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Caleb Waxman was strapped tightly into his launch seat. He listened to the steady, feminine voice of the mission commander through his helmet's comlink. It didn't matter that Caleb had heard her run through the checklist over 12 times in the past; every time her voice made his adrenaline pump.
"H-two tank pressurization....."
Though wearing his flight suit, Caleb tried to scratch away the gooseflesh fanning across his left breast. He passed gloved fingers over the Tammuz Colony Mission emblem on the suit but wasn't getting anywhere near his icy chest.
"We are GO!" the EFT commander announced.
"T-minus 2l0...Auxiliary Power Unit start...."
"GO!" the APU commander replied.
"T-minus 15 seconds.....Tammuz, you have a GO for auto-sequence start. Lock your visors and initiate oxygen flow....10....."
Caleb pulled his clear helmet visor over his eyes. He engaged a knob on the helmet, allowing a gentle hiss of oxygen to flow. His heart raced, and he swore that if he were 55 rather than 22 his runaway pulse would be the death of him. he drew in a long, slow breath, then counted to himself along with the mission commander.
"9....8....7...."
He turned his head slightly right and looked across the other colonists seated next to him. Their flight suits were, like his, centered with Israeli flag patches, and, to someone making a cursory glance, the colonists looked alike, that is unless one focused on the faces. Among those faces Caleb found Zara. She beamed at him from behind her visor, then gave him a subtle "thumbs up."
Zara Stock. She was 21 and the girl for Caleb. Period. Caleb's mother had always told him: "Art yodei the art yodei" (You know when you know).
Caleb knew. And as he looked into the light in Zara's eyes, a l ight that not even her visor could restrain, Caleb knew even more.
"6.....5.....4.....3....."
He smiled and nodded to Zara...
An alarm suddenly buzzed.
"Countdown HOLD! T-minus 3 seconds."
There are some things Caleb would rather have not heard while sitting atop a 45-story launch vehicle encircled by ten solid rocket boosters. An emergency buzzer was number one on his list.
But this one had been planned. He reached up and flipped down the double-trio of toggles, and the cabin fell silent.
"Tammuz colony....this is Mission Comm......simulated launch sequence complete....all systems are nominal. Reset countdown for 9 hours, 4 minutes and 12 seconds.....you are GO for launch!"
Yabrech halle! (God bless!)
Caleb's comlink reverberated with a cheer from the colonists. He shot a glance at Zara. She flipped up her visor and blew him a kiss.
As he and t he rest of the colonists unstrapped themselves, Caleb knew that by now the techs already had the launch tower access arm in place and were in the white room unsealing the vehicle's hatch. Caleb fell in behind Adam, a doctor, and Zara. Adam crawled into the tunnel of the hatch, then took the hand of a tech standing on the other side. As he slipped out of sight, the mission commander's voice echoed from a wall speaker:
"Tammuz colonists shall report to the launch vehicle by 2140 hours."
Zara moved into the tunnel. Caleb smacked her butt.
"Hey!"
"Get in there, lady!"
While he waited for Zara to exit, Caleb overheard a conversation in the white room.
"Brashita colony never went this smoothly," Adam said.
"They're still having problems. We lost contact with Brashita this morning," a tech or engineer answered.
"Probably just solar flare interference again," another one chimed in.
Zara passed through the hatch, then Caleb saw her turn and waited for him. He wiggled into the tube, and when he reached its end, he waved off a tech offering to help and made it alone through the hatch. He emerged into the white room, exhilarated.
"Man, if I'm this pumped by a test launch I won't need a rocket."
Zara grinned, and then her attention was directed to a wall clock digitally running off the countdown. Caleb noted that Zara's unusually roseate cheeks had faded, as totally as her grin. "Final countdown," she said, sounding a little scared.
Caleb studied her a moment further, then nodded. "I know. Just think, most people don't know if their dreams will ever come true. Our dream is only 8 hours and 59 minutes away."
With that, Caleb's gaze ignited, and suddenly there was a trace of color back in her cheeks. Caleb moved in to kiss her, but the rims of their helmets had kept them inches apart. Caleb laughed. He and Zara had sacrificed a lot more than kisses to get where they were.
"Attention colonists Cresques, Eichberg, Holdermann, Stern, Hirschson, Steinitz, Oren, Isserles, Wetterhahn, Schulman, Waxman, and Stock..."
Caleb pulled back from Zara. She looked as immediately concerned as he felt.
The mission commander went on, "Report to Mayor Briskin's office immediately."
"Oh, God, we're too close for something to go wrong now," Caleb said, then sighed disgustedly.
Though Caleb felt his stomach twisting and his heart jetting back to its runaway pace, he did his best to hide his anxiety from her. "Gotta be a last-minute pep talk. That's all it is."
Zara squinted into a thought. "I don't see what we all have in common. The names seem random. It's not like we're all in the same sub-team or something."
"Quit worrying. Let's go."350Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaSOB3sgSQn
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Caleb stood in Mayor Briskin's sparsely furnished office, staring out the window at the Tammuz colony launch platform, a mighty scepter thrust into the dusk. A single complex of clouds floated over the tower, its underbelly stained a burnt orange. Farther above the clouds, the stars were beginning to flicker on.
Behind him, he listened to Zara pace. Twice he asked her to sit down.
"We're told to report immediately," she blurted into the silent room. "And then they make us wait 2 hours. The others didn't have to wait.
Caleb sighed long and hard. The first five minutes had been tense. After an h our he had classified the wait as excruciating. By 90 minutes he had searched the room for some kind of weapon to use on whomever had subjected them to the torture. But now that the 2-hour mark had been breached, there was only a sickening numbness.
"What do you think...."
Zara's question was cut short by the opening of the door. Caleb turned from the window to see Colonial Mayor Jaden Briskin enter the room. He'd grown to respect Briskin, a respect the mayor had earned from every colonist. The man was strong and inspirational, and Briskin knew the 3 keys to successful leadership: to have a vision, to share it with others, and to execute it. The mayor reminded Caleb of his father.
Yet now Briskin didn't look strong. He crossed to his big glass desk, and as he did so, his gaze never met Caleb's.
"Good evening, your honor. The launch simulation went perfectly," Caleb said.
Briskin said nothing. Not even a nod.
Caleb swallowed. "Are we still a 'GO'?"
Without answering, Briskin slid his chair out from under his desk and sat. He set his elbows on the glass surface and steepled his fingers. Then---at last----he looked at both of them. "I know you are aware of the growing rights movement for Ao Primes, those conceived and born in artificial gestation tanks, uh, artificial gestation chambers..."
Caleb subtly glanced at Zara. Back in the white room she'd looked as worried as he felt. Now she seemed just as stiff.
"Is this regarding the rally we attended?" Caleb asked.
Briskin pursed his lips then said, "In a way...the rally has brought about....a problem."
Caleb took a step towards the mayor's desk. "Your honor, we have every right to support Ao Primes. We stand by our actions."
The mayor closed his eyes and paused.
To Caleb, Briskin's silence meant the man was annoyed, and Caleb felt his guard go up.
Zara took a step forward to join him. "They're human beings, sir. Just like us, only conceived from parents who never lived. Bred by a joint U.S.-Israeli effort as slaves to fight in the Bionics Wars after too many of our people were killed. It's not their fault they failed. They are equal."
"We owe them," Caleb added.
A handful of heartbeats passed, and then Briskin opened his eyes and lowered his hands to the desk. "Last evening the Tammuz Council of Mayors was issued a directed from the Knesset. The launch will be scrubbed unless ten Ao Primes are aboard."
Caleb's stomach found a new home between his ankles. "What?"
"Given the restrictions on weight, rations, and personnel capacity..."
"Are you saying we're being replaced?!" Caleb asked.
Briskin averted his gaze. "It is my sincere regret to inform you....that....one.....of you will not be aboard."
"Jesus!" Caleb tore away from the mayor's desk. It was just now that the irony finally hit him. "I don't believe this!" He faced Briskin. "One of us?"
The mayor raised his voice. "9 colonists have been released. Deciding factors include age, experience...."
"Postpone the mission."
"If we don't go in 6 hours the forecasted wormhole passage to Tammuz won't open for another twelve years."
Caleb beat his fist into his palm. "They're not even trained---send them on the next...."
"The next colonial expedition won't be ready for five years. There are members of the Knesset who need to look good---now."
"We'll both resign," Zara said, her tone suggesting that tears would follow.
"Not going is not an option. You commit to executing vital assignments on the mission, duties which one of you could cover, but for which no one else is trained. Not to mention the severe legal consequences of breaking your contract."
Caleb looked at Zara; she looked as if there was a sea of glass in her eyes. They had committed. How could only one of them keep it?
"I know both of you...." Briskin groped for words. "It's your dream to go to space."
Caleb sniffled and still fought desperately against her tears. "The dream was to go together."
Briskin nodded slightly, and his expression grew sympathetic. "I know of the intense feelings you've got for one another. The fact that you entered the program---together---with the intent of colonizing---together---and ultimately both being accepted over ten thousand applicants.....is a testament to your devotion....." The governor raked fingers through his hair, then rubbed his nape. "The world was so much simpler twenty years ago. I'm on record as saying that this directive sucks. I fought it all the way....and lost."
I'll bet you would've fought it a little harder if it'd been your ass was on the line...
"Off the record," Briskin added, "becauseof your situation...rather than issuing an order...I'm allowing the two of you to decide who will stay."
Meeting Zara's gaze was never more painful. Her lower lip trembled slightly: what was left of her composure hung on by unraveling threads. Caleb lowered his head and rubbed his eyelids.
"There is an alternative," Briskin said.
Caleb looked up.
"Your Colonial certificates are immediately transferable for enlistment into the Israeli Army Air and Space Cavalry."
Zara snickered in disbelief. "The army?"
Caleb added a question of his own to hers. "You call that an alternative? Maybe you haven't heard, there's no longer a need for the IDF to exist. We and our enemies have been at peace for centuries."
"Yes, but there's a chance the IDF Space Cavalry may be assigned duty as Colonial sentries."
Zara snickered again. "Do you expect us to bet our futures on a 'possibility'?"
Caleb wanted to know the answer to just one question: What do you do when the whole world drops out from beneath you, when all you've worked for, all that held time and place in your life, is torn from your guts and thrown to the ground and stomped on as if all of it meant nothing as if it was just a paper airplane in the rain?
If there was an answer, thought about choking it out of Briskin. He lifted an index finger and aimed it at the mayor. "We did it the way you wanted! We followed the rules! These---Ao Primes didn't train. These......cabinet members haven't sacrificed. Why should we pay for a mistake they made before we were even born? You're letting them throw away our lives! We believed in you!"
Briskin did not go on the defensive. He looked saddened by Caleb's outburst, and his expression woke a pang of guilt in Caleb. "In that case," said the Mayor, "all you have to believe in now....is each other."
Zara turned away from Briskin, crossed to the window, and bowed her head, still in control of her tears. As Caleb turned to go to her, Briskin stood. "Please arrive at your decision by 2130---today," the mayor said, then headed for the door.
Though Caleb was sure Briskin hadn't meant to do it, it sounded as if the mayor had slammed the door behind him.
Caleb put a hand on Zara's shoulder. The room was a hollow, empty box, and he wanted to fill it with words, words that would mean something. He searched for something to say. Then he realized the search would take a lifetime. He slid in front of Zara, closed his eyes and embraced her. He felt a life-and-death intensity about the hug.
After a moment, he opened his eyes and looked out at the rocket. Lights on the launch tower now twinkled like stars, and soon great spotlights would come on and bathe the vehicle so intensely in light that it would take on the sheen of a diamond. The billboard-sized digital clock posted near the observation stand read:
LAUNCH COUNTDOWN 06:02:29
He glanced at the rocket and began losing his breath as he wondered which of them would be aboard in six hours. He would fight for Zara to go, and she would, of course, try to convince him that he was much more passionate about colonizing than she. They could lie to each other as long as they liked. Nothing, nothing would change.350Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb0dfFeVNZu
