Free Season of Passage, The by Christopher Pike Page A

though,
    he spent more time trying to answer the children. He had even hired a secretary out of his own pocket to deal with the swarms of letters. He sent the
    kids brochures tel ing them how they could grow up to be great like him.
    Gary Wheeler was a child who had never grown up. In many ways he resembled Terry - he took nothing seriously. Yet he was far more innocent and
    wild than Terry, and undoubtedly had more fun with his life. Gary did not have Terry's cynical perception of the cruel things people were capable of
    doing, and so was spared much grief.
    He was ridiculously handsome, in a boyish way, and was incredibly strong. Lauren had seen him bench-press three hundred pounds. He was six-
    two, one hundred and eighty pounds of muscle. He did not own a comb; his brown hair did not know what one was. He had nice eyes - fresh blue,
    with a little hazel mixed in to honor his Irish mother. He walked as if he didn't have a care in the world, and sometimes he accidental y walked over
    other people, but he was quick to apologize - if he was in the mood. He was thirty-two, and he had come up fast, and that was not easy to do
    without ticking people off.
    He had joined the Air Force before coming to NASA, and he loved to fly jets more than anything in the world. As long as he stil had his wings, the
    world could turn the way it wanted below him and he didn't complain - too much.
    Many considered Gary the most crucial member of the Nova's crew. Gary was responsible for flying the Hawk, the Martian lander. He would have
    the assistance of Commander Wil iam Brent, and the guidance of Friend, their computer, but ultimately it was Gary who would decide where and
    when - and even if - they would land. Lauren trusted him. She also liked him, quite a lot in fact.
    'I'm tel ing you, we don't have time for this,' she said. 'Dean told me he would be here within the hour, and that was forty minutes ago. You promised
    me you would change.' Actual y, Gary had promised nothing of the sort, but she hoped he would fal for her lie. Unfortunately, he had not heard her.
    He continued to giggle. 'Was she good?' she asked, raising her voice.
    Gary glanced up. 'Did you say something, Lori?'
    'The president's arriving in a few minutes.'
    Gary waved his arm in dismissal. 'Their plane hasn't even arrived. Dean's just being an ass. They'd only left D.C. when he cal ed.'
    Lauren wasn't sure how Gary knew this, but decided he probably had better information than she. She relaxed and pointed at his letter. 'Someone I
    know?' she asked.
    Gary's eyes sparkled. 'Curious, Doc?'
    She hesitated. 'I'm not sure.'
    'She has blond hair.'
    'I'm not interested,' she said quickly.
    'I've been saving this one for when we were on Mars.'
    'Is it dirty? I don't want to hear about it.'
    'I'm going to tel you,' Gary said.
    'OK.'
    Gary laughed. He leaned back in his chair and scratched his crotch. 'This happened three months ago. I had to fly out to Rockwel in California to
    talk to their engineers about the Hawk's boosters. It was a useless meeting. Anyway, I finished early and wasn't due back in Houston for a couple of
    days. This was a Friday. I cal ed an old buddy of mine, Fred. You met Fred. He's that bald guy who got a hair transplant and then started to have
    migraine headaches. We went to a movie in west L.A. and then to a coffee shop. We were sitting there, eating pie, when this girl walked up to us.
    She was real shy and cute. She asked if I was Gary Wheeler, the astronaut. They always say it like that. I said, yeah, then she asked if I was going
    to be going to Mars soon, and we got to talking. I invited her to sit down. I liked her right from the beginning. So did Fred. Her name was Kathy. She
    was a physical therapist, and on weekends she worked as a volunteer at a children's spinal injury hospital. She told me about the place and asked
    if I could swing by the next day and meet the children and talk to them about our mission. You know how I like kids.'
    'Yeah,'