CHAPTER 13

It wasn’t like Pete had anything important to do right now. At least his superiors seemed to be under that impression even if the truth was anything but. They had made it an order though, and Pete was a Marine above all else. He followed orders even when he didn’t like them. Of course they never ordered him to like it so, he kept looking at the clock, and made it quite clear to the little group of reporters that he was ready to leave from the moment he walked in the room.

That did not seem to bother the vultures one little bit. They were like a pack of hungry dogs that had just been tossed a piece of meat and with the added provision that they had a limited amount of time to eat it. It was obviously clear that they had been told they had a half hour and that they were going to hold Pete to every last second of it.

The questions came at him in a barrage. The NASA and military press experts were sitting right along side Pete to make sure he didn’t say anything stupid. That was kind of hard considering the nature of the questions. Pete had expected, and was ready for, technical questions about the project. Unfortunately the reporters were asking questions about him. What was even worse was that these people had done their homework. They seemed to already know more things about him than he liked and most of their questions were only looking for confirmation.

One reporter fired off, “is it true that your call sign was Rubber Duck?”

Pete reeled back in horror. It was true and for reasons that he was not about to admit. That was the nickname he had picked up when flying F-18’s and it had been one that Pete was glad to leave behind. All that Pete needed right now was for Harry Wu to find that out. He’d have to listen to duck jokes for four light years if that happened! Pete was not about to put up with that, “no comment.”

Another reporter asked, “Colonel Winston, were you in charge of the group that removed Elias Granger from power? We know you were one of them but some said you were in charge and others said you were just there.”

“Nobody was in charge,” Pete replied solemnly. Those were days he preferred not to think about, “what I did in the war is public record and I don’t have anything else to say about it.”

“Colonel Winston,” said a cute little red head in the corner, “why aren’t you married?”

Where did they get these questions from? Pete forced a smile and leaned closer to his microphone, “was that an offer?”

The laughter ate up the last twenty seconds and Pete left the reporters in the hands of the people who got paid to put up with them. They were still barking out questions at him when he shut the press room door behind him. Now in the security of the hallway he fell against the door and let out a sigh. Then he noted the stone cold face of his Sergeant Major.

“Don’t worry Colonel, sir,” McCandles noted, “I had to do it too.”

“Yeah?” Somehow Pete could not see it. He imagined McCandles standing in front of a horde or reporters screaming, ‘sound off like you got a pair you disgusting maggots!’ For that reason alone Pete was not about to ask the man how his interview went. Instead Pete asked, “I guess you have my next disaster lined up for me?”

McCandles handed over a file and replied, “as is always the case Colonel. I am always proud to burden such a fine officer as yourself. Keeps my conscious clear and lets me sleep at night.”

That was the truth. It meant he didn’t have to worry about anything but dumping everything on Pete. At least this problem, whatever it turned out to be, was something that Pete was supposed to be handling. Anything was a pleasant diversion from standing in front a firing squad that consisted solely of reporters.

Pete noted the name on the tab of the folder and asked, “where?”

McCandles looked at his watch and then quickly thought it over. He seemed to have their schedules all memorized, “class room twelve sir.”

When Pete poked his head in the class room and asked for Julia Rice, he had yet to even read the file in his hand. He already knew the name, of course, and remembered that she was the botanist. Pete vaguely remembered her background check and security jacket. After that, he was clueless. Pete realized he should have known everybody by now. The sad truth of it was that he had yet to connect most of the names to the faces he was seeing everyday. There was just no time!

He pulled the woman into an empty classroom down the hall. He did remember her face and that frizzy black hair of hers. Pete seldom failed to notice any woman that came within range of his eyes and Julia had been no exception. She was fairly attractive but not overly so. Her cheeks were still full of baby fat and she was a little on the plump side but nice looking none the less.

As always, Pete pushed such thoughts out of his mind and got down to business. The main problem here was, for the moment, that he really had no idea what the problem was.

This quickly became apparent to Julia and her milky white complexion began turning various shades of red as she grew hotter and hotter, “my son Colonel! It’s not like I’ve made some great big secret about it! I’ve been shouting it at the top of my lungs since I got here. I even told you that in the interview, twice!”

“Uh,” Pete had to think back for a second and then realized, “Doctor Rice, I didn’t interview you.”

“Well it was some bozo in a uniform. They didn’t tell you?”

Now Pete was really having to think this over. How many of their finalists had gotten into the program by hook and crook? Too many for his tastes. As he recalled, he had been busy handling all the problems that came up with that Saiid kid when the Rice file came in. Apparently the President of her University was good friends with the former President of MIT, who was now President of the United States. That would have been enough to rubber stamp her application as things were but in Julia’s case there was even more reason.

Her experience in certain critical skills would have gotten her in no matter what the political connections were. As Pete recalled, one glance at her file was enough for him to pass it on with a big fat ‘hell yes’ stamped on it. There simply was nobody else that had the combination of experience and education that she did. That was the main reason that Pete barely knew who she was. He never had to spend much time on her file.

Now there was this one little word that she said. It was about the only one that Pete really paid any attention too as she babbled on, “son?”

“Yes!” Julia pleaded. “I’m a single parent Colonel! Do you have any idea what I’m going through right now? What my son is being put through? I am having to commute here, from College Station, every single day. I spend sixteen hours here and four on the road. It’s not like I can just up an abandon him, you know?”

Suddenly Pete was wishing he was back in a room full of reporters. How in the hell did this happen? Even worse was how do they handle it? Pete deflated and just said the first thing that came to his mind, “oh boy.”

That was not what Julia wanted to hear. She did calm down a little though. At least she was finally talking to someone that could do something about this. “Look Colonel, I’m going to be honest with you. I don’t want to be here. I never did. I got forced into this and nobody has even given a crap about what I think. If you tell me I can walk out that door, right now, I’m gone.”

What could Pete say? Right now there was nothing he could. He sighed and told her, “all right. Look, I can’t tell you that. I’m not the guy that has to come from.”

Julia turned red hot again, “then who is!?”

“Hey,” Pete shot back with resolution, “I do happen to be the guy who needs to handle it though. So just calm down.”

There was nothing Pete could do about her being in the program right now but he had to do something. Her commuting situation, alone, was unacceptable. One of Pete’s primary responsibilities was to make sure that the entire crew got the required training time allotted. How could Julia manage that over an extended period of time on four hours sleep a night? She had probably been monumentally lucky not to have run off the road while driving home!

“All right this is what you do for now,” Pete told her sympathetically. “I don’t know how familiar you are with the military, Doctor Rice, but we take care of our own. We have billets set up here for anybody that needs them. I want you to go right over and see Airman Fujitsu so she can set you up in one.”

“Colonel,” replied Julia as she took a step back and put her hands on her hips, “I’m not going to leave my son like that. Let alone fly off to another planet and leave him. Is that penetrating in any way?”

“I know,” Pete told her bluntly. “Bring him with you. Till I get this matter resolved we’re going to take care of him. How old is he?”

Julia crossed her arms huffed, “he’s ten.”

Pete was silently thankful the kid was not an infant. He would have had no clue how to handle that. As it was a ten year old boy was easy. What ten year old kid wouldn’t kill to get a chance to wander free through the halls of the space center? Pete sure would have.

“After Fujitsu sets you up,” Pete instructed her, “take the rest of the day off and go home. I want you to get a long, good night’s, sleep. Then the two of you be back here, bright and early in the morning, with a bag. Leave the rest of it to me.”

Julia was squirming and unsure of what to say. This was not what she wanted to hear. Still, it was better than nothing. At least she was no longer getting stone walled by one faceless bureaucrat after another. What was even better was that this Marine did not seem so bad after all. Julia couldn’t even count the number of dirty names she had called him after every time they had just missed each other. She suddenly felt kind of guilty about that. He really seemed to care.

Reaching out, Julia lightly touched his arm and, in a more compassionate way, told him, “thank you.”

Pete returned the gesture and winked, “don’t you worry. I’m going to do what I can.”

She gave him a hug and left the classroom. When Julia was out of sight Pete almost collapsed. He slapped his forehead and said the only word that came to mind, “shit!” After that he started back towards his office. His frustration level was definitely high.

It really did not help when Pete passed Harry Wu in the hall. At first Harry only gave a friendly hello but that huge grin on his face was a sure sign of trouble. Harry was already around the corner when Pete heard the words echo through the offices, “quack quack!”