Steve shrugged. “Okay.”
“Steve, you shouldn’t have fired her, you should have listened to her… then done as you pleased. But you threw away an asset of incalculable value.” Jeff smiled smugly and shook his head. “That’s not smart.”
Saturday, June 7, 2014 (T minus 654 days)
Gabe leaned back in the pilot seat of the Flight Safety International CJ3 simulator and, tongue hanging out the corner of her mouth, sighed, “Wow, that was, uh, interesting.”
Jeff smiled, reached over from the copilot seat and grasped her arm. “I thought you did good.”
“Thanks. I think the engine out on the missed approach could have gone a little better.”
They both looked around quizzically at Mark Albright, the Training Center Examiner seated behind them. Mark frowned for a moment, then broke into a broad smile. “Good job. Pass.”
Gabe grinned at Jeff and shook her fist. “Yes!”
He lunged over, gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Excellent! Well done! Congratulations, you’re a jet pilot.”
She rested her head on his shoulder for a moment then looked up, tears welling. “Thank you. Thank you for everything.”
Jeff smiled softly. “Now, don’t start.” He wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. “Come on, let’s go give Abby the good news.”
In the lounge adjacent to the simulator, Abby was wearing a scowl and pacing. Spying Jeff and Gabe, she stopped abruptly. “This better be good.”
They both smiled and nodded, Gabe giving her a thumb up.
Abby broke into a broad grin. “Outstanding!” She ran up and hugged Gabe, then glanced at Jeff. “Goddamn, it’s true!”
“What’s that?”
She shook her head and glanced up at Gabe. “I can teach anyone to fly.”
Gabe sneered at her. “I may yet strangle you in your sleep.”
“Yeah, but in the meantime, now I can sit in the back of the plane, have a drink, and let you do all the work.”
Gabe put her arm around Jeff, squeezed them both and started crying, her chest heaving with each sob.
Abby glanced at Jeff and rolled her eyes. “Oh lord, what now?”
Gabe sniffed and shook her head. “I never imagined I’d have friends like you, or that I’d ever be able to fly a jet airplane.”
Abby sighed, grasped the back of Gabe’s neck and pulled her head down till their foreheads met, then looked her in the eyes. “I can fly jets, but I’ll never be able to do logarithms in my head or play the piano like you, so… shut up.”
Jeff chuckled. “Okay, we’ve been out of the ballgame for two weeks with these certifications and we’ve got work to do. Let’s go finish up the paperwork and get out of here. I want to get down to Michoud and see how Heidi’s coming along.”
Gabe smiled and nodded. “I think she just wants to show off.”
“She’s made a lot of progress. She’s entitled.”
#
Back in the Citation, Abby immediately headed for the bar. “One of you fly, I’m gonna relax for once.”
Jeff smiled. “Alright. Gabe? Pilot-in-Command?”
She grinned. “Okay.”
After settling in the right seat, Jeff fumbled around in his flight bag for a moment, then produced a small gift-wrapped package that he handed to Gabe. “Here, this is for you.”
“Oh god, thank you. What is it?”
“Well, open it and find out.”
She gingerly unwrapped the package to find a glasses case. She looked at Jeff, puzzled. “Glasses?”
“Open it.”
Inside was a pair of gold-rimmed Ray-Ban Aviator sunglasses.
She gasped softly. “Oh god.”
“Try ‘em on.”
Gabe pulled her glasses off and slipped on the Ray-Bans. “Oh my god, they’re in my prescription.” She glanced around. “Oh, they’re even graduated bifocals, and I can read the instrument panel!” She leaned across the cockpit and hugged Jeff. “Thank you!”
“You’re welcome. Now, light fires and let’s go.”
She grinned broadly. “Okay.”
#
Gabe set the Citation down at Lakefront Airport in New Orleans and taxied to the AeroPremier Jet Center terminal.
Jeff grinned. “Nice landing.”
“Thanks.”
He pointed out the window. “There’s somebody waving frantically over there. Looks like it might be Heidi.”
“Should I park there?”
“Yeah, I guess. I haven’t been here before.”
Gabe pulled to a stop, shutdown the engines, and waved out the window at Heidi.
Heidi pointed at her, and started jumping up and down, clapping and grinning.
As Gabe descended the stairs, Heidi snapped a photo of her with her cell phone camera. “You did it!”
Gabe grinned. “Yep. I did it.”
Heidi hugged her. “Congratulations! Jet rated.”
“What’s with the photo?”
“I’m gonna email it to the Physics Department at MIT. Eat your hearts out kiddies.”
Gabe smiled and shook her head. “Thanks for the thought, but don’t; you’ll just get me hung again. But I’d like a copy.”
“Okay, I’ll email it to you. Hey Jeff, Abby, how you doing? Good to see you.”
Jeff gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Doing good. How about you? The weather down here meet with your approval?”
“No. It’s hot, and humid. But the food’s good.”
Jeff gently pushed her back and looked her up and down. She was wearing a tight black form-fitting outfit. “Um… wow!”
“Isn’t this what you wanted?”
He laughed. “Yeah, that’ll work. You look like Kate Beckinsale in Underworld. Impressive.” He eyed her a bit more closely. “Um, is that leather or… body paint?”
She grinned. “Leather.”
“You don’t actually wear that around here, do you?”
“Yeah, I do. It’s kind of hot outside, but inside it’s fine.” She grinned again. “And everybody knows when the boss is on the assembly floor.”
Jeff chuckled. “I’ll bet they do.”
She pointed to a nearby GMC Yukon. “Car’s over here.”
#
Jeff, Gabe and Abby clipped on their I.D. badges and followed Heidi. “Have you been here before?”
Jeff nodded. “Well, Gabe’s been our point-man, er, uh, woman here. I’ve been here a couple times, but not for a while.” He glanced at Abby. “Have you been here?”
“No.”
Heidi led them onto the main floor. “Well, welcome to NASA’s Michoud Assembly Building. With forty-three acres of environmentally controlled space, it may be the largest manufacturing facility in the world – under one roof. And for the time being, it pretty much all belongs to us.”
Jeff cringed. “Oh god, my checkbook just had apoplexy.”
Heidi smiled. “Boss, Lockheed Martin adores your checkbook. Without you, all these folks would be on the unemployment line.”
“So I’ve heard.”
She led them across the thirty-two football fields’ worth of concrete floor. Each employee they passed smiled and nodded to Heidi.
Jeff eventually chuckled. “Um, are they just being polite, or do you scare the hell out of ‘em?”
“A little of both, I think. Alright, over here are our four external fuel tanks. They’re all set and ready to go. Lockheed had them built long before the shuttle program was ended. Spares. Now, this one has the mockup of the J-241 engine mount affixed.”
Abby’s jaw dropped. “Jeez! I’ve never seen one of these up close before. I had no idea they were so big.”
“Yeah, 153.8 feet long, 27.6 feet in diameter, and can hold more than 1.6 million pounds of fuel. We’re using the mockup to validate all the plumbing and electrical runs. So far, so good. The actual mount is over on the other side of the building. We’re currently in the process of x-raying the welds. Once that’s complete, and we’re s
atisfied with the mockup alignment checkout, we’ll start mounting the engines.”
“So this will be Echo, the resupply ship?” said Gabe.
Heidi nodded. “Yeah.”
“Do you plan on mounting the engines here and barging the whole thing complete?”
“No. I think we should stick with proven practice and follow NASA’s assembly procedure. We’ll barge the tanks and engine mounts together, but unassembled, then follow the standard High Bay tank checkout in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy, move the tank into the assembly High Bay where the SRBs will already be waiting, and bolt the whole damn thing together.”
Jeff nodded approvingly. “I like it. If we know something works, let’s stick with it. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
“Agreed.”
“How about the EDS?”
Heidi pointed to the other side of the building. “The payload adapter mockup is ready to be fitted to this tank for validation, and the aft section of the Foxtrot lifting body should be here next week for fitment test. Once all that checks out, we’ll begin construction of the actual adapters. Probably two to three months, then another six months for construction.”
Gabe raised her eyebrows. “Won’t that be cutting it kind of close on assembly and checkout at Kennedy?”
“We should still have at least nine months. That should be plenty of time. Boeing is coming along nicely on the EDS tanks. No major glitches… yet. And Rocketdyne has assured me they’ll have the first refurbished J-2s in Seattle by the end of next month. So, barring any major complications, all four EDSs should be at Kennedy and ready to go when called for. Abby, how’s the CSM coming?”
“Great. I was out there last week and it’s looking really good. The glass cockpit’s to die for.”
“I’ll bet.” Heidi shook her head. “But no changes on the back end. We’ve already locked the design on that fairing. The mockup, after god only knows how many modifications, fits great, and the actual fairing is now under construction in the machine shop. Don’t mess with it.”
Abby nodded. “I gotcha. They know.” She crossed her arms and looked up and down the Shuttle fuel tank, shaking her head. “So, in twenty-one months I get to drive one of these, huh?”
Jeff nodded. “Yep.”
She sighed. “Wow.”
“Yeah, wow.” Jeff put his arm around Heidi’s shoulders. “Good job.”
Heidi smiled. “Thanks.”
“I can’t believe the progress you’ve made in six months.”
“Well, we’re running three shifts, it’s non-stop.”
Jeff glanced at Gabe who was wearing a scowl. “What’s the matter, Gabe? You don’t look happy.”
“No, it’s not that. Just standing here, looking at all this, well… it’s just all really starting to sink in. It’s a little overwhelming.”
“Yeah.”
“Two years ago it just, I dunno, seemed like a theoretical exercise. But here it is. Twenty-one months and we’re on our way.”
Jeff nodded slowly. “Yeah.”
Abby turned around and faced Jeff. “You still think this is a good idea?”
He shrugged. “Why? You want to call it off?”
She shook her head. “No. But, like Gabe says, it’s a little overwhelming. I think I need a drink.”
“Yeah.” Jeff turned back to Heidi and looked at the dark circles under her eyes, her unwashed hair, and generally ragged appearance. “Um, except for picking us up at the airport, when was the last time you left this building?”
“Oh god, I dunno.”
“Why don’t you come back to the ranch with us, relax, take a load off, give it a rest for a few days? You look like you could use it.”
She nodded and smiled softly. “I’d like that. Thanks.”
Jeff took a long look around the assembly building and shook his head. “It’s amazing what a billion dollars will buy these days.”
Sunday, June 8, 2014 (T minus 653 days)
“Have you told her?” said Gabe.
Jeff looked up from his desk. “Told who what?”
“Heidi, about your little plan for a nursery on Mars.”
“Oh, that. Uh, no, I haven’t.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. It just hasn’t come up. Come on Gabe, this is a big damn puzzle, and that’s just one piece of it. Heidi’s been real busy with the Jupiters and, well, it just hasn’t come up. Besides, if we don’t get those rockets built we’re not going anywhere and the whole question is moot.”
“Don’t you think it’s time she knew?”
“Yeah, sure. Probably long past time. Go get her. I’ll tell her right now.”
“Okay.”
“Might as well get Abby, Sue and Chrissie. We’ll make this a family meeting.”
“Alright.” Gabe paused at the door. “She told me what she said when you hired her.”
“What? About sleeping with me?”
“Yeah. We’re you surprised?”
“Uh, yeah. But after I thought about it for a second it seemed to be a reasonable question, from her perspective. And by the way, she handled it a lot more delicately than you did.”
Gabe grinned sheepishly.
“Go get ‘em. Let’s do it.”
“I’m going. This should be interesting.”
Jeff growled, “Gabe, just go.”
He knew this was coming since the moment he’d hired Heidi, and he wasn’t looking forward to it. It was potentially… awkward.
A few minutes later Gabe reappeared at Jeff’s office door with the rest of the team in tow. “Here we are.”
Jeff motioned them in. “Everybody take a seat.”
“What’s up boss?” said Abby.
“Just hang on.” He leaned back in his chair, sighed, and turned his gaze to Heidi. “Heidi, first, please let me say I haven’t kept this from you for any particular reason other than we’ve been busy and, honestly, I just haven’t got around to it.”
Abby cringed. “Uh oh.”
Jeff glared at her. “Shut up. This is awkward enough without your kibitzing. Heidi, reaction to this has been all over the map…”
Abby laughed.
“Abby!” Jeff glared at her again.
“Sorry.”
Heidi looked puzzled. “What is it?”
“I’m getting to it.” Jeff took a deep breath. “When you get to the cargo manifest, you’ll find an assortment of sealed containers labeled ‘Schedule G’, with no other description. Were you to open those containers, inside you would find a year and a half’s worth of, well, supplies for a newborn child: diapers, baby food, clothes… the works.”
Heidi’s jaw dropped.
“We, well, not me but one of them,” motioning to Abby, Gabe and Sue, “are going to conceive and bear a child on Mars.” Jeff sat silently for a moment allowing it to sink in.
Heidi sat, slack jawed and motionless.
“Feel free to take your time and ponder that. Or, leap up screaming, cussing, and run out of the room. That’s been done too.”
Heidi tilted her head and stared at the floor for a minute. “Wow,” she said without looking up. She scratched her forehead then slowly looked up at Jeff. “You’re gonna set the entire world on its ear. You’re gonna come back with a real live Martian.”
Jeff laughed and glanced at the others. “Yeah, well, that’s one way to look at it.”
Heidi glanced in the direction of Abby, Gabe and Sue. “Which one?”
Abby shrugged. “Don’t know yet. We’ll figure it out when we get there. Or along the way.”
Heidi turned to Jeff and frowned. “You lied to me.”
Jeff shook his head. “No I didn’t. I told you that all five of you were women purely by statistical chance, and that’s the truth. Were all of you men, I’d just go out and recruit another crew. But as luck would have it, I don’t have to. I may not have told you the whole truth, but I did not lie to you.”
She shook her head. “I assume you�
�ve thought this through?”
Jeff smiled. “That’s a pretty safe assumption.”
“Is it possible?”
“Sure. The only environmental difference – inside the habitat – is gravity and a few atmospheric trace gases, and we don’t believe either will be an issue. Other than that the, uh, mechanics are pretty straightforward.”
“Okay. Uh, conception?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“Um, how?”
“What do you mean? You mean like, artificial insemination or the old fashioned way?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“I dunno, I just work here.” Jeff nodded toward the others. “Ask them.”
Heidi glanced questioningly at the others who looked nervously at one another.
Susan cleared her throat. “Ahem, well, not surprisingly we have talked amongst ourselves about that at some length.”
Jeff leaned forward at his desk and listened attentively, then suddenly turned to Heidi. “This’ll be news to me too.”
Susan continued, “It’s not cast in stone. We, of course, could do either but the consensus of opinion at this stage is that we should do it the old fashioned way.” She shrugged. “I mean, if we are going to do this, let’s do it right – the way it was meant to be done.”
Jeff nodded. “All three of you in agreement on that?”
Abby, Gabe and Sue all nodded.
“Okay. Well, for it’s worth, I’ll make it unanimous. I agree, let’s do it right. We still take the cryo freezer? Just in case?”
Sue nodded. “Yeah. Just in case.”
Heidi turned to Sue and shook her head. “Cryo freezer?”
“Yes. Before we leave, we’ll harvest eggs, fertilize some, and freeze the embryos, remaining eggs, and donor sperm in liquid nitrogen as a backup. And we’ll take everything necessary for in vitro.”
“Whose?”
Sue grinned. “Ours. Eggs and embryos from Gabe, Abby, Chrissie and myself, and Jeff’s sperm, along with that from some anonymous donors.”
Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) Page 43
