“Yes, it’s good to see he hasn’t lost his sense of humor,” Tor chuckled and rubbed his hands, eager to leave. He looked at Jelly and raised his eyebrows. “I’ll be back soon. We just have a small matter of the acquisition of our new colleague to deal with…”
Dimitri Vasilov and Maar Sheck sat at the far end of the conference table chatting to themselves.
Jamie stroked Jelly as she lay on the other end of the table. She was sedentary for the time being, enjoying the final few moments she had with her owner.
Tripp sat with Emily, going through the final particulars of the contract. He flipped over to the final summary sheet.
“Just need your signature in triplet. Here, here, and here,” Tripp pointed at the three sets of dotted lines.
“Okay,” Emily hesitated for a second and looked at her son as he tickled Jelly’s stomach.
“Meow.”
“Are you quite sure she’s going to be all right?” Emily asked Tripp. She wondered why the two stern-looking men were at the other end of the table and disassociating themselves so blatantly.
“Yes, of course,” Tripp said, watching her sign the documents. “I will make sure of that, personally. You have my word.”
“I hope so.”
“You know, Emily,” Tripp tried to reassure her. “I have a son your boy’s age. I know how much Jelly means to him.”
Emily scribbled her signature as quick as she could and pushed the paper away from her chest.
“A very antiquated way of conducting business. Pen and paper?” She passed the pen back to him and watched the ink dry on the paper.
“It’s the way we like to do things. Some of us at USARIC haven’t quite shaken off the analog stuff just yet.”
Maar broke away from his conversation with Dimitri. “All good?”
“Yes, I think so,” Tripp lifted the papers in his hand and showed them to his superiors.
“Good,” Dimitri said. “So, I think we’re all done here.”
“It seems so,” Tripp added.
“Are there any final questions or queries you have for us?” Maar asked.
“You can’t tell me what the mission is? Where, exactly, she’s going?”
“I’m afraid not,” Maar said. “If anything goes wrong it would be bad news.”
“What if something does go wrong?”
“It won’t.”
“Right,” Emily said, not terribly convinced.
“But if it does, it’s better that you don’t know the details. Trust us, everything will be fine.”
Jamie stroked Jelly’s face. She loved every second of it. He looked up and tried his luck. “When does Opera Beta leave?”
“Two weeks from now, young man,” Maar said. “She’s due to return in at the end of 2120. How old will you be then?”
“Seven.”
The door to the conference room opened and Wool walked in with a silver plastic cage under her arm. “Hello, everyone. Hi, Jamie.”
“Hi, Wool.”
She offered the boy a smile and sat the cage onto the conference desk. “Is she ready?”
Jelly rolled over and stretched her hind legs out. Her tail flapped around. Jamie took a moment to watch her in action. A small, quiet movement he decided to commit to memory before she jumped to her feet and demanded one, last hug.
“Meow.”
Jamie held out his hand, fingers tucked together. Jelly ran her face along his hand, making a fuss of the connection. He held her head in both hands and looked her in the eyes. She had no clue what was about to happen.
“We’ll see each other again, girl,” Jamie whispered. The reality set in the moment the words escaped his lips. He began to tear up. Jelly wanted to know why he was so sad.
“Take her,” he said through his tears.
Jelly tilted her face, wondering why her friend was so upset. The drama set Emily off, too. “Oh God, please. Just do it.”
“Yes, of course,” Wool clapped her hands together and showed Jelly to the cage. “In you go, pet.”
“Meow,” Jelly looked at it and decided not to go. She approached the end of the table and tried to get Jamie’s attention.
“No, no,” Wool cupped Jelly’s face in her hand with deft expertise. She slid the cage up to her behind and pushed her back.
The cage door slammed shut, imprisoning Jelly. She clawed at the cage, trying to push it open.
Wool lifted the cage and made her way to the conference exit.
Jamie took a final glance at his cat being escorted out of his life. She had a look of disappointment on her face. How could my best friend do this to me? The look seemed to say it. It was hard for Jamie to shake off.
Then, he slammed the conference desk and stood up, barely able to peer over it. Tripp, Maar, Dimitri and his mother turned to him in shock.
“Take me with you,” Jamie pleaded.
“What?” Tripp asked.
“Take me with you. I know how space works and I can help you on your mission.”
“But, Jamie, it doesn’t work like that.”
“Poppet, no,” Emily held her son back. The same couldn’t be said for his floods of tears. “Jamie, listen—”
“—Mr Healy, you’re an astronaut. I’m going to be an astronaut one day, too. Let me go with you.”
“Jamie,” Tripp tried, calmly, “It takes years of training. And we can’t allow children on—”
“—But you’re taking a cat,’ Jamie interrupted and pointed at the cage. “You can take a cat but you can’t take me?”
“Poppet, please.”
Tripp held out his hands. He felt useless. “I, uh, don’t know what to say?”
“Then say yes.” Jamie released himself from his mother’s clutches and clambering toward the cage in Wool’s hand. “I want to go with her.”
Emily caught his jacket and pulled him back. “No. It’s done.”
Tripp felt sorry for the poor little boy. “I’m sorry, Jamie.’
“We should get going,” Wool turned to do the door, trying to avoid the unfolding grief in the room. “Goodbye, Jamie.”
“But, mom,” Jamie struggled to free himself, choking with regret through his vocal chords. “I d-don’t want her to g-go—”
“—Jamie, no. It’s done,” Emily whispered.
The door shut on Jelly’s face.
His cat was gone forever, as far as Jamie was concerned.
Little consolation for the boy who broke down on the table in a heap of turmoil, crying his eyes out.
A day he’d never forget.
A decision he’d never forgive himself for making.
He’d allowed his friend go off into the great unknown. If only he could take it all back.
The USARIC logo spun around above his head, triumphantly. The company had won.
A five-year-old’s loss wasn’t enough to stop the company’s endeavor…
CHAPTER EIGHT
Year: 2119
Days traveled: 551
Distance to Enceladus: 203, 140 miles
The hyper sleep arena contained nine chambers, the first and sixth of which had been opened.
Tripp Healy lay asleep in the second pod. He’d grown an impressive amount of facial hair during the journey.
Captain Daryl Katz surveyed the chamber, enjoying what was about to be the last moment of pure solitude.
“Manuel?” Katz asked.
“Yes, Daryl?”
“We’ll start with chamber two and Tripp Healy. Once he’s oriented we’ll move on to the others. Can you prepare the debrief in the meantime, please.”