The Calculating Stars (Lady Astronaut, #1)(116)

Parker followed her, smiling at the reporters. His limp didn’t seem so bad today, just a slight favoring of the left leg, and only if you were looking for it.

“Colonel Parker! How are the ladies doing?”

“They’re a credit to their nations.” He gave that shit-eating grin of his. “We’re all very proud of them.”

I headed for the gimbal rig, eager to see if I could drop my time from my last run.

“Any truth to the rumor that you’re being replaced on the moon landing?”

The room went silent. Even the hum of the generators seemed to pause in mid-oscillation. Parker went pale, but his smile never faded. “I’d be curious to know your sources, but yes.”

I hadn’t told anyone anything. God. What had Nathaniel done?

The room snapped back into motion. All of the reporters were shouting questions at Parker now. He held his hands up and, miraculously, they responded by shushing.

“I have a lingering war injury that needs some attention, so the agency and I decided that it would be better to attend to that.” He gave another smile. “I’m sure you understand that I can’t make any speculation about who is going to replace me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, we have some testing to do. York. Get in the chair.”

Parker walked away from all of us. Instead of heading back into the observation booth, he left the room entirely.

I hadn’t told. Goddamn it. I hadn’t told anyone. But there wasn’t a chance in hell that Parker would believe me.

Smiling at the tech, who stood by to strap me into the rig, I gave a little shrug. “I need to run to the ladies’ room. Back in a flash.”

I hurried across the lab and out the door that Parker had used. As the door swung open, I caught him straightening from the wall, as if he’d been leaning against it, and only the sound of the door had brought him upright. He looked over his shoulder with an easy smile.

It fell from his face when he saw me. “I told you to get in the chair.”

“I didn’t tell anyone.” Besides Nathaniel, of course. But he’d said he would tell me before he took any action.

Parker’s face stayed blank, but he looked at the floor. “I did.”

I was still about ten feet away from him, but that stopped me in my tracks. “But—”

“I have bone spurs in my neck, likely from ejections during my test pilot days. They’re pressing on my spinal column.” He shrugged, as if that was somehow no big deal. “I know what you think of me, but believe it or not, I care more about the program than I do about my place in it. I would have been a danger.”

“I’m—” What do you say to that? “Are you going to be okay?”

“Surgery. Tomorrow, actually.”

“Is there … is there anything I can do?”

“Yeah. Get in the fucking chair. Like I told you to.” He raised his head and took a step closer. “And don’t insult either of us by pretending you care.”

“Wow … You really do practice being offensive.”

The side of Parker’s mouth curled. “Go. When I come back, you’d damn well better have mastered that thing.”

“Yes, sir.” For a moment there, he’d seemed human. I forgot who I was dealing with.

“Just so we’re clear, you still need to keep your head down and do as you’re told. So long as you aren’t a threat to the program, my lips remain sealed.” He took another step. “You earned that much, but the moment I think you’re a danger, you’re out. Are we clear?”

Swallowing, I nodded. Ironically, I wished that I hadn’t left the Miltown at home.

*

The rumor mill said that if Parker hadn’t done the bone spur surgery, he’d risk paralyzation, which made the whole “I care more about the program” thing complete bunk. Of course, the rumor mill also said that aliens had implanted probes in him.

The Monday-morning staff meeting started with Clemons and his usual cloud of cigar smoke. “So. The first thing is to let you all know that Colonel Parker has come through his surgery just fine. No complications, and we should see him back here in a month or so.”

I have to admit that my first thought was of intense relief that Parker would be gone for a month. That got me farther away from my last doctor’s appointment, and maybe even if he told someone about the Miltown, it wouldn’t look like it was a problem. No one had to know that I still had pills, which I was hoarding for an emergency.

“What? He had already the surgery?” Lebourgeois raised his brows in surprise. “I have only just heard that he was ill.”

Clemons nodded, puffing on his cigar. “He’d set up the appointment some time ago, but didn’t want anyone to know because he thought it would distract you. Good man.”

I may have rolled my eyes at that version of history.

“Who’s going up instead?” Betty, ever the journalist, leaned forward across the table. “To the moon, I mean?”

“His shadow was Malouf, so he’ll step forward.” Clemons pulled his agenda toward him. “That’s jumping ahead on today’s schedule a bit, but … We’ll need to pull Malouf from the next Lunetta flight so he can concentrate on training for the lunar mission. Benkoski and Terrazas are already up on the station. All of this has made us realize that we need more manpower.”