Seducing the Stargazer

by Kim Carmichael

  “You stay right there!” Dana pushed him down into the seat. “You have appearances and comments to make all day, interviews with scientific journals, entertainment magazines, and the evening news, as well as a meeting with a book publisher. We have our own damage control. Call her.”

  “I’ll just go,” Jim said. As if ready to get right in the car, he patted his pockets and found his keys.

  “No!” both Garner and Dana yelled.

  At the loud noise, Jim dropped his keychain and stared at them with wide eyes.

  Dana ran over to the door and held her arms out. “You are not fit to go retrieve a coffee on the corner.”

  Garner ground his teeth together. No, Jim wouldn’t do at all. The second the man mentioned profits and investors, Wynn would shoo him out of her one-horse town. Dealing with her took a certain finesse his colleague in dirty trousers and an ill-fitting green golf shirt didn’t possess.

  Jim surrendered in the form of taking one of the chairs in the corner. “What do you want to do? We need her research, we can’t have her talk and we need her here.”

  “Dr. Knox.” His butler, Mrs. Benton, gave a soft knock on the doorjamb. “I apologize for interrupting, but this package came for you via messenger.”

  Garner motioned for the woman to enter his inner sanctum.

  In her normal uniform of a full tuxedo including tails, Mrs. Benton crossed the room and handed him a small box.

  “What is it?” Dana ran across the room, making sure to give his butler a nasty narrow-eyed glare on the way.

  Mrs. Benton held her head up high.

  Garner bit the side of his mouth to stop from laughing. Half the fun of having the two of them in the same spot was watching them shoot each other nasty looks. Mrs. Benton thought Dana was brash and vile, though she had the manners never to voice her opinion, while Dana thought his butler was pretentious and uppity, something she let be well known. He would love to watch another round, but he needed to deal with the tasks at hand.

  “Thank you.” He nodded at Mrs. Benton and opened the box with only his name on the top.

  Dana reached inside the box and lifted the star. “It’s from her.”

  Jim stood.

  “Give me that!” Garner snatched the star away.

  There were only three more items in the box—a flash drive, a notebook and a handwritten letter.

  I take it right about now you need a favor from me. Please make sure to book Selene for exactly five months from today as it is the optimal viewing of the Martian moons. I’m sure with your connections it will be no problem. - WC

  “I believe this is what we are looking for.” He handed Jim the flash drive and with the notebook and letter, walked over to his window looking out on the city. A quick flip through the pages revealed all her research on the asteroid. Like back in graduate school, her work was perfect and logical. When they used to work on projects together she was the one who made sense of all the data while he was the showman.

  He glanced at her letter. Part of him wished he found that asteroid, but that wasn’t his specialty. While they boasted the same degree, on the night it mattered most she made sure to let him know his work wasn’t real science, and in that moment he’d known he lost her.

  Yes, she was the one who had her head in the heavens but was always grounded. He was the one who took flight without direction and who wanted to be free to travel and explore. His fame was based on a happenstance video capturing him giving someone a wink and a smile and turning him into the star scientist, the bridge between pop culture and science. All things she would use to prove her hypothesis about him being a phony.

  However, there was an element of luck in science, and he was living proof. No doubt she wanted to call her favor in, and he slipped the star in his pocket. The little symbol was nothing but a silly little dime store novelty, but one that held their connection. Back then they used their favors as ways to let their real emotions out.

  “This is incredible.” Jim’s voice sounded as if he just located the mother ship.

  Garner turned to find him watching a computer simulation of the asteroid flying across the screen.

  “The fact she found it and put two and two together is amazing. We need her,” Jim whispered in complete awe.

  Everyone in the room stared at Garner.

  Though accustomed to being the center of attention, he was usually only the mouthpiece. “Mrs. Benton?”

  Dana turned her back to the woman. “How can your maid help us?”

  “I am not a maid, I’m a butler.” With a nod, Mrs. Benton went to his side.

  “Mrs. Benton, would you mind traveling to Dr. Winchester Carlsbad’s apartment in Los Angeles and escorting her to work? I would take it as a great personal favor if you would wait for her while she is at her job and then make sure she gets home safely. She is currently without any transportation.” Formality was a must with Mrs. Benton. The night before, Wynn wouldn’t allow him to drive her home, opting to take a taxi from the airport instead. With Wynn he had to act first and ask questions later. He jotted her address on a piece of paper.

  “Of course.” Mrs. Benton took the note. “If she needs to run any errands, should I offer my services?”

  “Yes, that would be wonderful. Please make sure she refrains from speaking to any media outlets.” He slid his hand into his pocket and his fingers grazed against the star. Part of him wanted to hand the thing to Mrs. Benton and have her tell Wynn they were still at a fork in the road, but in truth, he needed her notes, and he needed her to comply without their competition shadowing them. “Make sure you take excellent care of her.”

  “How is that fixing anything?” As if he wanted to ask some deity the question, Jim raised his arms to the ceiling.

  “We need to woo her a bit.” Garner studied the asteroid flying across his computer screen. “I need to find out what is happening with the moons of Mars in five months, and I need to see if we can schedule some time on the Selene satellite.”

  Once more Jim resumed his pacing. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “That’s what she wants.” This wasn’t a favor anymore, it was downright bribery.

  “If you wouldn’t have let her leave last night, we could have offered her a contract, and then we wouldn’t have to have your help running after her,” Dana interrupted.

  “Wynn’s not a performer.” No, that title was left to him. Somehow he had to convince her to come work for him. When they worked together, they balanced each other out. They also drove one another insane, but that was an entirely different matter.

  “Dr. Knox, I’ll take the SUV to chauffeur Dr. Carlsbad if that is acceptable,” Mrs. Benton told him.

  “Perfect.” He rubbed his hand over the stubble on his chin and watched the computer simulation again. “Thank you.”

  After a bow, his butler left the room.

  “Well if nothing else, at least now we can keep tabs on her.” Dana reached into her bag and retrieved her laptop. “We need to get ready for your video conference. I’ll tape you at your desk and we can use the footage on your blog later. Thankfully, you look good even when you haven’t shaved, showered or changed your clothes.”

  Fine, he didn’t look his best. He was up all night thinking about how Wynn suddenly appeared in his life after all this time, but he wasn’t ready for her yet. She had to take him seriously first.

  “We just sent your butler to look after one of our most important assets.” Jim slumped down in his chair. “Tell me something not horrible.”

  “We could all be living a black hole. There is nothing to fear.” Garner put his feet up on his desk and retrieved the star out of his pocket, holding it up. While she wanted her telescope time, he needed to figure out a different favor, or simply keep dangling the carrot in front of her until he got her to work for Personal Space.

  * * *

  Once Garner’s butler dropped her at National Jet Laboratories
with a freshly packed lunch and a pat on the shoulder, Wynn paced around her small office. Wynn had been here a little over three months and still needed to unpack her box from her last job. Well, jobs. Usually, once she unpacked something happened and she ended up repacking the box, but this time she was waiting, making sure the job took root before she ended up at the dumpster looking for a new clean, empty box.

  As a Research Astronomer Class II, she had the coveted hard-walled office, though she was sure some of the cubicles outside were larger. Still, she had the office, and there was no better time to start planning her decorating than the present as she waited for her meeting with her director to discuss her involvement in the Personal Space launch, or failure to launch, as well as her part in the cancellation.

  She stopped at her shelving unit that held her box. She peered inside at her books, the images she took of her favorite planet, Mars of course, and the scientific journal that published her research on other possible moon-like objects orbiting the red planet. Two years ago she was asked to speak on the subject at a conference. In five months, the proximity of her favorite planet coupled with the other planets lining up just right would give her an unprecedented viewpoint to discover if there were remnants of a third hypothesized moon. After months of trying to get the time elsewhere, her job hopping, along with what others considered mundane, outdated research, rendered her without an eye to the sky. All things space was hotter than ever, and any telescope that had the capabilities she needed was booked for months, by paying customers no less. The universe was up for sale, and she and many researchers like her didn’t have the money to buy. Apparently, that made her a lower life form.

  Once completing her orbit of her office, she stopped in the doorway. Two co-workers in the cubicles glanced her way then turned their backs to her. Though never one of the more popular crowd, her situation rendered her practically invisible and Wynn sighed. No one wanted to be associated with the new person in trouble.

  At her cell phone ringing, she dashed back over to the desk. In the quiet of her office, every sound seemed heightened, and she lunged for the device and answered. Perhaps Garner finally decided to call with the confirmation of her telescope time. “Dr. Carlsbad.”

  “This is Tim Hill, science reporter for the National Daily News, I would like to interview you regarding the Personal Space rocket launch,” the man announced.

  “I have no statement.” For the millionth time that day she used the words Garner’s butler told her to say and hung up. Since before she arrived at work, her cell phone hadn’t stopped ringing with calls from the media wanting her side of the story on the launch.

  She flopped down into her chair. Though the butler technically worked for the opposition, Wynn found an ally in Mrs. Benton when she marched into her apartment that morning, made her the most delectable cup of chamomile tea, and a gave her lesson in media relations.

  Once certain Garner wasn’t sending the woman as the favor he owed her, and then only because she left her car in Nevada, did she take Ms. Benton up on her offer of a ride to work. By the time the butler dropped her off, Wynn really wanted to give her a hug, but wasn’t sure if Mrs. Benton was the hugging type. The woman offered a bit of stability in a life that somehow was always consumed in the chaos of her own making.

  Of course, none of this disarray was made any better by the fact that she continued to replay the way Garner admitted he thought about her all the time. But the logical part of her mind told her the man didn’t spend the last five years in agony wanting to contact her but couldn’t bring himself to act. He was as phony as the night he slept with her.

  The office phone on her desk buzzed and she lifted the receiver. “Dr. Carlsbad.”

  “Dr. McFarland is ready for your meeting,” her director’s assistant, Diane, told her. “He would like you right away. Please bring your notes on Personal Space and the asteroid.”

  She grabbed a duplicate of the file she sent to Garner earlier. It was the least she could do for the scientific community and no doubt her old classmate needed what she uncovered. Like it or not, once more she was in the position for a favor. “I’ll be there.” In what could only be described as a walk of shame, she scurried down the corridor with her items clutched to her chest. No one dared to look her way.

  Wait. She had done nothing wrong. Before continuing on, she slowed down and held her head up high. Never had she experienced a walk of shame and she wasn’t going to start.

  As she passed Diane’s desk, Wynn nodded, and without waiting for a formal invitation, strutted right into Dr. MacFarland’s office.

  “Dr. Carlsbad.” Her boss stood up from behind his desk and motioned for her to sit.

  At him calling her by her formal name rather than Wynn, she lost a little of the vigor in her step, but she sat up tall and proud in her chair and waited.

  Dr. MacFarland took a moment to gather some documents. Tall, seasoned, grey at the temples, at one point the man wanted to be an astronaut, but suffered from vertigo and couldn’t continue the training. Part of Wynn always thought it made him a tad bitter.

  Finally, he looked up at her. “I would like to know when you took it upon yourself to not only talk to another space agency on our behalf, but do so in front of the media?”

  All right, maybe the no astronaut thing made him a lot bitter. Nothing like throwing the first jab and hitting her right in the face. She cleared her throat. “With all due respect, Dr. MacFarland, I did not do anything on behalf of NJL. Astronomers are in the media all the time.”

  “First of all, you found that asteroid on NJL’s time. Therefore, it was on our behalf.” As he counted down her sins, he held up one finger then lifted the next. “Second, obviously you had been tracking the asteroid for some time and it never occurred to you to tell someone.”

  “I did tell someone.” The moment she said the words she wished she had them back, but technically Garner was a someone.

  He lifted a third finger. “Third, I would like to know how you were tracking an asteroid by Mars when our research doesn’t take us anywhere in that vicinity.”

  “I took a break to look at Mars.” The night she had turned the telescope, she remembered smiling at her old red friend in the sky. She loved Mars before it was in fashion. While she looked for Phobos, the larger of the two moons, she spotted a speck. It didn’t seem like anything at the time, but when she went to bed she couldn’t stop thinking about it. Hence started a pattern of her looking elsewhere when she should have been working.

  “For the entire time you’ve been here, it seems as if you have been on a break.” Dr. MacFarland jutted his jaw out. “Our research is not taking us to the moons of Mars. There is nothing notable there.”

  While she couldn’t deny his allegation, maybe they could focus on the positive. “Correction, there was this asteroid that was on a collision course with a private sector probe that is now saved.”

  As if at the end of his rope, he strummed his fingers on his desk and rocked his chair back.

  “Perhaps we may schedule some telescope time to look in that direction,” she asked, not for the first time. Whenever she asked before, she got turned down, but maybe with the asteroid, Personal Space, and the media it could happen.

  “We are not investing time in looking at two stagnant boulders orbiting Mars.” He lowered his voice and truncated every word. “You need to follow the rules.”

  “The only rules in science are that we have to keep forging ahead. Everything can and should be challenged,” she countered. What the world needed were more visionaries. She had no choice but to show up at that launch, dare Garner to take a stand and believe her on a few pictures. She learned more about him in that one act than when they slept together. “Nothing is worth researching until it’s discovered even what some perceive as the mundane.”

  “You and Dr. Knox went to graduate school together?” His tone came out more accusatory then questioning.

  “Yes.” She di
dn’t need to explain she was conducting her research late at night, and began clicking around on the Internet when Garner appeared on her feed. Only pure luck had her charting the course of the Personal Space probe and when she put two and two together, she realized what she found. She knew she had her in to get her telescope time and to help Garner. Damn her admission.

  “Your attitude coupled with your too perfect timing at that press conference makes me question your judgment,” her boss said.

  Unable to come up with a response, she sat silent. She already said too much.

  “You did not follow proper channels. If anyone should have informed Personal Space of an impending situation, it should have been done directly to their mission control, not their media spokesperson, and most definitely not by you.” The man grabbed her file out of her hands and added it to his pile of papers. "Not to mention the fact you weren’t doing your job on company time.”

  “I apologize.” Her words came out flat, she didn’t mean the apology, only said what she needed to in order to placate the man and stay employed.

  “Furthermore, I don’t care if astronomers are in the media all the time, under no circumstance are you to speak to the media on NJL’s behalf again. Do you understand me?”

  Though she wanted to tell him she had a PhD and his question wasn’t that difficult, she figured she better comply. “I understand.”

  “Consider this a warning.” Dr. MacFarland turned toward his computer.

  At his blatant dismissal, her cheeks heated. While she needed her telescope time, she also needed her paycheck. Since it was the end of the day anyway, she stood, clutched her bag and without returning to her office, headed straight toward the exit, ignoring her colleagues’ stares. Once she got outside, she would hire a car service to take her home while she made her next plan of attack.

  The moment she exited the building, she was met with the same huge black SUV that carried her to work. Not what she needed and exactly what she needed all rolled into one.