Part 10 (1/2)

'What does it matter?' she said. 'The computers fly this d.a.m.n thing, anyway.'

'Listen, Doc, these computers only do what I tell them to do.'

'Gary,' Jim interrupted.

'What?' Gary growled.

'Maybe you'll get to talk to your parents once we're underway,' Jim said.

'Why do you say that?' Gary asked. 'Am I acting grouchy? I'm not grouchy.'

'It is my unbiased medical opinion that you are showing symptoms of being a pain in the a.s.s,' Lauren said.

'I know about your unbiased opinions,' Gary said. He spoke to Jim. 'You really think they'll let me talk to my mom and dad?'

'I do,' Jim said. 'They won't be so paranoid when they know they can cut you off when they want. Bill will be speaking with the president. Have him explain the situation for you.'

Gary nodded. 'I'll do that.'

Dawn came again, half an hour later, pouring through the open windows and turning everything to white. Lauren wished for a pair of sungla.s.ses. Her eyes had only begun to adjust when she spotted s.p.a.ce Station One, its two-hundred-yard-diameter wheel revolving like a giant polished ornament. Floating nearby was the Nova, looking oddly insect-like in the harsh shadows of the vacuum. The three of them were not the shuttle's only cargo; the cargo bay behind them was loaded with supplies for the s.p.a.ce station.

There was a jolt as the shuttle's engine reactivated. Now came the fine adjustments. To climb to the higher orbit of the station, they had paradoxically to lose speed. Lauren was not surprised to see that Guy had disengaged the automatic pilot. He took any chance to fly that he could get. Soon they were descending upon the station from above, the California coast the background canvas for their celestial maneuvers. The view was staggering, but was slowly eclipsed as Gary throttled them into the station's axis, which rotated opposite the station proper and thus appeared stationary. Instinctively Lauren gripped her seat.

'Your rotational vector is .073 cycles high, Columbia,' Colonel Brent said over the radio.

'Weez already know that, Billy,' Gary said. He slowly rotated a flas.h.i.+ng violet k.n.o.b counterclockwise. There was a low roar as a thruster fired. Then came a final hard b.u.mp and a gentle hiss as they locked onto the station's airlock. The first segment of their voyage was over.

'Good job,' Jim said, slapping Gary on the back.

'You sure know how to impress a girl,' Lauren agreed. She carefully unfastened her straps. Now weightlessness became a factor. Lauren remembered her first experiences free of gravity. Half of all astronauts felt ill for a day or two while their bodies adjusted to life without up and down, and she had fallen into the unfortunate half. On her maiden voyage into s.p.a.ce she had vomited in the pilot's face, an act she was still living down at Mission Control. But after her initial sickness, she had felt fine. In fact, she had come to love slithering around the cabin of the shuttle - and the corridors of s.p.a.ce Station One - like a seal on wheels.

Lauren followed Gary and Jim as they floated out of the shuttle, through an airlock, and into a heavily padded circular green room. Slowly the walls about them began to rotate, regaining the spin they normally shared with the remainder of the station. Faint, invisible strands of gravity reached up from the floor as Lauren planted her feet, swaying with her companions like flowers dancing in a gentle breeze. The grief of her parting with Terry and Jennifer lessened further. If she but shoved off the floor she could fly like a bird. The knowledge filled her with a sense of euphoria. Gary and Jim shared her feelings. Suddenly, for no reason, they started to giggle. They were still giggling when Jessica Brent climbed out of the ceiling.

'Jessie!' Lauren cried.

'Why if it isn't the queen of soul herself,' Gary said.

Lieutenant Jessica Brent was thirty-two years old, a tall thin dark-skinned woman with thick lips, a short afro, and dizzy expressions. The latter were a cause of some humor at Mission Control, but there was absolutely no truth to the rumor that the reason she had been chosen for the mission was her husband's influence. Jessica was one of NASA's finest biochemists, and although her friend Gary insisted she had never graduated from high school, she had in fact published almost as many scientific papers in prestigious journals as Jim had. She had uncanny instincts when it came to research. At the age of twenty-six, while still completing her graduate studies, she had traced the HS-9 virus - the latest and vilest form of herpes (it affected the whole body with cold sores that lasted as long as warts and looked like yellow-headed pimples) - back to the smallpox vaccine. The discovery had consequently led to the development of a new smallpox vaccine free of side effects, and a national reputation for Jessica. Yet she had no ego about her astounding work. Always upbeat, Jessica was one of Lauren's favorite people. Soon she would be the only other woman around for two hundred million miles.

'I missed you all,' Jessica said, gliding down the curved walls and into their greeting arms.

'Are all systems still green?' Gary asked.

'We're still going to Mars, that's for sure,' Jessica said. 'But we'll be leaving on the next orbit instead of the one after that. Don't take off your helmets.'

'The next orbit,' Lauren gasped. 'Why?'

Jessica shrugged. 'Don't ask me. I'm just a lowly lieutenant.'

'But we've only just begun to blow the nitrogen out of our systems,' Lauren said.

'They're moving us up because of our last instructions,' Jim said. 'They don't want us shooting our mouths off in front of the s.p.a.ce station's personnel.'

'But Jessie's been here a week,' Gary said.

'I didn't tell anybody about the footprints,' Jessica said.

'What do you think of them?' Lauren asked.

Jessica rolled her eyes. 'I'll believe the Martians when I see them. They just looked like holes in the ground to me. I don't see what the president and his people are all shook about.'

'Shh,' Jim cautioned. 'It's me in particular they are worried about. The president probably felt I asked too many questions.'

'That's ridiculous,' Gary said.

'I thought the same thing myself,' Lauren said, agreeing with Jim.

'What about Lisa?' Gary asked. 'I wanted to talk to her. Does this mean we have to go straight over the Nova, Jessie?'

'We're not to leave here until Bill arrives,' Jessica said. 'But yes, then we're to go right over. None of you is allowed out of the axis.'

'Who's Lisa?' Lauren asked.

'I have equipment stowed here that I was supposed to collect,'Jim said.

'It's been taken care of,' Jessica said.

'Where's Mark?' Gary asked.

'Aboard the Nova,' Jessica said.

'Who's Lisa?' Lauren asked again.

Gary studied the pa.s.sageway from which Jessica had emerged. 'She's a friend of the male species,' he said. 'Jessie, are there guards on the other side of that door?'

'Gary!' Jessie said, shocked.

'I thought you were in love with Kathy,' Lauren said.

'So I have a big heart,' Gary said. He turned to Jim. 'What do you think, buddy?'

'The worst they can do is have you shot,' Jim said.

Gary laughed and asked Jessica, 'Tell me, any guards?'

Jessica sneered. 'I'm not saying nothing.'

Gary poked her in the stomach. 'You just said it, mama.' He launched himself towards the exit. 'Catch you kids in a few minutes. Don't worry about my nitrogen, Doc. Lisa knows how to pop bubbles in the blood.'

'I do, do I?' a young woman with a ten-year-old's voice asked. Lisa poked out of the chute and floated into Gary's arms. She looked like Kathy from California, only she had long red hair and longer legs. Not that Lauren cared. However, she did think it was disgusting of Lisa to embrace a grown man on the ceiling.