The Last Mile Trilogy

by Jacqueline Druga

  “Then what did you do?”

  “I went back to sleep.”

  “So you didn’t jump up and down with excitement?”

  “I did the next day,” Kip said.

  “What do you do?” Ona asked.

  “Do with what?”

  “I mean, do you work, go to school . . .”

  “I grow things.” Kip nodded. “I’m like a farmer.”

  “What do you grow?”

  “Plants and stuff.”

  “What kind.”

  Occupied, David answered without looking up, “Basil and parsley.”

  Kip snickered. “Yeah, spices.”

  “That’s very impressive for a young man.” Ona tapped him on the leg. “So tell us, what do you plan to do with this experience?”

  “Well, I was hoping to make the first ‘Girls Gone Wild in Space’ video, but I see this dude here . . .” He pointed to Gene. “Well, turns out he isn’t a young college girl. Not that you weren’t probably an attractive man at one time, Dude. But now that dream is gone.”

  Ona laughed and faced David. “Dr. Hawk, tell us . . .” She paused. “Dr. Hawk are you text messaging?”

  David quickly flipped the phone. “Sorry.”

  Kip fluttered his lips. “He did that the whole time back stage. Dude, you’re worse than a teenager.”

  Ona continued her questioning. “Dr. Hawk, what is your impression of Kip.”

  “Interesting.”

  “He doesn’t pay attention,” Kip said. “When do we meet the Walmart girl?”

  “How about we do it right now?” Ona’s simple sentence brought a burst of excited applause from the audience, and her facial expression showed her enjoyment of that. “She is the one that gained more celebrity status from working at Walmart than any other person I know. We know only what the media told us, will you welcome please, with her crew buddy, Col. Reese Gray, winner Lucy Montgomery.”

  Lucy emerged onto the stage, greeted Ona and her fellow winners. She received a hug from Kip, a ‘great to meet you’ from Thaddeus, and a ‘you poor thing’ from Gene.

  Adjusting in her seat, Lucy was a natural. You couldn’t see her nervousness. “This is funny,” she said. “I don’t even work at Walmart anymore.”

  “Dude, that sucks,” Kip commented.

  Lucy snickered. “I know. I liked my job. But I was causing store disruption, people trying to get in. They had to hire extra security. It was a mess.”

  Ona asked, “Any idea what you’re going do after you get back?”

  “Probably work retail until my youngest gets old enough for day care, and then I’ll go back to nursing.”

  “So you’re a nurse?”

  Lucy nodded.

  David finally lowered his phone. “What is a nurse doing working at Walmart.”

  Lucy answered. “Nursing is tough. The hours are long and I have two small children. Besides working Walmart is fun, and they have lots of incentives. And the discount rocks.”

  “Ah, he speaks,” said Gene. “How you gonna handle going to space without that thing.”

  Col. Gray cleared his throat. “Actually he worked out a deal; he’s going to test the cell in space.”

  “Good Lord.” Gene shook his head.

  “Col. Gray.” Ona directed attention to him. ‘What is your impression of Lucy?”

  “I think she’s a bright woman and funny. It’ll be a pleasure to have her on board.”

  “Can you share with us your thoughts about having civilians on the flight?”

  Reese shrugged with a smile. “I love going into space. As I said before, I don’t care what the reason is, I’ll love it. If I’m a tour guide, I’m a tour guide.”

  “Now, the question that everyone has wanted to ask,” Ona said. “They say the average American purchased one thousand chances. Lucy, how many did you purchase.”

  “Four thousand and a few.”

  David whistled. “How the hell did a Walmart clerk and a Sear’s manager afford that many tickets?”

  Lucy’s mouth dropped open in a gasp. “God, are you always so rude? On national television you’re texting, and you ask that question?”

  “I’m sure a lot of people are thinking it,” David replied. “I was just asking.”

  “We did buy a lot, and also people were always buying me tickets because they knew my obsession with going into space.”

  Ona perked up to change the mood. “Gene?”

  “1500. I’m average.”

  “Thaddeus we know you bought over seven million tickets to . . .” Ona stopped when Kip shrieked.

  Everyone looked at him.

  Kip started laughing. “Dude, you bought seven million tickets. Seven million?”

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “I would have sold you my winning ticket for one million.”

  Ona turned to Kip. “How many did you buy?”

  Kip bobbed his head in thought. “Um, one. I thought I bought two, but one was for the power ball. I didn’t win that. Go figure.”

  “What!” Thaddeus blasted. “One ticket?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You bought one ticket?”

  “Uh, yeah.”

  “One ticket and you won?”

  “Dude, for a rich guy you don’t hear well. One ticket.”

  “Oh my God!”

  Kip started laughing.

  Ona faced Reese. “Quite an eclectic bunch, do you still stand by your statement you’re going to enjoy being a tour guide?”

  Gray smiled. “Absolutely.”

  Turning back to the camera, Ona ignored the taunting between Kip and Thaddeus. “We’ll be back after this commercial break.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Her room at the space center wasn’t much. It actually it reminded Lucy of a dorm room. But it was clean and even though the window was small, the view was phenomenal.

  Perhaps maybe it was just because the sky was so clear. She hoped that ten days from this moment, when she sat in the shuttle, that the skies would be this clear.

  Her phone was still in her hand from saying goodnight to her husband and children. Sitting on top of the dresser, back against the lip of the wall she stared sideways out the window.

  She hated that sinking feeling in her stomach. The feeling of fear, excitement, and missing her family all rolled up into one big ball and knotted there.

  She barely ate.

  But as one in the morning rolled around, with training in a few hours, she was hungry.

  She should have bought chips.

  Tap-tap, on the door frame precluded the voice. “Your door was open,” Gene said. “Mind if I come in?”

  “Oh, Mr. Bryk, please.” Lucy turned from the window view.

  “Call me Gene.”

  “Gene.” Lucy smiled and slid off the dresser. She turned on the light.

  “Hell of a view you have.”

  “Yeah, I hope it’s this clear when we take off.”

  “It should be.” He grabbed a chair. “You don’t mind the company, do you?”

  “No. Oh my God, no. I can’t sleep.”

  “Me either.” Gene sighed as he sat down and showed her a small pint of whiskey. “I thought you might want a night cap.”

  “I’m not a drinker, but . . . I can use one.” Lucy reached for two of the paper cups that were stacked on the night stand. “Did you have to sneak that in?”

  “No.” Gene poured them both a drink. “I heard you on the phone.”

  “Wow, are the walls that thin?”

  “No, you speak loudly.” Gene winked.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “No, that’s fine. You look lost.”

  “I’m just really missing my family. And I’m probably a little worried.” Lucy sipped her drink and gasped. Perhaps she was a bit over dramatic in her reaction to the alcohol.

  Gene laughed, nonchalantly drinking his. “About?”

  “Everything. Years of training in just ten days? Will something go wrong? Will I mak
e it back?”

  “Well, I can tell you pretty much what our training is probably going to be like: weightlessness, pressure, oxygen, suits, and the basics. We aren’t having any space walks. So it should be easy. And as far as something going wrong. Out of our control, if it does.”

  “So you’re not worried.”

  “Nah not worried at all. I’m too excited to be worried.”

  “I wish I could say that.” Lucy shrugged. “I get worried, then when I get excited about what’s going to happen, I think of my family and how far away I am from them right now and I go back to being worried.”

  Gene smiled and lifted his glass. “Young lady, if you think you’re far away now, that’s nothing compared to where you’re going be in ten days.” Showing her his glass in a toasting gesture, Lucy clicked her glass to his and with the sharing of a drink they shared a smile.

  <><><><>

  Thaddeus stood off to the side of his window. He, too, had a drink in his hand, sipping it slowly as he peered across the courtyard, one arm draped across his waist. He could see Lucy and he watched her.

  He swore for a second she was wearing her Walmart smock, but realized it was just the lighting. He was thinking about going over to see her, talk to her, but stopped until he saw Gene walk into her room.

  Admittedly he was obsessed with Lucy from the moment he saw her. Not in a romantic way, at least he didn’t think it was, just something about her. And after talking to her over dinner, not only did he wonder if she had an eating disorder—because she didn’t eat—but he knew she had the same passion he did. In fact, they all did. Well, except for Kip. Why did he even want to go on the shuttle? He didn’t even know the name of the first man to walk on the moon. What kind of space lover is that?

  Thaddeus couldn’t figure him out, nor at that moment could he figure out why he kept staring at Lucy and Gene. He imagined what they were talking about, watching them laugh and wishing to be part of what they were sharing.

  Then it dawned on him. Why should he watch? With his bottle and glass he went over to Lucy’s room.

  <><><><>

  Reese Gray was a man of simple tastes. He wasn’t a simple man. Actually he was a very complex man. In appearance, he was strength. Six foot three and his body reflected how hard he worked to keep it in shape. His black hair was short, almost buzzed, and speckled with grey. His face was debatably handsome, rugged with scars here and there. Rarely, if ever, did he socialize. He did enjoy drinking, but he didn’t like getting drunk. He had stopped letting things control him. Alcohol had been one of those things.

  He had never married. He wanted to be. In fact, there was nothing Reese wanted more than a wife, a family, especially children. The one and only shot he took at getting married ended at the altar when his intended bride-to-be informed him that she was three months pregnant. Then, in front of God, the reverend, and all the guests, she asked if Reese still wanted to go through with the wedding.

  Absolutely, he would have, if it had been his child. But Reese knew his childhood bout with scarlet fever had rendered him sterile. The pregnancy revealed a hurtful truth. After shaking his head and staring incredulously at his bride-to-be, he said, “You don’t think you could have told me this, say, two months ago?” Then added, “Hell no, I’m not marrying you.” Saying, “Sorry Reverend,” he then stormed from the church. He went on that honeymoon alone, and drank the whole time. That marked the beginning of a three year battle with alcohol abuse.

  He was alone in life. Completely alone, except a few friends. His only living relative, his father, had died three years earlier.

  So what did he have to go home to? That’s why he opted to live on base and now here in the dorm with the lottery winners.

  As commander of the mission he felt it his duty to be accessible should they need him during training. Ten days to prepare them and it was going to be a complicated operation. More than they realized. More than Reese himself realized.

  The simple three tone sound from his phone caught his attention and he immediately thought, ‘It’s one in the morning, why is David text messaging me?’

  He knew without looking it had to be David. It had to be. No one else ever sent Reese a text message because everyone else had listened when he said, “I hate text messaging.” In fact, he had Ken put that into a template on his phone.

  With a sigh of irritation, Reese lifted the phone and read the text.

  “Something isn’t right,” it read.

  “Something isn’t right. Something isn’t right,” Reese huffed. “What the fuck, Hawk.” He pressed a single button and lifted the phone to his ear. “Hawk. It’s one in the morning. I hate text messaging. What the hell is going on and what is not right?”

  “Good to hear from you, too.”

  “Hawk!”

  “Really, if the public and everyone knew your personality, your true personality . . .”

  “Enough.”

  “I sent a text because I figured you were sleeping. Aren’t you the guy that gets up at five in the morning to work out?”

  “Again, I’ll ask, what is not right?”

  David paused. “I finally had a chance to review all the data that Martin gave me.”

  “And it isn’t right?”

  “Yes.”

  “So he’s way off the mark.”

  “No,” David said. “Reese, something isn’t right. I mean, I’m looking at the data. What he is recording. Yes. It’s occurring and I can see where he is getting his deduction from.”

  “So it’s going to happen.”

  “I talked to Martin. He thinks I’m off my rocker. Something may be happening, but it being his theory . . . not sure.”

  “It’s never happened before, so how can we say that . . .”

  “It’s not natural.”

  “Excuse me?” Reese asked.

  “These events aren’t coming from the right coordinates.”

  “I’m lost. Are they happening?”

  “Oh, they’re happening all right. These events he’s tracking in the sky, yep, happening. Know why everyone seems to easily dismiss them?” David whistled. “They aren’t registering correctly. They are coming in at the right angles, times, but nothing matches up. They . . . for lack of a better word, they seem to be synthetic.”

  <><><><>

  David Hawk was fucking nuts. At least that was Reese’s thought after spending a good hour on the phone with him.

  Martin, who was the ‘sky’ expert, was reporting something happening in the sky, something that could lead to a global event. Reese knew nothing about that stuff.

  David, on the other hand was also an expert in that field, and he was saying something wasn’t right.

  He didn’t think a global event was going to occur, but something was definitely happening up there, something unexplained.

  The first thought that Reese had was Ronald Reagan and the Star Wars project. What if he actually put something in space and it was acting up? Five hundred nuclear warheads triggering could causes EMP impulses that registered like L level solar flares.

  The conversation ended with David saying, ‘Never mind, I’m probably tired.’

  “Great. Swell. Thanks. Now I’m wide awake.” Reese thought out loud.

  The second thought Reese had was to get a drink, but since he didn’t have any alcohol, he decided to settle for food.

  The little dinette was located on the same floor as the dorm rooms. It was stocked with sandwich stuff and snacks so Reese made his way there.

  He didn’t expect to hear voices as he approached.

  Two people maybe, but all four winners? They sat around the table and looked just as surprised to see Reese as he did to see them.

  They drew silent when he approached the door, looking guilty as if they were all in trouble for being there.

  “It’s two o’clock in the morning,” Reese said.

  “Dude, wow,” Kip looked at his wrist that did not contain a watch. “It is.”

  “
Do you realize you have training in the morning?” Reese asked.

  “Don’t you have to be there, too?” asked Kip.

  Reese grumbled and headed to the fridge.

  Lucy commented, “We weren’t tired. We’re all a little hyper and excited.”

  Reese grabbed a container of yogurt, shut the fridge with his hip and headed to the table as he opened the yogurt. “That’s totally understandable, I mean . . .” He paused, then sniffed.

  Everyone looked at him.

  Another sniff and Reese leaned into Kip. “You smell like marijuana.”

  “I do?” Kip asked. “Wow, Dude…”

  “Dude?”

  “Yes.”

  “Dude?”

  “Yes.”

  “I am not a dude. I have a name or rank.”

  “Sorry captain.” Kip hunched.

  “Captain? It’s Colonel.”

  “Cool, are we giving each other pet names?” Kip asked with a smirk.

  “What are you talking about?” Reese asked.

  “I called you captain, you called me colonel. It’s like . . .”

  “It’s like nothing. I’m a colonel. Not a captain.”

  “But you’re the commander.”

  “Yes, I am,” Reese replied.

  “So was Kirk and he was a Captain.”

  “Well, I’m not. I’m a colonel.”

  “Sorry, guy, thought you’d be higher ranking than that.”

  “I give up.”

  “Colonel,” Lucy spoke up in a meek voice. “Be patient. He’s really just a kid.”

  “I am,” Kip said.

  “A high kid,” Reese said. “He reeks of weed.”

  “I do not.” Kip defended. “Dude, I would never presume to think it was okay to smoke an illegal substance in a government installation. Now drinking . . .”

  “You’re drinking?”

  “Nope.” Kip shook his head. “I’m much too young. But they are.” He pointed to the others.

  Lucy gasped. “Tattletale.”

  Reese tossed the lid to his yogurt. “Who has the alcohol?”

  No one answered.

  “I can see it in the paper cups.” Reese said. “Who has it?”

  Thaddeus raised his hand, and then set the bottle on the table. “It’s me.”