Launch (21 page)

“Omar and I have dedicated ourselves to public
service. Like parents everywhere who want to see their children grow up to be
self-reliant and successful, we are gratified by the achievements of the
citizens of the world who are our human family. But you, Claire and David, come
from an earlier, much more challenging time in history. Together in space you
completed your mission with skill, judgment, courage, and self-reliance. Your
achievements will inevitably change the course of human history. You may even
have a significant effect on the history of the universe. I . . . we feel privileged
to know you and honored to be members of your human family.”

There was a brief silence at the table. Then Al
applauded and everybody joined in. Claire was deeply moved. She wasn’t sure if
she should or not, but she felt like applauding, so she did.

“Sorry about that,” Amira said. “Occupational
hazard. Sometimes I get carried away.”

Mark said, “That’s okay, Madam President. You
care. I voted for you in fifty-one and fifty-two. I plan to do it again in
fifty-four.”

“Thank you, Mark.”

Nikki asked, “What’s a vote?”

The adults at the table smiled, and David said,
“Professor?”

Omar said, “It’s a way of expressing a choice,
usually in a formal way. But it can be done informally, too. For example, I
would like to vote for more green beans.”

The robotic lazy Susan revolved and presented
him with a green bean casserole made from a recipe first published on the label
of a can of mushroom soup 600 years earlier.

▼

After everybody had finished eating, Amira
smiled at Claire and David. “I move we adjourn to the main entrance hallway,”
she said mysteriously.

Claire and David were puzzled but led the way.

The reason was soon revealed. A multicolored
carpet with a beautiful intricate pattern, just like the one Claire had admired
in the Arabian dining room in the White House, now covered the floor in the
entrance hall. It had been secretly installed while everyone was eating. “This
is a housewarming gift from Omar and me,” Amira said smiling. “I hope you like
it.”

“I love it!” Claire said, and then she hugged Amira
and Omar. “Thank you.”

Mark said, “Okay, it’s our turn now. Bring it
in, Elf.”

The main entrance doors opened and two robots
carried in a life-sized sculpture of a cougar lying on a pedestal that
resembled a ledge of native rock from the Grand Canyon. The robots placed it
directly opposite the main entrance doors. A plaque on the pedestal said:

Welcome to

BROADVIEW

home of

COUGAR FLIGHT

“It looks exactly like a live cougar!” Claire
said. “The colors are perfect. It’s gorgeous! How did you do it?”

Mark shrugged, “It’s what I do.”

Claire gave him a hug. “You do it superbly.
Thank you very much and thank you, too, Naomi.”

Al spoke up. “And now, if everybody will
adjourn to the theater, we would like to present our contribution to the
festivities.”

The front elevator was big enough to take
everybody together down to the theater on the ballroom level.

Al stood in front of the screen and said, “In
conjunction with the World Broadcasting Network, NASA has made a documentary
about Claire and David’s flight. It will be broadcast to the public tomorrow,
but we have a special screening tonight. Elf, roll
First Journey to a Star
!”

The program opened with
Origin
’s launch
from Vandenberg in 2050. Pictures of the ship near Earth, animation, video
taken from the starship, and the voice of a narrator told the story.

Sitting between Amira and Naomi, Claire heard
their sharp intakes of breath when rockets attacked
Origin
over M4a,
when the ship was hit by a meteoroid, and when asteroids seemed to appear out
of nowhere. Naomi clenched Claire’s right arm when she was shown flying through
the asteroid field with one terrifying near miss after another. Claire could
feel Naomi shaking.

“Do you want me to stop it?” Claire whispered.

With her eyes opened wide, Naomi shook her head
with a tiny, quick movement. “No,” she whispered and then gasped when the
asteroids hit
Origin
. She tensed again when Claire was being chased by
Smiley on M4b.

Everybody sat silently after the program ended.
The lights came up, and Omar made the first comment: “Absolutely awesome!”

Al grinned at Claire and David. “You think you
were famous before. Just wait until the world sees
that
.”

Alison looked at Claire from the front row.
“Weren’t you scared?”

Claire nodded. “Yes.”

▼

Before she left, Amira gave Claire a firm hug.
“Goodnight, Claire,” she said softly, “Thank you for inviting us, and
congratulations.”

Claire smiled and said, “Goodnight. Thanks
again for the gorgeous carpet.”

Amira and Omar said goodbye to everybody else
and left through the main entrance to board the presidential taxi.

Al and his family said goodbye and left in one
of Claire and David’s private taxis. Then the other private taxi landed for
Mark and Naomi.

She gave Claire a long hug. “You’ve been my
hero since I was a little girl, but I had no idea. I’m
so
glad you came
back.”

“Me too, Naomi, me too.”

Claire said it to comfort Naomi, but then she
realized how glad she was to be there with her friend.

Cougar Flight celebrated the delivery of their
new suborb with an around-the-world dinner. After getting quick disguises and a
police escort, they left before seven in the evening and flew across the
Pacific Ocean.

Ordering from the lunch menu at a highly
recommended Indian restaurant in Melbourne, Australia, they had chicken
vindaloo and tandoori chicken for their dinner. From there, they flew over
Indonesia, Western Asia, the Himalayas, and Europe to land near an all-night
restaurant in the village of Newton Poppleford in Devon, England. Claire and
David enjoyed a dessert made with Devonshire clotted cream before flying across
the Atlantic Ocean and North America. A little more than three hours after
launch, they landed at Broadview.

Going up in the west wing elevator to the main
floor level, Claire said, “That’s the best meal I’ve ever had while circling a
planet.”

“It was great,” David said. “We’ll have to do
it again sometime.”

▼

On the tenth of September, Claire and David
passed their graduation exams and were awarded twenty-sixth century high school
diplomas. They put on disguises and flew in their suborb with Naomi and Mark to
Mexico City where they celebrated at a top-rated Mexican restaurant. The next
day they went back into their audio-video centers to resume their parenting
lessons and learning twenty-sixth century English pronunciation.

▼

A week later, robots showed up and installed
maneuvering control console simulators for the new starship in the storeroom on
the pool level. Claire and David were eating dinner when the robots said they
had finished the installation.

He shook his head sadly. “Too bad.”

“What?” she asked.

“Cougar’s pregnant. It would have been nice to
have a little contest in the new simulator.”

She smiled. “Anytime you have a death wish, you
let me know, and this Cougar will have Buni rabbit for dessert.”

“You’re on, fur-ball.”

He led her into the bedroom where he took off
his wriscreen, transmitter ring, and ear charm and put them on the bed. Without
speaking, he gestured for her to do the same.

Once in the simulator he closed the outside
doors, left the door between the two compartments open, and shouted, “ELF! . . .
ROBOT! . . . HELP!”

There was no response. After a minute he said
to Claire, “Now you try calling Elf and a robot.”

She called and again there was no response.

David said, “Good. It’s soundproof. We don’t
have to go to the beach anymore to have a private conversation. We just take
off our communication devices and come in here.”

“What a clever Buni!”

“Don’t try to butter
me
up, Cougar.
Let’s fly.”

She won the first dogfight. “Want to make it
best two out of three?” he asked.

“Let’s do it.”

He had to work very hard to win the second
contest, but the third was too easy.

“What happened, Cougar?”

There was a long pause before she replied.
“Have you ever thought about staying?”

He went into her compartment and sat on the
side of her couch.

“Yes,” he answered. “I like it here, but I’m
with you. Whatever pleases you makes me tingle all the way down to my little
piggies.”

She smiled, and then her expression became
serious. “I want to stay, Buni.”

“What changed your mind?”

“Amira is right. The world is indeed a much
kinder and gentler place, despite those two xenophobes on the Malibu PLC. This
is a good place to live and a good place to raise children. If we can keep our
license and get more, I want to have our children here, to hear their sounds
and the joy of life in this house. I want to have family gatherings here with
their husbands and wives and children–our grandchildren. I want to share our
good fortune with others and fill this big house with people we love.”

David gently put his hand on her belly. “You
have me and the baby, Cougar. That’s a start.”

She put her hand on his. “You’re much more than
a start, my darling Buni. You’re the love of my life.”

David’s lingering kiss was full of promise and Claire
responded in kind. “I think we should finish this conversation in bed,” he said
softly.

The Capitol was the largest building in
Pendleton, and its auditorium for joint sessions of Congress seated more than
30,000 people. It was full when the Speaker of the House of Representatives stepped
to the podium.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the
United States.”

Amira waited for the applause to abate. “Thank
you, ladies and gentlemen.

“I’m especially glad to be here today. It has
been my privilege and pleasure to know Cougar Flight for three months now.
You’ve heard a lot about them, and they’ve received many accolades. But by the
end of today, you’ll know, as I do, that their accolades have been inadequate.”

Amira emphasized her next words with
understatement. “Ladies and gentlemen, Doctor Claire Archer.”

Claire gave Amira a warm smile and walked to
the podium wearing a navy blue suit that hid her pregnancy.

During the standing ovation, Claire smiled at Naomi
and Mark next to Omar in the upper level and was reassured by Naomi’s return
smile.

“Thank you Madam President. You’re very kind.
We have been delighted and honored to be in your company.”

 Claire and David had graduated from their
English pronunciation course before they were scheduled to address Congress.
Her modern English pronunciation had just a trace of a 21
^st
-Century
accent. Omar had told her it was charming, but then, so was Omar.

“As a medical student in the twenty-first
century, I had a very elderly patient who was a retired United States Senator.
He told me that as a young man in the middle of the twentieth century, he
enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. Most of his basic training was at
the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego. But he and other recruits were
sent to what was then Camp Pendleton, where we are now, to learn to fire their
rifles.

“One of the first things the Marines did to new
recruits was to put them in shapeless, grey, long-sleeve sweatshirts and cut all
their hair off. The future Senator stood in line to get his hair cut and
watched other recruits come out of the barber’s hut looking like skinny, plucked
chickens.

“In the fashion of the time, his hair was oiled
and combed straight back and carefully styled, so the back of his hair resembled
the back end of a duck.”

The audience laughed.

Claire nodded and continued with a grin.
“That’s what he called it, too.”

The audience laughed again.

“A supervising drill instructor wearing a razor
sharp uniform stood beside the line. He carried a highly-polished,
bullet-tipped swagger stick in his left hand, leaving his right hand free to
salute any officer who happened by.

The Senator was not at all happy about losing
his carefully styled hair and asked the drill instructor, ‘Corporal, why do we
have to get our hair cut off?’

“The drill instructor spun around to face him
and smacked the free end of his swagger stick into his right hand with a sharp
crack. ‘Yew say sir and stand at attention when yew talk to me recruit!’

“The recruit snapped to attention and said,
‘Yes, sir!’

“‘What was yore question, recruit?’

“‘Sir, why do we have to get our hair cut off,
sir?’

“The drill instructor swung his swagger stick
again and smacked his right hand behind his back as he stepped forward with a
disgusted look on his face and leaned nose to nose with the future senator.
‘Because yore purty hair might fall down in front of yore purty face and keep
yew from seein’ the target at Pendleton when yore larnin’ to shoot yore
rifle!’”

The audience laughed and applauded.

Claire continued seriously. “No longer do young
men and women get their hair cut off and learn to shoot a rifle in military
service. No longer do they have to fight and die. No longer is war taught here
at Pendleton or anywhere else on Earth.

“My husband and I had hoped the world in the
twenty-sixth century would be a better place to raise a family. But as children
of the twenty-first century, it never occurred to us to dare hope for world
peace.”

The audience applauded enthusiastically.

“David and I are absolutely in awe of human
achievements in the last five centuries. We are in awe of you, the dedicated
women and men who have accepted the formidable responsibility of ensuring that
the world will remain peaceful and prosperous in the future.”

After the applause, she continued. “One of the
people who helped lay the foundation for today’s government was our friend,
Michael Bedford. He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 2082.
Michael and Professor James Lee of Harvard University sponsored the Bedford-Lee
amendment to the Constitution of the United States.”

There was more applause.

“My husband and I hereby ask the government of
the United States to help us honor Michael Bedford and Professor Lee for their
achievements. We ask that the planet Minor-four-b be named Bedford and Minor-four-a
be named Lee.”

Claire’s request was greeted with enthusiastic
applause. David came to stand beside Claire and put his arm around her. She
smiled at the audience, and said, “My husband, David Archer.”

The audience came to its feet in another
standing ovation.

When the audience was seated again, David said,
“Now you have some idea why I consider myself one of the luckiest men alive. And
I want to take this opportunity to announce we’re expecting our first child in
March.”

Claire smiled and waved to acknowledge the
applause that followed David’s announcement, and went to her seat.

David continued. “As someone who has seen the
horror of war, I share Claire’s joy that war is no more. And for the record, I
wholeheartedly support the request my wife made to rename the two planets.”

After the applause, David said, “In the last
500 years, the world has come out of the darkness of war and overpopulation and
environmental destruction into the sunshine of peace, prosperity, and justice.
But we are still facing doom. This time, sunshine is the threat.”

David paused for effect, and silence in the
audience was absolute.

“All by itself, through natural processes and
without human interference, the Sun is getting hotter. About a billion years
from now, Earth’s atmosphere will be so warm that when water evaporates, the vapor
will no longer become clouds. Instead, water vapor will continue to rise and
escape into space. Rivers and lakes will vanish. Oceans will become deserts,
and the plants that feed and support us will cease to exist.

“A billion years sounds like a big number. But
let’s talk about a bigger one: forty-three million, trillion . . . dollars.
That’s the amount of money the United States promised to pay my wife and me for
Elf Corporation.

“It is essential for the government to pay its
debts. The Constitution now requires that at least five percent of the original
principal of all money borrowed by and for the United States shall be repaid every
year with accrued interest. The Constitution also requires that such repayment
shall be made without incurring additional debt.

“The government must pay us, but it can’t pay.
Now what?”

David paused and regarded the shocked
expressions on the faces of the politicians in the audience. They were well
aware that they would never again hold any public office if Claire and David
insisted on payment.

Amira and Omar remained composed.

David continued, “One honorable way to settle a
debt is negotiation. The United States has offered us one billion dollars a
year for life plus a one hundred billion-dollar fund. We hereby make a three
part counter offer:

“First, as has already been proposed, one
billion dollars a year will be paid to us for life. We will also accept the one
hundred billion-dollar fund. Part of it will be used to sponsor a return to the
planet Minor-four-b, or if you so allow, the planet Bedford, for settlement.”

“Second, the balance of the debt owed to us will
be transferred in trust to NASA.”

David looked at Al Masters in the VIP section.
He appeared to be stunned, and David allowed himself a small grin.

“Third, the United States will unequivocally
guarantee that when the end of the planet Earth comes, it won’t be the end of
the human race. A minimum and I emphasize minimum, of one hundred billion
dollars every year will be paid to NASA in perpetuity for interstellar
exploration and settlement. Every year, one or more unmanned missions will be
launched to explore planetary systems around stars with potentially long life
spans. The United States will simultaneously support both exploration for new
planets and settlement of habitable planets, including Bedford, as they are
discovered. Certainly the millions of trillions of dollars in the trust should
be more than enough to support all the exploration and settlement we can
manage.

“You may be asking yourself: if we have a
billion years, why do we have to start now? The answer is that this will be a
very long, slow process. Bedford is a relatively close planet, only two hundred
and fifty light years away. Other star systems of interest are thousands and
even millions of light years away. It will take at least two thousand years to
find a habitable planet a thousand light years away and another thousand years
to land the first settlers. It will take two million years to find one
habitable planet a million light years away and another million years to land
the first settlers. And so on. Many of the star systems we explore won’t have
any habitable planets. But just one launch per year will allow us to explore
one hundred stars in one hundred years, a thousand stars in a thousand years,
and a million stars in a million years. Even if there’s only one habitable
planet for each ten thousand stars visited, we’ll eventually find hundreds of
planets where we can live.”

David paused, regarded the audience, and
continued earnestly. “Now is early. Now is the opportunity. Now is the time. If
we start now, the human race will not perish with the planet Earth. If we start
now, the genius, the love, and the spirit of our human species may last as long
as there is a Universe.

“It has been a great honor for Claire and me to
be here. Thank you.”

It was several seconds before the audience
responded. Then they came to their feet in a standing ovation that grew in
excitement.

▼

Claire and David had dinner at the White House
that night with Al, Omar, and Amira. She said, “Your speeches have excited
imaginations around world, and Congress is moving fast. Congressman Joshua Biko
from South Africa and Senator Sushelia Albuquerque have been assigned the task
of preparing a bill to make your proposals a reality. I expect it to be on my
desk in record time. I would like both of you to be present when I sign it.”

Al said, “I’m afraid your vacation’s over
David. We’ll give you an office in Pendleton, but you can work at home—or
standing on your head. My staff and I will give you all the support we can.”

David nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

Omar said, “We will have to shepherd necessary
legislation through Congress and plan governments for the new settlements on
other planets. I would like to help.”

“Offer accepted,” Al said as he shook his head
“This is amazing almost beyond belief. Usually we must fight congress for every
dime, but thanks to just one speech from David, NASA’s financial problems have
been solved in perpetuity.”

▼

The next evening Claire and David stood in a
reception line as they greeted the most famous and senior members of government
and world society. Claire was gorgeous in a strapless evening gown: a
combination of burgundy and maroon with teasing intermittent iridescence. Her
only jewelry was a pair of earnings: NASA gold astronaut pins with diamond
stars: they had been had been awarded to Claire and David by NASA while they
were still in space.

Senator Albuquerque, Congressman Biko, and
their spouses were seated at the President’s table with Claire and David. They
were discussing what the Senator called the Second Claire and David Archer Debt
Resolution Act.

David suggested, “What about a simpler name
like the Archer Amendment.”

Claire remembered when David had told her about
the Archer amendment on the day they met. She laughed. David grinned at her and
winked.

Later, Claire and David danced for the first
time since they had returned to Earth. He said, “Who would’ve thought we’d be
dancing at a White House ball in our honor?”

“Me,” she said. “I know the comedian I
married.”