overwhelming desire. He picked her up and carried her in his arms into the bedroom with her head on his shoulder. She imagined the bunny ears wiggling on his feet beneath her and laughed softly.

  ▼

  The sun was up when David came back from his turn in the bathroom to find Claire smiling at him from the bed. He joined her there and kissed her.

  “Good morning, my love,” he said.

  “Good morning, darling.”

  “I’ve worked hard for a chance to fly Origin since it was first announced, years ago,” he said. “But I can’t imagine going without you. I love you more than my starship dream. I love you more than flying. I love you more than anything. I want to marry you, to build a home and family with you, to be with you forever.”

  “You don’t have to give up your dream, Buni. I’ll marry you and apply to go with you on the starship.”

  “You will? What happened to having a family now?”

  “As you said, our children will probably have a better future in the future. It would be selfish of me to sacrifice what’s best for them, and what we could do for others, just so we can have a family sooner.”

  He shook his head slowly. “You are amazing.” He kissed her, “and beautiful.” Another kiss, “and sexy . . . .”

  They sealed their covenant of love with love.

  Chapter 10

  On the way to Joanne and Michael’s for lunch the next morning, Claire and David decided not to tell anybody that they planned to apply to NASA. They might not be accepted, and there was no point in needlessly upsetting anybody.

  ▼

  Joanne and Michael were reading the paper on the patio when a chime sounded and the gate camera showed David’s MG coming through. Michael glanced at the monitor and said, “By the way, there was no gate record of Claire coming home last night. She probably spent the night with David.”

  Without looking up from her paper, Joanne said, “It’s about time.”

  David was cheerful and Claire seemed to glow as they joined Joanne and Michael on the patio. Claire held out her left hand to show Joanne a ring. “David gave me his mother’s ring until we can pick one out.”

  Joanne exclaimed, “Outstanding!” as she jumped up and hugged Claire. “I’m so happy for you!”

  After congratulations all around Michael asked, “Have you set a date yet?”

  Claire said, “We thought we’d get married in Las Vegas on June sixth. We don’t have much time for planning, so our wedding will be simple, but I would be honored if you would give me away.”

  Michael smiled. “I’ll be glad to do it.”

  Joanne said, “I have time to be a wedding planner. You can just show up.”

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Claire asked.

  “Sure I’m sure. The only thing I’ll need is for you and David to email me copies of your personal address books minus those you don’t want to invite. I’ll reserve the chapel. Invitations will go out next week.�
��

  “Many of my friends are out of the state or out of the country. They probably won’t be able to make it,” David said.

  Claire said, “My friends are scattered all over everywhere, too.”

  “No matter. At least they’ll get an invitation and know you’re getting married.”

  David said, “Sounds good to me.”

  “Me, too,” Claire agreed.

  ▼

  That night, Michael was reading when Joanne got into bed beside him. She kissed him and said, “I’m going to give their wedding guests first class airline tickets to and from Vegas. I’m also going to give them hotel rooms for two weeks and three weekends. That and the wedding should motivate their friends to make the trip.”

  Michael put his open book down on his chest. “When David gets his Ph.D. next year, the Air Force will send him somewhere else. Claire will go with him. We’re just going to have to enjoy the time we have with them and suck it up when they leave.”

  She pushed his book off of his chest and rolled half over him with one leg over one of his. “I can suck it up with the best of them as long as I have you,” she said. “But if you die or leave me, I’ll kill you.”

  Then she kissed him.

  The book remained where it had fallen on the floor. It might as well have been on another planet.

  Chapter 11

  Joanne and David flew to Las Vegas the day before the wedding. He went so he would not see the bride before the ceremony. She went so she could get everything ready.

  Claire and Michael flew up on the wedding day. He escorted her to the changing room at the chapel. A bellhop accompanied them with their luggage and the dress she planned to wear, the same dress she had worn at the reception.

  When Michael opened the door, Claire was surprised to see Joanne smiling and standing beside a gorgeous wedding dress. A hairdresser and a cosmetologist were also in the room.

  ▼

  Claire felt like a princess standing arm in arm with Michael before the chapel doors, a very nervous princess. There had been no rehearsal, and she wasn’t quite sure what to do. Then she remembered she was with an Academy Award winning actor. All she had to do was follow his lead.

  Ushers opened the doors, and Claire was again surprised. Many of her friends were seated on the left side of the chapel, and there were just as many she did not know on the right side. Three of her friends in identical bridesmaid’s dresses were on the left side of the altar, and David was on the right side in his mess dress uniform. With him, as his best man, was another major whose dress uniform identified him as a pilot with the Air Force Thunderbirds.

  Claire held Michael’s arm and quickly gained confidence as she followed his lead down the aisle. Then she saw an elderly woman in an expensive looking pink and gray suit in the aisle seat in the front row on the groom’s side looking at her with David’s eyes. She almost lost her step before she realized that the woman must be David’s grandmother. Claire smiled at her, and Karen Sands returned her smile.

  Michael gave Claire away and took his seat beside Joanne who became a puddle as Claire and David exchanged wedding vows.

  ▼

  At the wedding reception, Mr. and Ms. Archer were introduced to each other’s friends, and Claire was introduced to David’s grandmother.

  Karen gave Claire a warm hug and said, “You are more beautiful than your pictures. I think my grandson got lucky.”

  “I feel like the luckiest woman in the world,” Claire said, “especially as has he has your eyes. I hope our children will have them.”

  “Oh my dear, nothing would make me happier, but I hope your beautiful eyes are passed on as well.”

  The party was long and exhausting. When they got to their hotel room at three in the morning, Claire and David fell asleep in each other’s arms, too tired to make love. But their marriage was properly consummated the next night when they got back to David’s apartment. That would be their home for the next year.

  ▼

  Three days later, they flew to Tahiti for a ten-day honeymoon cruise in French Polynesia, from Tahiti to Bora Bora and back with stops at other islands.

  Before the wedding, Joanne had given Claire a wrapped present and said, “Open it in private on your honeymoon.”

  Claire opened it in their cabin on the ship. “Oh my,” she said.

  David looked over her shoulder. It was an instructive sex manual. A statement on the dust jacket said, “You only have one sex life. Make it fantastic.”

  “We have a lot to learn,” David said and kissed her neck. “Better get started.”

  Claire and David studied the manual together every day of their honeymoon and afterward as time permitted. What they learned did indeed make their sex life fantastic. It enhanced their marriage and helped them in ways they could not have imagined.

  ▼

  Claire began her internship when they got back to Los Angeles, and David buckled down to finish his dissertation. Her hours were weird and long. His hours were just plain long. But their hard work was rewarded. By their first wedding anniversary, June 6, 2047, Claire was a licensed M.D. in the State of California, and David had a Ph.D. in astrophysics.

  They completed applications to be astronauts in NASA’s Quad Fusion Thunder Program. Where the applications asked for call signs, he honestly answered, “Buni.” Claire had never been given a call sign and asked David, “What do I put here?”

  “Put down Cougar,” David said. “Somebody’s going to give you a call sign. Who should have more right than your husband?”

  As she typed the name in, Claire asked, “Do I have to grow fangs and big muscles now?”

  David shook his head. “You have the heart of a tiger and the touch of a feather. You’re tough enough already.”

  She grinned. “How long have you been rehearsing that line?”

  “Since I started looking for you.”

  “When was that?”

  “The day the Quad Fusion Thunder Program was announced.”

  ▼

  The Air Force gave Cougar and Buni leave for the rest of June. They flew to New York and then flew by Green Spacelines to London. The company was very appropriately named because it made its own hydrogen and oxygen fuel from seawater using energy from solar cells, wind turbines, and ocean turbines driven by tides.

  Green Spacelines developed a very fast turnaround procedure that helped keep its ticket prices competitive. Mother ships with four turbo-ramjet engines were towed into position and attached to passenger planes while they were being unloaded and loaded between flights.

  The two ships took off as one unit. As they climbed to 80,000 feet, the mother ship pumped fuel into the passenger plane. It was full when the planes leveled off and accelerated to 2,000 miles per hour. Then the passenger plane fired its rocket engine, flew away from the mother ship, and climbed into space. After reentering the atmosphere, the passenger plane restarted its two turbo-ramjet engines and made a normal landing, one and one-half hours after takeoff.

  After their short suborbital flight to London, Claire asked David, “Do you think we’re qualified astronauts yet?”

  He grinned. “That was a fun flight, but I doubt it.

  Chapter 12

  On July 1, 2047, Claire and David reported for active duty at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. Their assigned quarters were on the base in an apartment building housing young married couples without children.

  The following Monday, Claire reported to Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio for eight weeks of training to become a flight surgeon. Meanwhile, David completed refresher training in Wraiths at Holloman.

  Every Friday evening, he flew to Wright Patterson to spend the weekend with her.

  ▼

  Claire reported back to Holloman after she completed her training and was assigned to duty at the base hospital. Then in early September, she and David received orders to report to NASA for interviews.

  Her preliminary interviewer asked, “Didn’t you res
cue a cougar cub in the Grand Canyon last year?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I’ll bet that was exciting. Do you prefer Doctor or Captain?”

  “Either is fine, sir.”

  After all interviews and tests had been done, Claire and David were among the top ranked couples who had applied to fly Origin. To help it make a decision, NASA decided to train Claire and five other applicants to fly the Winddancer, the same supersonic jet trainer used by the Air Force.

  Claire loved dancing with the wind, and she graduated at the top of her class.

  On November 2, Claire and David were notified that they were one of three couples who would be trained to fly the first starship.

  That night they called Joanne and Michael and told them about Quad Fusion Thunder. Joanne cried.

  ▼

  During their celebration dinner at Holloman’s Officers Club the next evening, Claire said, “I’m going to triple my birth control.”

  “How?”

  “An additional mechanical device and injections.”

  David looked concerned. “Will that be a problem?”

  She laughed. “You’re just worried about your sex life.”

  “Guilty as charged,” he said. “I’m also concerned about you taking meds and wearing so much hardware.”

  “Not a problem,” she said. “The things I’ll be using have proven to be innocuous. We’ll have more than two years of experience with them before launch. And, speaking of launch, I need to start learning about Origin.”

  “Okay. We can start tonight, before bedtime. We can do a bit every night, make it painless.”

  She grinned. “Painless? Do you use that line on all the girls?”

  “Just the one and only.”

  ▼

  Origin

  Claire said, “It looks like a triangular pyramid with six equal edges, four equal sides, and golf balls on the four points: a modified regular tetrahedron. Why is it such an odd shape? Why not the typical phallus shape?”