T-Minus Two

by K. G. MacGregor

  A formality for everyone, apparently. Even if someone had cheated, it made little sense to expect them to confess. A cheater would also lie.

  The next form was a self-assessment of her mental health. No feelings of depression. No anxiety. Calm and peaceful, plenty of energy.

  Another formality. Even if anyone had awakened this morning depressed, a hot shower and warm, humid air had surely cured it. If the committee hoped to tease out psychological problems, they’d have to find another way.

  The third form was a short-answer questionnaire that promised more nuance. What creature comfort had she missed most? Very hot black tea. To whom would she make the first call now that the analog was over? Her grandmother in Bulgaria. What was the best thing about working with your partner?

  Mila glanced over at Jancey to find her puzzling over the same question. How to show the committee they were well-matched without saying why?

  The best thing about working with my partner was that it gave me the chance to become her friend—a friend for life, no matter what happens to us.

  With that out of the way, the rest of the questions were relatively straightforward. Her least favorite meal was the strawberry protein shake. The most difficult aspect of the analog was learning to sleep on a rigid schedule, but she emphasized that she’d managed to do it with the help of a sleep aid.

  Jancey was first to finish and stepped away from the table to visit the courtyard.

  Mila turned in her paper and followed her into a corner where they were hidden from view by a thick bird of paradise. Expecting a smile, she was surprised by Jancey’s look of concern. “Everything all right?”

  “I’m worried about Marlon. I’ve never seen him so agitated.”

  “You think he had problems with Jean-Paul?”

  “I think if they launched for Mars together tomorrow, they’d kill each other.”

  Mila felt a pang of guilt for not sharing Jancey’s concern. Marlon was one of her oldest friends, someone she liked and respected. But the way Mila saw it, their disarray meant one less rival. “Is there any way we can help him?”

  Jancey shook her head. “No, he knows what he needs to do. If they want Mars badly enough, they’ll make peace with each other. And if they don’t…they might as well bow out and let someone else go. I’m only worried because I know what kind of sacrifice that would be for a guy like him.”

  “Would you have done that? I mean…what if I’d driven you so crazy you’d wanted to kill me?”

  “I’d have killed you,” she deadpanned before smiling. “Relax. There was never a chance we were going to have trouble. Once I chose to go with you, I was prepared to do whatever it took to make it work. I would have done the same thing with Marlon. The difference for those guys is they both chose someone else first and they never mentally committed to work together.”

  “You would have killed me?” Mila placed her hands over her chest, feigning shock and heartbreak.

  “Probably not.” Jancey grabbed the collar of Mila’s T-shirt and yanked her close enough to kiss.

  Before that could happen, the sound of a throat clearing broke them apart, and Jean-Paul stepped from behind the palms, leering in a way that made Mila want to smash his face in. “Cal has another exercise for us.”

  She started to follow him and found Jancey gripping her shirttail.

  “Hold on a second,” she said. “I’m not walking out of here looking like I’ve been caught doing something wrong. Just give it a minute.” Her defiance notwithstanding, there was no doubt she was annoyed.

  “Forget it, Jancey. If you’re right about him and Marlon, it won’t matter anyway. They’ll be gone in a couple of days.”

  They returned to their seats to find Cal sitting on the edge of the table with his legs swinging underneath. His relaxed posture suggested the formal part of their evaluation was over. That was certain when the department heads began to file in, taking seats along the perimeter so they could listen in during the debriefing.

  There was no mistaking at this point why they all needed to be there—they were the selection committee. Sir Charles, Dr. V, Svein Helland, Moriya Ito, Danielle Zion. All the department heads who’d had a hand in their testing. Today they held legal pads for taking notes, not on their test scores, but on their subjective observations.

  The last person to enter the room was Grace Faraday. She also had a notebook, which could mean only one thing—she was on the selection committee as well, and would help decide their fate.

  And it didn’t hurt that she was Jancey’s oldest, dearest friend.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Jancey stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, relishing her brief moment of pseudo-solitude. Pseudo, because there were nearly three dozen people on the other side of the door, but solitude nonetheless. By her recollection, she hadn’t been completely alone in seven weeks.

  Outside on Grace’s lawn, the committee mingled with the other fourteen final candidates ahead of the formal announcement of who would launch first. Wade Hackett was still being held in Hilo Medical Center after suffering complications from the water contamination. Apparently they’d discovered an undiagnosed kidney condition, one that undoubtedly would have proved fatal had he encountered a toxic bacteria after launch.

  The catered dinner party Grace had arranged—another extravagant luau that should have been a delightful improvement over powdered shakes and precooked casseroles—would have been more enjoyable had it not been for the butterflies everyone suffered as they awaited the news.

  They’d spent two days debriefing at Tenacity Centre, discussing as a group their successes and failures. All had suggestions for how to make the eight-month flight to Mars more stimulating, and their gradual colonization a social success. Intranet video games. Instructor guides for books so they could talk about what they read. Musical instruments. Art programs on their tablets. Digital puzzles they could work together.

  After the group sessions, they’d been hauled in for team and individual interviews that seemed designed to uncover negative feelings related to the project or their partner.

  Jancey knew enough to approach the entire exercise with professionalism, treating every question as though her selection depended on her response. She framed their success as “just doing our job,” and challenges as “interesting opportunities.”

  She exited the bathroom to find Grace in the hallway, Duke and Sasha by her side.

  “Do I get to say I told you so?” Grace asked.

  “This is more of your torture, isn’t it?” She was already annoyed that Grace was holding out on her as to what the committee had decided during the day’s deliberations behind closed doors. Now she was gloating about Mila too.

  She’d had no chance to talk with Grace about Mila, other than to acknowledge they were sleeping together now. Hard to sneak that by when she brought Mila to stay with her in the guest house.

  “I think she’s adorable, and you’re adorable with her.”

  “Let’s hope you still think so tomorrow. If we aren’t ecstatically happy, neither of us will be adorable.” She said it pointedly and stepped nose to nose with Grace.

  “Give it up, Major Beaumont. I’m not allowed to tell you anything or Charles will have my hide. Wait for me.” She disappeared inside the bathroom with the dogs.

  Jancey cooled her heels as much as she could, pacing the hallway anxiously. By now, the music of the luau had stopped, which meant the announcement was imminent. “Quit stalling.”

  Grace and her canine entourage emerged and she looped her arm through the crook of Jancey’s elbow. “Very well, let’s go find out who’s going and when. But first, I have a question for you.”

  More beating around the bush.

  “I want to know what happens to you and Mila if you aren’t chosen.”

  Her heart began to pound. “Are you serious, Grace?”

  “Don’t read anything into that. I just want to know if it’s the real thing or just a marriage of conv
enience.”

  As far as Jancey was concerned, it was a moot point, one she’d never even entertained. There was no way she and Mila would be completely shut out of the launch schedule. Even if they weren’t first, it was unfathomable they’d finish in the lower four. Or lower three, since Jerry and Wade were out.

  “If by some outrageous act of idiocy we get axed from the program, I’m off to Sedona. I’d like it just fine if she came too, but I’d never ask her. She needs to stay on with the project and get herself in position to try again in a few years. If anyone understands that, it’s yours truly. Space isn’t something you give up on, not when you’re only twenty-seven.”

  They reached the patio, where all eyes turned in their direction. Sir Charles was at the podium ready to make the announcement.

  “Does that mean you love her? Or does it mean you don’t?”

  “They’re waiting for us, Grace.”

  Grace stopped cold. It was clear she wouldn’t take another step until she got a reply.

  Jancey turned her back to the group and lowered her voice. “If the time comes when I want to say how I feel, she should hear it first. Now can we please go sit down?”

  Her dodge worked, and they finally made it to their seats.

  Sir Charles, wearing an aquamarine Hawaiian shirt and white pants that matched his goatee, gripped the sides of the podium and cleared his throat. “I know everyone is presently at the end of their tether, and there is probably nothing you want to hear from me other than the results of our deliberations. However, I want to take this opportunity to thank each of you for your dedication, your enthusiasm and your contributions to the Tenacity Project. We hope to be standing here again four years from now to announce the next class of colonists. Those of you who are not selected for the first wave are strongly encouraged to reapply.”

  Four years. Jancey would be forty-seven. Still inside the window but would she have the heart to go through this again? She’d given it her best. Her partnership with Mila should have put them over the top.

  Would they choose two women? As members of the selection committee, Grace and Danielle would champion that. But two lesbians? Yes, but maybe not first.

  Jancey wanted to be first. That’s where the adventure was, the danger.

  “Let me ask that you refrain from public announcements until after our press conference, which is scheduled for…” He checked with his assistant on the front row. “Tomorrow afternoon. I’m so very fortunate to be surrounded by well-organized, competent staff. I remember one day last spring when Melissa came into my office. I’d left my…”

  An excruciating side story no one wanted to hear. Groans all around.

  “Very well. Our fourth place team will launch in approximately seven years. That team is Kamal Sidhu and David Pillay.”

  Kamal let out a whoop as both men jumped from their seats and shared a bear hug, slapping each other on the back.

  That was a huge surprise, considering their early scores on concentration and fitness had landed them in the third group. On the other hand, Kamal was a trained astronaut from the Indian Space Agency, and they’d performed well enough on the challenges to vault several teams from the top two groups. These guys had their act together.

  “The previous year, we’ll be gathering in Kamal’s home country of India to wish Godspeed to…Fujio and Suki Hatsu.”

  Applause erupted for the couple, who stood together, all smiles, and bowed to the group.

  A Japanese team. How many married couples would they choose? All of a sudden she was second-guessing her decision to fly under the radar. What if sharing her feelings for Mila had been the one piece of assurance the committee needed to know they’d work well together?

  “Now it’s time for my beauty pageant speech, the one where I say if for any reason our winners cannot fulfill their duties, the runners-up will take their place. That is precisely our plan, ladies and gentlemen.”

  Jancey listened for her name. Second place. It would be all right.

  “Brandon and Libby Fagan.”

  Her stomach dropped as she turned toward Grace, who refused to look her way. What will you do if you aren’t chosen? It was clear now why she’d asked. The board would never pass over a man like Marlon Quinn, nor shut out the European Space Agency.

  She was barely aware of Mila’s cool hand clutching hers beneath the tablecloth as Sir Charles prepared his final announcement.

  “And four years from now, we’ll be sending the first two humans to Mars. A team of very…very competent women. Jancey Beaumont and Mila Todorov.”

  A tidal wave of relief washed over her as all the tension drained from her body. She couldn’t have stood if her chair had been on fire, but it didn’t matter. Everyone else was on their feet applauding. Even Marlon.

  “We’re going to Mars,” Mila said, resting her forehead on Jancey’s shoulder. “I might cry. Tell them it’s an allergy.”

  * * *

  Mila twisted from side to side, luxuriating in the leather executive chair in Grace’s study. It was perhaps the finest chair her butt had ever known, so fine the designers of Tenacity needed to come right away and take down all the specs so they could replicate it for the ship.

  Sir Charles had asked them not to make public announcements, but Grace assured her it was fine to tell her family.

  True to her word, she’d Skyped first with her grandmother, whose reaction was equal parts pride, alarm and despondency. Pride would win out over alarm eventually, but she would never be okay with Mila leaving the planet forever.

  The next call went to her mother, who failed to answer. Ten a.m. in Berlin. She probably was giving a lecture. Mila had sat in on a few of those and found them far more interesting than the lectures she got at home. Her mother would be annoyed she’d chosen Mars over Humboldt, but relieved she’d be a hundred-million miles from Frederica.

  She couldn’t wait to introduce her mother to Jancey, a woman nearly as old as Frederica. A woman whose accomplishments put her in a class by herself. A woman who wouldn’t be intimidated by disapproval.

  Her third call went to Vio, who refused to believe her news.

  “Seriously, dude. I’m going to Mars with Jancey Beaumont. You get to say you knew me when.”

  Vio stared back from her kitchen. “When what?”

  “Never mind.” It was hard to tell sometimes whether Vio was trolling her or legitimately having trouble with English idioms. Mila had always insisted they speak to each other in English, since her comfort level with Dutch left something to be desired. “We’re going on a press tour starting next week. They expect me to wear a dress on TV in front of the entire world. Yet another reason to leave this planet.”

  “You’ll rock it.”

  “Rocket?”

  “Yes, that’s what I said.”

  “You were making a pun.”

  “I wasn’t,” Vio insisted flatly. “When are you coming back to Europe?”

  “We don’t have the training schedule yet. They’ve built most of the robotics in Cologne, so we’ll have to go there for training eventually.”

  “Rotterdam’s only three hours by train,” Vio said. “I’ll come visit. It would be fun to see the robotics engineers’ faces when The General and JanSolo start taking down everything in sight.”

  “You’re weird sometimes.”

  “It makes me interesting.”

  Mila couldn’t deny that, as their shared interest in unusual things—video games, fantasy worlds—was the foundation of their friendship. “Don’t ever change, Vio. I need to go. I’m still trying to reach my mother before she hears about me from one of her colleagues at Humboldt. She’ll pin the poor fool down for hours to tell him how ridiculous it is to go to Mars.”

  “I have to go too. I need to study for my astronaut test so I can be the first person on Jupiter.”

  Mila opened her mouth to spew forth the litany of reasons that would never happen but decided instead to leave Vio’s fantasy intact.

&nbs
p; * * *

  Jancey sat on a wicker love seat by the pool, mesmerized by the sight of the Red Planet rising in the eastern sky. Home.

  When the last guest had gone, Grace turned out the lights on the patio so they’d have a better look at the night sky. Now she was walking out with a tray holding three snifters and a decanter. “I’ve already poured you a Hennessy so don’t even try to say no.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.” A rare indulgence, one she’d enjoy without guilt now that the trials were finished. “Mars is up.”

  “To Mars then,” Grace replied, raising her glass. She had changed from her floral dress to pink silk pajamas and a light robe. Her gray hair was down from its twist, hanging softly around her shoulders. “I know you’re going to ask, so I’ll save you the trouble. It wasn’t even close. You and Mila were nearly perfect.”

  Though Jancey had known that in her gut, having it confirmed swelled her with pride. “Nearly?”

  “Well…there was the matter of not securing your solar panel.”

  “You mean so your little troublemakers couldn’t steal it? We couldn’t very well sit on the roof all night and guard it. Even if we had, I’m sure you’d have found another way.”

  “We didn’t steal it. We were very careful to treat everyone equally. You all got the same equipment, the same supplies. All the same drills and conditions. If we tampered with your habitat, we tampered with everyone’s.”

  “Are you serious?” She distinctly remembered Mila saying she’d seen someone climb onto their dome just before dawn. If that wasn’t the staff…then who was it?

  “The important thing was you managed without it,” Grace said. She looked past Jancey as the dogs ran to greet Mila. “Here comes your new roommate.”

  Jancey chuckled at her choice of words, and slid over to make a space on the love seat. “Did you finish your calls?”

  “Never got my mother, but I wrote her an email. I apologize in advance if my phone rings in the middle of the night.”

  “It’s okay.” She lifted Mila’s arm and scooted under it. A wave of nostalgia enveloped her as she recalled sitting in this very spot with Jill only two years ago. It wasn’t Jill she’d missed. It was the warmth and comfort of resting in another woman’s arms. “Grace was just saying we ran away with the vote.”