Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1)

by Gregory Gates

  “Yeah, upstairs.”

  “Excellent. Let’s get something to eat.”

  Over lunch, Jeff and Abby spoke of space travel and Navy life, bombing missions in Iraq, high school sweethearts, the weather in Rhode Island, and a hundred other things. Afterwards he walked her to her car where they exchanged contact information and expressed their mutual enthusiasm about the next meeting. As Jeff waved farewell he thought aloud, “Two down, one to go.”

  Thursday, May 31, 2012 (T minus 1391 days)

  Jeff’s cell phone rang. “Hello?”

  “Jeffrey Grey, please.”

  “Speaking.”

  “Hi, this is Carolyn Garth from the Aerospace Medical Association. I’m terribly sorry for taking so long to get back to you but your request was a bit unusual, to say the least. I really shouldn’t be doing this, but your gift to the AsMA Foundation was most generous and I think I understand your difficulty.”

  “I greatly appreciate your assistance Ms. Garth and assure you this will be kept just between you and me.

  “I’m afraid I have only one name for you: Dr. Susan Lú. She is presently a third year Internal Medicine resident at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Oregon. 29 years old, graduate of Berkeley and Stanford, and an active resident member of the AsMA. I’m sorry but that’s all I have.”

  “That’s a start. One is better than none. Ms. Garth, you’ve been most helpful. Thank you very much. I won’t forget it.”

  “You’re welcome Mr. Grey and, good luck.”

  “Thank you. Goodbye.”

  Jeff was suddenly thankful he had decided to stay in Long Beach a few days before returning to Newport. He looked up Providence St. Vincent Medical Center on the Internet and located a phone number.

  “Good afternoon, Providence St. Vincent Medical Center, how may I direct your call?”

  “Internal Medicine please.”

  “Internal Medicine, Mrs. Jacobs.”

  “Good afternoon Mrs. Jacobs. My name is Jeffrey Grey, I am the Chairman of Grey Aerospace, I’m calling from California, and I’m trying to reach a resident at Providence St. Vincent, Dr. Susan Lú. I wonder if you could assist me?”

  “Just a moment, let me check doctor’s schedule. I’m sorry, Dr. Lú is with a patient. May I take a message?”

  Jeff left his number and went back to work polishing his lengthy flight proposal, trying to fill in as many of the glaring gaps as he could. These young ladies were a lot smarter and better educated than he and the upcoming get-together called for an award-winning performance.

  Around 6:00 that evening the phone rang again.

  “Mr. Grey?” asked a most charming voice on the other end.

  “Yes.”

  “Susan Lú, returning your call.”

  “Ah, Dr. Lú, I’m most pleased to hear from you. I don’t know what the message you got said, but briefly, I’m the Chairman of Grey Aerospace and I’m searching for a physician with certain, uh, unique qualifications. Frankly, someone like you.”

  “Unique qualifications? Mr. Grey, I’m an Internal Medicine resident, what unique qualifications do you think I could possibly have?”

  “You might be surprised. I understand you may have some interest in aerospace medicine.”

  “Yes, I do. I’m seriously considering an aerospace medicine fellowship following my residency. But, how would you know that?”

  “Dr. Lú, like all wealthy men I have my sources, and every once in a while some of them are even right. Dr. Lú, I hate to ask this, it’s an impertinent question but, are you married, or engaged?”

  “Uh, no. Why, does it matter?”

  “Well, if you were to work for me you would be doing a great deal of traveling. And yes, it does matter. I’ve done this a number of times and I’ve found that this really doesn’t work too well over the phone. You deserve a full explanation and I’m sure you’ll have many questions. Would it be possible for us to meet? Perhaps tomorrow? I could fly up first thing in the morning.”

  “I don’t know Mr. Grey, this is all quite strange.”

  “I understand and I apologize for that, but this is quite important.”

  There was a pause while she weighed the invitation. “Well, alright. I’m on a 24-hour shift and get off at eight in the morning. If you could give me a chance to get cleaned up and change.”

  “Of course. How about lunch? My treat. Some place nice you could think of?”

  “Oh my, I’m afraid I don’t get out much, uh, oh, I know, uh, Salty’s. It’s a seafood place right on the river, on Marine Drive. It’s very close to the airport.”

  “Excellent. Say, noon?”

  “Alright.”

  “Thank you again for returning my call Dr. Lú, and I look forward to meeting you.”

  “Well, likewise. Goodbye.”

  As Jeff hung up the phone he suddenly panicked, “What was I thinking?” Getting a flight to Portland out of Los Angeles first thing in the morning might require an act of God. He immediately went to Southwest Airline’s web site and started searching for available flights. Nothing left from Los Angeles, Burbank or Orange County. Jeff thought aloud, “I’m gonna need my own plane.” But he was in luck. He booked a 6:20 a.m. flight from Ontario that arrived at 9:55, along with a return flight in the evening and a rental car. He figured he would have to leave the house around four in the morning. “Ugh. It’s gonna be a long day.” He then looked up Salty’s in Portland, jotted down directions from the airport, and called to make a lunch reservation for two.

  “A window table overlooking the river. Something quiet?”

  “Of course, sir. We’ll have it waiting.”

  “Thank you.”

  Jeff wandered into the bedroom, opened the closet and picked out a gray pinstripe Hickey Freeman suit. Getting a resident to put her medical career on hold for six or seven years and follow a lunatic on a wild adventure – which could get her killed – would be no easy task. Jeff figured he should at least look like he knew what he was doing.

  Friday, June 1, 2012 (T minus 1390 days)

  Jeff had never been to Portland. Flying in over the city, he was a little disappointed that he didn’t have more time to look the place over. But he needed to get back to Newport; there was much to be done. He found the rental car desk, took a shuttle to the lot, picked up the car and drove over to Salty’s. He had an hour and a half to kill, so he parked in the marina lot next door and made notes, a few calls, and checked his to-do list – which was growing exponentially – while looking over the many yachts in the marina. He added another item to the list, “Do some more sailing. May not have another chance.”

  As noon approached, he drove back to Salty’s, went in and announced himself to the hostess.

  “Good afternoon, Mr. Grey, your table’s ready. Will you be dining alone?”

  “No, there will be one more. A Dr. Lú. Perhaps you could show her to the table when she arrives?”

  “Of course, right this way.”

  The hostess seated him at a corner table beside the windows overlooking the Columbia River. “May I get you something from the bar?”

  “Thank you. How about a Bloody Mary?”

  His drink arrived quickly and he sat sipping and looking over the river view. It was a very pleasant spot. He’d have to remember to compliment Dr. Lú on her fine choice. After a few minutes, Jeff noticed the hostess headed his way with a diminutive but alarmingly beautiful young Chinese woman in tow. He heaved a quiet sigh of relief – blind dates and all that, one just never knows – and stood to greet her.

  “Dr. Lú?”

  “Yes.”

  “Jeffrey Grey. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “Likewise.”

  She couldn’t have been much over five-foot-two and, though Jeff didn’t think himself particularly tall at six-foot-two, he towered over her. She was wearing perfectly tailored black slacks and a black and red silk cherry blossom blouse that looked as though it had been molded to her figure. Her voi
ce was as tiny as her frame and her demeanor as reserved and elegant as they come. Jeff thought, “Now this is a class act,” and found himself momentarily smitten.

  As they took their seats, the hostess asked if she would like something from the bar.

  “Just iced tea, thank you.”

  Her delicate facial features were punctuated by a flawless creamy complexion, topped off with jet-black hair tied up in a rather sizeable knot.

  “First, I really want to thank you for taking the time to meet me. And may I compliment you on the choice of restaurants. This is perfect.”

  “Thank you. I’ve only been here once before, but it is quite nice.”

  She seemed a bit nervous, perhaps even weary, and Jeff thought breaking the ice with some small talk would be better than jumping right into business.

  “Are you native to Portland or just here for your residency?” He already knew the answer, but it beat talking about the weather.

  “No, I’m here for my residency. I’m originally from California, though I was born in China.”

  “Really? Where?”

  “I was born in Jilin, in northeastern China. My parents immigrated to San Francisco when I was two.”

  “Well, welcome to America. Our gain, China’s loss.”

  She drew a bashful smile and bowed her head, “Thank you.”

  A waitress arrived with the iced tea and asked if they wanted to order now or take a little more time. Jeff asked her to give them a few minutes.

  As they perused the menus she asked, without looking at Jeff, “Mr. Grey, what’s this all about?”

  “Please, Jeff. If it’s alright with you, can we dispense with the formality?”

  “Yes, of course. I’m Susan.”

  “That’s better. Susan, as I said on the phone, I’m the Chairman – and owner – of Grey Aerospace. It’s a new, startup company, conceived with but one objective: a privately financed manned mission to Mars. And I need a flight surgeon.”

  Her head snapped up from the menu, eyes wide, “Goodness! That sounds rather ambitious. But I’m not a flight surgeon. Not even close.”

  “But you could be. How much time have you left in your residency?”

  “About two months.”

  “And did you have any definite plans after that?”

  “I would like to pursue an aerospace medicine fellowship, but I haven’t found one yet. It’s a rather narrow field. Aviation medicine physicians are not all that rare. Why don’t you just hire one that’s already certified?”

  “Sure, they’re around. But virtually all are firmly planted in their positions with career paths already in mind. But more to the point, as this is an entirely private operation, with little, if any, government involvement, we’re going to be breaking some new ground and doing things a bit different than NASA and the rest of the established aerospace industry. Frankly Susan, I need a fresh mind with fresh ideas. Someone who can, as they say, think outside the box.”

  “I see.”

  The waitress arrived again to take their order.

  “Susan?”

  “I’ll have the crab and bay shrimp Louie.”

  The waitress nodded, “And for you sir?”

  “I think I’ll try the seafood fritter platter. And a bowl of chowder.”

  She nodded, took their menus and headed off.

  Susan stared out the window watching the river, while Jeff stared at her.

  “Uh, Jeff, your company is in California?”

  “No. I own a home in southern California, Long Beach, but the company is in Newport, Rhode Island.”

  “You must travel quite a bit.”

  “Some. Though I expect the frequent flyer miles to start stacking up at an atrocious rate pretty soon.”

  She smiled. “So, what exactly is it that you would want me to do?”

  “Frankly, you’d probably wear more hats than anyone else in the company, except me. Aside from the obvious, flight crew medical evaluation, you would be responsible for flight crew physical training, nutrition, spacecraft and planetary habitat environment, exercise, and psychological evaluation and training for a two and a half year voyage, space suit environmental factors, and the list goes on and on.”

  As he spoke, her eyes grew wider and wider. “But I have no expertise in any of those areas.”

  “But you can learn. You’ve already proven that. Look, our first cargo launch is scheduled for eighteen months from now, with crew launch in about four years. There is time, not a lot, but you don’t have to hit the deck running. Honestly, we’ve all got huge learning curves ahead of us. But to get there, I need a team that I’m certain will work well together and get the job done. And I think you would fit in perfectly. But on a bit grander scale, Susan, I’m offering you a seat at the table for the most ambitious space mission ever attempted. One that will rewrite the books, and in ways that we haven’t even foreseen yet.”

  She lowered her head and slowly shook it back and forth. “I don’t know. This is just so far beyond anything I’d ever thought of or planned for. I just don’t know.”

  “I understand and, trust me, you’re not alone. In two weeks I’m having a small group of, let’s say, principal players, gather at my place in Newport. We’ll go over the entire program and plans in thorough detail so that everyone is on the same page and understands exactly what they’re getting into. If you could come and see firsthand what we’re going to do, I think it would help you make up your mind. And it won’t cost you a dime, I’ll pay for everything.”

  “I don’t know. It’s awfully short notice.”

  “Life altering event. Surely worth a long weekend?”

  She turned back to the window and watched the river roll by. After what seemed an eternity to Jeff, she turned back to face him. “Alright. I make no promise that I will accept your offer, but I’ll come and hear you out.”

  “I can ask no more.”

  Lunch arrived and they both dove in. Susan smiled at Jeff, appearing considerably more relaxed than she had earlier. “I didn’t realize I was so hungry.”

  “Me neither. Famished. Um, might I ask, being born in China, I presume it doesn’t say ‘Susan’ on your birth certificate?”

  She laughed, “No. It’s Tianshu.”

  “Tianshu. That’s lovely. And do you speak, would it be… Mandarin?”

  “Yes, and some Cantonese.”

  “That could be useful.”

  Friday, June 15, 2012 (T minus 1376 days)

  “United Airlines announces the arrival of flight 242 from Chicago.”

  Jeff slid off the barstool in the Federal Tavern and took his time strolling back to the security checkpoint at T.F. Green Airport. He was excited, but didn’t want to look… too excited. He had spent the past two weeks frantically preparing for their arrival and the big day was here. The time had come to plead the case for his sanity and the jury was about to enter the courtroom. If he could not convince this stellar pool of talent, intelligence, and education that his idea had at least some reasonable chance of success, it was over – and he could take a long vacation in Bermuda and rethink his life. Perhaps he could get Abby to come along and keep him company. A mental image of her in a bikini, stretched out under the sun on a long sandy beach, suddenly popped into his head and, for a moment, Jeff thought that might not be an entirely bad idea anyway. He savored the image for a minute then shook his head and filed the thought away for future reference.

  As Jeff stood in the midst of the crowd of people anxiously – or perhaps not so anxiously – awaiting the arrival of their friends, loved ones or business associates, he wondered if any of them had the slightest inkling of the momentous nature of the occasion. He half wanted to grab someone, shake them and scream in their face, “We’re going to Mars! Life on this little planet will forever be changed, and you can tell your grandchildren that you were there when it all began!” But he figured getting hauled off by the airport police could put a damper on the weekend. Ah well, they can all read about i
t in the paper.

  Looking toward the gates Jeff saw a line of passengers heading in his direction. At the same time nervous, excited, and a bit apprehensive, he squinted, carefully scanning the faces, hoping to see a familiar one. He suddenly caught a glimpse of flashing red hair and instantly connected it with Abby’s face. She was no longer sporting a bun, but wearing the long copper tresses down, and the cascade of red waved and danced as she snapped her head to the side smiling and making some comment to… Gabe. Jeff smiled to himself; it was bound to happen as the first-class seats he had reserved for the three women were clustered together. And there, half hidden behind Gabe was Susan, attentively listening to the conversation, and struggling a bit to keep pace with the long strides of the other two. As they approached, Jeff tried to subdue his excitement and consciously rubbed his palms on his trousers – clammy hands simply would not do.

  Susan was the first to spot him. She nudged Gabe with her elbow, pointed and waved. Gabe and Abby quickly peered into the waiting crowd and finally landing their eyes on him, followed suit. Jeff raised his arm high, smiled broadly and waved in return. He pointed toward an open area and began threading his way through the crowd.

  “Ha! My three favorite people all in a bunch; I guess we can skip the introductions.”

  They all laughed. Abby grabbed his arm, “Yeah, Gabe and I had it sorted out before we got off the ground in Chicago, and Sue joined the club before we were out of Illinois.”

  Jeff shook hands with each in turn, “Great to see you all. Did you have a good flight?”

  They all nodded, “Yes,” “Just fine,” with Abby noting, “I’ve never flown first-class before. Sweet. Thanks. That was very nice.”

  To which Gabe added, “I’ve never seen first-class before.”

  “Oh, you’re welcome. I’m just so glad that you could all come.” He saw that all of them were carrying some manner of overnight bag, “Any checked luggage?”

  They responded with a chorus of ‘no’s. “Great. The car’s out this way,” and he led them off. He was thankful they didn’t all arrive with steamer trunks, thinking, they know how to pack light, that’ll be useful. A separate launch for hair conditioner, toiletries, shoes and 900 changes of clothes just wasn’t in the budget.