Orbital

Twenty-Three Outsiders

Laney pulls her jacket tighter and shoves her hands into her pockets as a cold Atlantic breeze drifts across the bay. It’s a clear night and the brightest object we can see from the back of my pickup truck is the iCosmos Monoceros booster waiting to take off from the Cape.

I’d been released from the hospital two days ago. This was our first chance to talk.

“So the guards were gone when they let you out?” she asks.

“Yeah. I think Jessup had a conversation with their supervisor.”

“I tried getting to you.”

“I know.”

At least thirty other people are gathered for this launch. For space nerds it’s a pretty exciting one. iCosmos is sending up a new space probe the size of a semi-truck with a plasma engine designed to get to Mars in ten weeks. If it works, it’ll be a game changer.

“Hey Laney!” says a young guy with a knit cap pulled down almost to his eyebrows. Floridians don’t deal with cold weather very well.

“What’s up, Rob?” she replies.

“Not much.” He leans against the truck and stares at me for a second. “Hey, holy crap!” he exclaims, sticking out a hand.

“How you doing?” I reply, returning the shake.

“I knew Laney knew you, but I didn’t know she knew you.”

She rolls her eyes. “He doesn’t know me, Rob.”

Under his breath he whispers, “AFI 9.”

“AFI I punch you in the face,” says Laney in reply to their inside joke.

He looks at me. “Be careful. She’s a bully.”

“Yeah. But probably good to have your back in a fight.” I elbow Laney and give her a small grin.

“So what are you up to now?” asks Rob.

I would love, love to see the look on his face if I told him I just snuck onboard a Chinese laser space station and kidnapped an engineer in a Special Ops mission. “Consulting.”

“Oh, yeah? Who for?”

He’s not being challenging in the way that a rival male tries to assess and minimize another. He genuinely wants to know.

“Think tank stuff.”

A woman with brown hair poking out of her own knit cap sidles up next to Rob. “Hey, Laney! Haven’t seen you around the meetings.”

“Hey, Jillian. I’ve been kind of busy.”

“Blogging?” she says, possibly a little derisively.

I realize that even more than dropping the little truth bomb about me just getting back from a secret space mission, I want to tell them that Laney was my mission specialist and instrumental not only in this operation, but the one from a few months ago that’s the reason they can still use phones and computers.

“Yeah, blogging,” says Laney.

“Huh. I haven’t noticed as many posts from you lately.”

“Yeah, I’ve been slowing down.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.” Jillian looks at her crutches in the truck bed. “Health stuff?”

It has to be killing Laney not to say what she’s done. I know I’m dying.

Laney just sucks it all in. “Yeah. Family stuff too.”

“Well, we’ll leave you guys alone,” says Rob. He takes Jillian’s hand and pulls her away.

When they’re about ten paces from the pickup, I catch Rob whispering to her. She jerks her head around to stare at me, realizing that I’m that guy.

“At least that part was worth it,” says Laney.

I try to change the subject. “So, um, those meetings? Is this something the FBI should be worried about?”

“Just space nerd stuff. You’re the one that should be worried about the FBI.”

“Oh, yeah. That.” I’ve been trying to put everything out of my mind.

“I had to do a three hour debrief with some Pentagon people. Jessup tell you anything?” she asks.

“They did the same when I was in the hospital. I’m supposed to fly to DC tomorrow for more.”

“Seriously? Do you know why?”

“Nope. I asked Jessup if I should hire a lawyer. He said not right now, but he’d see if there was anyone with some military and classified operations experience to have on hand.”

Laney turns to me, mouth wide open. “Oh my god, David. I’ll go with you and set them straight!”

“Thanks. But let’s just keep the Full Washburn Menace on standby.”

Across the bay there’s a bright orange glow as the rocket booster bursts to life.

Seconds later, the rumble reaches us and we feel a rumble three times the power of a Saturn V penetrate our bodies.

My hand finds Laney’s and gives it a squeeze. She squeezes back as the rocket climbs skyward like a sun shooting into the heavens.

It’s so bright and beautiful it hardly feels like this is something that could be man made. It’s a phenomenon.

“And that’s just what it looks like at the start of the journey,” says Laney.

I look at her face. The rocket flames reflect off her eyes and the orange glow illuminates her cheeks.

It’s a beautiful thing. Not just the fact that she’s pretty and especially so in this light — it’s the expression of wonder and curiosity as she watches it take to the night sky.

I want to hold that cute chin in my hand and kiss those smart lips as rocket fire reflects in those amazing eyes.

“David, what are you looking at?”

Embarrassed, I let go of her hand. “Nothing. I mean. I can’t wait for you to see it from up there.”

“How about you go when you can take me?”

“If Flavor has his way, that might be never.”

“Don’t be such a pessimist.”

“It’s a very helpful trait.”

She grabs my arm and platonically puts her head on my shoulder. “You’ll be fine.”

“Yeah. Yeah. But…” I reply.

“What?”

“Worst case scenario… Promise me you’ll take up Vin’s offer to go into the iCosmos program?”

I expect an argument. In fact, I kind of want one to put me a little at ease that I’m overblowing things. Instead, she just holds tighter and says, “I’ll think about it.”