Episode Seven: Reproductive Imperative
Jenny is offered an opportunity to relocate to Mars and head up a new project, and Agent Fuentes has a job offer on the Moon.
First Contact Facility
December 2037
Mavis had summoned Kate and me to her office. She hadn’t given us any details about the meeting’s purpose, but suggested we find a babysitter and come together. So, we left Celeste and Celina with Zak’s wife. Divya and Zak had a new baby, and our daughters, now seven, loved to play big sister. So, we sat in Mavis’s office, waiting and wondering what could be so important.
Mavis came striding in, still with that military posture and no-nonsense expression. But the few strands of gray and some wrinkles around her eyes made her seem more the warm person I knew her to be. I even think she secretly liked that I called her Mavis instead of General.
She sat behind her desk, pushing aside a stack of files. “Good afternoon, ladies. How are the girls?”
Kate and I exchanged a glance. Mavis didn’t ask about our daughters at work.
Kate gripped the chair arms a little too tightly, so I nodded to her to answer.
“The girls are fine, General. They’re at Zak’s. Why? Is something wrong?”
Mavis shifted in her chair. “I’ll get right to it. Space Force has approved the deep space antennae project and, Jenny, we’d like you to join the project on Mars. Complete the training, and you can be there for the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in 2040.”
The Mars Base. Fantastic. Kate and I had talked about this constantly since I submitted the proposal for the Mars-orbit antennae. The girls were beyond excited. They’d ask us about it almost every day. Celeste already had her bag packed, and Celina had tagged all the space books she would be taking.
“This is great news, Mavis. The girls are so eager to go.”
I’m sure it was my imagination, but Mavis almost squirmed in her chair.
“Kate is welcome to relocate with you, but, unfortunately, the girls stay here. They cannot make the trip to Mars.”
What? Why in the hell couldn’t our girls go? I stood and leaned on Mavis’s desk. “What do you mean, the girls can’t go?”
“Jenny, sit down. It’s nothing against Celeste and Celina. But they’re too young. They won’t grow up properly in low gravity. Their bones will never mature. We’ve discussed this.”
Kate inched forward in her chair. “I know, but what about the treatments? I thought they counteracted the bone loss.”
“Kate, I’m sorry. Further testing revealed a side effect. We can’t give them the treatments until they’re fully grown, around eighteen. I checked with Medical. It appears their growth plates will ossify; the girls’ bones will stop growing.”
I’d stepped back from Mavis’s desk, staring down at her with my arms crossed. I hoped I was radiating strength and determination, but truthfully, I was scared. “Are you telling me we’d have to leave our kids behind for ten years?”
Mavis stood and came around her desk. She put a light, calming hand on my shoulder. “Jenny, I can’t tell you what to do. But the girls can’t go until they’re fully grown and cleared by Medical. But it doesn’t have to be ten years. Once you’re on Mars, it’ll take a year to get the antennae deployed at the L4 and L5 Lagrange points. We’d have you back on Earth in three years if that’s what you want.”
Three years. That was better than ten. But still. “I don’t know, Mavis. That’s still a long time to be away from our kids.” I glanced at Kate. With her head in her hands and her elbows on her knees, her long blonde hair obscured her expression. “Katy, what do you think?”
“I don’t know.” She looked up and wiped away a glimmer of tears. “The girls will be so disappointed. I don’t know. I just don’t know. When do we need to tell you?”
Mavis returned to behind her desk. “A couple of weeks. If you decide to go, we need to get you into training. Jenny, Kate, I know this is a big decision.” She pointed her best commanding officer eyes right at me. “But Jenny, you know how important this project is. It’s our best hope of getting probes past the asteroid belt and finding out what’s going on out there. You’re the lead on this, the expert so to speak. The project needs you on-site.”
I moved over next to Kate, as I guessed it was time to go. “OK, Mavis. Kate and I will discuss it with the girls and let you know.”
“Fine. Take the rest of the day. Go home and discuss what you want to do.”
So, we went home. I sent a message to Divya to see if she could keep our daughters overnight. Everyone in the Mehta household thought that was wonderful. The girls would have an adventure, probably stay up too late.
Once home, we opened a bottle of wine and got comfortable on the couch. I figured I’d wait and let Kate get her thoughts out, so we sat, sipping our wine. I was in no hurry. Rarely could Kate and I sit and relax with each other, like back in Tucson. Life had filled up all the quiet spaces.
After a bit, Kate ended her inner reflection and turned to face me.
“Jenny, we can’t leave the girls here for three years. I need to stay and be their mother.” She squeezed my hand. Tears brimmed her eyes.
“I know, Katy. I know you’d never leave the girls behind.”
Kate shifted in her seat. “But you could go, Jenny. You’re the space explorer. I can work with Jessa anywhere, but you need to be out there, close to the edge. You know you need to be on-location to work on this. I’ll take care of the girls, and we’ll see you when you’re back home in three years.”
I’d honestly not considered this—going by myself. Could I really leave Kate and the girls behind? “I don’t know, Katy. And three years is only if everything goes perfectly. If we run into problems, it’ll be five years or seven years. That’s a long time to be away from you. I’d miss you every day.”
“And we’d miss you. But can you give this up? Not pursue the next challenge?” Kate put her wineglass down and snuggled close.
This whole conversation had a familiar ring to it. “Katy, I’d worry about the girls. When my mom left on deployments with the Navy, I was always nervous that she wasn’t coming back. And then she didn’t.”
“But Jenny, you’re not going to war. The girls will have me; they’ll understand. And we can talk to you whenever we want.”
I was still not settled but saw Kate’s point. I needed more time. “We have a couple of weeks before we need to give Mavis an answer. We can talk some more and see what Celeste and Celina think. Okay?”
Kate looked up, and the tears had spilled over into tiny trickles.
In the end, we’d agreed I should go. My daughters didn’t get why I was leaving, and there were angry, hurt tears. But Kate assured me she’d help them get to that understanding as they grew older, just as I had come to appreciate why my mother needed to serve as she did.
But the sleepless nights were back, and I knew why. I’d made the selfish choice—again. I’d ignored my inner voice, asking how I could leave Kate and our girls. Did I really want to trade even three years of watching Celeste and Celina grow up so I could pursue my ambitions? Didn’t I want to share all the years of my life with Kate?
I found my answers as I prepared to leave for the training complex in Houston, in sleepless nights, loneliness, and guilt. And I already missed my family terribly, unable to focus on work and my preparations, wondering what they would be doing, what new adventure would delight the girls.
So, when Mavis returned from a quick trip to Houston, I made my pitch: I wanted to stay home. My assistant agreed to take my place and he was more than qualified. The antennae project would proceed according to plan, but without me.
I’d get to Mars when we could go as a family. I needed to stay in New Mexico and be a mother. Thankfully, Mavis understood.
Mars would just have to wait.
###
Space Systems & Technology Facility
January 2038
FBI Special Agent Raul Fuentes and the Space Force team, armed with a court order, had assembled outside the launch control building at the SS&T facility in South Texas.
After clearing security, Fuentes proceeded to the Control Room, and confronted the launch director and handed him the court order.
“Director, you need to scrub the launch. If you don’t stop it, my technicians will.”
The launch director turned away and made a call. Fuentes couldn’t hear the conversation, but the tone wasn’t a happy one. The call ended with an expletive.
“Abort the launch. We’re scrubbed. The Feds have revoked our launch permit. Seems we’re in violation of some provision of the Outer Space Treaty.”
A week later, Fuentes received the summons from the Director of the FBI with some apprehension. Now, outside his office, Fuentes was good, old-fashioned, nervous. He didn’t know what the director wanted and hadn’t prepared any briefing materials.
The door opened, and the director’s assistant exited. “Mr. Fuentes. The director will see you now.”
The director rose from his chair, reached across the desk to shake hands, and motioned Fuentes to one of the guest chairs.
“Excellent work down in Texas. You averted a catastrophe. If they’d launched that rocket and gotten the two probes out to Europa and Titan—let’s just say we’re darn lucky you got that court order executed in time.”
“Director, if you say so. I’m at a loss why we needed to serve it.”
“The short answer: Space Force doesn’t have the jurisdictional authority, so they called us. But we’ll get to that in more detail later. For now, I have an offer for you. Bases are going up on the Moon and Mars like boom towns, and the first mining consortiums are heading to the asteroids. We need a new law enforcement regime. The signers of the UN Outer Space Treaty have chartered an interplanetary police force to handle off-Earth law enforcement in the Solar System. For now, it’s being run under the auspices of INTERPOL, but with its own command structure and investigative agents. We’d like you to join up.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Fuentes immediately regretted his disrespectful tone. “You want to send me into space?”
“That’s right. You’ll have the rank of Inspector. Your first posting will be the Moon.” The director stood and held out his hand. “Give it some thought. My assistant has your briefing book. Take some leave. Let me know in a week. You’ll have six months of training and be on the Moon by summer. If you agree, we’ll authorize your Top Secret security clearance. Who knows, with access to Top Secret files, you might find those two scientists you’ve been nosing around looking for ever since you got here.” The director’s smile softened what could have been a rebuke.
Fuentes shook the director’s hand and left the office. Retrieving the briefing book, he wandered out of the FBI building a little dazed. Glancing west at the early-morning full moon, Fuentes considered—the Moon? Space? Really? But maybe some answers. He had a week to decide.