Somebody Else's Space Program
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Chapter Fifty Six "It seems like only yesterday
Perhaps, at most, the day before..."
"You aren't in the first group of fliers selected."
Envyss sighed. "I didn't expect to be. You want your most experienced people there in your initial lineup. I understand."
Ross looked through his notes, to make sure there hadn't been any last-minute down-checks. "You _are_ in final selection for the second group, the one with the two-man ships."
Envyss grinned, "Any chance it can be you and me together up there?"
Ross shook his head, smiling, "I'm not on any of the lists. Boy, your best chance of survival is for me to be downstairs if something goes wrong."
"My best chance of survival is not to go. That's unacceptable."
"Envyss. If I thought for a moment you weren't more than qualified, I would yank you off the list instantly. I will not risk the lives of the others by sending up someone who isn't suitable. But by the same token, that means your ship-mate will be the best, too. I want _all_ of you to survive."
Envyss looked at launch station six, where the salvage crew was cleaning up after another spectacular failure. "I'm all for that. What happened this time?"
"New fuel, more unstable in large quantities than expected. Scaling up is not a simple linear process."
"Try to get it right before you put a person on top of one of those things."
"No exploration was ever zero-casualty. We minimize risks, not eliminate them."
"Even for me?"
Ross looked up from his clipboard, but his partner was grinning. "I'm not tired of you yet, love. Just don't start whining at me."
"Yes, sir."
---
Dinner in Ross's rooms at the main launch facility. "We have a press conference at eight. Me, Flight, Meds,and the ten fliers."
"Do you want me to be there?"
"Of course. The hruss know you as a member of the royal family, the outside world knows you as that and as the hero of the university rescue in Akshobhya. You bring a certain amount of glamour to the program."
Big grin.
---
"Meds" -- Chief of Space Medicine Ricamonte, one of the people Envyss had helped retrieve from Akshobhya, smiled at Envyss and Ross when they appeared at the press room -- they were looking a little bit flushed. "Same exercise regimen as usual, gentlemen?"
Ross just looked smug, Envyss grinned. "It works."
"Indeed it does. Envyss, you've got one of the best cardiovascular systems on the team, and your partner isn't running far behind. I hope you can keep it up during the final training."
"As long as we're in the same city, I don't see why not."
"Flight" arrived -- the Flight Operations Chief Hlukayrn. Nods to the others, "Director, Your Serenity, Doctor."
Envyss, mildly, "You can drop the title while I'm working for you."
It was an old and friendly argument. "When you've dressed as one of mine, I will. Not while you're in full plumage."
Envyss looked down at himself -- not quite ceremonial garb, but court-formal, with all the rank indicators. "This isn't full plumage. I can't move on my own when they have me fully decked out.
"But point taken. Not being in uniform should keep the others of the second string from getting jealous when I'm on stage with the forerunners. They won't think I've been upgraded."
"The other fliers are about split between thinking Ross got you the position and that Ross doesn't trust his own ships and won't let you go -- that all you're going to do is wear the suit and have your picture taken."
"And what do _you_ think?"
"I think you have the space bug as bad as any of the rest of us."
"Good call."
A cluster of new arrivals -- half of the first string. All of the first group of fliers were hruss -- the later program stages had other peoples mixed in.
"Where are the others?"
"They were still in the restaurant when we left. Talsarn was ordering another round of beer."
Ross's eyebrow went up, Hlukayrn nodded and headed for a phone. In a short while, more fliers arrived, with a polite but firm escort from the civil police. "Thank you for arriving on time, gentlemen. Get yourselves cleaned up. Five minutes."
Talsarn stood his ground. "Was it necessary to send the police?"
"Yes. If you had delayed any longer and then tried to make up the time, we might have been replacing the lot of you. Is a final beer worth it?" Hlookayrn asked.
Talsarn glowered, but then one of his drinking buddies dragged him off to get the suds off the uniform.
---
Press conference. The ten fliers were at one long table, the others were at a smaller one. Formal introductions, questions directed to the fliers, then to Ross and the rest of management. No one seemed to want to hear from Envyss during the conference.
On the other hand, during the reception following the press conference, almost everyone wanted to talk to Envyss, especially if there was a camera pointed at them. "Does this get on your nerves?" Ross whispered.
"No. This is what my primary job is -- or at least the job of most of my family. When someone talks to me, touches me, he or she is talking to the entire hruss people. Most of us get used to it really young. I was a bit delayed -- my father's people didn't let out who I was, so I had a fairly normal childhood. Made it a bit harder to become what I had to, but..."
More photographs, each of the fliers, Ross with his staff, even some nice shots of the fighter pilots waving their hands around wildly describing dogfights.
---
Of course, the photo the popular papers liked the best the next day was Ross's blond head next to Envyss's dark one, as they whispered together. "Nice looking couple," Envyss said, sliding the paper across the breakfast table to in front of Ross.
"I should send a copy of the photo to my aunt. She was worried I'd never get married."
Envyss grinned. "_Right_. Only if you never want to go home."
"True. I'm not quite ready for that."
"_Are_ we married?"
Ross leaned his face on his half-closed fist, propping his elbow against the table, and studied the younger man. "I don't have your language down completely yet. But when you said I was your partner, you said it was forever. Promises like that are a marriage."
"That's not what I said. I said that you had always _been_ my partner. You can walk away. It can be broken."
"Talk to me about breaking it in about a hundred years. I might be tired of you by then."
"That's a deal."
---
A phone call in the middle of the night is seldom a welcome thing. Envyss rolled over and answered, "Yes?"
"Tell Director Colburn we just lost Talsarn."
Envyss tucked the phone between his ear and his shoulder, shaking his partner awake with one hand as he reached for the light switch with the other. "Details?"
"Don't have any yet, the civils still have the area cordoned off. It doesn't look like a simple smash-up, though. I've got the phone number of the lead man on the site; you can get more out of him than I can."
Envyss copied the number down, hung up. He ran through his information to Ross, then dialed out. His rank got him answers that Flight couldn't. He placed the headset back on the cradle gently.
"Was Talsarn drunk?"
"It wouldn't have mattered if he were. The civils think there was a bomb in the car."
"Call Flight, tell him. We need to have a meeting -- damn, not until we have all the vehicles checked first. Unless Talsarn had some personal enemy..."
"The kind of personal enemy Talsarn had wouldn't use a bomb -- too impersonal. This was professional."
---
Envyss made some more phone calls. "Alright. Josgoroth is sending out vehicles to pick us up, with the rest of your staff and the other fliers. There are techs coming to inspect our vehicles, and guards to keep them under observation once they are cleared."
"Your family was expecting this?" Ross poured hot tea and offered Envyss a cup.
Envyss sipped cautiously. "There's always someone with a grudge, real or imaginary, against one of us. We have standard safety procedures. I had them relax security on me when I moved in with you -- that was a mistake."
"Do I get a vote on whether I want guards at my door?"
"No, you don't. Not until you retire -- they, whoever 'they' are, are targeting the space program. You are vital to its operation. So for the duration, you get a bodyguard. I think we can do without a full motorcade with escort unless we lose someone else."
"You're serious."
"I'm serious. Talsarn's dead. I don't want to lose you, and I'm not thrilled with the idea of losing me, either. Not to a bomb. I'll take my chances with the rocket."
Ross started cursing, "That's another good place to plant explosives. Hand me the phone."
---
No bombs were found on any of the rockets being prepped for launch, but someone had been interrupted while mining one of the launch platforms. The security chief had all the sites re-inspected, and doubled the guards. "Take that to the lab. Maybe we can find out more about our saboteur from his work."
Two bodyguards, one each for Envyss and Ross, except when they were actually in their home, and only after the place had been checked out first. "Are you used to living like this?"
"No. I will be." Envyss grinned, "I understand a lot of the daughters marry guards. Might as well -- they're on the date anyway."
Ross shuddered. "How did _we_ manage to get privacy?"
"I had some rude words with my mother, so the guards were pulled back out of sight. I didn't have any when I was in school -- pity, it might have kept the females away."
"Ah... Envyss, did you..."
"No. Not interested. I'm yours."
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