Jack’s lab was filled to the brim with contestants, the Bachelor, the staff, the shuttle pilot, and Hank Carson, who stood grimly in the center of the room, listening to the whole tale unfold. He didn’t ask questions, just listened, a live Ken doll looking both fashionable and in command.
“When I put the helmet on,” Margaret was saying.
“That was a hell of a risk,” Jack said, interrupting her, his heart hammering with fear that she’d put herself in jeopardy like that.
“I know. But the ship is alive and I couldn’t communicate with it any other way.”
“Do we have film of this alien craft?” Hank asked.
“We should,” Jack said. “I have video feeds set up so I can keep watch outside.”
Hank gave a brisk nod. “Go on, Margo.”
She winced at the name. “When I put on the helmet, it told me what was wrong with it. Well, showed me I guess would be a better way to describe it. A part had broken off, as if it had been sheared right through. It’s what had controlled the hyperdrive that allowed it to reach sonic speeds.”
“Like it snapped off?” Jack asked, trying to reconcile that with what he’d seen in the ship. “Couldn’t it just make itself a new part?”
“It told me it couldn’t. And the scene it showed me was of a bad man slicing it off on purpose, trying to ground the crew it had carried here on Mars.”
“Did the man look human?”
“Human-ish. It had a huge head though.”
“I guess we aren’t the only race with our share of Haxleys.”
“Then what happened?” Lynette asked.
“I managed to attach it with duct tape. I told it that it might not stick, but when the two surfaces connected, a whole new panel lit up. And the ship rejoiced, because it could go home.”
“Where is home, I wonder?” Jack’s imagination took off and for a few seconds, he was lost in the possibilities.
“I didn’t ask it, but now I wish I had,” Goldie said. “I’m worried that a long journey will leave it stranded somewhere else, if the duct tape doesn’t hold.”
“What happened after you fixed it?” Hank asked, his tone impatient.
She shrugged. “I stepped off and it flew away. Just shot up into the air and was gone.”
Jack found the video feed, rewound a bit, then let it play for Hank. The ship’s departure was fast and furious, it’s speed obviously restored. He’d been afraid of the ship, but now that it was safely away from him, he admired its sleek lines and amazing abilities. Jack wondered what the implications were now that alien life was confirmed.
“Rewind and play it slowly.” Goldie leaned in and pointed. “See how there is no backwash from the engines? I was standing right beside it without any danger.”
Jack rewound the footage and played it again.
“What is the power source?” she murmured.
“I don’t know.” Jack grinned, watching her expert mind take flight. “Wish it had stayed longer?”
“You know I do. I wish I’d thought to ask it questions, but all either of us wanted was for it to leave, I think.”
“Where’s Haxley?” Hank interrupted, losing interest in the ship.
“Storage closet,” Jack answered, disappointed to see Goldie lose her train of thought. But he figured she’d spend the rest of her life thinking about what she’d seen. He knew he would.
“Where he put us,” one of the contestants pouted.
“I almost wet myself, we were in there for so long,” another said.
Hank nodded, his face sympathetic. “You were all terribly brave.” He turned back to Jack. “I figure you owe me another ten days of filming.”
“Wait, what?” Jack’s brain skipped at this declaration. Hank Carson needed to take his contestants and go. Well, everyone but Margaret. She could stay. But his tolerance for filming was at rock bottom.
“Smith,” Hank said to the pilot. “You have to leave when?”
“Three hours if we want to stay on schedule,” the man replied. “Any more time here and you’ll be charged for an extra day.”
Hank hissed at that. “Okay, we have three hours to do three rose ceremonies, then we’ll send all the losers home.”
Jack tried to calm his rising panic. “You can’t stay. I need you gone.”
Hank was already turning away to organize his troops. “Not going to happen, Boyle. You signed an ironclad contract.” He swung back to point at Margaret. “You did, too.”
Lynette waved her clipboard. “Their clothes have been destroyed.”
“Then we’ll film in casual.” Hank clapped his hands. “Let’s move people. The clock is ticking.”
Lynette stood mute for a moment, eyes narrowed at him as if Hank had plucked her last nerve. Jack secretly cheered. Then she turned on her heel. “I want all women in the kitchen for makeup on the double.”
The ladies herded out.
Lynette jerked her head. “Including you, Margo.”
“Not a chance,” Goldie answered.
“She hasn’t been voted off yet?” Hank asked, a little too incredulous for Jack’s taste.
“No.”
“And she’s not going to be,” the Bachelor said from where he still stood against the far wall.
Hank rounded on him. “Why the hell not?”
“You promised me I would get to choose.”
“And you think you’d be happy with my sister? Are you insane? She’d make a horrible wife.”
An angry wave rose over Jack. “Watch your mouth, Carson,” he said, menacingly. Jack imagined how good it would feel to drive his fist into Hank’s mouth. Must. Not. Hit. Goldie’s brother.
Margaret’s heart fluttered at Jack’s old-school chivalry. “It’s okay.” She was still a bit high from fixing the alien ship. It was as if she’d spent her whole life waiting for that moment, like a surgeon who repaired a child’s heart. Because the ship had seemed like a child to her. Its emotions were simple. It hurt and it was lonely. It wanted to go home, where it would be safe and loved. It had spent too long here, time going on and on while it waited for one of its kind to find it. But it never did. She’d wanted so badly to help it. And she had.
“No, it isn’t. In fact, an apology is in order,” Jack said, as if he really wanted to force Hank to give her one.
Hank turned to Lynette. “What the hell is going on here?” he asked, confused.
“You know what, Hank, it’s your sister and your choice for the bachelor. You figure it out. I’m going to run the girls through makeup.” She stomped away, clearly done with the whole thing.
“I’m still waiting for you to apologize to your sister, Carson. She stuck her neck out to save all your cast and crew and doesn’t deserve your slander.” The Jack Boyle standing in the room was hard as nails and had a deadly edge to him.
Hank studied Jack for a moment and must have concluded he was serious. He turned. “Margo, I’m truly sorry if I hurt your feelings.”
She almost laughed at her brother’s plight. He never apologized when he could charm his way out of trouble. “I accept your apology, Hank,” she said, gravely. Because no matter what, she loved her brother and in the end, he’d sacrificed a lot to get her to Mars, risking his show in the process.
The unpleasantries done, Hank turned to Chad. “Tell me why you want to keep her. If you truly have interest in her, she’ll stay in the game.”
“Wait! What?” Then Margaret realized her brother no longer held testing her rover over her. “You can’t force me to be on this show.”
“Hush.” Hank held up one finger in her direction, but didn’t turn, giving Chad his full attention. “Chad?”
Chad’s bravado fell in the face of Hank’s willingness to negotiate. “I don’t want her in, but I also don’t want Misty out.”
“It was my understanding you voted Misty out?” Hank said, making it a question.
“It was a mistake. We’ve grown close during this whole catastrophe.”
“Good lord,” Margaret said, unable to keep quiet. This was so contrived, she could scream. He’d already slept with Misty. Even thought he’d voted her out. If she had a man treat her that way, she would poke his eyes out. But then, she’d never wanted to be chosen from a group of women. She’d always wanted to meet someone and have the instant connection that made him know she was the one.
“Okay, so we’ll have Margo have an accident and bring Misty back. Would that make you satisfied?”
“Yes, I believe it would,” Chad said, sticking out his hand. “It’s a deal.”
They shook on it. “Do you still have your rose ceremony suit?”
“Yeah,” the bachelor said.
“Get into it. We’ll start the ceremony in a few moments. We’ll tell the girls of Margo’s demise, then have Misty reappear at the end of the ceremony. That will cause all kinds of drama.”
Chad grinned. “Sounds like fun.”
Hank nodded. “It will be.”
After Chad left, Hank swung to her. “What’s up with you and Boyle?” he asked, right in front of Jack.
She stuttered, trying to summarize something she wasn’t really sure how to define. What was up with her and Jack? They’d fooled around and had struck up a friendship. Those were the facts. But it was more complicated than that and everything was so new, she wasn’t sure where they stood. “We bonded while saving everyone’s lives,” she said tentatively, feeling weirdly exposed with Jack standing right there.
“We’re dating,” Boyle corrected, surprising her.
“We are?” she asked. She’d secretly worried this was a one night thing, but Jack didn’t seem to have trouble saying it was more to her brother.
“Yeah,” Jack said, his lips curving into a small, pleased smile. “We’re seeing where this leads.”
“Really?” Hank asked, his face saying that he couldn’t believe it.
That sounded like an insult, so Margaret said, “Don’t act so surprised.”
“Margo, you haven’t dated anyone in years.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m dried up and on the shelf,” she said, annoyed. No one could irritate her like her family.
“Well, she’s dating me now,” Jack said, finality in his tone.
A girly flutter shivered inside her.
“Great!” Hank said, already losing interest. “We can talk about this fascinating topic later. I have filming to do now. Margo, pack your bags, because you’re leaving in three hours with this shuttle.”
“That’s fast,” she said, but she’d known this moment was coming, had in fact fought to get herself kicked off when Chad had wanted to keep her. Now she wished she hadn’t said a word. She would have loved to explore what was blooming between her and Jack for a little while longer.
Margaret watched her brother walk away, the reality that she was really leaving sinking in. She had been so busy living in the moment, she hadn’t thought about the future.
A future that wouldn’t include Jack, because long distance dating never worked and when the distance was over fifty four million kilometers, it really wasn’t feasible.
Stay, something inside her whispered. But while she might like Jack and he’d told her brother they were dating, which had been wonderful, she’d always promised herself she would never give up her career for a man and she wasn’t going to start now. Because if she missed the University’s budget meeting, her lab would end up with no funding, which would mean she’d have no lab. She’d have no place to modify her rover and everything she’d spent the last ten years working for would be over.
From the other room, Jack could hear Hank coaching Chad about strategy for the next rose ceremony. They had to be standing right near the doorway. From the bits and pieces that filtered into the room, they were rolling out which order Chad should deliver the roses in.
He had three hours left with Margaret and he knew he had to make them count if he was going to change her mind. Once she left, it would be a long time before he saw her again. Even if he ended up shutting down his station, it would be months before he’d be Earth-side. So he wasn’t going to spend what might be the last moments with her listening to Hank manipulate rose ceremonies.
“Want to go see the valley I’ve been collecting samples from? The view is the best thing I’ve seen on this planet.” Well that was stretching it a bit. The best thing he’d seen on this planet was her. “We could be there and back long before the shuttle leaves.”
The sad frown that had come with the news she only had three more hours dropped away as a smile bloomed across her face. “I could be talked into doing that.”
“You want to drive?” he asked, trying his best to charm her, adding what he hoped was his most dashing grin.
She laughed. “You know I do.”
So they shrugged into suits and she drove them out into the desolate wasteland that was Mars.
They talked about where he was in his research and how her rover was handling in the real environment it was built for the whole way there. Then they stood side by side, studying the red valley before them, her silence attesting to her awe. He loved that he could share this with her.
She sighed. “I should go.”
He caught her arm when she turned to leave. “Stay,” he said, knowing as he said it that it was right, because they were perfect together. “I may only have a couple months left. You could fully test your rover, maybe work on a new design.” He studied her face, watching closely to see which way she’d lean. He realized he wanted her here more than he’d wanted anything in a long time.
He could see the wheels turning in her head. She was going to say yes. His whole body tightened in anticipation. He’d never wanted anything so badly before, not even Mars.
“Jack,” she said, and his heart sank. “I have to get back to Earth. If I miss an upcoming budget meeting, I lose my lab. Then where would I work on my rover?”
“Here,” he said, throwing out his arms. “Who needs a lab when you could have the real thing?”
She took a deep breath and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Jack. I have to go back. If I lose my lab, it will take me years to find another university that will give me what I currently have. It will set me back years in my career.” She touched his arm. “Please understand.”
Sadly, he did. But that didn’t mean he liked it.