Cindy walked to the side of the bed and, picking the dressing gown up from the floor, offered it to Janine.
“Here, put this on, it’s cold.”
Janine shivered, feeling the chill for the first time, and pulled the gown around her shoulders.
© A Sunderland 2011
“But … I don’t understand … he was right there, at the window …”
“Darling, how could that be possible?”
Janine’s brow furrowed as she tried to find an answer. “But I swear …”
Cindy reached out and put her arms around Janine in a tight hug.
“I understand. You love your dad … and you miss him. We all do.”
“I just want him back.” Janine sighed, glancing once more at the clock.
Ten minutes later, they were sitting together in the lounge, sipping steaming hot chocolate and watching the live mission images.
“There, that’s your dad, piloting his ship billions of miles away. You see, it was just a dream.”
“I guess so, but it seemed so real.”
Cindy laughed. “Well, I suppose he could have learned how to teleport?”
Janine smiled and nodded.
Cindy stood up, “we’ll I’m going back to bed.”
“I just want to watch for a bit longer.”
“Just don’t stay up too long.” She handed Janine the remote control and bent over to kiss her forehead.
[Day 244]
The auditorium was filled to bursting point. All seven members of the DeepSEA executive committee were seated with Admiral Adams and their respective partners on the main stage.
Many of the crew’s family members had to stand in the aisles. Cindy and Stirling were sitting on the front row, either side of Janine’s empty seat. Cindy whispered to Stirling, “I’m absolutely furious that Sean can’t be bothered to get his body here for any of these events.”
“I wish I could suggest someway of getting through to him.”
“It didn’t help that Jan gave him a mouthful on our last video call.”
“We’ve got to sit her down for-”
Janine walked in with three coffees. “Here we go.”
Everyone applauded as Elaine walked to the center of the stage. “Ladies and gentlemen,” she said. “Will you please welcome the head of DeepSEA. Secretary Waldheim.”
Tomas Waldheim, a Czech career diplomat, 63, had a slender elegant look despite the baldness that left a horseshoe-shaped ring of hair around the sides and back of his head. He milked the applause before addressing the audience. “It is ninety years since the first lunar landing, the very first time man walked on the moon. And that, of course, was our own moon, just a short commute away.”
“We have overcome incredible difficulties and major setbacks due to our vision and determination. We were tireless in our efforts to finally fulfill our destiny. Today you will witness human beings stepping onto a distant world because we refused to ever contemplate defeat despite many terrible losses along the way.”
Janine joined in the applause. As she was about to stand Stirling grabbed her arm and whispered in her ear. “He’s not complimenting your dad. He’s praising himself.” He clapped and muttered under his breath. “Smug bastard.”
Elaine took the microphone from Waldheim. “Ladies and gentlemen we are about to witness three astronauts stepping out onto another lunar surface, a moon in a different solar system.”
Her news was greeted by a ripple of applause from the audience as they leaned forward as one in readiness for the images on the screen. Elaine’s sense of dramatic timing was second to none, and she waited just long enough for complete silence to fall before activating the screen.
Suddenly there in front of them was an astoundingly clear image of Don in full spacewalk gear striding across a dusty surface and gripping a slender flagpole in his glove. Turning to the camera, he waved before plunging the pole deep into the surface.
“Of course, with the time it’s now taking for reports to reach us, this is actually Captain Lewis three weeks ago.”
Without warning, Janine began trembling violently. She grabbed Cindy’s hand.
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