Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) (58 page)

Jeff
nodded and chuckled. “Yeah. Gabe, when was the last time you saw your parents?”

She
sighed. “I haven’t seen my mother in fifteen years. I haven’t seen dad since I
graduated from Oberlin. He came to that. He writes me every now and then. Sends
me some money… well, he did when I was in school.”

“Gabe,
you’re kind of famous now. As you noted, you’ve been on the
Tonight Show
,
given congressional testimony, dined with the President, had you picture on
magazine covers… have you heard from your parents at all?”

“No. I
think all this has just convinced them that I am insane.”

“Don’t
you think maybe it’s time you saw them?”

She shook
her head.

He
frowned. “Why?”

“Because
I don’t know them, and aren’t sure I want to. I wasn’t the child they wanted; I
was too much trouble, too much work. They were glad to be rid of me, and I’m
content to leave it at that.” She snuggled against Jeff and whimpered, “I like
where I am now, please don’t make me go back.”

“I
wouldn’t dream of it.” He grabbed an afghan off the back of the sofa and
covered her. “I want you to do something for me.”

“What?”

“Go to
sleep.”

She
rubbed her cheek against his chest. “Why? It’s the middle of the afternoon.”

“Two
reasons. First, because you need it. And second, to make a point.”

“What’s
that?”

“When you
wake up, you’ll find I’m still here.”

Gabe took
off her glasses and nestled into Jeff’s arms. She was asleep in minutes. And
hours later when she awoke, Jeff was still there.

* * *

A week
later, Gabe peeked into Jeff’s office. “You wanted to see me?”

Jeff
looked up from his desk. “Yeah, Gabe, come in.” He got up, walked over to the
credenza, picked up a gift-wrapped package, and handed it to her. “Here, this
is for you.”

She
grinned. “What is this? It’s not my birthday.”

“I know.
Just a little something I got for you. Open it.”

Gabe sat
on the sofa, set the present on the coffee table, and gingerly opened it.
Inside was a bright red dinner plate. Around the rim, in white script were the
words, “You Are Special Today.” She started crying.

Jeff sat
beside her. “Now, don’t start.”

“I’m
sorry, I can’t help it. This is so sweet.”

“Gabe,
from now on, whenever you’re feeling down or upset about the past or the
future, I want to see that plate in front of you at the dinner table as a
reminder of two things.”

“What?”
she whimpered.

“First,
that you are special – today and every day. And second, that I know it.”

She
gently set down the plate, then wrapped her arms around Jeff’s neck, sobbing,
“Oh god! I love you so much. Please don’t ever leave me. I wouldn’t know what
to do.”

Jeff held
her tight and kissed her forehead. “I won’t.”

Sunday, October 19,
2014 (T minus 520 days)

PAYLOAD, “FLIGHT! We’ve got a
problem!”

Gabe bolted upright in her seat,
immediately followed by Jeff.

FLIGHT, “What?”

PAYLOAD, “Pyro 14 failed to
initiate. Loads 13 and 14 are still connected.”

Gabe gasped. “Oh god!”

FLIGHT, “Did 13’s chute open?”

PAYLOAD, “Yeah, but it can’t handle
that mass.”

FLIGHT, “Is it still connected?”

PAYLOAD, “Yes. Rate of descent is
slowing but it’s gonna hit hard.”

Jeff glanced at Gabe. “Will the
airbags burst on impact?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know.
Depends on whether or not all the bags that have room to inflate do, and how it
lands, and what it lands on. Rock, sand, a slope?” She shook her head. “I just
don’t know.”

“Splat?”

“At twelve or fifteen meters per
second? Possibly.”

Susan glanced past Gabe at him. “I
do wish you would reframe from using that word.”

He chuckled. “Sorry. Gabe, 13 and
14 are both food pallets, aren’t they?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, so we’re gonna litter a
hundred square meters of Mars with freeze dried corned beef?”

“Maybe. We’ll just have to wait and
see.”

“Well, it’s triple packaged. With
any luck it’ll still be freeze dried when we get there. We’ll just have to find
it all. In any case, we’re taking ten percent more than we should need, so,
it’s not the end of the world. Thank god it wasn’t the rover.”

“Yeah.”

Heidi glanced back at Jeff.

He shrugged.

She nodded. “Alright PAYLOAD,
nothing to be done about it.”

Jeff turned to Gabe. “Any idea what
might have caused it?”

“No. Could be anything. A loose
wire, computer glitch… Who knows?”

“But the circuit was tested?”

“Yes, of course. Multiple times.”

“Okay, well you told me they
wouldn’t all make it.”

“Yes, I did.” She gasped again. “Oh
god!”

Jeff groaned. “What now?”

“Look at the beacon telemetry on
load data. We thought a one second delay between pyros would be good to protect
the loads from potentially hitting each other, but that their momentum would
keep them grouped fairly close. But the lifting body’s velocity is almost 450
meters per second, and the loads are coming down 450 meters apart. Jeff, this
stuff is gonna be scattered over more than seven kilometers. We need to do more
modeling on this.”

Jeff stared at the telemetry,
thought for a moment, then smiled. “Normandy.”

Gabe glanced at him, frowning.
“Huh?”

“World War II. D-Day. June 6, 1944.
The Normandy landing. The Airborne drops were scattered all to hell and gone.
Some missed their landing zones by as much as 20 kilometers. But, we still won.”
He looked at her, smiling. “It’s okay. We’ll do better next time. And, in case
you missed it, your lifting body worked.”

Gabe grinned. “It did, didn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

PAYLOAD, “Backshell jett and loss of contact with
Amos
.
40 seconds to touchdown.”

FLIGHT, “Rog.”

Jeff peered at the rover telemetry screen, eagerly
awaiting the first sign of a successful landing – the contact light. “Come on,
Amos
,
talk to us.”

Thirty seconds later a green dot
appeared beside
Amos
’ name on the screen, and a cheer went up around the
room.

Abby grinned. “So far, so good.”

Jeff nodded. “Yeah.”

Within
Amos
’ dialogue box
appeared the message, “System checks…”

Gabe put her hand on Jeff’s shoulder and shook him
gently. “He’s alive.”

He let out a huge sigh of relief.
“Uh huh.”

PAO, “
Amos
, the first of two
rovers being sent to Mars as part of the Grey Aerospace expedition, is now on
the planet’s surface and conducting a systems status check.
Amos
and its
twin,
Andy
, are capable of entirely autonomous operation, possessing a
redundant pair of BAE RAD750, radiation hardened computers, similar to those
utilized on the MSL. Like
Curiosity
,
Amos
’ computer runs the
VxWorks real-time operating system. However,
Amos
’ operating system is
augmented with artificial intelligence and visual recognition utilities derived
from the EUA Robotics’ explosives ordinance disposal robot,
Irving
.
Additionally,
Amos
possesses an order of magnitude more memory than
Curiosity
,
in anticipation of its potentially much larger track and visual identification
databases. NASA anticipates that during its two-year planned mission,
Curiosity
will travel at least 25 kilometers. During its three and a half year mission,
Amos
will likely traverse more than 1,000 kilometers of Martian terrain.”

Amos
, “Status checks
complete, all systems stable.”

Jeff clapped his hands and grinned. “Halleluiah!”

Amos
, “Greetings from Mars,
y’all.”

Jeff laughed. “Hmmm,
Amos
seems to have
acquired a sense of humor.” He glanced at Gabe. “I wonder who gave him that?”

Gabe grinned and shrugged.

“Yeah, well, tell him to get his ass in gear and
find out what happened to the rest of our stuff.”

She shook her head. “Now, don’t be a nag, he knows
what to do.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s just hard not to tinker.”

“Yes, but we need to leave him alone. There’s never
been this kind of AI on Mars, and we need to know how well it works.”

PAO, “Until the Grey Aerospace Mars crew arrives two
years from now, for the most part
Amos
will be left on his own. He will
locate the other cargo loads that arrived with him, survey the area, aiding in
the selection of a final site for the Mars base, and transport much of the
cargo to that site.
Amos
possesses substantial artificial intelligence
and is capable of learning. By the time Jeffrey Grey and his team arrive,
Amos
will be an expert on their surroundings.”

Abby grunted. “And if he’s not, he’s gonna get
spanked.”

Jeff chuckled. “Well, don’t tell him that. The
thought of a spanking from you may distract him.”

Gabe firmly planted her elbow in Jeff’s ribs.

He glanced at her. “Now, come on, let’s not just do
this, let’s enjoy it as well. I’ll bet you never had this much fun at JPL?”

She frowned. “No, I didn’t.”

The first image of Mars arrived from
Amos
.
Jeff gasped, “Ah, Jesus, nothing but flat sand and scattered small rocks. How
did we get so lucky?”

Gabe leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “It
wasn’t luck, it was skill.”

“Yeah, I hope you’re right. God, that looks more
like Gusev than Gusev looks like Gusev.”

She laughed. “There’s something very wrong with that
sentence, but I know what you mean.”

Tuesday, October 21,
2015 (T minus 518 days)

Chrissie
wandered into the kitchen. “I thought I smelled bacon.”

Jeff
didn’t look up from the tomatoes he was slicing. “Hey, it’s my turn for lunch.
What did you expect?”

“You and
your bacon and tomato sandwiches.”

“I like
them.”

“We’ve
noticed.”

“Would
you prefer tuna?”

“No, I
would not, they’re great.”

“Alright
then.”

She walked around to the opposite
side of the island, leaned her elbows on the counter, rested her chin on her
hands and watched him slice. “Well, you were right.”

He glanced up at her. “About what?”

“Since Sunday’s landing, I think
everyone in the world has called or emailed wanting in on the action.”

Jeff laughed. “Yeah, I’m not
surprised.”

Chrissie frowned. “I’m not kidding,
Jeff, there’s over a thousand new emails in the sponsorship folder and more
than 500 voice mail messages. I can’t deal with this, it’s too much, I’ve got
other things to do. I need some help.”

He stopped slicing. “Yeah, I know.
You want to hire some people?”

She shook her head. “I’d rather
farm it out, I don’t have the time to train somebody.”

“A marketing firm?”

“Yeah, or PR, or an agent;
something like that.”

“Or all of the above. Anyway, works
for me.” He went back to slicing tomatoes. “You have somebody in mind?”

“No, but I’ll get on it this
afternoon.”

“Good. Let’s strike while the
iron’s hot. I guess we should have done this a long time ago.”

“You did.”

“Huh?”

“You hired me. Then you turned me
into a rocket scientist.”

Jeff grinned. “Oops,”

“It’s ironic, marketing is what I
always wanted to do.”

“Well, when all this is over, you
can start your own aerospace marketing firm. You’ll have ‘em lined up at the
door.”

Chrissie smiled. “That’s not a bad
idea.” She sighed. “But only after I take a very long vacation.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I hear you.”

Wednesday, June 10,
2015 (T minus 286 days)

Jeff
glanced at his watch, five o’clock. Cocktail hour. He rolled up the command
module flight control schematics he’d been poring over all afternoon, and
headed downstairs. He poured a Scotch, took a sip, and glanced around,
wondering where Susan was. With Abby and Gabe down at Kennedy for a few days
helping Heidi ride herd over the Jupiter integration team, and Chrissie taking
the week off to spend some time with her parents, Wrentham House was kind of
quiet. He heard pots and pans in the kitchen. Ah ha. He strolled across the
dining room, through the pantry, and into the kitchen. “What’s cookin’?”

Susan
turned around abruptly, trotted up to him, put her hand on his chest, and
pushed him backwards. “Out!”

“Huh?”

“Stay
out, it’s a surprise.”

She
chased him back through the pantry and into the dining room. “Okay, okay, I’m
going. I thought we were going out for dinner tonight.”

“I
changed my mind.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. I’m
a woman; I’m allowed to do that. Dinner is at eight, and you need to dress.”

Jeff
furrowed his brow. “Uh, I am dressed.”

“That’s
not what I mean.”

“I was
afraid of that. You mean like, coat and tie?”

“Yes.”

“Really?
For dinner for two in my own house?”

“Yes.”

He
sighed. “Oh… alright. I’m guessing this isn’t microwaved TV dinners and a
football game?”

Susan
glared at him. “Do I look like Gabe?”

He cocked
his head to one side, grinning, and squinted. “Um, no, not really.”

“Eight
o’clock, sharp.”

Jeff frowned.
“Eight?”

“Yes. A
fashionable dinner hour.”

He
groaned, “I’ll be starving by then.”

“Good.”
She smiled, and returned to the kitchen.

Jeff
knotted his tie, donned a charcoal grey pinstripe suit coat, took a last glance
in the mirror, and went downstairs, arriving in the dining room promptly at
five minutes to eight, and just in time to catch Susan rolling the serving cart
out of the pantry. She was wearing a short-sleeve silver silk brocade mandala
blouse, lavishly decorated with gold and red dragon and phoenix embroidery,
with mandarin collar and five frog buttons down the front, over a floor-length
black silk crepe skirt. Jeff’s eyes lit up. “That is lovely.”

“Thank
you.”

He smiled
and shook his head. “You keep coming up with new ones, and they’re all
gorgeous.”

“They’re
a bit hard to find in my size, so when I run across a collection that fits, I
buy one of each, and stock the shelves.”

“Ah. What
size are you?”

“Anywhere
from a zero to a petite four. Depends on the article and the cut.”

“Huh. I
always thought zero meant, you know, nothing.”

She
grinned. “You wish. Sorry, no. In women’s clothing, it’s just an extra-small.”

“Hmmm,
too bad. Well, in any case, I approve.”

She
smiled softly and gave him a subtle nod. “Thank you. Shall we dine?”

“By all
means, it smells wonderful.”

Susan
dimmed the lights.

As she
was about to take the seat Jeff held out for her, he caught a scent. “Wait a
second.” He leaned toward her and sniffed. She canted her head and pulled her
hair over her shoulder, baring her neck to him. He leaned in close and sniffed
again. “Oh, your perfume is intoxicating. What is it?”

“Opium.”

“Wow,
that’s nice. Why haven’t I smelled that before?”

“I don’t
wear it very often.”

“You
should.”

He seated
her, then took a seat at the end of the table adjacent to her. The table was
laid out with their finest china and silver, and a candelabra. Before them sat
covered silver serving dishes. Susan’s dark eyes sparkled in the candlelight.
“This is very nice. You’ve been busy this afternoon.”

“Yes.”

“Is this
some special occasion that Chrissie forgot to remind me of?”

“No.
Since it’s just the two of us, I thought a quiet, elegant dinner at home would
be fun.”

He
nodded. “A lovely idea. Thank you.”

She
removed the silver lids, revealing Blue Point oysters on a half shell chilled
on crushed ice.

Jeff’s
eyes lit up. “Oh my, oysters. Is there a message here?”

She
grinned. “None that I am aware of. I just know you like them.”

“Yes I
do.” As they slurped raw oysters and cocktail sauce, Jeff thought of something,
and laughed.

Susan
looked at him quizzically. “Is something funny?”

“I was
just reminded of when Gabe and I were at FSI getting our Citation type ratings,
and she, Abby, and I went out for dinner one evening. Abby wanted oysters on a
half shell, so we ordered a round. Gabe had never had them.”

“Uh oh.”

“Yeah.
She’s not exactly a gourmand.”

“That’s
an understatement.”

“Anyway,
after watching Abby and I slurp down a couple, she finally built up the nerve
to try one. She held the shell to her lips and her hand started shaking. Abby
just goaded her on and she finally popped it in.” He paused and laughed. “You
should have seen the expression on her face. You could see that she was just
holding it in her mouth, undecided on whether to swallow or spit it out. Then she
swallowed it and immediately gagged. I thought she was gonna throw up on the
table. Abby was laughing so hard I’m surprised she didn’t wet her pants.”

Susan
laughed. “That sounds like Gabe. But, she got over it. I know she likes them
now.”

“Yep.
Still can’t get her to try escargot.”

“Yes.
Good luck with that.”

The
oysters were followed by Caesar salad, French onion soup, and then lemon sorbet
and champagne.

Jeff
smiled broadly. “Wow, how very Continental.”

“I’m glad
you like it.”

“Yes
indeed. You know, if Abby hears about this dinner she’s gonna have a fit.”

Susan
smiled. “I thought of that. When I shopped, I bought plenty. We’ll do it again
after they return.”

“Ah, very
thoughtful.”

She got
up, cleared the dishes, went to the serving cart and returned with heated
plates of breaded sea scallops, sautéed in butter and white wine, over linguine
with garlic cream sauce. “Here you are.
Bon appétit
.”

“Ah,
that’s what I’ve been smelling. Oh my, doesn’t this look scrumptious.”

“Enjoy.”

Jeff took
a bite. “Oh lord, Sue, that is delicious. Your culinary skills never cease to
amaze me.”

She
smiled, demurely. “Thank you.”

“I don’t
know, maybe we should forget about Mars and just open a restaurant.”

“It would
probably be easier.”

“That’s a
fact. Maybe we should do that when we get back. I’ve often thought having a
restaurant – a really nice one, five-star, absolutely first-class – would be
fun.”

She
smiled. “That would be fun. Abby might even enjoy that. You know, she is an
exceptionally fine cook, better than me. She just doesn’t like to cook.”

“Yeah, I
know. Her mother’s even written a cookbook.”

“Yes, we
have it. This is her scallop recipe.”

“Really?
It’s wonderful. My compliments to her recipe and your execution thereof.”

“Thank
you.”

“You’re
welcome.”

“And,
what would Gabe do in our little restaurant?”

Jeff
shook his head. “I dunno, cocktail waitress? You sure wouldn’t want her in the
kitchen.”

Susan
chuckled. “A bit overqualified for that, don’t you think?”

“Yeah,
probably. Maybe she could run the bar. She does know more about rocket fuel
than most people.”

“Ah, now
there’s an idea.”

“And of
course, nightly entertainment at the piano bar.”

She
smiled. “Now that would seem to be right up her alley.”

“Indeed.
Um, speaking of Gabe, would you mind if we talked shop for just a minute?”

“No, of
course not.”

“I know
you’ve spoken with her about her background and some of her emotional issues.”

Susan
nodded. “Yes.”

“Has she
ever mentioned that her mother used to beat her?”

She
glanced at him, startled. “No. How did you learn this?”

“She told
me, eight or nine months ago. When she informed me that
Pathfinder
missed its target by twelve kilometers she had this terrified expression on her
face, and asked me if I was going to hit her. I couldn’t believe it. She
actually thought I might.”

Susan stared at the table and shook her head. “That
may explain a few things. Why did her mother…?”

“Gabe
said her mother would strike her when she made mistakes.”

“Mistakes?”

“I didn’t
delve further. Struck a wrong note on the piano for all I know. But it
certainly made an impression on her.”

“Poor
child.”

“Yeah.
Did she tell you she attempted suicide when she was twelve?”

Susan
gasped. “No.”

“That she
was institutionalized, received shock therapy, the whole treatment?”

She shook
her head.

“And that
she’s estranged from her parents? Hasn’t seen her mother in fifteen years?”

“No, she
told me none of that.” Susan stared silently at her plate for a moment. “Jeff,
are you certain Gabe is the right person for this? I know she cares very much
for you, and that you care for her, and that she’s incomparably brilliant,
but…”

Jeff
sighed. “I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve asked myself the same
question. But she’s so much better now than when we started.” He paused and
thought for a moment. “I think she’s found two things here with us that she’s
never had: purpose, and friends that care for her.” He looked into Susan’s
eyes. “Sue, I couldn’t take that away from her even if I wanted to.”

Susan
nodded. “Just playing devil’s advocate.” She smiled. “I like her too.”

He
grinned. “Well, you just go right on playing devil’s advocate. Keep me honest.”

“Alright.”

Jeff
reached over, took her hand, and smiled softly. “I like the team we have.” He
shook his head. “I see no reason to change it.”

She
smiled and bit her lip. “Yeah.”

Finally,
they capped off dinner with fresh strawberries and cream. Jeff sat back, took a
deep breath and sighed. “Sue, that was exquisite. You really outdid yourself.”

“Thank
you. It was fun.”

“How
about we adjourn to the other room? I’ll help you with the dishes later.”

“Alright.”

As they
passed the bar, Jeff said, “Would you like a drink?”

“Yes,
thank you.”

“What
would you like?”

“Oh, I
don’t know. Maybe… sherry?”

“Ah, that
sounds good.”

While he
poured a couple glasses of sherry, Susan wandered on into the great room.

Jeff
followed her a minute later. She stood with her back to him as he approached.
“Your drink, Madame.”

She stood
for a moment longer then slowly turned around. Her blouse was fully unbuttoned
and sufficiently parted to provide Jeff with an ample view of her delicate
braless cleavage.

Jeff
froze and gulped. “Oh my.”

She gazed
into his eyes, panting softly, and nervously licked her lips. “I’ve never tried
to seduce a man before, and I’m not sure how to begin.”

He
nodded, eyes-wide. “Well, um, I’d say you’ve made a very good start.”

She
smiled softly, her bosom heaving with each breath.

“Uh,
Susan, are you sure about this?”

She
nodded and bit her lip. “I’ve been thinking about it since you and Abby…”

“That was
almost a year ago.”

“Yes, I
know. It’s been a long wait.” She glanced at the floor and gave a tiny shrug.
“I don’t know just what Abby was feeling that morning but, from the expression
on her face, I have a pretty good idea.” She looked back at Jeff. “I want to
feel that way too, even if only once.”

Jeff set
the glasses down on an end table, walked up to her, slipped his hands inside
her blouse, gently grasped her tiny waist, and gazed into her eyes. “Are you
sure you aren’t perhaps giving me a bit more credit than I deserve?”

Susan
smiled softly and shook her head. “I don’t think so. If you can please Abby
like that, I’m confident you can handle a simple little girl like me.”