Chapter 27: Luna

I looked up from my work only to see Director Gooding slamming the door to my office behind him. “You have so major explaining to do.”

Trying to play it off, I forced my best perplexed look and mustered a seemingly innocent, “What?”

“Luna, I think you know what I’m talking about. I thought when you said you were working on getting all of this under control, you were actually working on it. It’s been months. People are asking for proof and they’re asking for it now. What’s your plan?”

“Director, I promise I’ve got this under wraps. There’s no need to—“

“Fret? Worry? Luna, I trusted that you would fix this problem and all I keep hearing about is the fact that the Russians seem to be on to us? On to something about building a rocket? Please tell me my ears are deceiving me or that all of this is just talk.”

“The fact is that, yes, I’m planning on building the rocket they ‘went to the moon win,’” I said becoming defensive.

“Luna, the fact of the matter is that we don’t have time to piddle around. We don’t have time to allow anyone else to sniff around in what we’re doing. We don’t have time to allow another COUNTRY to meddle in what should be OURS. Stop planning and start doing. We don’t have time to let the Russians begin something before we do. They work quickly, efficiently and effectively. You should know that, having worked with Alex.” Director Gooding slammed my door again on his way out.

Yeah, Alex. The traitor. Should’ve known we would betray me. It wasn’t that he was Russian. And it wasn’t that he was kind of weird and overly confident. It was that he was a man. But all of this isn’t what’s pressing. What’s pressing is the pressure. I’ve always worked well under pressure. My mind began to go into overdrive. It was now or never. I had no more time to waste. Every second of my day needed to be devoted to building this rocket for the sake of our security and reputation. NASA’s future relied on me. I relied on me. It wasn’t all about them anymore. Sure, it stinks having Gooding breathing down my back, but my future and my sanity are on the line. I need to build this rocket to prove to myself that once and for all I can accomplish something that NO one believes I can. Gooding coming in somewhat attackingly was simply more incentive for me to do the job.

So that’s exactly what I did. From that moment on, I devoted my entire life to the rocket. I worked hours on end. And when I thought I had finally worked hard enough to sleep on it, I’d dream about it and wake up to write down the formulas dancing around in my dreams, taunting me. I had the formulas and calculations to build the rocket. Now it was the placement. What should go where. It was about piecing the puzzle together.

****

The morning everything came together, I was drinking my Tang and eating my Trix. It had only been 4 days since Director Gooding had so pleasantly strolled into my office, chewed me out, and then left—all rightfully so. And I had made it my duty to figure all of this rocket ship business out.

After having another night of productive, but interrupted sleep—the whole dreaming-formulas-and-equations thing was really beginning to eat into any hope that I might get a full night’s rest for the rest of my life—I was beginning to become frustrated. Sure, not a lot of time had passed, but I had to be quick and precise. Who knew how many Russians were working on this exact same thing. My single mind versus a group of Russians was a risk.

What was, however, wonderful in all of this was Tera’s support. She hadn’t said a word, besides words that supported and encouraged me. She did whatever she could to help me, little things. She helped me form a team of the best architects and physicists around. Only the best could pull off the building of the rocket and she took it upon herself to hire those who were only of utmost integrity. She was, as I’d seen with Alex, one hell-of-a judge of character. I was becoming increasingly thankful for her.

I had my notebook full of rocket equations sitting in front of me. I began ripping and tearing and working and re-working. And after what was only 3 minutes, it all seemed to have magically pulled itself together. I looked down in front of me. What was laying before me was a masterpiece.

“Tera.”

“Yeah, Star?”

“Look.”

Her face gave away that she was on the same page as me. A sparkle began to show in her eyes and I could see the excitement building.

“Star. You’ve done it. You’ve done it, Star! The construction team said they would be ready to work at a moment’s notice. I’ll start calling right now.”

And so she did. And so it happened. And at that moment I was feeling an array of emotions. Tera had been a full support system for me. I had come up with the final plans for the rocket. And now my fate was in the hands of experts. Now there was nothing to do but wait for it to be built. And to say a little prayer that the Russians weren’t closing in as quickly as I was.