The construction of the rocket flew by in what seemed like seconds to me. I'm not sure if there were sever fires lit under all of the rocket technicians behinds, but the following weeks after my completion of the schematics went by so quickly I barely knew when I slept or ate or helped my father change his clothes.
Tera was so much of a helping hand, I hardly knew if I would have been able to make it through alive without her help. I couldn't count the number of late night trips to the grocery she made, or the endless number of times she helped my father when I could not due to late hours overseeing the construction of the rocket.
My father himself was shaping out to be more of the man I always wanted him to be as well. After all of my past deeds with NASA had come to the surface, he seemed to look at me in a whole new light. Not to mention the fact that Tera effectively cut him off any alcohol he could possibly get his hands on. It was trying for everyone in the house, but after a while, my father took sobriety fairly well enough to begin being a father again. Every once in a while, on my way to the kitchen or some other room, I could hear my father and Tera talking. Sometimes it was about me.
“Young lady, I want to thank you for looking after my Luna. I haven't been around the way I aught to have.” I was always surprised by how easily Tera and my father got along, despite the difference in their personalities. Even though I disliked them talking of me when I wasn't around, I really didn't want to disturb the peace that had settled over the house.
I don't know when it happened, but I slowly forgave both Tera and my father for their betrayals in the past. Both had redeemed themselves to me by showing their true feelings. Alex really put into perspective the real betrayals of the world that I needed to worry about.
“Star, there was a press release today about the date of the rocket launch. In light of the recent failure of the Russian launch, NASA has decided to launch a week ahead of schedule!” Tera's high pitched voice broke me out of my reverie. I'd been taking a mid afternoon nap when she burst in with the news.
“What? I have to double check all of the fuel gages before they can even think about launching! We don't want our rocket to explode like the Russian one did. I heard debris are still being found in the surrounding area.” I jumped out of bed, completely disregarding my disheveled state. Tera had seen me at my worst. It was only Tera's hand on my shoulder that stopped me from charging out of the room.
“I honestly don't think you need to go and breath down some construction technician's necks right this moment. But I know you're going to insist, so before you do, I would suggest taking a shower. You've got red marks on your face and your hair looks like it's about to defy gravity.” I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror at my dresser, and almost laughed. I looked a lot worse than I'd originally thought.
“I don't know where I'd be right now without you, Tera. If I hadn't been the one to draw up the schematics for the first rocket to the moon, I think NASA would fire me for breaching dress protocol.”
Before I knew it, the day of the launch was upon us. It had been a struggle, but we found a suit for my father to wear that didn't chafe his broad shoulders, and Tera had managed to get me to wear a dress. I felt that she stared a little too long after I walked out of the bedroom, but I pushed my nerves aside and firmly wheeled my father to the car.
He insisted that he needed no help getting from his chair into the seat of the car, and I was amazed by how he was not put down by his situation any more. A nurse that checked on him every once and a while commented that soon enough he might be able to live almost completely independently. I felt a little shock upon hearing that. I'd grown use to his grumbling about needing a drink, and his grudging complements that he gave Tera when she reproduced a meal he thought only his mother could make.
Ultimately, Tera ended up driving to the launch site. I was too nervous to drive myself. I was so close to my dreams, I would not let something as mundane as a traffic accident stop me. Before long we arrived at the launch site, and were greeted by various members of press. Tera got through them without a problem, leaving NASA security clearance to me. Director Gooding greeted me with the smile of approval that I'd always hoped to see.
As we were escorted to the control tower, I could feel excitement rising from my stomach to my throat. I couldn't speak if I tried. We watched the astronauts pile into the craft that I had built with my very dreams, and I could feel tears gathering in my eyes. The countdown began, and at the same time I began to feel a little faint. A warm arm circled around my shoulders and a strong hand gripped mine. I looked briefly over at Tera who had just as much emotion on her face as I felt within myself. At that moment I felt more affection for her than I'd ever felt for another person in my life.
For a moment that lasted an eternity, the rocket was propelled from the gravitational field of the Earth to the moon. As the rocket slowly made its way the sky, I felt strangely drained and empty. I wondered if that feeling was what mothers experience after their children are no longer attached to them. For three days, the entire crew waited with baited breath for the rocket to reach the moon. Tera was the figurehead of the media's interest in the moon landing.
My father on the other hand happened to meet one of the female engineers that worked on building my rocket. After a few awkward months of dating, he popped the question. My father's wedding was one of the most emotional times I'd seen my father since the time in the hospital. My father and his new wife moved into their own home, and again I felt some sort of loss of the constant presence of my father.
My future had never looked brighter. Still driven by my frustrations of the past, I began working on new prototypes of rockets. I wanted to make them more fuel efficient and able to travel farther into the reaches of space. Tera had taken up permanent residence in my house, continuing her job as an investigative journalist. She began working on a book of the actual moon landing. More than once I caught her going through my personal journal, looking for details of the event I'd not told her. Sometimes we argued over the invasion of privacy, but I quickly learned what it meant to live with an investigative journalist.
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