Free Velocity by Steve Worland

scared of her too, mainly because of how unsentimental she is. He’s seen her erase people from her life before, has consoled surprised ex-friends who found themselves cut out of the loop after a single misstep. He just never imagined it’d happen to him. Yes, he did royally screw up but it was an anomaly. He’s never done anything like it before. She didn’t care, wasn’t interested in hearing his reasons, excuses or apologies and instantly pulled the pin on a ten-year relationship.
     
    ‘Christ.’ It hits him. The ‘night of the quarters’ isn’t the reason she moved out. It was the trigger, of course, but not the reason - he’s sure of it. He just doesn’t know what the reason is.
     
    He turns into the Kennedy car park, parks the Beemer as close as he can to the VAB and tells himself to stop thinking about her. He needs to concentrate on the job ahead.
     
    **
     
    The elevator opens and Judd steps into the hallway. A tap on his shoulder. His chest tingles. Rhonda? He turns.
     
    It’s Severson Burke. ‘Hey.’
     
    ‘Hey yourself.’
     
    ‘Could you look any more disappointed?’
     
    ‘What? Disappointed? Who?’
     
    Severson studies Judd, left eyebrow arched. He knows all about Judd’s excursion to Thompkins’ place. Judd had confessed all in a late-night call.
     
    ‘Right, like you haven’t been thinking about her.’
     
    ‘Not for the last seven minutes, I haven’t.’
     
    Severson fastens Judd with a steady gaze. ‘You’ve already dropped the ball twice this week. Make sure it doesn’t happen again.’
     
    Judd knows Severson has good reason for not wanting any trouble in the White Room tonight. The ex-astronaut, who had graciously agreed to accompany Judd on his last simulator run, is launch director for this test. That means it is his responsibility. The last thing he needs is Judd’s personal issues gumming up the works.
     
    Judd nods. ‘Of course.’ They walk on, reach Briefing Room Three and enter.
     
    Rhonda’s the first person Judd sees sitting at the large oval table. She looks right through him, like he doesn’t exist. She’s in full ‘blank mode’. Judd knows it well, has witnessed her use it on many a hapless individual in the past. Essentially, she blanks people she’s not interested in interacting with and pretends they don’t exist. Though it sounds like a strategy that wouldn’t even work in a kindergarten playground, it proved to be a surprisingly successful tool for navigating the byzantine NASA bureaucracy.
     
    Judd finds a seat as far from her as possible. He works hard to keep his eyes on Severson as the launch director addresses the thirty-strong crowd from the head of the table. The only positive to come out of ‘the night of the quarters’ is that Thompkins and the tubby guy hadn’t filed any complaints against him. Judd guessed that Rhonda had asked Thompkins to keep it quiet and Thompkins had asked the tubby guy to do the same. Surely she didn’t want to go through the embarrassment of an official hearing into his conduct where she would be the star witness.
     
    Not having a hearing won’t change anything for Judd, though. When Thompkins surely, inevitably, took over the Astronaut Office, Judd’s certain the guy who stalked his home won’t be at the top of Thompkins’ list when he decides the next round of crew assignments.
     
    Judd steals a look at Rhonda, takes in the heart-shaped face, the blonde hair flecked with golden highlights, the ski-jump nose with the little bump at the top, the result of a mountain-biking accident years ago. She’s as breathtaking as the day they met.
     
    **
     
    Rhonda ignores Judd. Commanding Atlantis is a crucial step towards being first so she must not be distracted by personal issues, no matter how difficult that might be, and she’s been finding it very difficult. Not just leaving the relationship but leaving the house had been —
     
    Stop it. She can’t think about that now. She must stay