Anaz-Voohri (14 page)

“There are lots of moving parts on a helicopter, so maintenance is critical,” the instructor’s voice droned in the background.

Zack considered the parts scattered around him. “This looks a lot worse than my Kawasaki,” he whispered to Tia.

“You must also change the fiberglass hydraulic fluid filter,” the instructor went on. “This is part of routine maintenance. You will finally install an elastomeric bearing on the main rotor spindle to reduce inspection times. Call me when you are finished, or if you have any problems.”

Zack couldn’t tell which of the many parts scattered on the floor belonged to the filter assembly.

“It’s not so bad. I’ve done it before." Tia rolled up her sleeves. “Follow my lead. I’m good at this." She picked one part and held it up to him. “This is the first one. Find its identical brother and bring it to me." She wiped the part with a rag.

Zack started his search around the items strewn around the chopper. He found the right segment and sat on a crate to clean it. “You know, no matter how good you are at anything, there will always be someone better than you. I learned that in Martial Arts. Believing you
are
the best is the surest way to get killed, because sooner or later, you’ll face someone better than you.”

Tia glared at him. “But if you actually
are
the best you have nothing to fear, am I right?" She seemed ready to slap him. “And low self-esteem on the battlefield can get you killed, too." Tia threw the rag on the floor and took her head in her hands.

“Hey!" Zack had never seen her so moody. Would she actually break down? He squeezed her shoulder and sat next to her. “What’s wrong?”

She glanced up at him. “Sorry, I’m not myself lately. Ignore it.”

“What’s bothering you?" Zack feared for Tia. Special Forces and bottled up distress could mean big trouble for her. “The flight instructor said you seemed distracted." He handed her the filter.

She rose and snatched it from his hand. “Don’t believe everything you hear." Her attempt at a brave front didn’t fool Zack.

He wanted to help. “Don’t play tough with me. Just tell me what’s wrong."

She sighed. “You never give up, do you?”

He flashed his most disarming smile. “You should know me by now.”

“Well, if you really want to know, I feel as if I should be doing something else, not working for the military.”

“Are you joking?" Zack couldn’t hide his surprise. “You are tailor-made for military life. What else could you possibly be doing that would fit you better?"

“I have no idea." She spoke evenly, as if talking to herself, absorbed in fitting the filter into its cradle. “I have strange dreams. I see faces, people I’ve never met. They are calling to me, telling me I belong with them.”

Tia?
Afraid of dreams?
Zack thought nothing could scare her...except failure. “What kind of people?”

“I don’t really want to talk about it." She wiped her brow with a sleeve, leaving an oil streak across her forehead. “Let’s talk about something else. What did you do for fun as a kid, besides videogames?”

Zack wondered at her sudden interest in his past. “Are you just trying to throw me off, or are you interested?”

She flashed him a coy smile. “A little bit of both.”

Zack chuckled.
“Fair enough."
He went in search of his next assembly part.
“Skateboarding, surfing, that kind of stuff.
Then after my sister was taken, it was UFO research, the Web, martial arts and motorcycles.
You?”

“Horseback riding at my father’s plantation in Venezuela during the summer breaks. Polo, High Jump competition,
swim
team, that sort of thing. But I always preferred the jungle. Pass me the Phillips screwdriver.”

Zack handed her the tool. The jungle evoked the wild Amazon he’d glanced naked under his foot. He turned away to hide his arousal. “What kind of plantation?”

“Coffee bean."
She took the screwdriver and returned to the task, bending just enough to offer the nicest view of her backside. “The best coffee in the world grows on our side of the Andes near the Columbian border." There was pride for the family business in Tia’s tone. “After the Venezuelan government confiscated my father’s oil rigs, he rebuilt his fortune with Starbucks.”

“Smart man.
Nothing like the American Dream.”

The instructor approached them, a disapproving look on his face. “This is not a social club. Concentrate on the task, people. Imagine that you are stranded in the desert and your only hope to get out alive is to fix that chopper as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, sir,” both said mechanically.

 
When Zack grinned at Tia, she smiled back. Despite their friendly talk, they were already ahead of the other teams.

*****

The next day, Zack silenced his misgivings as he took the pilot seat of the Black Hawk to attempt his first emergency landing maneuver. Although he’d practiced it in the simulator, he’d heard about the test from other pilots and dreaded the real thing. Free fall in a big heavy chopper! Although the instructor could rectify the situation at anytime, pilots had died doing it, and many wet their pants or would never fly again. The fact that this particular flight instructor was prone to drinking only added to Zack’s apprehension.

The takeoff went smoothly, and when the chopper reached three thousand feet, the instructor shoved the gear in neutral. The helicopter stalled and fell straight down like a boulder. In free fall, holding his breath, Zack watched the altimeter. The seconds seemed like hours and panic threatened to overcome him, but he had to control his nerves. The maneuver requested that Zack let the bird fall until the last few hundred feet. Then the perfect timing and the right emergency maneuver should allow the Black Hawk to slow its descent, level out then land, unscathed... If all went well.

Two thousand feet and falling.
Beneath him the landing field came up quickly. Zack could see the medical emergency vehicles waiting, ready to intervene. He could already envision the crash and knew there was no surviving it if he failed. He couldn’t trust the instructor to restart the blades in time. Zack had to focus.

One thousand feet.
Remembering his training, Zack imagined it was only a videogame. He’d done it many times in simulation and never failed. Of course, he wasn’t shaking and swallowing bile at the time.

At exactly the right moment, Zack initiated the emergency procedure. For a second they stopped falling and hung in mid air, as if swinging from straps. The Black Hawk oscillated, leveled out then landed heavily on the tarmac with only a slight bounce on the tires.

Zack let out a long yell to release his pent up exhilaration. What a thrill, probably the biggest of his life.

Next to him, the flight instructor laughed, visibly relieved. “Congratulations!”

To avoid upsetting Tia, however, Zack kept his excitement to himself, until two days later. After Tia succeeded in the same maneuver, they went to celebrate at the Officers’ Mess.

That summer, as they finished aviation training together, Zack and Tia became good friends. Sometimes, Zack thought he read something more in Tia’s liquid brown eyes, but it never lasted, and she quickly returned to her tough soldier camaraderie.

In the fall, the time came to leave Ft. Rucker in Alabama and fly to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, for a crash course in astronaut training. For the military plane ride, Zack took the available seat next to Tia on the transport bench and buckled up. “It seems that our preparation will never end.”

She chuckled. “And when we are actually in combat, you’ll probably wish you were still in training.”

“Maybe."
Zack sighed. “It’s going to be tough, fighting such an enemy.”

“Come on... You said yourself they had weaknesses.”

“Their arrogance,” Zack blurted out. “The sons of bitches think themselves so
superior,
it should be easy to lure them into a trap if we use the right bait. But they have a large fleet, and superior weapons, and the ability to vanish within seconds. Once we corner them, how do we win before they pulverize us?”

“We are not there, yet. We’ll find a way." For a brief moment, Tia looked gentle and kind.

“I sure hope so." Something still bugged Zack. “You still have the dreams?”

The kindness disappeared from Tia’s face. “Thanks for caring, but I told you I don’t want to talk about it.”

Zack resented her rejection. Why didn’t she trust him? Was she dreaming about him? Hell, he’d dreamed about her quite a few times, but he would be hard pressed to tell her. “That’s what friends are for, you know, sharing your problems."

“Friends?"
Tia raised one brow. “Is that what we are?”

Once again, Zack wondered whether Tia might wish for more than a simple friendship, but she didn’t make it easy for him to talk about it. Besides, their exhausting training didn’t leave time for anything else. Even if they weren't in the same chain of command, and not allowed to have any kind of relationship beyond camaraderie, Zach knew Tia enough to know she would no doubt view an intimate relationship as a tactical weakness anyway. Better forget about it and focus on the mission.

Chapter Ten

Kennedy
Space Center
- 2007

NASA training had started with a battery of medical tests, then taken Tia and Zack’s platoon from the Johnson Space Center in Houston to the White Sands complex in New Mexico, and finally to the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After a four-month crash course in space travel, Tia stood with Zack in a vast briefing room of the Kennedy Space Center, with what was left of the special unit she’d trained at Camp Hell.

The General in charge of the base walked in and all saluted.

“At ease."
He smiled as he stepped up to the lectern. “I am proud of you all. We had to eliminate many recruits in our selective process, and you are the fittest for the task. I’m sure that not so long ago, when you volunteered for this special unit, none of you expected to stand in this room today, hoping to go into space for the very first time.“

Tia’s heart thumped wildly, and she glanced at Zack whose clear turquoise eyes sparkled with excitement. So the rumors were true. The time had finally come.

“As you know, there are over a hundred of you and Discovery can only take six passengers at a time. So we decided to select the first crew according to your best training performances.”

Tia held her breath. She crossed her fingers behind her back against bad luck. She had to make this first flight. She couldn’t stand the idea of not being among the very best.

The silence deepened as the commanding officer read from the paper in his hand, clipping each word. “As I state your name, please come forward." He cleared his throat. “Lieutenant Duncan..." He paused while Zack took two steps forward

Tia’s chest threatened to burst.

“Lieutenant Vargas.”

She neatly joined Zack in front of the podium.

The General also called four other trainees who formed a line,
then
he smiled at the selected six. “Congratulations. From this moment on, you are officially part of the next Discovery crew." As the gathered soldiers applauded, the General stopped their effusions with one hand. “I’m not finished. Officially, this is a routine flight to supply the International Space Station, which you will do. The mission will last only three days instead of the usual ten to fourteen. As you know, we equipped the Shuttle with torpedo tubes and laser guns. Your job is to test them in space as you have been trained to do."

The General consulted his wrist watch.
“Count down to lift off, T-Minus seventy-two hours seven minutes, ten seconds.
Enjoy your last night of freedom. Tomorrow morning, you’ll report to the pre-flight astronauts’ quarters where you’ll meet your NASA pilot and mission specialist and attend your first flight briefing. Good luck." He raised his gaze to encompass the back of the room. “There will be more flights soon, and most of you will get a chance. In the meantime, keep training."

Tia saluted as the General stepped down and left the briefing room. The platoon exploded in applause. Someone pelted Tia’s shoulder from behind. Her comrades lifted her off the floor and carried her in triumph on sturdy shoulders out of the briefing room, along with the other chosen soldiers. Tia caught sight of Zack, who laughed good-heartedly, his head high above the sea of recruits carrying him, but she didn’t get a chance to catch his eye.

As she smiled and waved, sudden doubt assailed Tia. Would she remember in details all the exercises she’d practiced in weightlessness? How would she react to the real thing? Leaving the surface of the planet and venturing into dark space seemed suddenly reckless. So many things could go wrong. She’d seen the movies and studied the previous Shuttle disasters. What if once aloft she couldn’t return to Earth and her body drifted away in cold space forever, like in her nightmare?