The next day was an idyllic one for Steffie, and a relaxing one for Andrews. It was, he reflected, the first really relaxing day since he had joined the Ladybugs in New York. They ate breakfast as a group and then Steffie spent most of the morning playing with her son. Andrews talked with Jane Stanley and Monica Sin, and spent the remainder of his time finishing his book. After a light lunch, they played a game of football on the vast lawn behind the house, males against females. They enjoyed a dinner of chilidogs and sat together in the parlor as Lars watched Adventure Island on radio-vid. That night Steffie reprised her submissive role and added to it.

Lars, his aunt, and Agent Stanley were delivered to the train station the next morning, where they boarded a train that would take them to San Francisco, from which they would board their dirigible for the flight back to Switzerland. After a tearful farewell, Andrews and his Ladybug drove back to the house and their waiting airflivver, which took off for Los Angeles.

It was an almost eight hour flight to LA, necessitating a stop along the way both for fuel and to give the passengers and pilot a chance to stretch their legs. The pilot, a blonde in her thirties named Henrietta Palmer, set the vehicle down at the Sacramento airport. Sacramento was on a small outcropping of land that jutted into the San Joaquin Channel, the fourteen-mile wide strip of seawater that separated the island of California from the rest of North America. The San Joaquin Channel, which before the Science War had been known as the San Joaquin Valley was, like the almost twenty years of constant rain in the Oregon area, a result of that conflict.

Andrews inquired at the information counter and found that there was one of the many new fondue restaurants popular in the north only a short distance from the airport. Though he invited Miss Palmer to join them, she demurred and so he and Steffie took a cab to the dining establishment. Attractively dressed, Steffie was not wearing anything that would have marked her as a rock star. She had on a simple blue miniskirt with a matching short-sleeved top and a pair of platform sandals. She had worn her hair down ever since Andrews had indicated that he liked it that way. Nevertheless, everyone seemed to recognize her, and if they weren’t actively pointing, they were at least staring.

“I don’t know how you can live like this,” said Andrews as he held the chair for her to sit down.

“How do you mean?”

“With all these people staring at you all the time.”

“Maybe it’s not me they’re looking at. Maybe it’s you.”

Andrews smiled. “No. For all they know, I’m just another faux man escorting a famous woman to dinner.”

“That could be,” agreed Steffie. “Most women have been away from men so long they have forgotten what they are like. Women expect them to be big and brutish, and you John are very pretty. On the other hand I expect that our interview has been seen by about a billion people by now, so most people know we have a boyfriend.”

Andrews looked around sure enough; at least half of the looks in their direction seemed more focused on him than his dinner partner. Their food arrived just about the same time that the first women approached for autographs, and while he wasn’t asked to sign his name, more than one was suddenly struck by their reaction to him. He and Steffie ate, dipping bits of meat and vegetables into the small pot of boiling oil, and talked about how pleasant the previous days had been.

“That was really one of the nicest things that anyone has ever done for me,” said Steffie.

“I knew you wanted to see him and I knew you didn’t want him near the concerts, so this seemed like the perfect alternative. Fortunately I arranged for it before my superiors heard about the interview. I don’t know if I could get them to go along with anything I suggested now.”

“Are you sure that Lars will be safe on the way home?”

“Jane… that’s Agent Stanley, would lay down her life to protect either Lars or your sister. I would trust her with everything I have.”

“You and she were in the Science Police academy together?”

“Yes. We became best friends there.”

“Just friends? You never got together?”

“Oh, I would have in a second. I had quite the crush on her. But she wasn’t interested. She finds the idea of sex between people… what’s the word she used? Icky. She feels the same way about having a baby growing inside her. She’s planning on a vat baby.”

“And do you want to have children?”

“It’s expected.”

“But do you want them?”

“Yes, I think so. I don’t know what kind of father I’d make.”

“You’d make a great father. I’d like to have more kids. I hated being pregnant when I was, but now I seem to only remember the good parts. Must be nature’s way.”

They finished dinner and had a chocolate fruit fondue for desert before taking another cab back to the airport. Miss Palmer the pilot was waiting for them and within minutes of climbing in the airflivver, it was buzzing south toward Los Angeles, crossing the San Joaquin Channel. They could see a large group of grey whales swimming south through the relatively narrow waterway. Once they landed, Andrews and Steffie were spirited away by private car to the Hollywood Bowl just in time to prepare for the show.

Steffie said goodbye to Andrews with a kiss and headed to the backstage area, while he made his way to the security headquarters. In addition to a dozen police and Agent Wright, there was another agent as well. She was a tall, thin woman with long blonde hair, and just as Agent Stanley had, she had chosen to wear a skirt with her black blazer.

“Welcome back,” said Wright. “This is Agent Patricia Ryan.”

“Hello.”

The Starcraft 170 shot through the sky at 320 mph, three miles above the vast Pacific Ocean. Astrid was piloting, though the autopilot was currently engaged. Penelope sat in the copilot seat. Both Sabrina Scacchi and Don Herron had taken a commercial flight back to Maxxim City.

“I don’t know if this is such a good idea,” said Penelope. “I’ve never piloted a Starcraft before.”

“But you have qualified on twin prop planes,” said Astrid. “Besides, I’m piloting and I’ve logged quite a few hours in the 170 over the past three months. You can go back and take a nap if you want to.”

Penelope looked over her shoulder.

“You didn’t leave much room after loading all that computer equipment.”

“So what was going on at the Maxxim Store?” wondered Astrid.

“What do you mean?”

“I saw the look on your face when that guy called you the ‘smartest girl in the world’.”

“His name was Daniel,” said Penelope.

“Don’t change the subject. You were upset. Why? You are the smartest girl in the world. I wouldn’t mind having an IQ of 228, I can tell you that.”

“You would mind, if they trotted you around showing you off like a circus act. I was sent out to every morning talk show and variety show. ‘Look at the little genius! She can tell you the cube of 23,916!’”

“It’s um… fourteen trillion…”

“Thirteen trillion, six hundred seventy-nine billion, three hundred fifty-five million, four hundred thirty-nine thousand, two hundred ninety-six.” said Penelope. “Look at what I can do. Tricks, like a trained dog. Penelope, the little freak of nature.”

“It wasn’t really that bad, was it?” wondered the girl inventor.

“It really was, and it didn’t stop until I left for college. It really ruined my relationship with my father. He thought I was a great little marketing tool. I graduated high school at fifteen just so I could get away. And that ruined my relationship with my mother.   And then they both died, and I never had a chance to settle anything with either one of them.”

“I’m sorry, Aunt Penelope. I hadn’t heard any of that.”

“That’s partly why your parents try so hard to give you a normal life,” she said. “You should be grateful for it.”

“You are smart though,” Astrid pointed out. “You have the highest I.Q. ever recorded. You finished a PhD in physics at the age of twenty-two.”

“Yeah, well… I haven’t done anything with it. Having a high I.Q isn’t the be-all and end-all of life. You have to have drive and vision, and you have to enjoy what you are doing. I don’t really think I want to be a physicist, or a scientist of any kind really.”

“What do you want to do?” asked Astrid.

“I don’t know. I just know that I don’t want to live off my trust fund my whole life. I want to contribute somehow. I guess, I’ll go back and take that nap after all.”

When Penelope returned to the cockpit an hour later, Astrid was quite tired. It had been a long day and now a long evening as well. Astrid decided to nap in the pilot’s seat with the autopilot on. Penelope sitting in the copilot position was just one more precaution.

“Brussels doesn’t know what to do,” said Wright. “They want you off the detail, but not necessarily off the team.”

“What does that mean exactly?”

“It means they’ve got another agent on the way to take your place. Once she gets here, you’re going to be off checking those few remaining people in our threat files.”

“I thought we had eliminated pretty much all the credible threats.”

“We have. This way they can say you’re still on the case, but you’re not engaged in any high profile sexcapades.”

“Great.”

“I feel for you partner. It’s not like I haven’t found my way into some nice warm beds in the past two weeks. Mine just aren’t so famous.”

“What do I do in the meantime?”

“Same thing you have been doing. Stay close to the Ladybugs. Keep them out of danger. We’ll decide what you’re doing next after your replacement gets here tomorrow.”

Andrews was halfway back to his room before he realized that his jaw was clamped shut. He stepped into an alcove and closed his eyes. He took three deep breaths and then held the last one as he rolled his head around. He pictured his dorm room in the enclaves as he took several more slow deep breaths. All he had ever wanted when he was there was to leave, and now that he was gone, it was the safe place he visualized in times of stress—the bare cement block walls, the simple white dresser and desk, the well-worn rugby ball sitting on his tightly made bed.

When he opened the door to his room, he was expecting to find Ruth there, or perhaps Ep!phanee. Instead Steffie was there. She was wearing a floral print cropped tie top with widely flaring sleeves and a pair of hip hugging bellbottoms in the same design. Her mass of platinum hair hung loosely about her shoulders, making her thin face look less predatory. Andrews thought she looked pretty, and he told her so.

“Before you say anything else, I want to apologize,” she said.

“For the interview?”

“No, for the other night at the club. I was completely toasted.”

“Yes, I remember. And now you’re here… because this is your day?”

“That’s right. Here. Ruth made this calendar for you.” She handed him a monthly calendar with a name written in each square.

“Steffie, Steffie, Penny, Penny, Ruth, Ruth, Steffie… Looks like you hit the jackpot.”

“Are you mad at me?” She had a hurt look on her face that gave him a sort of choking feeling.

“No, I’m not mad at you. I’m just upset. They’re going to send me away. They’re going to take me off the detail.”

“They can’t do that! We won’t let them.”

“No choice, I’m afraid.” He walked to the couch and sat down. “Probably all for the best. I’m sure this is playing right into the hands of those women in the Science Police who think men have no business in the agency. We can’t focus on anything but our penises.”

“That’s just stupid. Obviously they don’t know any men.”

“Maybe. Or maybe they know us too well.”

“You need to not think about it. Why don’t we have breakfast? Have you eaten?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Then let’s just sit and talk.”

“I don’t really feel like talking either.”

“You remember when you first interviewed me?”

“Yes.”

“We took turns asking questions.”

Andrews smiled despite himself. “That’s right.”

“Let’s do it again.”

“Okay, but you go first.”

“What’s your favorite sport? Is it that rugsby?”

“Rugby. Yes. Your’s?”

“I liked baseball when I lived in California, but since I’ve been living in Europe, I mostly watch football. Did you play rugby growing up?”

“Yes. All the boys did. It got pretty brutal. I busted my chin open and had to have six stitches right here.” He lifted his chin and pointed to a thin scar. “It was mostly just an excuse for the bigger boys to beat the crap out of the smaller boys, but it was a lot of fun.”

“Okay, your turn.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask you about your nose ring.”

“Yes?”

“Piffy and Ruth have the side of their nostrils pierced, and so do other women I’ve seen with nose rings, but you have it right in the middle. Why?”

“Do you think it makes me look like a cow?”

“No. But I can see how people might make that connection.”

“I wear it for two reasons really. One: it kind of touches on this submissive streak that I feel inside, but don’t otherwise let show. And two: it just pisses a lot of women off for some reason, and that’s always fun.” They both laughed. “Okay, my turn. What’s your favorite food?”

“A month ago, I would have said tacos, but now I have to go with hot dogs.”

“Have you had a chilidog yet?”

“No. Hey, you snuck an extra question in there.”

“Oh no,” she said, her eyes large with mock surprise. “Maybe you’ll have to punish me.”

“Maybe.”

“Ask me two questions then.”

“Why are you interested in me?”

Iolana stopped shoveling, and placing the tip of her shovel on the seam of the metal floor, she used it to prop herself up. Her blond hair was plastered to her head and her clothes were soaked through with perspiration. It was at least 130 degrees in the engine room, closer near the open furnace door, and she had been shoveling coal for what seemed like forever.

“Keep shovelin’,” said her companion, as he threw another scoop into the furnace, the flame reflecting on the smooth sheen of his sweaty, shirtless body.

She imagined that it would feel so good to shed the khaki uniform blouse. It would certainly give the crew of the crawler a shock. She really wanted to do it. But she just couldn’t.

“I’m all talk,” she said to herself.

“No time to talk. Just shovel.”

“How’s it going, men?” called Tiber Stephenson’s voice from the engine room hatch. “Nice and warm in here, eh?”

“You’ve proven your point, Tiber,” said Iolana, staggering as she scooped more coal.

“That’s Lieutenant to the likes o’ you!” shouted the shirtless soldier.

“I’m not having you shovel coal to prove a point, My Lady,” said Tiber. “I’m having you shovel coal because that’s what makes this vehicle go.” He looked at the shirtless soldier. “How long till shift end, Swaim?”

“About forty more minutes, Sir.”

“Good. When your relief comes, bring our little stowaway up to the officers’ quarters.”

“Right you are, Sir.”

Though she managed to finish out her shift in the engine room and then march along behind Swaim to the front of the vehicle, when he left her just inside the door to the officers’ quarters, Iolana’s vision began to swim and she collapsed. If Tiber hadn’t been there, she would have fallen to the sheet metal floor. Instead, he caught her and carried her over to an empty bunk, laying her down. Then he opened a vent and cool, moist air from outside blew gently across her face.

“You look a little warm, My Lady.”

“Bugger yourself,” she said.

“Now that language is certainly not very ladylike.”

“I’m not a lady. I’m a grunt who works in the engine room.”

“Well, relax grunt, and when you’re ready, I’ll get you something to eat.”

Iolana was asleep before he finished his sentence. She didn’t know how long she slept, but when she woke, the sheet metal floor and everything that touched it was still throbbing with the energy of the steam engine. The buzzing of the saws still echoed through the metal walls. She slowly sat up; her arms and back crying out in anguish. She didn’t think she had ever done so much physical labor in her whole life. When she stood up, her legs, if anything, hurt even worse than her upper body. She moved like an old lady across the room and out the door. She turned and walked up the sloping passage toward the front of the crawler, her hand against the wall. She hadn’t gone very far when she saw Tiber walking toward her.

“I was just coming to check on you,” he said.

“How long was I asleep?”

“About fourteen hours. I was starting to get worried.”

“You mean I slept through our stopping for the night?” she asked.

“No. We haven’t stopped and we won’t. We have a crew of twenty-two officers and men so that we can run twenty-four hours a day.”

“What about the relief column that’s with us? The men can’t march all night.”

“Oh, they’re not traveling with us. They merely left at the same time. I imagine they’re forty miles ahead of us by now.” He took her by the shoulders, turned her around, and marched her back to the officer’s quarters. “They stop for the night, but then they move much faster than we do. We’ve only gone about forty-five miles from the city’s edge.”

“Forty-five miles?” wondered Iolana. “Then, when you found me, we couldn’t have been more than a long walk from town. You could easily have turned back, or even made me walk back myself.”

“You didn’t want to go back, did you?”

“No, of course I didn’t. Though now I’m wondering about your motivation.”

“Please, My Lady,” said Tiber. “I’m a gentleman, one little kiss notwithstanding. Now sit down. I have something for you to eat.”

Iolana took a seat in one of the two metal chairs that faced a small metal table between the two bunks. The young lieutenant hefted a canvas rucksack from cubby and dropped it heavily on the table.

“Well, you have a choice: beef stew, corned beef, or pork and beans. Take my advice and skip the stew. Heated up, it’s barely edible. You’re eating your food cold, and in such a case, it’s plain disgusting.”

“Pork and beans, please.”

“Here you go.” He handed her the tin can. While she peeled off the key and began opening the can, he continued. “You also have a block of cheese and a box of crackers. You might want to skip the crackers. You can crack a tooth if you don’t soak them in water or tea.”

After breakfast the next morning, Astrid called her mother, who was already at work by the time the girl inventor had gotten up.

“Mom, I’m going to Los Angeles after the board meeting, Friday.”

“Astrid, you’re fifteen. You can’t take off on a five hundred mile trip without permission and without adult supervision.”

“I’ll take Miss Scacchi with me.”

“I suppose that’s all right. How long do you plan to be in California?”

“Probably just a day,” replied the girl inventor. “Océane wants to meet me there. She said she needs my help, but she didn’t give me any details.”

“Well, I know that Miss Scacchi will keep me informed of any pertinent information.”

Astrid found the family’s personal assistant willing to make the trip.

“I have to be back by Monday though,” she said. “I have several events that I’m working on for your father.”

“I don’t think that will be a problem,” replied Astrid. “We’ll leave tomorrow, right after the board meeting—say ten o’clock.”

Chef Pierce made Astrid a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Since both her parents were at work, she took her food into the family room and ate while watching the financial news.

“Maxxim Industries stock is up three and three quarters, as the market anticipates the seven to one stock split set to occur at the close of trading tomorrow. This as the company is projecting record sales on the back of their transportation division, which includes the amazing Maxxim Hoverbike.”

“Hey, genius!”

Astrid looked up to see four of her friends entering from the hallway to the living room. The one who had spoken was Denise Brown. She had been Astrid’s friend since they toddlers. She was five foot six and a little on the skinny side, with long blond hair and green eyes. Next to her was Valerie Diaz, who had been a close friend for almost as long. A couple of inches shorter than Denise, she had luxurious black hair and flashing brown eyes. And right next to Valerie was a robot version of her. Robot Valerie was the result of one of Astrid’s experiments a year before. She had a metallic blue polycarbonate skin and long blue hair, but was otherwise very similar to Regular Valerie. The fourth arrival was Austin Tretower, who had joined Astrid and her friends when he had moved to Maxxim City as a freshman. His brown hair, once in a buzz cut had grown out over the summer and a recent growth spurt had added a few inches to his height.

“Hey guys!” said Astrid, hopping up. “Hey Austin. Hanging out with the girls now?”

“Um, no,” he replied. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”

“We just bumped into him on your front step,” said Robot Valerie, her tone and her body language indicating that she thought this was an extremely fortunate turn of events.

“We came hang out,” said Denise. “I don’t know what he’s doing here.”

“Um, Astrid,” said Austin. “Can I talk to you in private?”

“He has a secret project he needs help with,” confided Robot Valerie.

“Sure. Let’s into the living room,” said Astrid, taking him by the elbow. “Why don’t you girls load up Minecraft while I’m gone?”

“So what’s this about a secret project?” she asked him when they were alone.

“I’ve designed a game,” he said. “It’s going to be an app for phones and tablets. But I need somebody to do the coding for me. Do you think you can do it?”

“What’s your idea, Austin?”

“It’s all about these princesses that battle each other. They get stronger and cooler as they gain experience.”

“I suppose these princesses will be scantily clad.”

“Well at first, but then they get this cool armor—they’re still super hot though.”

“Hmm,” said Astrid. “I’m really too busy, between my work on the Board of Directors and my experiments.”

“You don’t like my idea, do you?”

“I’ll be honest with you, Austin. It all sounds a little sexist, but I suppose boys might download it—cause, you know… boys.”

“But it’s a game for girls,” he said, somewhat deflated.

“I really am too busy, anyway,” continued Astrid. “Why don’t you see if Christopher can do it for you? He’s at least as good a coder as I am.”

“All right, I guess,” said Austin. “I’ll see you later.”

Astrid felt a little bit bad as he walked toward the front door, his shoulders slumping, but she really was too busy, especially with her surprise trip to meet Océane Feuillée.

She went back to the family room and joined the girls in a game of extensive game of Minecraft. Later, Astrid and Denise talked while the two Valeries played Ms. Pacman.

That evening, Astrid and Toby went to the movies. The Cinema was a small theater, originally built in 1937 in a town in Kansas. It had later been moved to Maxxim City and rebuilt. Because it had only had one screen and seats for only 122 movie viewers, the Cinema seldom showed the newest movies. It was almost always the classics like An American in Paris.  Astrid thought the movie was just as good as Toby had indicated. When he dropped her off at her door, he kissed her on the corner of her mouth.

The next morning Andrews got up and disentangled himself from Penny’s arms and legs. The bed was really just large enough for one of them. He had slept well through the night, but now he had several pains in his neck and shoulders and he was unsure whether to attribute them to his workout the day before or to not having enough room in bed. He slipped back into his workout clothes and put on his wristwatch, checking the time. It was not quite seven. Stepping quietly out the door, he walked the length of the ship to the dining room and found an early continental breakfast. He grabbed a pair of Danish, two bananas, and two cups of coffee; and balancing them, carried them back to the cabin. He found Penny awake and putting on his robe.

“I brought you some breakfast.”

“Thanks, I’m starving.”

“Thank you for the card,” he gestured toward the greeting card still standing on the desk.

“Not from me.”

He opened it and looked again.

“Must be Piff,” said Penny.

“What are you planning to do today?” asked Andrews as they ate.

“I’m going to try and write. I’ve got a few songs, or at least pieces of songs, that have been rattling around in my head since New York.”

“I’d like to see that.”

“No you wouldn’t. It would be incredibly boring. I’m just going to pluck a few strings and jot down notes. It’ll be the most uninteresting thing you can imagine. Besides, it’s Piffy’s day to spend with you.”

“When do I get a copy of this schedule?” He sounded peevish even in his own ears.

“Ask her.”

Andrews did plan to ask her just as soon as he could, but when he finally saw her again, the question fell out of his brain and crawled away to some dark corner. When Ep!phanee saw him, she ran and leapt into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist, and her lips around his mouth. He couldn’t have gotten free if he wanted to, and he didn’t want to. They kissed for several minutes, and then at last, he set her down.

“Did you send me the card?” he asked.

“Of course. You didn’t recognize my P?”

“Well, you know… Penny?”

“Oh yeah. Well, she’s not likely to send you a card though, is she?”

“Maybe you could sign it with an F for Fanny?”

“You’re bad.”

“Or you could draw a little clownfish…”

“You’re very bad.”

“In any case, thank you.”

“You’re welcome. It’s because I missed you. That’s why it said ‘miss you’ on it.”

“Very clever. So what are your plans for today?”

“We can do anything you want to do. What were you planning?”

“I’d like to work out again in the weight room. And Penny gave me a book that I haven’t had enough time with yet.”

“What is it—Edgar Rice Burroughs?”

“H. Rider Haggard.”

Piffy rolled her eyes. “No wonder people think she’s a dyke. I’ll work out with you.”

Andrews changed back into his shorts and tee shirt and met her in the weight room. Piffy was waiting, wearing a pair of shorts that were so small they almost deserved some different and as yet uninvented name, and a tube top. Both articles of clothing were made of some shiny black material that he had never seen before. Even in a world where just about everything seemed to exude sex appeal, it had not occurred to Andrews until that exact moment that gym clothes could be sexy. They worked out for over an hour, and Andrews didn’t know if it was the weights which caused his heart to pump so forcefully in his chest, or if it was the sight of Ep!phanee’s remarkably toned body.

“You must work out quite a bit.”

“Yes, I have a fully stocked gym in my home at Thatch Cay. What is that?”

Spreading out below them was a great tan blanket moving across the landscape. It moved and undulated in swirling patterns. The dirigible was passing over one of the legendary caribou migrations. Tens of thousands of individual animals moved across the ground like a kaleidoscope of reindeer. Andrews set down his barbells and moved to stand next to the large window. Piffy followed him.

“Caribou,” he said. “The great plains of the United States used to be covered with buffalo like this. Now they’re extinct. I think women have done a better job of running the world than men did.”

“Say that when you’re flying through the black haze above New York, or when you’re outside your dome in Ohio and the acid rain is coming down.”

They spent the rest of the day together, comparing their lives up until that point, talking about their interests, and eventually getting around to the possibility of their shared future together.

“I was quite ready to find that you wouldn’t live up to my expectations when I met you,” he said, “not that I expected anything more than a professional relationship. But I like you. I like all of you. And the sex… well I really, really like it. It’s much better than I imagined it would be. But I don’t really see how our lifestyles are going to mesh. I don’t know if I can handle all the complications.”

“What do you want to do for the next ten years, John?”

“I want to continue with the Science Police. It’s exciting and I’m good at it.”

“And what is your concern about it… about your job and being married?”

The space plane lurched violently. At first, flames were the only things that could be seen through the thick windows. Minutes later though, the flames dissipated, revealing blue skies.

“Transferring control to manual,” said Astrid. “How does it feel?”

“Pretty sluggish,” replied Toby. “Is it always like this?”

“At this point, yes. It’s a lot like flying a brick until we’re ready to throttle up.”

Astrid Maxxim was a startlingly cute girl of fifteen. Her shoulder-length strawberry blond hair set off her very large blue eyes. She sat in the copilot seat of the Constellation, the newest of her hypersonic space planes, as it blasted its way back into the Earth’s atmosphere. Toby Bundersmith occupied the pilot’s seat. Though it was difficult to tell in his spacesuit, he was tall and muscular. His brown hair hung down in bangs just above his hazel eyes. He turned and gave Astrid a nervous smile. While he was a skilled pilot, this shakedown flight was his first trip to space. Astrid, in addition to being a world-famous inventor, was already a veteran of three previous orbital flights.

“Descending to ten miles altitude,” she said. “Prepare to throttle up.”

“Ready.”

“Throttle up to sixty percent power.”

“Roger,” replied Toby, pushing the thrust control forward.

“Houston, this is Constellation,” said Astrid into her microphone.

There were a few seconds of static before a reply came through her headphones.

“Constellation, Houston. Welcome home.”

“Thank you. Now that we’re safely back in the atmosphere, we’ll bid you farewell and switch over to Maxxim Tower.”

“Roger, Constellation. Happy landing.”

“We’re passing over Southern California,” said Toby. “It’ll be a few minutes before we’re ready to ask for a landing clearance.”

“That’s a fact,” said Astrid, as she unfastened and then removed her helmet. “Do you want some help with your helmet?”

“No, I’m going to leave it on,” he said. And then a few seconds later, “No, I want to take it off. As soon as you said something, my nose started itching like no tomorrow.”

Astrid helped him remove it, stowing it, along with hers, in the appropriate compartment. Toby immediately scratched his nose with a gloved hand, before returning all his attention to the controls.

“I pointed out that we had a few minutes,” said Toby, “to highlight the fact that we have a bit of time to talk.”

“What did you want to talk about?”

“My cousins are coming to town next week and I thought maybe you could help me plan some activities for them.”

“Event planning is not really my field of expertise,” said Astrid, with an arched brow. “Are you just asking me because I’m a girl?”

“No!” Toby exclaimed. “Absolutely not. I was asking… What I really should have asked… It would really be cool if they could take a flight into space.”

“I’m sure it would be cool for them,” said Astrid. “They’d probably think you were the best cousin ever. I’m afraid it can’t happen though. You remember all the training you’ve gone through, and even our passengers have six weeks of rigorous training before they fly on one of the space planes.”

“Yeah,” said Toby. “I guess I already knew the answer to that. I’m just getting worried that they’ll be bored. They live in Berlin and I live in a little town in the Southwestern U.S.”

“Maybe Jürgen and Sabine aren’t looking for a wild time. It seems to me that most Europeans visiting the states enjoy the great natural wonders we have here. Take a trip up to the Grand Canyon. Fly over to Mesa Verde and show them the Ancient Pueblo ruins.”

“I’m sure that would be great for Jürgen,” he said. “I’m worried about Sabine. She is really into the German nightlife. Maxxim City is going to seem really tame.”

“Well, if you have to, you can always fly them to L.A. You can take them to a disco and visit Disneyland on the same trip.”

“Well, that sounds pretty good. Does that mean I have free access to a Maxxim Industries plane?”

“A Starcraft 170 and all the fuel you can use.”

“I guess it pays to have a girlfriend who is the CEO of a major multinational corporation.”

“I’m just the co-CEO, said Astrid, “and are we saying the B and G words?”

“What? Boyfriend and girlfriend? I’m saying it. I say it all the time. My girlfriend Astrid. Astrid, my girlfriend.”

Just then the space plane lurched.

“Pay attention to the controls, boyfriend,” said Astrid, climbing back into her seat.”

“I am. It was just a pocket of turbulence.”

“Maxxim Tower, Constellation,” said Astrid into her microphone. “Requesting a landing vector.”

“If I crashed us,” said Toby, “I’d be grounded for a month.”

“Only a month?” asked Astrid with a grin.