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Thanksgiving; Letter from Emma; Loose Ends; Farscape II Launch Epilogue;
Son,
Happy New Year. Happy New Millennium. The purists are quibbling that this isn’t really the millennium, it won’t happen until 2001, but I don’t care. It’s just another year. I spent the eve at Allison’s, and Emma came over too. She had to fly in from San Francisco. She hates it there. The traffic is terrible and it’s incredibly expensive to live there. She’s applying to MIT and hopes to start in the fall for graduate work. I asked her to consider working as a civilian at IASA once she cashes in her stock options. She can live with me until she goes to MIT (I know she’ll get in). She’s thinking about it. It would be good to have her around, even if it’s only for a few months.
I am going to start training with the six astronauts that have signed up for Farscape II. Five of the astronauts have families, including children. I doubt they will want to stay with it once they understand that we don’t know if we will be able to get back. I do keep warning them about the risks, but I don’t think it has really sunk in. The sixth astronaut is a single woman in her thirties. I don’t know how much family she has, but she also needs to be as informed about the decision as the others. She is a perfect candidate. In addition to being a biologist, she also speaks twelve languages, eight fluently.
Happy New Year. I hope you are celebrating it in some form.
Your loving father
Son,
It was grim at IASA today; exactly one year since you disappeared in Farscape I. DK could barely look at me. In the meantime, I have been very busy training the crew who will follow you. The capsules have revealed extraordinary data, and I can see DK’s excitement as he uncovers its secrets. They are now fairly sure that a wormhole opened up just beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Although it wasn’t the intent of your experiment, it seems you proved something that was thought only theoretically possible. The probe disappeared just as you did exactly one year ago. But now I am hopeful.
According to the astronomical data, we are in a very high sun spot activity period. It’s too bad we cannot launch this month. I have been assured there will be enough activity for Farscape II in April of 2001. I don’t know how I’m going to hold out for a year, but I’ll have to.
The fact that we may not come back from this mission is finally starting to sink in with the flight crew. I can see doubts beginning show in their faces. I’m not making it easy for them, either. I’m basically telling them to put their affairs in order, as this is probably a suicide mission. At first, I don’t think they believed me, but I’m saying it so often, that it is becoming reality. I also learned that these were the only six who would consider entering the program at the beginning.
Emma did cash in on her options, and she is working at IASA and staying with me until September, when she goes to MIT. I can’t believe how much money she’s been able to make off the options. She understands what I am doing and is being very supportive. Emma will help me break the news to Allison when the time comes. She also thinks they will have no choice but to let me go. Emma sends her love.
Your loving father
Son,
Last year DK and I decided to work through the July 4th weekend. We couldn’t face the barbeques, picnics, or baseball games that people normally have on this holiday. This year, Emma and I decided to have a few people over. Allison and DK, of course, and Andrea Walker, one of the astronaut’s training for this mission. The other five all have families of their own, but she is alone. I’ve learned a lot about her, and her story is truly tragic. Mine, in comparison, is a walk in the park; and I have hope.
She’s an only child and lost both her parents when she was in high school. Her mother died when she was in her freshman year, and her father followed her two years later, never recovering from his grief. From then on she stayed with her grandmother until she married while still in college. She got her PhD in biology at a rather young age and had a baby too. She was finishing a post-graduate position at Yale when a drunk driver in a head on collision killed her husband and daughter. Andrea was waiting for them to pick her up at work; instead the state police met her.
And so, there is nothing to hold her here. We work well together.
Emma is a delight to be with. She is very excited about going to MIT this September. She has friends in Cambridge who have an apartment with extra room. It will be a good situation for her, and much nicer than living in a dorm, even one for graduate students.
Your loving father
P.S. Emma wants to write something.
Hi Bro’! I hope you are out there somewhere. I feel you are alive, I think I caught it from Dad. Sheesh, he writes so formally, like he’s applying for a job. Love ya… I hope you read these letters.
XOXOXOX EMMA
Son,
Emma’s comment at the end of the last letter made me think of how stiff I must seem. I don’t know how else to be. I’ve been trying to write this letter for over a week now, and it keeps coming out the same. You’ll just have to live with it. Oh God, please be alive!
Emma and I have talked a lot about this mission. She has mixed feelings. I think I’ve convinced her that you are out there, but she doesn’t want to lose me. I hope, more than I know, that you are out there and that I will be able to get you back. DK has a team working on what I’ll need to be able to return. We really got a lot from those capsules. The result is Farscape II is much bigger than your module, and will have enough fuel, supplies, and instrumentation to reverse the process and to take the necessary time (we hope).
Emma is getting ready to go to Cambridge, but she wants to tell you herself.
Your loving father
Hey! There’s no hope for him, is there. I’m off to MIT to study Robotics and I’ll be working in the Media Lab. I’m very excited.
I’m glad I quit my other job and came here to be with father. He is determined to go. Allison is probably taking it harder than me, but that’s because I’m part of the team now and I have hope, too. I’ll have to have some heart to heart with Sis. She knows he has to do it, but we’ll miss him terribly.
Oh, BTW, I quit the dotcom just in the nick of time. Two weeks after I cashed in my options, the bottom fell out of that stock. Crazy!
We love you!
XOXOXOX EMMA
Son,
The three of us got together for a small Thanksgiving meal. Allison made all the fixings, Emma made desert, cranberry and apple pie. Last year we didn’t celebrate it at all, which on looking back, was a mistake.
Everyone at IASA is excited and stressed at the same time. Each day we get closer to the launch, the more we hope. It’s now official, Dr. Andrea Walker and I are the two man crew for Farscape II. Both DK and Andrea were instrumental in getting me on Farscape II. That, and none of the other candidates were sure of going. Dr. Walker went to Detroit to see her grandmother this Thanksgiving. She needs to tell her and the rest of her family about her plans. I agreed to speak to her grandmother should that become necessary. I sure put myself in a spot with that. I selfishly want her on the mission, as they won’t send me alone, and she is a perfect candidate. But I also see it from the other side. I don’t want to put any one through my experience, so I’m torn.
Allison is starting to come around to accept my decision. I have Emma to thank. I know that without her support, Allison would be much more forceful about keeping me here. As it is, she is not happy, but she will not interfere.
Emma had to get back to MIT. She is working on some very exciting projects herself. She left a letter for me to include with these.
Your loving father
Hi Space Cadet <g>,
I want to write you myself, Dad has me believing you will read this. Yeah, I believe it too.
You’ll never guess what I’ve been doing. Okay, you’ve gotten hints from Dad. But you don’t know the details. I’m working on teeny-tiny robots. These little critters start at about the size of a teacup and get smaller from there. The smallest are what I call nanobots. One idea for the teacups is to use them to identify those dreadful mines left hanging around from all the different conflicts. Each of these robots is really cheap to make, and if they blow up a mine instead of marking it, it’s okay. The smallest, the nanobots, will be used for aiding surgeons where people have conditions that are currently inoperable. One neat thing to use them for is to deliver the chemo, where it can do the most good and leave the person feeling healthy. There are a gazillion uses for these critters!
You remember Rich and Jamie? I am sharing an apartment with them in Cambridge. It’s really been fun remembering our times together in high school. Sheesh, we were inseparable. You called us the fearsome-threesome <g>. They are both working in Boston, and Jamie is going for his MBA at the same time. We are all very busy, but I couldn’t ask for a more perfect situation.
Take care of yourself; we all want to see you again!
You’re the best! Love ya,
XOXOXOX EMMA
Son,
The second anniversary of your disappearance has come and gone. We had a small ceremony here at IASA command. This time our spirits were positive. Farscape II has infected everyone with hope and excitement.
Allison agreed to be executor of my estate. She will hold onto everything and pay the necessary taxes and bills unless she is sure I am lost too. We’ve put a time limit on when she should start. She is very unhappy about all this, but I think hopeful too.
I also spoke with Dr. Walker’s grandmother. It was a very difficult conversation. I think it is much more difficult for her not being physically close to Andrea or part of this team. Mrs. Greely has to take our word that we are doing everything possible to ensure we will get back. Hell, I don’t know if it’s possible, and I’m going!
IASA has a room set up for Allison, Emma, and Mrs. Greely for the launch. They will be analyzing the capsules as they are received. Both Andrea and I will be able to record our impressions. They will be transferred to the capsules as they are sent back.
I am looking forward to the day you will read these letters. I will be taking them with me, I want to hand deliver them. I’m also taking some of your Jazz albums and Mozart’s Requiem with me. I imagine you have missed your music.
Your loving father
Emma turned to her sister and Andrea’s grandmother and said, “We will know in a couple of hours if they got through okay. Please put your fears aside until we know one way or another.”
“You’re right, Sis, I just can’t help how I feel.”
Mrs. Greely said nothing, but kept staring at the screen. Tears were running down her cheeks. Emma wanted to hug her, but didn’t because she turned away from John’s sisters. Emma hugged her sister.
“Thanks, I’ll be alright. Let’s just wait for the capsule recordings.” Allison gave her sister a quick hug and sat down to wait.
________________________________
DK walked into the waiting room with a grin from ear to ear. “I know it’s been very hard for you to wait. They have reached the other side and you can listen to them now. We also made tapes for you to keep. These are from five different capsules, so it will sound a little choppy. But the important thing is they are okay.”
Emma squealed with delight, Allison and Mrs. Greely looked stunned and relieved at the same time.
“We’re in it now, committed. The wormhole looks like a silvery tunnel and we are feeling forces pulling us along its axis.” Jack Crichton’s voice was clear and unstrained.
Next they heard Andrea Walker’s voice. “There is no evidence if any life within this tunnel. The silvery walls are giving off energy signals, and ….”
Her voice continued, “…force. We are determining the properties now.” Jack Crichton’s voice replaced Andrea’s, “The tunnel curves a little, but we don’t have to steer….”
“…avoid colliding into the walls. The forces within the tunnel are doing all the work. It looks like we may be about to exit. I see…..” Jack continued.
“We’re through! We’ve exited at a planetary system. One of the planets has artificial satellites. What wonders will……” The recording ended with Jack and Andrea speaking.