CHAPTER 2

“The numbers don’t look good, Mr. President.”

President Samuel “Sammy” Davidson chuckled, poured a drink, and looked to Janice, his chief of staff. “Jay baby, you have the ornate gift of stating the obvious. What numbers are left to look good? We still have a massive debt load. Unemployment won’t drop. The dollar is getting hammered, and 2033 will be remembered as the year China passed us in total GDP. We no longer control either the House or the Senate, and my approval rating is dropping like a stone.”

Janice sighed. “Honestly Sammy, I don’t know whether to join you in a cocktail or admonish you on drinking so early in the day. After all, there are still several meetings scheduled, and appearances are important. You aren’t always going to get by on your charm and your football career.”

He took a large sip then smacked his lips. “Ah! Are you kidding? The American public never tires of watching reruns of my days of glory, both in college and in the NFL.”

“That’s the trouble. Too many of your detractors treat you like the jock you portray. Your political acumen is too sharp for that. The way you maneuvered into office despite trailing almost the entire way was proof enough of your ability to manipulate things to your advantage. But not even a year into your first term, the wheels are falling off. You already have a couple of small scandals nagging at you. It’s just without the House or the Senate’s backing, and without public approval, it’s going to be hard to get anything done, let alone a run at a second term.”

“Three years is a long time, Jay, a long time.” He took another sip of his drink.

“Yes, Sammy. But without either house, I doubt we can swing things. It’s going to take a lot of small steps to put any of your measures in place.”

Sammy sat down and crossed his feet on the Resolute Desk. “Don’t think in small steps. Think in giant leaps, just like Armstrong.”

She watched him lounge there. Thoughts of how she had tried to rid him of the habit years ago fleeted through his mind. There was no changing him.

“Just what do you have in mind, Sammy?

The president took another swallow of his drink then gave her a knowing look from under his eyebrows. “Honestly, Jay baby, do I have to do all the thinking around here? Look, it’s quite simple. I need to give the people something to cheer about, something to keep their minds off their troubles. I’m thinking heroes doing heroic things in the name of the good ol’ USA. The guys before me employed the tactic of using an enemy abroad, a righteous war to strike down the evildoers of the world.”

“Trouble is, there’s no money to fight a war. You’ll never get Senate approval.”

“Exactly! So I can’t go the road my predecessors trod. Too bad. It’s tried and true. Besides, all the old bad guys are gone. North Korea gave up the ghost because they were starving to death. All those Muslim countries who hated us are too busy fighting their own countrymen. The political turmoil in their homelands is placing new people in power almost daily. Sheesh! If I pointed out one baddie, he’d be out of power before I could say boo. Outside of a couple of small countries with no real influence, there’s nothing worth chasing.”

She stepped near and looped a hand under his legs to pull them off the desk. “Honestly, you’re like a kid sometimes. So what’s your plan?”

He grabbed his comp pad, pulled up the image of the crew who set up Moon Base Alpha, then showed it to Janice. “Homegrown heroes like Robert Tangler. When we beat the Chinese back to the moon, we showed the people we’re still number one. But we made a big mistake. We brought our partners, the Russians and Europeans, along for the ride.”

“And don’t forget, along with the Drumdat Corporation. We needed their financial investment. They paid for the pair of base habitats. One went with the initial mission and the second is due to go up in a few weeks. Setting up Moon Base Alpha will cost a trillion dollars over the next decade. Where were we going to get the money on our own?”

Sammy poked one finger into his chest. “That’s one of the reasons I’m in office, not the other guy. He surrendered a great American institution to foreigners.”

“What institution was that?”

He shook his head in dismay. When’s this girl going to get it? “The control of outer space, of course. It’s no longer an American domain.”

“Al…right. But the genie is out of the bottle, and you can’t take it back.”

He stood up and wrapped an arm across her shoulder, gave her a quick shake, then let her go. “Here’s how it goes, Jay baby. We need a big play, a Hail Mary pass, something that’s going to be remembered for a generation.”

“Okay, Sammy, enough sports talk. What do you want me to do?”

The president stopped to refill his glass. “Okay, here’s the plan. We’ve done the moon thing, plenty of times. It’s old hat. We even did the asteroid landing but no one paid attention. No, it’s time to go big time. I’m thinking Mars. Let’s put some people up on the Red Planet before my term is over. I’ve got it all worked out. Higgy, the NASA Administrator, is onboard and has been doing a little book juggling to help make it happen. All we need to do is appropriate that habitat that’s ready to go and —”

She put up a hand to stop him. “Hold on, Sammy. Before you go any further, there’s something I gotta do.”

Disappointed at her interruption, he let it go. “What?”

“Pour myself a drink.”

CHAPTER 3

It only took a few days for Brooke to receive the official announcement of Robert’s return mission to the moon. Despite feeling jilted once again, she attended the press conference. A crew of three would be going up to the moon base to set up a second Helium 3 extractor. The joint mission was funded by Drumdat Energy, a new player in the fusion reactor business. As the cameras flashed away, a pang of jealousy struck her as Robert and two other astronauts, one a woman, waved to the reporters. That should have been me.

She held her anger in check as NASA Administrator Bartholomew “Bart” Higginbottom addressed the gathering. “As you are aware, recent developments in nuclear fusion have made the use of such energy economically viable, provided we can maintain a steady source of Helium 3. Therefore, we have designed a new extractor for installation at Moon Base Alpha. I have the utmost faith Captain Tangler and his team can get this equipment up and running with all expediency.”

A number of reporters raised hands. Bart pointed one out. “Question?”

“Yes. With recent budget cuts to your program, how do you intend to continue to fund missions to the moon?”

“A good question. First, Moon Base Alpha is funded and teamed by not just the United States, but all of our partners in this venture: the European Space Agency, the Japanese, the Canadians, and of course, Russia. In fact, we will be using the Rus rocket system, developed by our counterparts in Russia and Europe, to fly this mission and many of the ones to come. And of course, a major funding component is being supplied by the Drumdat Energy Corporation.”

“With those other countries involved, won’t we be required to share the Helium 3?”

“True, and to a small extent, we will. But until the full development of nuclear fusion as an energy source around the world for us to market to, it is still not economically feasible to rely on it to fund our program. That’s why we’ve taken Drumdat on as a business partner in this venture. Right now, they get the Helium 3 for free in exchange for funding.”

Another reporter raised a hand. “Excuse me, Administrator Higginbottom, but isn’t there pressure from Washington to cut the moon program altogether? Word has it the current administration is under siege by the Senate to cut your budget even further. Even with the funding from Drumdat, there are those in Washington who want your program gone to save money.”

The administrator took hold of the podium with both hands and stretched out over it. “That’s why we entered into the partnership with the Drumdat Energy Corporation. They spend the money, they get the Helium 3, and we get Moon Base Alpha. Now, let’s have no more questions of budget cuts. Today is a happy occasion.”

The interviews switched to the astronauts, and Robert did not disappoint them. He answered his questions with the charm that wooed Brooke from the beginning. His tall good looks, disarming smile and clear blue eyes were enough to sway some of the men, let alone the women in the audience. Being the first human to visit the moon twice made him a special novelty for the reporters. They clamored to get his picture and comments time and again. Though I’m jealous, I still love the guy.

When the session wrapped up and Brooke headed for the exit. Before she could get there, she felt a tap on her arm. Turning, she saw one of the admin clerks standing there. “Administrator Higginbottom would like to see you in his office.”

“Right now?”

“He says it’s important.”

She followed the clerk into the office area where the administrator was getting into his chair behind his desk. “Close the door behind you, Brooke, and take a seat.”

When she sank into in the large wing-back chair close to his desk, he almost disappeared from her sight. Between his small stature and the mountain of paperwork on the desk, she found it advantageous to sit on the edge of the chair and lean forward to maintain eye contact. “You wanted to see me, Bart?”

The administrator hunched over in his chair, looking as unlike an astronaut like Robert as possible—short, balding, with a paunch at his waistline and thick glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. He entered something into his comp pad and leaned back to look at her.

The administrator folded his hands behind his head. “So what did you think of the press conference?”

Is that all he wants? What a piss off. He knows how much I’ve been pushing for my turn in space. “It seemed pretty standard. The usual photo shoot, lots of personal questions for the astronauts. I’ve been to a few before, nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Insidious, isn’t it. One can hardly notice the distinct flavor of things.”

She gave her head a short quick shake. “I’m sorry. I’m not following you.”

He reached for a manila envelope and held it out for her to take. “The budget constraints. Too many questions focused not on what we’re doing but on whether we should be doing it at all.”

She accepted it. What the hell is this? She turned it in her hand. Sealed. “You seem to have handled it pretty well.”

The administrator bounced out of his seat and came around the desk. “Unlike my predecessors, I didn’t rise through the ranks of astronauts to this position. I toiled my way through the financial department and earned this post because the people in Washington believed I could work wonders with the numbers. It was all about reining in costs.” He took the other guest chair.

“I thought the president favored maintaining the existing programs?”

“The president is the exact reason you have that envelope in your hand. He wants the space program to provide him something to crow about. But the Senate is killing him when it comes to spending. It’s the reason we’re using the Russian rockets for the moon missions. It’s why the astronauts are all from different countries. For the past couple of years, we‘ve been robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

She looked once more at the packet. “So what’s in it?”

The administrator smiled and leaned back. “Go ahead. Open it.”

Brooke undid the string and broke through the tape. Inside A congratulatory letter on her mission posting, signed by the president of the United States greeted her. She looked up to see Bart still smiling. “Is this for real?”

“Absolutely. We’re going to send the habitat module sitting on the launch pad there, instead of the moon. Likewise, the return rocket is scheduled to lift off in two months. Giving you just over two years to get yourself up to speed before you go.”

She shuffled through the balance of the contents. Her posting orders and all other documents required were there. Everything seemed in order. “I’m surprised. Why me?”

“Plain and simple. You’re the perfect fit. We made a mistake with the first mission to the moon being all men. The women’s rights activists had a field day. That’s a beating I don’t dare take again. But likewise, you’re single, older, and an unknown. Should something terrible happen, the public won’t crucify us. I hate to be so blunt, but your death would be considered an acceptable loss.”

“It’s nice to know I’ll be missed.”

The administrator chuckled. “That’s the spirit, Brooke. You’ve got toughness in you.”

She put everything back into the envelope and folded her arms over it in her lap. “Just one thing. I studied the proposed program on this before. If things go well, the dollars to keep it running will be more than what the moon base is costing. How are you going to justify the expense?”

Bart reached out and patted her hands. “You just leave that to me. Remember, I’m the number cruncher. I’ll make it work. I envy you. On the outside, I have every appearance of the mild-mannered pencil pusher people expect of me, but deep inside, I long to be like you, to explore outer space. I’ll have to settle for you as my surrogate. Be happy; you’re on your way to Mars!”